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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, 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 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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Alright, I want you to do something for me before we get started. I want you to stand up and come right down here in the front. here in the front. Just get up, everybody get up, come right down here and stand. Just a second. Everybody come on down here. Everybody, everybody up there in the thing there too. You don’t have to up there. You stay right where you are up there. Everybody come right on down here. Just gather right here in the front, right here in the front, over here.

I want it crowded. Half Halfway on the steps. Up on the steps. Up to where this is right here. Don’t go past me. Alright, come on up. So everybody can come up here. Alright, now are you got them on there? You got them. Now I want you to turn around and wait everybody on the internet. They don’t know anybody’s here. Hello out there. Glad to see you. Alright, now turn around and back you around this way. Now I want you to do something because of what I’m speaking on tonight.

And And I want you to see this because if I don’t show it to you, you can’t see it no other way. This is my Bible that I had years ago. Now I used to market pretty good. As you can see, it’s just about used up. So as time goes on, I’ve had to get a few more Bibles over the years. I used to really study the Bible and I’d mark it. And it didn’t matter all the way over to the book of revolution.

So when I tell you to mark your Bible, it’s okay. If you want to learn your Bible, learn to mark your Bible. And that’s what I wanna speak about tonight. Okay, now you’re gonna go be seated. All right? You have your notes. Years ago, years ago, Betty’s dad led me to Christ. I did not know anything about the Bible. I did not know where John 3 16 was, or Ephesians 2 8 9, or 1 John 5 13. I had no clue.

I did not know there was an Old Testament and a New Testament. I didn’t know there were different books in the Bible. Bible. I knew zero about the Bible and I’m 18 years old. So sometimes we take it for granted. Well everybody out there, everybody knows the Bible. But if you’re raised in church all your life, you assume sometime and you take it for granted. Well everybody knows the Bible. No, they don’t know the Bible. And believe it or not I found out that many people who have been raised in church have heard it for years do not have a working knowledge of the Bible.

They have a knowledge of some of the things in the Bible, but their knowledge doesn’t work for them. One of the things that you should always strive to do is find all salvation verses, underline them in the Bible. And one of the advantages that you have by doing this is that whenever you show somebody a particular verse that you want them to see, their eyes and your eyes are easier to focus upon a verse that’s already lined. It stands out from all the other verses.

But of course, if you mark every verse, it will not help you. So you don’t want to mark every verse, but you can see that over the years I wrote a lot of notes in my Bible, and I’d use it until there was nothing left. This cover on my Bible is I put this cover on here because I wore out the old one. And so I got into doing book binding and stamping names on Bibles in gold. I have a Bible that’s in the office that I bound for Betty, and I did it in 1963.

And it is about this thick, rolled in gold. I cut the leather, I did all of that, and stamped it and so forth. And I dedicated it to her. So I still have that Bible in the office, and that’s got to be, you know, a few years old. About 50, 50, it is 50, 50 years old. So that was a long time ago. But I want you to understand that if you want to be a good servant of the Lord, the Lord.

You know, the Bible talks about being fit for the ministry. It means that you are prepared to be used. A lot of people don’t prepare themselves and say, well, I can’t. Or they can’t even discern when they have an opportunity. But when you know what to say, know what to do, how to open, how to close, you’re more willing to do it. And so that’s the reason that you mark your Bible, but not everything in the Bible, just certain things that you can use that would help a person on a particular thing.

Now I want you to look at this because this is the one thing that you have to get down you must be sold on and that is eternal security is the gospel. Don’t just think that the gospel is something separate from eternal security. Don’t make the mistake like a lot of people say well let’s just get them saved and we’ll teach them eternal security later. You don’t know you got anybody saved until they believe in eternal security. Because if they don’t know for sure they’re going to heaven, how do you know they’re going to heaven?

Want to make sense? You don’t know they’re going to heaven and they don’t know they’re going to heaven. Well, who says they’re going to heaven? So a person needs to know what it means to be saved. And to be saved means that you’re not going to hell, that you’re going to heaven. So look at this statement there in the little box that I have, you are not strong in the true gospel of grace if you give any validity to a false gospel.

In other words, do not give credit to a false message as though it’s okay. It’s not okay if it’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel. people cannot be saved by a false message. Now, the next statement I have here is when a person thinks he can lose his salvation because of sin or because he believes he must live a godly life to get to heaven, he is not truly trusting Christ as a Savior. He trusts his own works, though he may not admit it.

