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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. See, when you sin against the Lord, it costs you something. It’ll cost you, yes, rewards in heaven. It’s going to cost you things in his life, and you’re going to have a lot of joy that you’re not going to have. But then the thing that everybody wants is to be used by the Lord.

And so he says in verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, that will not despise. You see, he had to get himself right and he says, then, God, I want you to help me to do something. He says, and then I will turn people back to you. See, up in verse 13, then, while I teach transgressors, highways, and sinners shall be converted into thee. God still used him after the mess up.

But you see, he wasn’t saved and then he got lost and then he had to get saved again. No, but whenever he was a child of God and he did what was right? God blessed when he did what was wrong. God beat the tar out of him, and he suffered at four times in his family. And God still could use him, but not the way that God could have used him. Look in 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter and 2.

Now everybody’s heard of a guy named Lot. Abraham was called to go into the early calleys and here comes Lot. And everything was alright for a while until they got too many herds and servants and little friction. So Abraham just told them, said, look, you just do whatever you want to do. You just choose out whichever way you want to go. Now I’ll just go the other way. Isn’t that something for Abraham to do that? Well, as Lot looked upon the fruited plains where it was well watered and kind of going down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, oh, I swear I’m going to go.

Well he went by looks and he went the wrong direction. wasn’t long before he had messed up his whole life. No, the Bible says he was a just man. Look what he says here. And he says in verse seven, and delivered just lot. Now that doesn’t mean only lot, it means just lot. Lot was a justified individual. Means he had been made righteous, not by his works, but by the faith of the Lord. And he says here, delivered just lot vexed with the filthy behavior of the wicked.

And that behavior was of the sodomites. And so he made the statement here. He says, and delivered just a lot, vexed with the filthy behavior of the wicked. For that get to that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Now wait a minute, was the Lord the master of his life? Evidently the Lord was not the master of his life. Evidently he wasn’t serving the Lord the way he should have but God still says he’s a righteous man, he’s a just man.

You see, when you trusted Christ as your savior, it is God Ko-de-de-de-de-de-deDW who declared you justified just by your faith. Believing that when Christ died, He died for you. And God says that Christ gives you His robe of righteousness. And if He gives you His robe of righteousness, then that’s as righteous as the Lord. And God sees the righteousness of His Son instead of your sin upon you. Now, that’s why, yeah, maybe a lot didn’t live, right? And if anybody was to see life, might think that he’s not saved.

Evidently, he must not be saved because look where he’s living. Did you know he lost his girls? They wound up committing adultery with him. And they had Edom and Moab. They had lots of problems down the road because of that little shenanigans. And you know his wife, she turned back and turned into a pillar of salt. So you’ve got what he lost his whole family. But God still says he was a just man. He wasn’t just because he lived right, because he lived a righteous life.

You are not going to heaven because you live a righteous life. Even after you trust Christ’s Savior, your destiny is not determined by your life. And it’s hard for people to believe that. Can you believe that you’re really, really saved? Totally saved by grace. I am saved by the grace of God. There is no amount of good works I did to be saved. There is not one ounce of good works I’ve done since I’ve been saved. That’s helped get me more saved than I’ve been.

Have you ever heard somebody say, you know, the so-and-so trust the Lord and they got saved? And then they told me somebody got gloriously saved. Oh, he was gloriously saved. That’s like saying, no, this guy laying in this casket here. Well, hey, he’s dead. Now this guy over here, he really did. He’s gloriously dead. I always thought dead’s dead. Saved, saved. But some people have been gloriously saved. I was just saved. So how did he get more than I got?

Did he get more than me? I was saved. He was gloriously saved. Now this guy, he’s dead. But this guy’s really dead. I’m saved, but he’s really saved. If you’re not really saved, you’re not saved. You’ve heard you’ve got to be a born-again Christian. Well if you are, it seems like you don’t need one of those words. I am a believer in the Lord. I have been saved, but does that mean that Christ must be the Lord and the Master of my life?

Because if he is, I got problem with all these people. I would venture to say that the Lord is not the master of everything in their life. I’d venture to say they haven’t turned from all of their sins. And I bet you that if he’s not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all. I bet you whenever I had kids, we had three of them. And so when the kids are born and they’re coming along, I could tell them to do this, this, this, and this.

