Bibleline Radio Show – 2014-04-03 – Will The Real Christian Please Stand Up? Pt.2
Transcription:
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
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 a 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. You see, whenever you add works to the message, it gets really complicated. If it’s free, well, that solves that. But if you have to earn your way to heaven, by the way you live, doesn’t it get complicated? Now you’ve got to know, are you capable of doing it? What are the real requirements?
What are all the requirements? Were you good enough? How many good works do you have to do to know you made it? How many bad works do you have to do to know you don’t have it? So do you know when you’re really saved or really lost? What do you know? They don’t know anything. And that’s why, well, I hope I’m going to heaven. I’m trying. I’m doing the best. That’s not in the Bible. God says these things have I written unto you that believe.
That’s all. You may know that you have eternal life. How can I know I have eternal life? Because I believe. That’s all I have to do. If I trust Him, He gives me eternal life and I go to heaven or what He did.” Now what’s the problem? There is no problem there, see. But if you have to earn your salvation or if you could lose your salvation, you don’t know if you got anything. Unless you believe that once you’re saved, you’re always saved, you don’t have anything.
You have no hope because it depends upon your works and how you live. going to heaven has absolutely nothing to do with how I live my life. Now I live my life to try to please the Lord but not to get to heaven but because I’m going there. I serve the Lord because I love him because of what he did for me. He gave it to me as a gift totally free and I love him for that. Let me read this to you.
This is also in their book. The following quotes are from their literature. God’s God’s will is that to make good His salvation to everlasting life, the believer must be a preacher in this world. That’s in their book page 137 on this means everlasting life. That’s why they all have to go out and preach and knock on doors. And that’s why when they come to your door and you know who they are and what they’re after, God says, don’t even ask them to come in the house.
He says, well, I don’t want to offend them. What about God? God says, no. God does not want you listening to anything that’s contrary to the simplicity that’s in Christ. See, God made things simple, easy to understand. Man complicated because he can’t believe it’s that easy. It’s free, free. You understand, free, not of works lest any man should boast, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. The next statement they wrote, except in the message of salvation and devoting ourselves to God through Christ and being baptized in water is only the beginning of our exercise of faith.
It sets us on the way to everlasting light. You ain’t got it yet. You just got set on the right way, see. Then what is the second of the things that you must do to get ready for life in the new paradise? You must meet with other people who have the same knowledge and faith for these today make up a new world society. So you’ve got to go to the Kingdom Hall. Next statement, remember that meeting with the people who really study such good things of God’s Word is a thing that you must do to gain God’s favor and life in the new paradise.
The third thing that you must do in order to receive God’s favor is to change your living from the former way to God’s way. That’s just how you get eternal life. This is what they say. This is what they write. Does this agree with what God’s word says? No. Then this is false. Some people say, well, you don’t have a right to judge. Well, bless it be God. I’m not judge. I’m just telling you what the judge said. He wrote his word and says this is right and this is wrong.
And I’m supposed to not be able to know what’s right and wrong. Then why did he write it? He wrote it so that I could say, hey, that’s right and that’s wrong. So when somebody makes up their own religion, I’m not supposed to agree with it because, well, they mean well, they’re such nice people. Listen, I could stand up here, a preacher from all the different kind of religions there are in the world. If any one of them adds one word to the gospel, how a man is saying, false.
He’s false. False teacher, false preacher. If I had over here sitting on the stool, some old drunk, you just dug out of the gutter. He looks pathetic. He’s shooting drugs, living like the devil. But five years ago, some beer joint, somebody gave him a heaven track and he trusted Christ as a savior. Now listen to me and listen well. that man dies and these fifteen priests and pastors and whatever all dressed up and collars on backwards and looking shut, they all die.
There is the real Christian. Say, what? You see, these are like the people who stand and say, I fast and I give ties of all that I possess. I’m so glad that I’m not like that man. And that man just says, Lord, I’m a sinner. Be merciful to me. Jesus said that man is justified. And these are hypocrites. Jesus said that about the religious leaders and religious leaders are leading people astray and their churches all over the world. And they have the name their Christian check if they do not believe that salvation is eternal.
