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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 Bible 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 Bibleignmenistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. your Bible and I want to talk to you a little bit about the principle of grace. Grace as a principle. There’s a basic understanding that once you see it and understand it, it will help you in your Christian life. We all need help in our Christian life. How to live?

How then shall we live? So turn quickly into the book of Romans in chapter 11. As you know, When you talk about grace, we want to talk about grace in two areas. One, grace for salvation, and two, grace for service. In the book of Romans in chapter 11, you’ll notice there is one verse that I love to use. It’s very simple, very clear. And it’s just simply stating a fact that grace and words are not the same. And that’s the main thing of this verse.

is not the same. So in verse 6 he says, and if by grace then it is no more of works. Showing you that grace and works are not the same. Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works then it is no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. It’s either by grace or it’s by works. It can’t be both. They are different. So we know that when we understand the gospel and the Bible talks about your sade by grace.

Whenever you’re discerning whether or not a preacher, whether on radio or TV or if you go to their church, always try to decide. Is he a grace man, grace and works or is he all works? You see the damage is done when you take a little bit of grace and a little bit of work and you muddy them up together. It’s usually pretty clear whenever it’s just grace and it says all works, but when you try to put them together, it really muddies up the water.

It confuses people. So that’s why it’s an important thing to know and to understand. Now take your Bible and turn to Ephesians in chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 that you know very, very well and are two of my favorite verses in the Bible. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9, this tells you the means of salvation. So we know that grace and works are not the same, so then when it comes to salvation, he says which one it is.

And we ought to let God tell us which one it is. Is it by grace or is it by works? So he says in verse 8, for by grace are ye saved through faith? By grace are you saved? So if you’re saved by grace you cannot be saved by works, isn’t that clear? You’re either saved by grace or works can’t be both one way or the other. So for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

So that means it’s not of you, it’s not what you produce, it’s not of works, lest any man should boast. See if it was by works then a man can boast, but if it’s by grace we can only brag on the Lord. If it is by grace he gets all the credit. If it is by works we get the credit. So salvation is either a gift or it’s a reward. It’s a gift But you simply receive it. If it’s by works, then you deserve it and you earned it and therefore salvation would be a reward.

So God’s Word makes it very simple and very clear. Now look there in Galatians in chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. See if you get it wrong on the gospel you’ll get it wrong on service. So in the book of Galatians in chapter 2, look in verse 21. In verse 21 says, 4, I do not frustrate the grace of God. It means I do not set the grace of God aside like I don’t need it. Because salvation comes to us through grace.

There’s water in the reservoir, but it comes into my house by the pipes. Do away with the pipes, I don’t get the water. Salvation comes to us through grace. Do away with grace, you don’t get salvation. Simple and clear it is. He says, I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. He died for no reason. If a man can save himself by his works, Christ did not have to die.

So because Christ did die for all the sins of all the world, it meant that not one person in the world could ever save themselves. Doesn’t that make sense? So we know that salvation is the gift of God by the grace of God. It’s given to us not because we earned it or deserved it in any way. Now, turning your Bible to the book of Romans in chapter six. Now, when we talk about serving the Lord, there’s also something God says about the principle of grace.

You were saved by grace. And because you were saved by grace, God says you are now under grace and not under the law. Remember the law was designed to control the flesh, the first birth. It was never given to control the second birth. So the law is for the natural man. It’s never for the spiritual man. It’s never for that godly man. The law was designed for the first birth, the flesh birth, the physical birth to constrain or restrain us.

It was never given for the natural man to try to be saved. It declared unto us the righteousness of God and the weakness of man in the flesh. So therefore, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Now here in Romans in chapter 6, it says in verse 14, “…for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.” There’s two principles here. One is when you’re in the flesh made under the law, law, you were to keep the law to just stay physically alive, but the law was never given to save a man.