The false doctrine that man can lose eternal life is a very subtle perversion of the gospel of grace. And you’d be surprised how many people teach that. This morning after the service that I preached on, there’s a lot of churches out there that teach, you must make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life. You’ve got a turn from your sins to be saved. Well, one gentleman when he got ready to leave showed me the doctrinal statement of the the Southern Baptist Convention, that they have to sign to be part of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Do you know the Southern Baptist is pretty good size? Thousands and thousands of churches. And you opened it up, repent, turn from your sin, forsake your sin, make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life. That’s what you have to do to be safe. That’s what they preach. And you think, well, there’s no difference. I mean, we all love the Lord. Well, there is a difference, and things that are different are not the same. We don’t teach the same, it’s not the same message, and I wish more people would understand that.

But next statement, be aware of Satan’s devices. He is the master deceiver. Arm yourself with the truth of God’s Word. Learn these following scriptures and memorize them you can use them to combat Satan’s lies. The salvation of souls is at stake. And there’s a lot of churches preaching the false message and a lot of people. You’ll use the same language. They’ll say the same words. But you ask them further than, do you know where you’re going to die? Oh yes, I’m going to heaven.

How do you know Christ died for my sins? Well, that’s not like the same thing. Thousands of churches like that. You say, well, we’re the same way. Put it there, bro. Not so fast. Is there anything you can do that could cost to your salvation? Is there any reason you can go to hell in the future? And a lot of them believe it or not. will say yes. And if they say yes, you know, they don’t understand it. Because the gospel is eternal security.

And if you’re not eternal secure, you’re not secure. The next statement, you will notice from the following simple salvation versus the relationship between the various forms of believing and having eternal life. Now what I want you to do right now, turning your Bible to John chapter three. John chapter three and look there at this verse John three and verse 15 in your Bible as you look at it right now. Now some of you may have it some of you may not.

Is verse 15 marked in your Bible is it marked? If it is marked it should be marked whosoever believe it. Have a everlasting life. You should mark certain words in the verse. Now you can underline every word but it’s sometimes best just a little bit. Sometimes it’s good to get a highlighter and just highlight certain praises in the verse because it’ll draw your attention to it. When you get ready to show that verse to somebody it will help them.

Look what he says in verse 15 for whosoever that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. So that one verse shows you that if you do one thing you’ll get something whosoever believeth what is he going to get eternal life. Now you’ll notice that I have this on the paper laid out so that you can see it very very clearly. If you do this, this is what you’re going to get. And of course, when you get through and you ask a person, do you believe on Christ?

Yes, I do. Do you have eternal life? Well, I don’t know. Then you know they don’t know what they mean by believing on Christ. So you have to explain it to them. How do you know when you really believe when you can say, I have everlasting life? If you can’t say I have everlasting life, then you don’t believe it. I told you the story one time of Ben with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. He was in his younger days. It was about 1966, and we were in Bell Glades, Florida at a migrant camp.

Some of the students went up there to help Hank with a meeting. There was this little low church in Bell Glades, Florida, and they had these migrant workers that came in off the fields. So they came into the meeting, and And we were supposed to go out and witness to kids and get people to come to the meeting at night. So some of us college kids did it. I volunteered to go up and get my experience. So I looked and lo and behold here come two little girls walking under the river.

So I walked up to him and I says, hi, what’s your name and so forth. I told him who I was and about the meeting and try to get him to come. So I thought, I’m going to witness to them. I asked him the question. I said, are you going to heaven? I don’t know. I don’t know. I said, would you like to go? I said, here’s all you got to do. You have to ask Jesus to come into your heart.

Now this is me. See, everybody that uses the wrong terminology doesn’t mean they have to stay there. Sometimes they can learn a better way to do it. I learn a better way. But at this moment, I didn’t know a better way. And I says, would you ask Jesus to come into your heart? We’re set then in the middle of a dirt road. And they said, mm-hmm. I don’t know what, go ahead. They looked at each other and they bowed their heads and they said, sump, I don’t know what they said.

So then they got through and they looked up at me and I said, well, did you do it? They said, uh-huh. I said, did he come in? They He said, uh-huh. I said, how do you know? And one girl, she said. I feel it right here. And I thought to myself, self, I never felt it right here, but they feel it right there. And I thought, I don’t think I did a good job, but I wasn’t sure. So we anyway, we got the meeting that night and the place was pretty pretty full.

Hank Lindstrom got in there and he preached and did a good job, but I was sending the back door and there’s this one guy that kind of standing there looking. Just a kid. Name was Willie James. Willie James, with the way it was dark outside, you can see his white eyes and their white rotis. And after it was all over with, he’s standing outside and people coming out shaking || and all that. So Hank had his big old Bible.

