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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.

Remember, our fellowship with the Lord and our fellowship with each other is supposed to be because of the fellowship of the gospel. Do we believe the same thing? Not to believe the same thing, I can’t have good fellowship with those that don’t believe like I do. Therefore, I have to limit my, I guess you could say, power of influence because there’s not an awful lot of them that think exactly like I do. Just me and my brother and that’s it.

And then I’m not sure about him, no. But look at this statement, because it’s so important. Romans chapter 10 and verse nine is often used in an attempt to support the idea of lordship salvation. And here’s why. Because it states this, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. When studying this verse, there are a few things you have to keep in mind.

And what they say, you must confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life. Well, it doesn’t say that. It just says acknowledging that Jesus is the Lord, that He is deity, He is God. I want you to take your Bible and just look with me over to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew in chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10, and you’ll notice this same phrase is used, but here it’s used in regard to service. And I want you to see the difference because it’s so important.

Here in Matthew in chapter 10, he has called his disciples together, and he gave them power over certain things and told them to go within boundaries, to go to various cities throughout Israel, and he told them some of the things that were going to happen to them. And he says that you need to be like your master. And so he says there in verse 25, it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord.

If they have called the master of the house, Beelzebub, Christ was called Beelzebub, how much more shall they call on them of his household? So if they did that to Christ and he’s the master, what do you think is going to do to his followers? So these are those that were following Christ and he’s called the master, so they are serving. So in verse 26 it says, fear them not therefore, because of what they call you. And then in verse 28, fear them not because of what they can do to you.

Take your life, something simple. Verse 31, fear them not, therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows. and he knows the numbers of hairs on your head and the sparrow that falls to the ground. So he says, you are of more value. Therefore he makes this statement in verse 32, “‘Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, “‘Him will I confess also before my Father, “‘which is in heaven, “‘but whosoever shall deny me, “‘before men, “‘Him will I also deny before my Father, which is in heaven.

So therefore you know you have got to confess Christ before man in order to go to heaven. You’ve got to make him the Lord and the master of your life and you’ve got to serve him. Now see I just added a whole bunch of things in there that he didn’t say. But this is where they get some of their teaching from. But you need to know what it says. You cannot be afraid of scripture. That somebody can take it and twist in such a way that you can’t handle yourself.

This is why you have to know how to defend your faith. It’s good when you know what they believe and the scriptures they use so that you know how to answer the question. Answer every man that asks if you are a reason of the hope that lies within you, that may be challenged you. Can you defend your faith? Well, we’ll pose to be able to. But in verse 32 when he says, you must confess me before men. And will I confess also before my father, which is in heaven, whosoever shall deny me before men.

So he’s talking about confessing, and somebody’s gonna recognize me, or he’s gonna confess me before the father, and if I deny him, he’s gonna deny me. Always remember now. Are we talking about salvation? How to get to heaven? talking about service. And as you go down through here, you’d be surprised how that the scripture just might be able to tell us if it’s talking about how to go to heaven or is he talking about service. But look what he says here in verse 37, he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

He’s talking about who you love the most. And he that love of son or daughter, more than me is not worthy of me. You’re not worthy. Who do you love the most? Well, see, this isn’t talking about how to get to heaven. In other words, you’d have to love God more than mom and dad and brother and sister and anybody else in order to go to heaven. You see, loving that much is law. The first law with commandment, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy soul, all thy strength, that’s the law.

And no man has ever kept the law in order to be saved. But now notice what else he says. He says, talking about something being worthy. And he says in verse 38, and he that takeeth not his cross, followeth after me is not worthy of me. But see following Christ, being worthy, loving Him more, all those are the things that deals with service. That has nothing to do with salvation. Because you come to Christ for salvation and you follow after Christ for service.

A God by the name of Richard Dehan made that very simple and very clear in the old personal evangelism handbook, it’s in there. But now notice what he says here. In verse 39, he that findeth his life shall lose it. He that loses his life, for my sake shall find it. So he’s talking about how you live your life and who you’re living it for. Do you live it for you? You lose your life. You live it for him.