It lets us know that we’re sinners for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That’s how we all know we have all sinned because God tells you what sin is. God tells you what righteousness is. And we don’t use our own determination. We let God’s word speak. And so Therefore, God tells us what is right and God says what is wrong, and every man has sinned and comes short of the glory or the perfection of God. So now he says, you’re under grace.

But what is under grace? Grace is the same as the word Christ. And Christ is talking about the power by which you live your life. So as a Christian in chapter 8 it tells you about the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is the power of God that God gave to you. You didn’t earn it, you didn’t work for it, you don’t deserve it. God gave you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power that you need to live the Christian life.

And that is grace. So you are to live by grace or an obedience to the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit that lives within you is to teach you the Word of God, and He only teaches the new man as we’ve used the illustration before, the flesh burst birth under the law condemned. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, new birth born of God. Under grace, born by grace, it lives by grace. And to live by grace means the desire and the power to do the will of God because of the Holy Spirit that lives within you.

So God does not want you and I as a child of God to seek to live for the Lord in the flesh. Anytime you put the flesh and make it alive by resurrecting it from the dead, which God says it was crucified, your place and yourself back under the law and condemnation. And it will not satisfy. It doesn’t satisfy God. It’s not going to satisfy you. And you’ll begin to hate the Christian life because it becomes a boredom to you.

Because it’s a by works righteousness as far as the Christian goes. So there’s grace and salvation and also in the Christian life and what I want to show you. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Galatians in chapter 3. Turn to your right to the book of Galatians in chapter 3. The book of Galatians deals with this subject very, very well. And Galatians in chapter 3, they’re in verse 1. You notice we read that verse right before this, before, that if the righteousness of man could be attained, Christ would not have had to die.

So therefore, we’re encouraged not to set the grace of God aside, because it won’t save you if you try to earn your way to heaven without being saved by grace. And after you trust Christ as your Savior, you and I as a child of God are not to set aside the grace of God. The very power that you need, you set it aside. And then you try to serve the Lord in your own energy, your own mind, your own will, you know, and you’ll make decision because there’s a verse in the Bible says it seems that there is a way that seameth right unto a man.

But that’s only as as long as you’re lost, right? Do you believe that it’s possible for a person after he saved? That thing still seems to be right in his eyes, and he still judges according to what he thinks, instead of what God says. So there’s that possibility. So now he says in verse one, he’s talking to believers, talking to those that know Christ is a savior. He says, oh, foolish Galatians. He’s calling these Galatians fools. Can you believe that?

The great apostle Paul said something like that to the people of Galatia? Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth? Now hold your place right there and look in chapter 5 where he makes statement there in verse seven. He did run well. In other words, you trusted Christ as your Savior. You did run and you ran well. You started serving the Lord and you did a good job. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?

When you stop believing the truth, you will not run and you will not run well. So if you’re living the Christian life and you’re not running well, it might mean that you’re trying to get a blend. But here you are and you’re gonna serve the Lord your way. You see anything wrong with that? I’m gonna serve God my way. If you don’t serve God his way, you don’t serve God. You don’t serve God your way. It’s God’s way. So we find out what does God want me to do.

So whenever you’re not really open to what the Word of God says, you’re going to find yourself in the flesh. And in the flesh is why you’re going to be and you’ll find yourself being a little resentful to the Lord and rebellious to the Lord. Is it possible that God’s children may not run well as they ought to? But here in the book of Galatians is talking about us living by grace and not allowing ourselves to be put back underneath the law because it’s so easy for us to be put back under the law doing it because well I have to do it and there’s no love there.

See when you love the Lord It makes service so easy. Love is powerful. It gives you the power to do what you should do when you love the Lord. Loving the Lord is the key to enjoying. Come into church or studying the Bible, witnessing love for the Lord. The ability that you need to do all the things you’re supposed to do. So God has ways of revealing to us whether or not do you really love the Lord? Are you bored in serving the Lord?