You’d be lucky if they did one of them, but sometimes they’ll do two of them. I ain’t never had them when they did all of them. Well if they don’t obey you in every area, they didn’t obey you at all. I told you to wash the dishes, cut the grass, make the bed, sweep the floor. Now if they didn’t sweep the floor, does that mean they didn’t do the others? Dumb. Well if he’s not Master of all, he’s not Master of all.

This is a good little slogan. Sounds good. But it stinks to high heaven. It’s just not true. As I was learning to walk with the Lord, it was one step, stumble, another step, stumble, another step, another step, stumble, stumble, stumble, stumble, step, step, step, step. And it’s a walk with the Lord, and you learn. and you don’t obey perfectly in every area. In what area of your life right now do you perfectly obey? Perfectly obey every area. One day I will be just like the Lord, but not yet.

I would love to be just like Him now, while I can do the most good, where I can affect the most people, I can reach the most. Look what he says in verse 9. The Lord knoweth, how to deliver the Godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly. You see, Lot was a just man, a righteous man. He knew the Lord, and yet the way he lived wasn’t the way God wanted him to.

God had to chasten this man. You are not going to perfectly obey the Lord in every area. Did you know that when you hear things like that376 and alleging you start stumbling in the Lord, one of the things that you willğ do is start questioning your salvation? Well, I guess I must not really be saved. Because the Lord’s not the master of my life. I’ve actually talked to people and they say, oh yeah, I used to be saved, but I started drinking again.

I used to be saved, but then I started smoking again. I used to be saved, but I started using profanity again. I used to be saved, but I started using drugs, or I ran off on my wife, or out of my wife. Oh, I don’t care what the reason is. I used to be. I used to be. Did you know that if you ever used to be saved, you still are? If you’ve ever been saved, you still are saved.

Because you see, you can’t get saved and stop being saved. It don’t work that way. Like, I used to be alive, but I’m not anymore. Remember, I used to an illustration one time. Are you married? Well, yes, I am. Do you have a wife? Well, I don’t know. Who wants a mother-in-law without a wife? You see, if you’re saved, you’re supposed to have what kind of life? Eternal life. Well, if it’s eternal life, then it should last forever. And if I’m saved, that’s what I got.

Oh, you married? Yes. Then you ought to have a wife or your husband or you’re not married. So simple, so easy to understand. Now look in Romans in chapter four, Romans in chapter four. chapter four and look there in verse five. Remember, according to verse five, you can be saved without making Christ the Lord and the Master of your life. I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior. I would like to believe that the Lord is the Master of my life.

And I’ll have to admit, He’s more the Master and other than other areas because I don’t perfectly obey in any area. I would love to, but one day I’ll be just like Him. When I awake I shall see Him face to face. I will awaken in His likeness.” Now I’m looking forward to that. Here in Romans 4 verse 5, but to Him, that worketh not. That means to the man that doesn’t make Christ the Lord the master of his life, because if he’s the master, that means you must be the servant.

That means you must serve the master in order to be saved. So is salvation by service? Is salvation by your works? Well, no, that’s works for salvation. So God doesn’t save anybody who has any determination in his mind to perform a certain way ofPASS.ongevity. To live a certain way, because that makes his salvation dependent upon his performance. Will I or will I not perform, according to what I promised God. So I say, are you willing to be made willing?

No. Remember in illustration I used a long time ago. Here’s a man under the law. This man under the law is like married to the law. Mr. Law. Mr. Law and Mr. Love. Remember that sermon? Some of y’all don’t remember that sermon. I’m going to have to preach it again. You need to refresh, of course. Mr. Law and Mr. Love, but here’s a person who’s married to the law. Alone comes Mr. Love. Mr. Love loves Mrs. Sinner, but Mrs.

Sinner isn’t free to love Mr. Love because she’s married to Mr. Law. And so she can’t marry him because she’s still bound to the law. So every one of us born into this world are bound by sin to the law and because we have broken the law, the law condemns us to death. So we all have to die. But I want to be free from this condemnation of the law. So you see, the lady here, she can’t commit herself to Mr.

Love. She can’t promise to fulfill his every wish and dreams and whatever. She can’t commit her life to this man. Why? Cause she’s married. this man. You see, you can’t do that until you’re free. And the only way she can be free from the law is that she has to die. And without death, there is no freedom from the law. So that’s why Mr. Love goes to the cross, pays for all of her sin, satisfies the condemnation of the law by taking her penalty, her death, and he dies in her place.