You saved your life. So let’s talk about how you live. What are we We’re talking about salvation or are we talking about service? If we’re talking about salvation, that’s free. If you’re talking about service, then you’ll have to earn it. But if you earn it, you get a reward. All right, look what he says in verse 40. He that received if you receiveth me and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that send me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s, uh-oh, what’s that word?

Reward says he that receiveth a righteous man In the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. Look what it said in verse 42. Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water. See when you’re talking about salvation, you’re not talking about giving, you’re talking about taking. When it talks about giving a cup of cold water, it’s talking about giving, talking about service. If you keep those two things separate, it will help you to divide the scriptures and he says a cup of cold water only in the name of the disciple, Burly I send you, he shall in no wise lose his salvation.”

Is that what it said? She’ll know why he’s lose his reward. You see, in the Gospel of John in chapter 6, he says, all they come in me, shall no wise cast out. Here’s to my, no wise loses reward. You cannot lose rewards once they’re earned. You only lose what you could have earned and didn’t earn. That’s why he says lay up treasure in heaven where thieves can’t get it. Nothing can break through and get it. You can’t lose it.

It doesn’t rust. But you see, you can lose rewards that you could have had. And that’s why God says, I want you to receive a full reward. But he says here, you can in no wise lose your reward. You can’t lose what you’ve laid up. So if it’s talking about rewards, it must be talking about service. So when he talks about confessing Christ before man… It must be for service and not salvation. Now go back to the book of Romans and chapter 10.

Romans chapter 10. As you go down through here, you’ll notice the first part of Romans chapter 10 makes it very clear that there were those in Israel that were trying to be justified by their works. And because they were trying to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves unto the righteousness of Christ. So they tried to establish their own righteousness by the law. So in verse 4 it tells them that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.

So there’s that contrast again. They were trying to earn it by their works of the law and he says that you simply can have his righteousness by faith alone. So he goes down through here and he makes it very simple that faith is as close as the words that you hear. You don’t have to go into heaven, you don’t have to get Christ out of hell. Faith coming by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So when there are those of us who hear the gospel, then we believe it with our heart and confession is made known unto salvation, not for salvation, so that the lost man only has to hear the message in order to believe.

What if that is as simple as simple can get? So he says there in verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or that simply Jesus is Lord. This is who he is. Not the Lord and the Master of your life, because once you go down that trail, you open up a can of worms and then you’re right back up there to verse 2, which he just condemned. Then you’ll be trying to establish your own righteousness by making Christ the Lord and the Master of my life, and I’ve got to live a certain way.

I’ve got to merit it. You just put yourself back under the law which He says not to do. And then on top of that, to make it really clear so that everybody understands it. No complications. He tells him in Romans chapter 11 and verse 6, the answer. Wouldn’t you like to know what it is? Look in chapter 11 and verse 6, look what he says. And if by grace then is it no more of works? This is right after Romans chapter 10.

So anyone who tries to put you under the law didn’t finish reading. He just states it over again, if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, because that’s the issue that they’re discussing. Is it by grace or is it by works? As he says, I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they be an ignorant of the righteousness of God, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

They’re ignorant of it and are going about trying to establish their own righteousness. So once again in verse six he says, but if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise work is no more work. Well yes, but how do we know which way it is? He didn’t say if it was by grace or if if it was by works. Oh, look in verse 5. Verse 5 says, even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace of works.

Grace. God has chosen before the foundations of the world to save a man by grace. As he says, at the present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace, but he says this at the beginning, even so then at this present time also, it means that the way it was before, and that’s the way it is now. No difference. The same message, man has always been saved by grace. That’s how God has saved a man. You will not find one verse of scripture that says God ever saved a man by his works.

And you will never find a story in the Bible that says that God ever lost a man once he saved him. If a man could lose a salvation, shouldn’t there be at least one story, one verse somewhere in the Bible that said that? But you can’t find it. And if a man could lose a salvation and get saved again, Well, shouldn’t there be at least one place in the scripture, one story, one illustration that said, yeah, he was a man who was saved and then he got lost and now he gets saved again.