Just check. You may find out there might be something wrong. But look what he says in Galatians 3. Oh foolish Galatians who have to be which to you that you should not obey the truth. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ had to never set forth crucified among you. This only what I learn of you received ye the Spirit received his past tense. These are talking to believers, but these Galatians were not living the way they should because they had listened to what somebody else had said that you have to keep the law.

And so he says in verse two, receive ye the Spirit by the works of of the law, or simply by the hearing of faith. You got the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power of God living inside of you. And He will give to you what you need and teach you what you need to know. And you’ll do what you do because remember when Christ was here He says, I do nothing except by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He yielded himself to the Holy Spirit and they accused him of doing it by the power of Beelzebub. Remember Matthew chapter 12, but he says, no, I did it by the power of the Holy Spirit. So they were attributing what he did and why he did it to the wrong source. All of us need a source. Why do I do what I do? So he says here in verse three, Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? You were born by the Spirit of God.

Now as a child of God, how do you think God wants you to live? See the law is all the things you’re not supposed to do. So some people think that living a Christian life is all those things they’re not supposed to do. Well, I don’t drink and I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and go to girls who do. And I don’t go here and I don’t go there. And so their whole life is on life of being negative.

I don’t, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t. And I don’t commit adultery and I don’t lie. And I don’t, you know, covet and I don’t. And they’re trying to live by the love. All the things are not supposed to do. That’s the law that says what the flesh is not supposed to do. But remember the flesh is already crucified. So forget about that. The Christian life is not what you’re not supposed to do. It’s wrapped up in what you are supposed to do.

It’s a life of being positive. If you do what God wants you to do, you won’t have time to do the things you’re not supposed to do. I keep, look, I’m 70 years old, but I keep myself so busy, I don’t have time to change my mind. I keep doing what I’m supposed to do, and I haven’t got time to get in trouble. It’ll help you tremendously. But you see, idleness is… What is idleness? The devil’s workshop. When never see even with Israel their problems was not When they were on the march it was when they stopped in pitch camp When they weren’t doing nothing when they weren’t going anywhere And so you and I are supposed to be found busy doing the things that God wants us to do Now hearing the book of Galatians He says you have see there in verse 5 he therefore that meant to you the spirit and

and work of miracles and so forth among you. Do it hit by the works of the law or by the here in the faith? So God wants you to hear what the word of God says. Let the Holy Spirit lead and guide you. That’s why you’ll find the English in chapter five and verse 16. Walk in the spirit. Now you don’t see too much here about, you know, live by grace, live by grace, live by grace. It’s all about the Holy Spirit.

Because see living by grace is the power of the Holy Spirit dominating your life. You do what you say and do because of the Spirit of God. Because, and that’s why I’ll show you this in just a moment, we’ll get to it. But turn over there in chapter five. Of the book of Galatians and look in verse one. So we’re talking to the believers, not talking about lost people, we’re talking to the believers. And verse one says, stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free.

You have been made free from the law of sin and death, because you’ve been given a new birth. And the law itself, the law, you’ve been set free from the law. You see, the law condemns the flesh. And that’s why since all have sinned, all were condemned. So Christ made of a woman made under the law, that’s in the book of Galatians chapter 4, to redeem us from the curse of the law so that you can’t be condemned again.

So that you and I, we don’t have to try to live by the law. There’s another word. Says all the law is fulfilled in one word. Anybody have a clue what that one word is? Love. Love, according to Romans, is the fulfillment of the law. If you love, well, then you don’t try to murder people. And if you love, you don’t try to steal from people. And if you love, you don’t try to cover what other people have. If you love.

