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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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to know because most of you have probably already figured this out. I’m a fundamentalist. I’m an independent fundamental Bible, even if you’re minded. It means that I believe some fundamentals about the Bible. You study music, you have to study the fundamentals. And you know, I don’t care what you do, there’s always these fundamentals that you’ve got to have. When we’re not going to play golf, they even say there’s fundamentals of golf. I haven’t figured out what those are yet, but I’m sure they’re there.

I love to play golf. I had a guy one time he saw me on the drive in range and he saw that I was putting the ball everywhere but down the middle. He walked over to me. He says, I’m a golf instructor and I’ve been watching you and I think I can help you. I said, well, great. I said, I can’t pay you anything. He says, that’s okay. I just want to help you. I said, well, great. He worked with me for an hour and he finally got through and he says, I can’t help you.

a professional teacher. He played on the senior tour. He says, I don’t know what it is about you. He says, I just can’t teach you the fundamentals. So I guess I’ll have to give up dreams of playing on the senior tour and also the ladies senior tour. I guess I’ll just stick to preaching the Bible because I was able to learn the fundamentals. I went to Florida Bible College in 1964 to 1968. And God taught me some things about the Bible that I never forgotten.

So I believe that it’s very, very important. So yes, I believe in the essentials. The fundamentals is the essentials of the Christian faith. You see, yes, I believe in the virgin birth. I believe that Jesus Christ did all those miracles. I believe that He was crucified. I believe He was buried. I believe He came back again from the dead. I believe all of that. I even believe He’s coming back again. I believe that. And I don’t have any problem whatsoever.

There’s not a doubt in my mind because you see I spent years studying this book to see if it was really what it claimed to be the Word of God. And as I studied prophecies I became convinced. This book no man could have wrote this book. Man could not have wrote this book. This is one awesome book. And so I want you to take your Bible and look there with me in the book of Romans and chapter 1. See, even God knows that man is hard-headed and stiff-necked.

It means you want proof, you want evidence. And even though he sent his son into the world and was born of a virgin, you can’t prove it. How? He did some of those miracles 2000 years ago but we weren’t there. I never saw them walk on water. I never even saw them raise the dead. I didn’t even see them come back from the dead. And God says blessed are those that have seen it and believe it. Blessed are those who have never seen it and yet believe.

You see I don’t have to have a lot of evidence just a little bit. Something that causes me to believe what God said. Because see, there’s on the inside of me, that little desire that I want the no truth. I want to know for sure if there’s a God. And can you know you have eternal life and be certain I’m going to heaven when you die? I didn’t create that desire, it was always there just like it’s been in you.

And because it’s there, I should… Try to find the answers. And as I studied the Bibles, I found out that there’s so much that the natural man could not have known. This book is real. Look there in Romans in chapter one, looking verse 4. God himself in order to prove that he is God and that what he says is true based upon all the prophecy that he gave in the Old Testament, he must see that Jesus Christ comes back.

from the dead. Everything hung upon that truth because if Jesus didn’t come back from the dead, there’s no way of us knowing that Jesus Christ was truly the Son of God. Because he lived, like other men, he just didn’t sin. But you didn’t, maybe would have known it. They lived with him and they didn’t know. He didn’t do anything that unusual for 30 years. He died on the cross. But back in those days about 30,000 people were crucified on crosses.

So what’s the difference? He was buried, other people were buried. So our whole religion, if you want to call it religion, our Christianity is based upon the greatest truth of all. Did he or did he not come back again from the dead? And I believe that he came back from the dead. Now if he came back from the dead, people often say, well, what happened to the body? What happened to his body? Well, either man took it or God took it.

If man took it, is his friends or his enemies, if it was his friends that took it, then they knew that he didn’t come back from the dead. Why would they give their life for something new wasn’t true. I don’t believe his friends took the body. Plus the Romans had already sealed it and put some soldiers there to guard it. And there’s nothing of any record anywhere where the disciples came in and slew all of these Roman soldiers and stole the body.