And if she will simply accept that death payment, Mr. Law is satisfied. So the only way she can be free from the condemnation of the law is to die. And so by Christ’s death and put to her, she is a dead individual and the law cannot touch a dead man. So she’s dead. She’s buried. She comes back again from the dead. Now she is free from Mr. Law. Now as a child of God, She can now commit herself to Mr.

Love. You see, only after you’re saved and free from the law, can you now have the freedom to allow him to be the Lord and the Master of… That’s the master of your life. That’s only after you’re saved, but you can’t do it before you’re saved because you have to die first to get free. Doesn’t that make sense? Can y’all follow this or y’all sleeping? Okay, long solo. But anyway, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, look at this verse. 1 Corinthians and chapter 3.

And notice what he says here in verse 1. Verse 1. Now we know these people because it starts off in the book of 1 Corinthians to the saints at Corinth, the saints. The word Saint comes from a Greek where Hagiazo meaning to be made pure and holy and set apart, or we get the word sanctified. So we have been sanctified. You’re looking at a saint. I am a saint, not Bernard, but I’m a saint. I am a saint. But now notice I’m a saint in the Lord, only because I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior, and He made me pure and holy.

verse one and I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as under carnal that means you’re fleshly minded so he’s talking to people here in the church at Corinth not allowing Christ to be the Lord and the Master of their life if the Lord was the master of life and it was automatic then why did they have 14 major problems in the book of Corinthians. Why would Paul have to beseech these people? Like he does in Romans.

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is Naure’s reasonable service and be not conformed to this world, but be it transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove that they good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So evidently, there wasn’t a change in their life. Why do you think he’d tell the, be not conformed to this world? if it was automatic that you’re going to be confirmed to the image of Christ.

Why tell somebody, well, don’t fall in love with the world. Well, you shouldn’t. I mean, so after all, remember you got saved Christ was the Lord, the Master of your life, and you promised God, and it’s automatic. Because if you’re really saved, you will do all of these things. Okay, now, what if you don’t? And they teach a lot of people to question their salvation. I was up there in Athens, Georgia, and there was this preacher that came to town for lame and evangelist.

He came to the Southern Baptist Church, and it was a huge Baptist church. And by the time he got through preaching, he had convinced half of the leadership in the church that they really weren’t saved, because Christ is not the Lord and the master of your life, you’re not saved. You’ve been going to movies. watching dirty stuff. If Christ is not the Lord and the Master of your life, you are not saved. And by the time He got through, boy, here they come weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Next thing you know, half the preachers, no, some of his deacons are getting saved, the piano players are getting saved, the song leaders are getting saved, and the, whoa, they’re having a revival! Why are you having a revival? Because all these people are getting saved. Who got him lost? That dumb evangelist? Because he got him to look at their life to see whether or not you’re really saved. And all he did is got them to doubt their salvation because, well, if I’m really saved, I want to go to church.

Okay, here’s a question. So I don’t want to go. You’re going to read the Bible. I don’t care to read the Bible. Well, you want to pray. I don’t want to pray. Can’t you be saved and not want to do all those things? Yes. But they tell you that you’re not really saved. Because if you’re really saved, you’re not going to want to go out here and do these bad things. And here’s all these teenagers. And every one of them I want to go out and do all those bad things.

I’ve seen a lot of them take that vow, you know, where, you know, they have a little pen and I take a vow that I’m going to be pure until I get married. And a lot of them have to take off those pens. Because the pressure is hard. Well, they causes them to doubt their salvation. So here’s some more. They’ve got to prove they’re really going to mean it this time. And so they’re trying harder and harder. God pitied the preachers that do that in line.

Is salvation by grace or is it by works? Salvation is the gift of God. It’s not of your works. And you’re not to look at your works to try to prove whether or not you’re really saved or not. I’m saved because God says I’m saved. What else do I need to prove that I’m saved? God said, if I believed on Christ that He died for my sins and I would trust Him as my Savior, He said, I am saved, I am born again, I am His child.