Why don’t you find that in the Bible? Because it can’t happen. Because once you’re saved, you’re always saved. God cannot unsave you no more than he can unjustify you. The only way he can ever unjustify me is to take Christ and take his death, having no meaning whatsoever and no power whatsoever and that he did not really die for me. He has to annul the death of Christ. And do you think he’s going to do that? Christ died for me, the just for the unjust so that I can be justified just as if I had never done anything wrong as though I had never sinned in my whole life.

Why I like that? And if you have any thinking powered all, you have to say, you know, that’s good. That’s good to know. But notice those last few words are in verse five when he says, also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, see a lot of time we quote six verse, but we forget the verse right before, and if it’s by grace, it cannot be by works. or grace is not grace.

But if it is by verse, you cannot be by grace, otherwise work is no longer work because one annulls the other. Man’s either say by grace or not at all. There are no other options. There’s no option A, B, C, D. There’s only one and that’s what Christ has done for us. So back there to Romans in chapter 10. When he makes the statement there in verse 10, for with the heart, man, be leavin’th under righteousness. How do you get his righteousness by believing?

No difference, saying that we’ve always said, and then he says, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Faith cometh by hearing. So who’s to tell the message? Those that heard it. When you hear it, faith cometh by hearing, and hear in the mother word of God, mentioned in verse 17. And so he says, in verse 11, for the scriptures say it, that’s Old Testament. Whosoever it be, leave it in him shall not be ashamed.” Do you know that’s also mentioned several places, but it also mentioned right here, again in verse 13, when he says, “‘Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Not being ashamed is the same as being saved. You will not be confused, ashamed that you ever trusted Christ as your Savior, because it means you won’t come up short. It’s not going to be like Christ didn’t really save you. He didn’t have enough power. He came up short. That’s what he’s talking about with the book of relations. Is Christ a sinner? Because I trusted him and he didn’t do it. Therefore I got a seat to be saved by my works.

As though he didn’t accomplish what he set out to do. No. He is the Savior. He is the author of eternal salvation. That means it’s a perfect salvation. Nothing can be eternal if it’s not perfect. Perfect salvation. And that’s what he offers to us. But now notice verse 12 says, there’s no difference between the Jew and the gree. For the same Lord, overall, is rich on the all that call upon Him. And we believe that. We believe that God will save anybody who trusts Him.

I believe that. The Bible talks about contending for the faith. What I’m doing, what Hank Lindstrom did, is contending for the faith. We would not permit or allow works to enter into our message. He says here in verse 14, how then shall they call on him of whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without somebody preaching it, without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?

I often wonder what about those that have never heard? Well, this is why we’re supposed to do it. Somebody asked me that sometime back. And I says, the question you just asked me about, what about those that have never heard? I said, I was 18 years old when I trusted the Lord. And I asked that same question. And I said, it bothered me for 52 years. Because of that, that’s why I went to Bible school. That’s why I’ve been here.

started youth branches. That’s why I started a church in the school and had radio and TV. That’s why you do everything that you did because you do care. Because you know that if you don’t do it, there’ll be people that’ll never hear the gospel. Some people say, well they’ll be saved anyway. I don’t believe that. So he says up here in verse 16, for they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report.

When Isaiah said that in Isaiah 53, when he’s talking about the Lord, Lord, who hath believed our report into whom is the arm of the Lord revealed, that statement is a reference to who hath believed the gospel. Because the story he’s telling there in Isaiah 53 is the gospel. It says, who is going to believe the gospel? They did not obey the gospel. They didn’t believe the gospel. And that’s why you and I have been so privileged to be given a wonderful message.

And this is why we are supposed to explain it. The Bible tells us, and I just want to cover that last portion of this. If you’ll look at the second to the last paragraph where it says, when the apostle Paul saw the sin and the corruption in the lives of the Corinthian believers, did he change the gospel message? When Paul wrote first Corinthians, he was writing to a very carnal assembly of believers that desperately needed to be straightened out.