And by trusting Him in Him alone that they have eternal life. They ought to take the name Christian off of has nothing to do with Christ. Let’s look at another one. I’m not making this stuff up. I don’t have to. It’s out there and it’s real. But let’s take a look at one called Mormonism. You ever heard of Mormonism? The facts, organized in about 1830 by Joseph Smith. Somebody else was along before that, but revealed a place where the golden plates were buried, an angel of Moroni.
Gives myths and special glasses called the urine and the Thurman. And he reads these plates and lo and behold he’s got a new translation. And this is what he says about salvation. We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. And what are the laws of the gospel? We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, for laying on the hands for the gift of the Holy Spirit and on and on and on and on and on.
You say, well, we believe the same thing. No, we don’t. There Jesus is not my Jesus. Their gospel is not my gospel. It is not the same. Now, let me just mention this to you. This is what they say. This is from their writings. Just listen. A lot of people don’t want to read stuff, because they don’t want to form an opinion. Some people think that Agrius is bliss. Agrius is not bliss. We believe in God the eternal Father.
That sounds good. But this is in their book in what they wrote. They said, first, God Himself, who sets enthroned in yonder heavens, is a man like unto one of your cells. God in heaven is a man like you. That is the great secret. I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. God Himself, the Father of us, all dwelt on earth the same as Jesus Christ Himself did.
Jesus says, as the Father hath power in Himself, even so hath the Son power. To do what? What the Father did? That answer is obvious. In a manner to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? Lay down my life as the Father did and take it up again. You have got to learn how to be God’s yourselves. To be kings and priests to God the same as all gods have done.
Then he says, God himself, the father of us all, is a glorified, exalted, immortal, resurrected man, and Adam was the first man and became God. These are the God-makers. Their religion was so bad, they were chased out of several other places. They finally settled out there in Utah. But is there a gospel, my gospel? Are they talking about the same Jesus that I talk? No, it’s not the same. They say that Jesus and Satan were brothers. I don’t buy that.
That’s not the Bible. They have an extra-biblical source of authority that’s outside of the Bible. That’s why it’s called the cult. But is it a Christian belief? No, it has nothing to do with Christ. They had their own religion, and it was only written a couple hundred years ago, that. Lorenzo Snow, who was one of the presidents, made this statement, as man is, God wants was. As God is, man may become. Isn’t that wonderful? I just don’t believe it.
This is what they said about salvation by grace because they have different heavens, and they’ve got different levels of salvation. The Mormon writer Bruce McConnie, Conkey, devised salvation in two, three types. One, unconditional or general salvation of that which comes by grace alone without obedience to the gospel law consists in the mere fact of being resurrected. So you could talk to them about, well, I just believe it’s salvation is by grace through faith and that alone. Well, put it there, bro.
We believe that too. You see, they don’t mean the same thing. What they mean by that is by the mere fact you’re going to be resurrected. That’s a, you don’t have to do anything, you don’t have to work for that. That’s automatic. But that’s not what I’m talking about when I say the salvation is by grace alone. Then they say this, conditional or individual salvation, that which comes by grace coupled with gospel obedience, consists in receiving an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of God.
And in its true and full meaning is synonymous with exaltation or eternal life, and consist in gaining an inheritance in the highest of the three heavens within the celestial kingdom. With a few exceptions, this is the salvation of which the scripture speaks. This full salvation is obtained in and through the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and those who obtain it are gods. in their book Mormon Doctrine, page 669 to 670. And this is what it means. And they write, the mere fact of resurrection is called salvation by grace alone.
Salvation in the celestial kingdom of God, however, is not salvation by grace alone. Rather, it is salvation by grace coupled with obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. In other words, it’s based on your works. because we’re talking about when you accept Christ as your Shavie, He gives you the free gift of everlasting life and you get to live with the Lord for all eternity. And then, no, no, no, not so fast. Salvation by grace has just been resurrected.
But if you want to live with the Lord for all eternity, then you have to earn that. The Bible doesn’t say that. It’s nowhere in the Bible. But listen, I don’t like people taking the name when they have no right to the name. It’s like somebody else walking in this door right there and says, I’m Ralph Yankee Arlo. Wait a minute, I know that guy. I know Ralph Yankee Arlo and you hear him. Caught a steal my name. Today we call it identity thieves.