There was no record of anything like that happening. So I don’t think his friends did it. If his enemies did it, it would have worked against him. They’re the ones that said, hey, this guy said that he’s going to come back from the dead in three days, seal this thing and make sure he doesn’t come back. So they wouldn’t have done it and the disciples couldn’t have done it. So his friends couldn’t have and his enemies wouldn’t have. You know that only leaves somebody called God.

God did it. The Bible says that God raised up Jesus Christ from the dead. And I believe it. See what he says here in verse 4, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. If there is no resurrection from the dead, there is no gospel. There is no good news. See there in verse 16, looking at verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the good news.

It is the power of God unto salvation. So the gospel is the power of God to save a person. But what is included in the gospel? Turn your Bible to the book of 1 Corinthians and chapter 15. in the chapter 15, very important for you to see this. So Jesus had said five times, I am going to die and I’m going to raise this body up. I’m going to die and I’m going to raise this body up from the dead.

You know, if he didn’t come back from the dead, that would make him a liar. And if he’s a liar, he’s a sinner. And if he’s a sinner, he’s no different from any other man. He had to come back from the dead. All the religions of the world, you know, they’ve got their men and they’ve got their graves and they’re still in the graves. There’s only one that has an empty tomb. Then that’s the place of Jesus. Jesus was placed in a tomb where you weren’t here inside the school, but I mentioned to them that Jesus was someone that borrowed a donkey that no man ever said on.

Would you like to get on a horse? Nobody ever said on? He borrowed it because he didn’t need it for long. And the Bible says that he borrowed an upper room. He didn’t need it for long. And And then he told him, he says, he’s going to borrow a grave. He didn’t need it for long. Three days later, he came back. You know anybody else that just borrowed a grave? Yeah, I’m not going to be here long. Can I just borrow it just for a few days?

I think that’s a riot. But in 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, if you will, look there in verse 1. Because without the resurrection, there is no gospel. And the gospel is founded upon the truth. came back from the dead. So he says there in verse 1, Moreover, Brother, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, but which also ye are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, Old Testament, that he was buried in and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture. One person asked me one time says when it says and he rose again does that mean he died and rose again before this time? No it means that he was alive and was dead and when he rise from the dead it means he lives again.

So he was alive and he was dead and he is alive again. He rose again means he lives again. So to come back from the dead means to live again. Jesus Christ rose. Jesus Christ is alive. And he says, by which you are saved, there is no other way to be saved. You see, Jesus Christ had to prove that he was the Son of God. So he was willing to subject himself to all the demands of the law of God and the law of man, and the law of God, when he put the sins of the world upon himself, God smitten his own son.

But according to the law, anyone who claimed to be God, then he would accuse a blasphemy, and according to the law, he was to die. And And yet he died on a Roman cross. The world put him to death. And at the same time, God says he delivered him by the determinant counsel of God into the hands of sinful men and let sinful men do what they did to this man. Jesus Christ was either God or the greatest imposter that’s ever been in this world.

How many people, even to this day, celebrate the resurrection? And yet many do not have a clue where they’re going to spend eternity. For example, you can come here to church today. That doesn’t mean you’re going to church. I mean, you’re going to heaven. Some of you might go to church and that’s all you’re going to go. But you don’t go to heaven because you went to church. and you may have heard about the resurrection and have not got a clue where you’re gonna go into dying.

To me, when I used to hear about Easter, it was always the Easter bunny and Easter eggs. And I remember I was about, I guess five or six years old and I don’t have any clue where I got the idea from, but maybe I was enhanced a little bit because they had an Easter egg hunt at the school that I went to. And I remember, they turned all of us kids loose out there in this field, and we all went looking for these little things.

And I found some and I ate it and it was chocolate. And I thought the Easter Bunny lays chocolate eggs. And I went everywhere trying to find these chocolate eggs. And after school was out, I was still out there trying to find these chocolate eggs. of those things were not chocolate. I had a lot of lessons to learn. That was my story of Easter, but I knew nothing about Jesus Christ. I didn’t know that He was the son of God and died on the cross and paid for sin and came back again from the dead.