Now what other evidence do I need beside God’s Word? I think I ought to be able to just to trust the Lord’s Word on it. How do I know I’m saved? God says I am. So is He telling the truth or is He lying? He said, if I believe it, I have eternal life. He said, if I believe it. I believe it. Okay, well, am I or not? So I don’t look at my works to prove that I’m saved because when you’re down in the valley, you might begin to question your salvation because I don’t feel good today.

Everything’s going wrong in your life. You just had a fight with your husband or your kids and you know, or the boss and you’re just mad and bitter and upset and well, that must be a sign I’m not really saved because if I was really saved, I wouldn’t have had, I wouldn’t have lost my temper like that. You didn’t lose it, you found it. But here he makes a statement. Undecarnal, I have fed you with milk and not with me, for you were not able to bear it.

Neither yet, nor are you able. For ye are yet carnal. That means that Christ is not the Lord and the Master of your life. So then, evidently they must be lost. No, that’s not what the Scripture says. They were carnal Christians. They were Christians that were not doing like they should. They were not living like they should. Should we do right? Yes, we should. Do we have to know? I’m so glad of that. So I know that whenever I fail, I’m a disobedient child of God.

And I know that my Heavenly Father may have to hit me a lick or two, but I know I’m still as child. And sometimes we grieve because of the way we are. Sometimes we wish we could just be totally pure and holy in our thoughts, in our tongue, our word, and actions, and deed. Everything goes on. But you fail, don’t you? If we say, we believe it, if we say we have no sinful nature, we deceive ourselves, and And the truth is not in us.

Whether we like it or not, you still have an a wicked, sinful nature, a desire to do wrong. And it’s going to stay with you until the day you leave this world and get your new body. Or maybe you’ll die before then and God will take you on out of here. And when I awake, when I awake, I shall be in His likeness. I shall see him as he is. I’m going to be just like the Lord one day, no sinful nature, totally perfect, glorified body.

But until then, I think I probably will have a little problem. Have you had any problems lately? With an old sinful nature? You’re trying to tell me you haven’t been envious or bitter, jealous, had any wrong thoughts, you know, anything wrong, thought anything wrong, haven’t been mean or ugly to anybody, totally kind, perfect. Oh, come on. Do you know everybody sins, but you can’t remember the last time you have, huh? Well, everybody does. Everybody else that is. We are all sinners, saved by grace.

Yes, we should serve a Lord with all our hearts. But if you don’t, are you still saved. Yeah, and still his still his job and you’ll still go to heaven whenever you die. Look up here. This hand represent you and me. I represent all the bad things that we do. God says that we’ve all done things wrong. But he loves us, but he hates what we do wrong. And the Lord says that to pay for this sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell.

But to go to heaven, we have to be perfect, as righteous as God. And none of us are perfect, none of us are righteous. Jesus Christ says that we have to be as perfect in His righteous as God to go to heaven, but because of sin we can’t get in. And God says, by our works we can never save ourselves. We’re saved by grace. What it means is this, this hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in a flesh.

Came into the world because He loves us. hates our sin because it separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, did not have to die. But when He took the sins of the world upon Himself, He had to die. He died in our place. He died for us. He paid for our sins. And God said if we would believe He did it for us, then this payment is put to my account. All my sins have been paid.

I go to heaven on what he did. That’s the gift of God. When Jesus came into the world, he’s the only one that can say, God was the total Lord and the master of his life. He says, I do not say or do or think anything contrary to my father’s will. Into what he said? But he is the only one that can fulfill that and say, He was master of all and Lord of all. I don’t think you and I can.

Let’s pray, shall we? If you’re here this evening and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this? Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died, paid for my sins. And I will trust Him as my only hope of going to heaven. And for in God’s sake, if you would trust Him, He would save you and give eternal life. Would you do that? Would you do it right now?

I’m gonna ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand just lets me know that what I said made sense to you, and I’d like to have prayer for you. We’ll just let you in very quickly. If you’re saying, yes, I will trust Christ tonight as my Savior. I wanna be certain of going to heaven, then what it all? Or if you’re watching by internet, all that you have to do, so only thing you need to do, is in your own mind, would you believe Christ did it for you?

Trust Him as your Savior. Our Father, we thank You so much for this time together for the study of Your Word. Bless each one. Thank You so much for this Church. Thank You for all the people that work so hard. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, You can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing tool free, 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.