There’s a lot of identity thieves out there that have trying to steal the name of Christ. Claiming that they’re Christian, not Christians, churches are saying they’re not Christians. You’re only a Christian if you believe in Jesus Christ alone is your only hope of going to heaven and that you can’t lose your salvation because you believe Christ paid for all of your sin, not most of them. He paid for all of my sins, gives me as a free gift everlasting life and I go to heaven on what Christ did for me.
Christ in me, me in Christ and you can’t get in Christ or a Christ in you without simply trusting Him and Him alone as your only hope of going to heaven. It got a whole thing here on cults. You don’t have time for all that iss. You can apply this same principle to all the religions in the world and see whether or not? Are they adding works to the gospel? If you need anything more than Christ to get to heaven, it’s false.
See, many people believe that Christ is necessary, but they don’t believe He’s enough. And they got to add to it. I believe Jesus Christ is all I need to get me to heaven. He doesn’t need one of my good deeds to get me there. I’m going to heaven because this is what he did for me. Let me show you something. This is you and me. This is sin. The Bible says all of us have sinned. So we’re all in the same boat.
All have sinned. and the wages of sin is death. Eternal separation from God in place called hell. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven, we have to be perfect to go to heaven, and nobody’s perfect. No religion can make you good enough to go to heaven. No church can, no preacher can. You can’t do it. You see, if God doesn’t do something, nothing can be done. So man cannot save himself. Man cannot do anything to get good enough to go to heaven because he’s got to pay for this in hell.
He’s already condemned. But he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not condemned already. See the world’s already condemned. Not waiting to be condemned. God says because we’re sinners, we’re condemned. We’re all guilty. And God says you cannot save yourself. the church can’t take anybody to heaven. The Ten Commandments won’t get you to heaven. Water baptism won’t get you to heaven. Water won’t wash the dirt off your neck if you don’t use soap with it.
It’s not going to wash away a sin. Those are things that man makes up. You can’t add anything to what Christ did. Christ died to pay for our sins because that was only thing required. Nothing else was required. He died and took my place so that I don’t have to go to hell. I don’t have to pay for one of my sins. You said that’s not fair. I agree. That ain’t right. I agree with you again. That’s why it’s called grace.
Undeserved mercy. Undeserved. See religious, try to tell you, you have to deserve the right to be saved by grace. That’s a contradiction in terms. This hand represents Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. And you can’t make it any other way. He is God in the flesh. He had no sin, did not have to die. He came into the world. He never did one sin like we did. So he took all of our sins. He didn’t have to die.
He took all of the sins of the world upon Himself and paid for it in full, came back from the dead. And God said that if we would believe He did this for us, He would put this payment that He made to our account. We go to heaven on what He did. You’re not going to heaven on what you’ve done. You’re going to heaven on what He did. He paid for all of our sins. And He said that He would give you that very moment you believe in the free gift eternal life.
Now if it’s eternal life, it means it would last forever. And if it lasts forever, that means he’ll never cast you out. He’ll never lose you. Nobody can pluck you out of his hand. You become his child forever. And yes, it is true that once you’re saved, you are always saved. If you don’t believe you’re always saved, you’ll have to question whether you are saved, because God only has one kind of salvation. It’s permanent. It’s eternal. If yours is temporary, you don’t have anything.
So you’re either saved forever or not saved at all. I hope you understand what I’m saying. If you don’t believe what I’m saying, you believe a corrupted gospel where people have added things to it. And God says, you don’t add anything to what I’ve done. It’s hard for people to believe it. It can be so easy, so simple. I’ve had people say, well, you can just make it too easy. That’s that easy beliefism. I said, what’s that? He said, a pen.
I said, no, that was too easy. Believe hard. How do you believe? How do you believe hard? If I told you this was not a pin but this is a baby grand piano, that’d be hard to believe. So if I offered you my pen and you accepted, you would have a pen. I’ve offered you my wallet and you accepted you to have an empty wallet. If Christ walked in here right now and offered you eternal life and you accepted you to have eternal life.
If it’s eternal life, how long would it last? If it lasts forever and all you sins are paid, where would you go when you die? So can you know you’re going to have it before you die? Yeah. And the only way you can know it is because it’s free. If it was on your works, you’ll have to well have to wait and see. That’s how you can tell. It’s how easy it is. If you don’t know right now that you’re going to heaven, when you die, you probably aren’t going.