So what did Paul do? Did he change the gospel message in hopes that it would result in better behavior. You know, because you want those Christians to live right, so let’s just make salvation hard on them. Let’s tell them they’ve got to change their life and to commit their life and, you know, really mean business. No, Paul didn’t do that. He just simply taught correct doctrine to deal with the thing. So Paul taught correct doctrine to meet their need.

If they did not live for Christ, they would forfeit rewards in heaven, not if they did not live for Christ, they would not be saved. Or it was a sign they were not truly saved. You never hear Paul saying that. The last statement, some think that if Christ is not Lord of a Christian’s life, then he’s not really a Christian. He never really trusted the Lord. They preach, when you trust Christ, there will be an automatic change in your life.

You’ll want to pray. You’ll want to read God’s Word. I wish the God they did. Then I wouldn’t have to try to get people to do it, it ought to be automatic. If a person gets saved and it’s automatic, then why church is so full of rebellious individuals and the Scriptures has to keep trying to straighten them out because it wasn’t automatic. Look at the next statement. Yes, you still have your old sinful nature and yes, you will still desire to do wrong things.

A A believer may be carnal. That means to live according to his old nature. And it says that in 1 Corinthians 3, 1 and 3, where he says, and I brethren could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. For ye are yet carnal. That means to be fleshly minded. It means there were those who trusted the Lord and were not living for the Lord. They were living like lost people. But in the eyes of some people said, they weren’t really saved.

Then what does a carnal Christian come in? He said, I could not speak unto you as spiritually mature individuals, but under babes in Christ. And so he says, for you’re yet carnal. For whereas there’s among you in being in strife, divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? Paul spoke to them as brethren, his brothers and sisters in the Lord. However, they were carnal brethren. Every Christian has a new nature with the right desires, but just because you have a new nature is not a guarantee that you will have an automatic change for the better in any area of your life.

It is the will of God that yes I as a child of God live for the Lord. But if I don’t it doesn’t do away with my spiritual birth. You can still be a child of God and never have any change in your life and you’re still his child. God didn’t save you based upon a contingency plan that you’ve got to do this. I’ll save you. Contingent upon how you performed. No, that’s not the way it was. It was a gift.

It was totally free. Look up here. This hand represents you and me and the wall represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us, hates our sin. And the Bible says, since we’ve all sinned, we’re all condemned. To go to heaven, you’ve got to be justified just as if you never sinned. But that’s not the case. God says, by your good deeds, you’ll never be justified by trying to keep the law. Doing all the good works that you can do will never pay for your sins.

You’ll never be justified by your works. So this hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God and the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have to die. He was God in the flesh. He came into the world. And the Bible says that He took all the sin of all the world paid for it, came back from the dead, and said that if you and I, if we would believe that He is the Lord, Christ made the statement, unless you believe that I am, He ye shall die in your sins.

You don’t trust any man to get you to heaven. You have to believe Jesus Christ is Deity. Jesus Christ is the Lord. He is God into flesh. If you confess that you believe Jesus Christ, He’s God. And He paid for my sins. If I trust Him, He will save me and give me as a free gift everlasting life and I get to go to heaven on what Christ did for me. He says, He loves you that much. And once you trust Him, you have eternal life.

Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around, you may have heard of the thousand times and yet never have trusted the Lord. Or if you’re watching by internet, there’s nothing that you have to do. You don’t have to walk an aisle. You don’t have to sign a card. Don’t you and have to raise your hand. All you have to do is believe it. Will you do that? Or you didn’t Yottatorium?

Will you believe that when Christ died, He died for you? Will you trust Him Him alone as your only hope of going to heaven? God said that if you would trust Him, He would save you, give you eternal life. I pray that you will. Our Father, we thank you so much for your goodness to us, for loving us so much that you sent your Son to die for us so that we could have eternal life. In the very moment we believe it, we are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses.

In having been justified, we no longer have to seek to be justified. We don’t have to seek to be saved to become your child. We are your children this very moment. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. bless those that are watching by internet, help us to be a blessing in Christ and that 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.

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Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30, and at six 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.