He had a great big Bible, the loose leaf, old Scofill reference Bible. And I think probably the same Bible he had off there all these years. And he walks up to the kiddin’ and says, what’s your name? He says, Willie James. He says, Willie James. I’m Hank Lindstrom. They shook hands. He said, Willie Jamessych, where are you gonna go? And you die. So I don’t know. Now I’m saying it that way because that’s how he said it. I don’t know.

Well let me show you a verse. He showed him John 647. Very, very nice to any of you. He that believeth with them he hath everlasting life. He explained it to the guy. I’m just gonna stand there and watch. I have a lot to learn. Hank explained it to him and says,pread, Traditional saying, he said, yes, I see that. He says, will you trust Christ right now and just say, yes, I sure do. He says, do you have everlasting light?

I don’t know. He went over again. He asked them again. And he said, I don’t know. Hank did this about four or five times. But some other people wanted to talk to Hank, so he’d take my Bible. So he took his Bible and I’m sending it with him and he has Hank’s Bible. Hank was shaking hands with somebody. And he said, now you just read this. Just read it, read it to yourself. So he lads that and he’s looking at it and he says, if I, that’s me, Willie James, if I Willie James, if I’d meet.

If I believe I had Willie James, I had President Pence right now. And he said that because he doesn’t hurt Hank says to me. Half everlasting, his eyes got big. He said, hey, I ain’t turning around and look at him. He said, you mean if I believe it, I got it. And he said, yes, that’s what I’m saying. If you believe it, you got it. He says, you believe it, he’s not believe it. You got it, I got it, I got it.

So he says, all right, Willie James, you died right now, where are you going? He said, I’m going to heaven. He said, what about a hundred years from now? He said, I’m still going to heaven. He said, what about thousand years from now? I don’t think I lived that long. But it was a good illustration, hang went over again a little bit more. And I think Willie James finally got it. The easiest thing in the world is not always the easiest thing in the world.

Trying to get somebody to see something that’s so simple is not always the easiest thing to do. But I want you to see this. In John 3 16, do you have anything underlying in John 3 16? Anything underlying in your Bible? If it’s not on the line, you should on the line, something that says like God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever, whosoever believe it, those two words, whosoever believe it. And then whenever you turn your page, of course shall not perish but have everlasting love.

If you do this, you’ll get this. If you believe it, you’ve got something. You highlight that in in your Bible, you mark your Bible. And then you sometimes you write little verses besides that verse that goes to another verse, it goes to another verse that goes to a liver, and you just follow the trail. And you learn how to lead someone to Christ. You lead them by getting them to follow you. But you gotta know where you’re going. You gotta know what you’re going to say.

Look at the next verse. Look at John 3’s 36. John 3’s 36. Do you have anything in that verse on the line? In that verse something you could underline in that verse. He that believe it. He that believeth, half everlasting life. See if you do this, you get this. See a person should know what they’re doing. What am I do, what am I trusting Christ for? If I trust him for this, do I get this? When do I know I have this?

Half means president, means if you believe it now, if you do this now you have it now. You’ve got to get people to see and understand this. It’s so easy just to ask a person, do you believe on Christ? Oh yeah, I believe on Christ. Okay, that one’s saved. Not so fast, Charlie. Do they understand what Jesus did? Do they understand what He said? IMAGES, and you make sure because if they don’t understand that, chances are they’ll repeat words and have not a clue where they go on when they die.

In John 3, 36, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides upon him. the wrath of God to buy upon those that do not believe. And he that believeth not the wrath of God abides upon him. As he says over in the other verse, if you do not believe, shall not perish. It means you shall not go to hell. And so you’ve got to have them to understand them.

Look in chapter four and verse 10. Chapter four and verse 10. Look how simple it is. If you use this little story, It’ll help you to make the gospel clear to somebody. Everything that I’m telling you tonight, IAdds. I don’t have to mark my Bible as much as I used to. This is when I didn’t understand. I had to mark everything because I wouldn’t remember. But now I can take a Bible that don’t hardly have any notes in it, and I can use it because I know where it is on the page.

I’ve learned it. One of the reasons for your doing that is to help you. If you can open up the Bible and say, now look at this verse. Well, they can see where your fingers point in, you can get them to do it. But it helps you to find where you want to go. Helps you know what to bring out about that verse. Because a lot of them, people don’t witness because they don’t know what to say. They don’t show them in the Bible because they don’t know where to go in the Bible to show them anything.