Ain’t that simple? What to keep it simple? But you see, all you have to do is see the only thing you can do. Admit to God, you’re a sinner. Everybody else knows it anyway. Your wife knows you are. Your husband knows you are. You’re a sinner. Just admit it. Stop denying it. Stop running from it. You are a center. The Bible says, all have sinned. We all are. But the Jesus Christ, who loved us, took all of our sins.
Paged for it on the cross, came back from the dead and says that when you believe that He did it for you, He puts that payment to your account, we go to heaven on what Christ did. That day, 51 years ago in a little-o living room, when I accepted Christ as my Savior, I became, my Savior, I became a Christian. I became a Christian. And I’m so glad that I’m a Christian. I thought, well, I was strange. Somebody sent it to me.
I printed that and thought, yes. Got a couple of good little thoughts there. When I say that I am a Christian, I’m not shouting that I’m cling-living. I’m whispering. I was lost. But now I’m found and forgiven. When I I say, I’m a Christian. I don’t speak of this with pride. I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide. When I say I’m a Christian, I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on.
When I say I’m a Christian, I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting I have failed as God is my goodness. When I say I’m a Christian, I’m not claiming to be perfect in myself. My flaws are far too visible that God believes that I’m worth it. When I say I’m a Christian, I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartaches. That’s why I call on his name. When I say I am a Christian, I’m not holier than thou.
I’m just a simple sinner who received God’s good grace somehow. Pretty is as pretty does, but beautiful is just plain beautiful. And being a Christian is about the most beautiful thing I know. I am a Christian and I wrote down my notes. A Christian is the most unique person in the world. Not everybody is a Christian. The only ones that gets to go to heaven are Christians. The only ones that are going to get that glorified body and walk on streets of gold are Christians.
When Christ comes back in the air, the rapture takes place all over the world. He’s coming back for Christians. I’m not ashamed that I’m a Christian. I’m thankful for what God has done for me. I will not apologize to anybody but a Christian. I also think that it’s important for every Christian to live like a Christian. Not to get to heaven, but I am unique. I’m somebody special. I am a child of the king. I’m a child of God.
And I’m going to heaven. I want to live here like a prince. He has met all my needs. Whatever they may be, He’s already done it. But anyway, I want you to look at two notes at the bottom of the page. You thought I was going to forget, I know. In the little box, or two verses, one above it, the one from Colossians in chapter 1, where it talks about Christ in you, hope of glory, Christ in you. And here in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 13 verse 5 that makes a statement, examine yourself whether you be in the faith.
Whether you’re In the face it boils down to How that Christ is in you. Christ is in you. If Christ is not in you, you are a reprobate. You’re not his child. You’re illegitimate. Unless Christ is in those preachers of these false churches, they’re reprobate. They’re lost. If Christ is not in you, standing here right here this morning, you’re not a Christian because you came to church. No more than you’d be an automobile if you walked into a garage.
You are a Christian only by this small definitive answer that you believed in Jesus Christ as the one who died and paid for all of your sins. That is what makes you a Christian. You may not live like a Christian, but you are a Christian if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you’re trusting the church to get you to heaven, your good works to get you to heaven, you are not a Christian, I don’t care how good you live.
And I don’t care if all those preachers have them callers on backwards and how dressed up they look and how well they can sing and all of the… I don’t care how big their churches is. If they don’t trust Christ, they are lost as a hound dog on the end of a soup bung. What that means is, interpret is, is they’re not gonna make it. The last verse. Greet you one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all.
Peace be with you all that are in Christ. A Christian is someone where Christ is in you and you are in Christ. And the only way you get in Christ is by accepting Him as your Savior. Not everybody that claims to be a Christian is a Christian. Not all those running for public office. They say they’re not Christians. I’m not saying they’re not individual Christians in all different kinds of churches because they can be. But if you go by the doctrinal teachings of a belief of a denomination, it’s false.
You just check it. Always find out what do they say you have to do to go to heaven. You don’t listen to the smooth talking preacher. You don’t care about how well the choir sounds or whether or not you got new carpet in the church and whether it’s air condition or not or the pews are padded. What’s the message? What does a man have to do to go to heaven? Let’s pray, shall we? Father, we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us.
We thank you for this day and for the opportunity we have to define what is a Christian and Father be thankful because we’re not ashamed of the gospel. We’re not ashamed of Christ, then we should not be ashamed be called a Christian. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. In Christ then 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 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.