Because if He didn’t come back from the dead, then God didn’t keep His word. Because God said He would come back. Jesus said He would come back. So all of our hope is based upon this truth. This is why it’s one of the greatest things in the world and the most hated doctrine of any teaching. Because if Jesus did come back again from the dead, no man should fear death. Every man would know he’s going to live again and never to die anymore.

I was mentioning this in Sunday School also. I thought it was a good thought. I wrote it down. I thought it was so good. Everyone’s in a while I’d come across something I think is really good. We know that Christ may come back at any time because we believe in the resurrection. We can believe He’s coming back. But if you don’t believe He ever left, you can’t believe He’s coming. So I wrote, we are the only ones alive that can live with the hope of God.

never dying. Of all generations, a lot of people have had that hope, but they did. We’re still alive. We’re the only ones who believe that there’s a good possibility the Lord may come back in our lifetime and we will never see death. There is no hope greater than that, no hope bigger than that. Because you see, the resurrection of Jesus Christ inspires us with the highest elevation of hope. If I die, I’ll be shocked to death. Some of y’all will get that after a while.

It’s just taking the time. Some things have to sink in just a little bit. I don’t believe that I’m going to die an old man. Somebody says, you already are old. It’s relative. I used to say, I don’t care if I lived to be 70 years old. But when I got 69, I got concerned. So I’m not an old man when you compare to eternity, it’s like that. But understand, because He lives, we will also live. And that’s one of the greatest things that we know.

That’s how come I know. I have eternal life. I believe that when Christ died, He died for me. Let me show you something that you need to understand because it’s so important, letting this hand represent you and me and the wallet represent all the bad things that we’ve done. It’s called, this is what resurrection says, he’s about. This is why Christ came into the world because He loves us. He loves us. And heaven is a perfect place. God is perfect.

So we have to be perfect to go to heaven. people think you just have to be pretty good. Well, there is no pretty good heaven. There’s only a perfect heaven and you’ve got to be perfect to go there. So that’s why nobody can go to heaven because we’ve all sinned. We’re all sinners. We’ve all done things wrong. So God says because of sin, it has to be paid for and the wages of sin is death. So the Bible says we cannot save ourselves.

You see, some people say, we’ve got to turn from your sins, Not being bad. No, no, no. You don’t have to turn from your sin. You got to die for your sins. Wages sin is not turning from your sin. The wages sin is death. You must die. That’s why everybody born. Everybody sins. Everybody dies. And God says, you cannot save yourself. That’s why there’s nothing that you can do to save yourself. Go in the church won’t save you. It won’t get you to heaven.

and given money. I’m not against it, but it won’t get you to heaven. I hated to say that. Oh, it took everything I had to do to say that. And you don’t have to treat your wife right to go to heaven. Now why did I say that? But anyway, God says there’s nothing you can do to save yourself. The Bible says you’re saved by this gospel, by which ye are saved. By which you are saved. See, we’re going to pay for this.

It’s eternal separation from God in hell. So the whole thing about this is how to save us from hell. Because I don’t want to go there. Do you want to go there? I don’t want to go there. So God found a way to save a man because he couldn’t earn it. So God did this. He sent his son, Jesus Christ. This hand represents Jesus Christ. to the world. He was spotless. He was sinless. Never did anything wrong. Lived a perfect life.

He had no sinful nature. And He had no reason to die because He hadn’t sinned. He didn’t have to die. We sinned. We have to die. So because He was spotless and innocent and pure and holy the law couldn’t condemn him. The law condemned all the rest of us. So Jesus Christ, because he loved us and he loved his father. He says, even so I love my father. I want the world to know. I love my father. Even so I do.

So he came into the world because of love. And he hates our sin because our sins separates us from him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, didn’t have to die. the sin of all the world and He died in our place. And everybody just about her, He died, but He died to pay for our sins. It means that if I believe He paid for my sins, it means I don’t have to pay for them. If I believe it, the payment He made is put to my account.