They just know it’s in there somewhere. But learn certain things. You can’t learn all the Bible. Forget that. learn key things in the Bible that will help you to be effective. And so here in John chapter four and verse 10, where Jesus made the statement, if thou knew us the gift of God and who it is that sat in the knee, give me to drink, thou would have have asked him and he would have given the living water, but something so simple.

If thou knew us, the gift of God, if you only knew the gift of God, then you would have accepted it. He said, and I would have given it to you. See, he has a gift and he wants to give it to you. And that’s what salvation is. It’s as easy as drinking a glass of water. You thirst and you drink. You want this, you want this free gift of eternal life where you can go to heaven when you die.

That’s the thirst. What will quench the thirst except in Christ as your only way of getting there and you’re going there so it satisfies. Everyone in the world is thirsty. They want to live forever. They just don’t know how. They don’t know God. They don’t know how much He loves them. You can satisfy their longing hearts by using the Word of God to quench their thirst. Everyone hungers for something and that’s why He uses that in here also. Oh look at in verse 14, Whosoever drinketh of the water, that I shall give him shall never thirst.

But what does he say about this water that you’ll never thirst? He calls it up there in that verse 10, the gift of God. The gift of God is eternal life. And this water that lasts forever and satisfies forever eternal life. And that’s why he says over and over again throughout the gospel of John, he that believeth on me hath, present tense, hath everlasting life because it satisfies. And if it satisfies, that’s why I don’t have to try to earn my way to heaven because I’m already going.

I’m satisfied. The only reason you have to try to earn it because you haven’t got it yet. You’ve got to keep prevailing and keep and so forth. And that’s not the way salvation is. Look in John 5, 24. You should have this verse also marked in your Bible. Now certain verses you can underline the whole verse if there’s not a lot of other verses around it that makes it also stand out. Because of having them underlined. But this verse will pretty well stand for itself and you can underline the whole verse.

Where he says, very, very, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath, present tense, right now, hath everlasting life. And get this in the future, in the future shall not come unto condemnation. Means you can never be condemned in the future. Isn’t that a good verse? It means that if I trust Christ now in the future, I can’t be condemned. And if I can’t be condemned, I can’t be. Sentence to hell.

I can’t go there. I can never be condemned in the future. But as far as God is concerned, you’ve already passed from death on the life. You see, when God saved you, He saved you from hell. Now you can’t go. He said, I’m going to take you to heaven. It’s good as done. God can’t change it. You can’t change it. It’s a done deal. And that’s why telling people this good news is such a good thing. It’s not good news to go into all the world and tell people, you know, if you want to go to heaven, just keep the 10 commandments.

Is that good news? To go to heaven, just try to live perfect. That’s all you got to do is just live a perfect life? That’s not good news. And that’s why I said before, it’s not good news to be safe for an hour or to be safe for a day, to be safe for a week, to be safe for a month, to be safe for a year, but it is good news to be safe forever. forever, to be safe forever.

That is good news. Look, they’re also in verse 40, and verse 40 of the same chapter. He says, and ye will not come to me that you might have life. So who has life? The church, the pastor, you will not come to me that you might have life. So So the only way to get life eternal life is with Christ. That’s why He said, He that hath the Son, hath life, and He that hath not the Son, hath not life.

Because Jesus Christ is eternal life. As He says in 1 John chapter 5, this is the true God and eternal life. Jesus Christ is eternal life. He is God’s gift. So when you accept Christ, you have eternal life. And that’s why he says in John 17, he says, to whom to know is life eternal? Just to know God is eternal life. And so people say, well, I know the Lord. Do you have eternal life? Well, I’m not sure. Then you don’t know God.

You don’t know the Lord. When you know the Lord, you have eternal life. But anyway, as we move right along, looking John 635, John 635, and Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He that come up to me shall never hunger. Come to who? Come to Him. He is the bread that came down from heaven. He says in the Old Testament, your fathers ate manna and they’re dead. I am the true bread that came down from heaven, and he that eats this bread shall never hunger, never hunger.

It means when you eat this bread, you don’t have to eat it again and again and again and again, because once will suffice. It’ll satisfy forever. See, these are simple illustrations, and the reason these illustrations are used in the Gospel of John is because the purpose of the Gospel of John, he says that these things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and by believing in Him you shall have life through His name.

That’s the purpose of the boat. So then if you want illustrations, He’s given us all the illustrations we need in order to win people to Christ and to share certain stories so that people can see and understand. There are windows that light into a dark room. So he’s given us these tools in which to use. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message.

If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing tool free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our 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.