So the love is the key of fulfilling the law. So that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, but not by us. And that’s in the book of Romans in chapter eight. So whenever you are born again and God gives you the Holy Spirit, that is the grace of God to do what God wants to have done in your life. Now I’ll show you that in just a second. Go back here to verse one, Christ has made us free, be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

That means God does not want you to serve Him in the flesh, in the energy of the flesh, after the flesh. God wants you to think differently. You see, you’re going to be battling back and forth between the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the flesh and their enemies against each other. And so the Christian has to weigh these things in his mind and learn to discern his thoughts. That’s why in the book of Corinthians it talks about bringing every thought into the captivity of Christ so that he captures your mind.

Now, sometimes we hold back from the Lord and we don’t yield certain areas of our lives to the Lord, but God wants us to yield our bodies, this body, to the Lord, for his honor and for his glory, so that whatever I say or do should bring honor to the Lord. Wives are supposed to honor their husbands. We are supposed to honor our head, which is the Lord. So we are to honor that, which is over us and bring honor and glory to Him so that He is pleased with what we say and what we do.

So there has to be something more than just trying to obey a bunch of rules and regulations. You can come to church out of duty, but never to enjoy the Word of God or to learn from the Word of God and never to mature or to use what you learn. So you will not mature and grow. That’s why he says, are you now made perfect by the law? As he says in the book of Galatians in chapter 3, are you now made perfect by the?

No, it couldn’t make you perfect to get saved and it’s not going to give you that perfect life. There’s going to be something better. So what God did is He said, I saved you by grace. Now, I did that because I loved you. I loved you. Not because of what you did, it’s because I loved you. Now, that love that I had for you, I want you to live for me because I loved you. And we love Him because He first loved us.

So if you love the Lord, serving God It’s not gonna be a problem. Your problem is if you try to do it and you don’t love him, then life becomes misery, even the Christian life. And you’re not going to enjoy anything. And you’ll become critical, embiter, and pick apart. So you have got to decide, do I love the Lord? There is where it’s at. Now hearing Galatians and makes a statement here in verse two and three. If you’re talking about salvation, salvation, then if you’re trying to save yourself by being circumcised in Christ’s prophets you nothing, trying to keep the law to save yourself, it profits you nothing.

But as a Christian, is it possible for a Christian to not maintain his liberty? Wherewith he has been set free from the law and become enslaved again? To the law? How do you become enslaved to the law and lose your freedom? When you walk in the flesh? You see, the flesh is under the law, the condemnation of the law. It’s like going back into a prison. Lord said, I’ve set you free. And you want to serve the Lord and go right back into this prison, this hellhole, this cursed place that He brought you out of.

You see, that’s the flesh, this whole sinful nature that we have. And so He says, you’ll lose your freedom. And whenever you live But in the flesh, he says, then you have fallen from the grace principle, the principle of living for the Lord because you love Him. And you’re setting that aside and choosing to live another way. Majority of Christians never figure this out and they can live their whole lives and not really understand it. Nobody makes me serve God.

He has to try to convince me to serve the Lord. For 50 years, nobody has tried to challenge and motivate me to serve. Well, I’ve done it because I wanted to. There’s something on the inside of me that says, look what He did for me. And I made up my mind, I’m going to serve the Lord. And it doesn’t matter what anybody else says or does. No matter what anybody else thinks. should be more real to you than the clothes that you have on your back and nobody can make him real to you.

You can, yes, accept that free gift of eternal life and go to heaven when you die and never darken the doors of a church, never change your life, never do anything and you’re still saved by the grace of God. But now notice it. He says, you did run well, but who hindered you. So verse 16 says, this I say then walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You see you have been set free from the lust of the flesh by the new birth, but the flesh desires are always there trying to pull you back into that jail cell and you’ve been made free.

Why do you want to go back to the flesh? How do you know when you wandered back into that jail cell without even knowing it. Look there in verse 19 and 20 and 21. This is the results of it. So when you walk in the flesh after the lust of the flesh and this is permeating your life or your mind, you know where you’re living. You don’t like none of those things. walk in the Spirit. You see, the answer is not trying to fight the flesh.

It’s just live for the Lord. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 Bible and programs, just go to our home page 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.