I go to heaven on what Christ did. It means that I don’t have to go to hell today and pay for a sin. I don’t have to to go to hell tomorrow and pay for a sin. I never have to go to hell to pay for any sin. I can’t go to hell. I’ve had people tell me to go there. I can’t go there. It’s impossible. Why? Because I believed the gospel. This good news that if I would believe that what Christ did, He did it for me as my substitute in my place.

He would give me as a free gift everlasting life and I go to heaven on what Christ did for me. That was the best news I ever heard in my life. Did you know that He arose in order to give to you and I the blessings of salvation? Because if He had not come back from the dead, there’d be no salvation to offer because there would be no good news. The good news isn’t that he died and was buried.

What was good news became back from the dead. Now he is alive that can save anyone and that was God’s proof. God’s evidence he meant what he said. Jesus Christ coming back from the dead with the scars in his hands and and scars in his side and scars in his feet is the living proof, the receipt, proof of payment. In other words, you go to the restaurant, you get a little receipt, you go get some gas, you get a little receipt.

Jesus Christ is my receipt, paid in full. You see those scars? They were put there for me. He did it for me. He is my living proof for all eternity and he He is always alive and can never die again. So I’ve always got this receipt. Nobody can ever send me to hell. God can’t send me to hell. Nobody can send me to hell. Why? I have a receipt paid in full. He died in my place for my sins.

I don’t have a sin to pay for. Do you get that? Do you really understand what I’m saying? How many of you understand what I’m saying? Let me see your hand. All right, put your hand down. I mean, you don’t know the nori. is so important. You see, once you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, one of the greatest things is that it imposes upon you and me the most exalted union ever can be created. Now when I married my wife, she married me.

We were joined together in Holy Deadlock. So we were married and she still has a ring. I got three months after we were married and took a couple of years to pay for them. I don’t wear a lot, I just don’t like to think. But we’ve been married almost 53 years in June. Now that’s a pretty good long time, 53 years. So we have been together all these years. That’s a union. Some of you have children born into your family, and there’s a family union.

And sometimes they leave, and they come back home, a family reunion. There’s not gonna be a reunion like what we’re gonna have when we get to heaven, and the whole family’s there. The whole family of God. We’re all beat together. What a family reunion that will be. But the greatest union of all is whenever we had this sin that separated us. And whenever I trusted Christ as my Savior, He accepted me. I accepted Him. And we were joined together in a holy union that can never be severed.

This is the most precious union in all the world. That’s why I have eternal life because Christ says, He is the true God and eternal life. And when I trust Him as my Savior, I am united with Him and I have eternal life and He’ll never cash me out and never lose me. That means this union is forever its eternal union. It is eternal security. I am eternally secure. I can never go to hell. That’s the most gracious, peaceful mind that anybody can ever have.

But yet, in spite of what he did 2,000 years ago for the sins of the whole world, many people do not get it. They still think they have to earn eternal life and work their way to heaven by their good deeds. If you could get there any other way, Christ would not have had to die. if righteousness should be by the law, then Christ is dead in vain, He died in vain.” You see, God cannot release a prisoner until the dead is paid.

The song that James sung up here just a moment ago, paid in full, paid in full, paid in full, nothing left to pay. paid in full. So when I accept that payment, I am no longer prisoner. I am free. My debt has been paid. You know, you get a guy, he does something wrong in society, and then he goes to jail for, you know, three years, four years he gets out, and I paid my debt to society. Well, we have a debt we owe to God.

I don’t want to pay that debt to be eternally separated from God. So I’m glad that Christ died on the cross for my sins and will give me as a free gift ever lasting life. So you see, here I am. I’m a sinner, just like you. Christ had no sin. He took hours, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. And God says, whosoever, believe it in him, should not perish but have everlasting life. You go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did on the cross for you.

So then he says that he has joined us together in this union. And because of that, he makes a statement in the book of Romans in chapter 6. Walk in newness of life. You see, what I like about this whole thing is that not only has he given me eternal life, but he has given me period of time since I trust the Lord 52 years. to walk in this newness of life. You see, I know that this thing is true.

This thing has changed my life. I’m not the same fellow that I used to be. 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 two 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 toll-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 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.