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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 Bibleignmenistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to turn in your Bible to the book of John, John, the Gospel of John. I have mixed emotions this morning. Kind of like being a ball headed hippie. It’s mixed emotions. You know, that happened to a lot of those hippies. This one guy was, you know, when you say hippie, you know, that takes you back a ways, don’t you? And most of these young people have not a clue what you’re talking about. But this one kid, he was a hippie.

and he just lost, couldn’t find himself. So as dad gave me a haircut, and there he was. It’s gonna be a long day. But in the book of John, and chapter three, it seems like the verse says one thing, but you and I know it doesn’t really mean what it says. So we’re gonna read it, and if you had even a little child that’s never heard this verse before, if they’ve never heard it before, and asked a little child that’s maybe say, eight, nine, 10 years old, do you know what this verse says?

What they tell you is going to be so simple that you know it can’t be true. Because you know and I know you can’t understand the Bible unless you’ve been to Bible college and seminary and you know the Hebrew and the Greek. Because you got to be able to spread all these words apart and tell you what it really says. So then you got, of course, you know, telling what God wanted to say, but God didn’t know how to say it.

And so praise the Lord for these experts that we have in the world today that can tell you what God really meant to say. So they take even the most simplest verses that a child could understand and convince people it doesn’t really say that. Now look there in John 3 16. In verse 16 it says, for God so loved the world, now that doesn’t really mean what you think it says. Now if the little girl was to read that they would probably say for God so love the world.

What does that mean? I think that means God so loved the world. Now if I say who is the world, well they would probably say everybody. But you and I know that that doesn’t mean that because after all there’s a lot of unlovable people in this world. So he can’t mean everybody. And when he says that He gave His only begotten Son. What do you think that means, little girl? Well, it means that He gave His only begotten Son.

And from what I’ve heard, He died on the cross to pay for my sins. Now, a little kid can understand that. But you see, that’s not really what He said, not really not what He meant. So you have to have these, have you ever listened to the news and you watched the news and then they’ll have four commentators come on over and tell you what they really said. And based upon what political part of the are, they tell you what they’re really meant to say.

So it doesn’t matter what he said. They have interpreters. Because the common people aren’t smart enough to figure out what the guy said. Now, believe it or not, that’s happening in churches all across America, where it doesn’t matter what the Bible says. somebody is going to tell those people what God meant to say, but he didn’t say. But they’re on the inside. And they know what he really meant to say. And so God didn’t really mean the whole world.

He just means a select few in the world called the elect. And that is taught. So therefore they cannot say that God so loved the world because, see, that means that he just loved a few, but not everybody. I got a nice email just yesterday asking me if I would recant. And he gave me a whole list of verses that I need to consider. I don’t know if there is a verse in the Bible on Calvinism and stuff that I haven’t read.

I know almost every verse. And that’s not been proud of just telling you the facts. And I can probably quote most of them. I even know the context I read before and I read afterwards. And I have a different view. I simply believe that God simply meant what He said. But there’s people who don’t believe He meant what He said, so they got to change it all. And the people sitting in the pew, just, you know, that song used to have it on what He feeds me.

I will swallow. Oop. And they just swallow whatever anybody says. Well, it must be true because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I say so. Yeah, but what does the Bible say? Well, I know the Bible says this, but, and then he butted all over the place. When you simply make a statement, if I was to quote just a verse to some people, for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

Yes, but the sky is blue. You say, well, what in the world does that have to do with the Ephesians 29? Nothing? It doesn’t matter if I make the gospel clear. Yes, but what about James chapter two? Don’t you know the grass is green? Like Dr. Hudson tells a story about when he witnessed to this man at the door and he says, why weren’t you in church last Sunday? He says, because I have a jug of milk in a refrigerator.

He says, what’s that gotta do with coming to church? He says, nothing. But if I’m gonna tell you a lie, isn’t that just as good as any? strange world we live in. But whenever God says that, whosoever beleve it, you can ask a little child, whosoever beleve it. And you can tell, you know, that means you or anybody and they won’t even question it. They won’t question that. They can believe that. That means you, me, you, you. I love that little song I used to sing with little kids.

And I said to them on my knee, I said, Jesus loves the little ones like me. Jesus loves the little ones like me. Little ones like me sat upon his knee. Jesus loves the little ones like me, me, me. And then I say, Jesus loves the little ones like you. Now, poke them. Jesus loves the little ones like you. Little ones like you. Jesus loves you too. Jesus loves the little ones like you, you, you, they get the point.

I don’t know if y’all do, because see, I have to do this in Hebrew in Greek for y’all to really get it. Did you realize that simplicity is not simple? Anybody can be, you know, hard to understand. But I strive on trying to make whatever I say understandable. I just think that’s a better way to go. So when God says that He so loved the world, I just simply stayed at that way and say, you know, God loves the world.

I didn’t even clarify it, except by saying, that’s everybody in the world. But see, most people can’t say that because they don’t believe God loves everybody in the world because they believe God only chose a few people to save. But this man, he just wrote me a letter and he says, I wish you would correct some of the things you said and stop misrepresenting our position. There’s multitudes that God has chosen. And you say a few. I was just quoting the scripture where it says that many have found the road to destruction.

But few find the way to eternal life. So if God says it’s only a few and He only chose a few, then evidently He didn’t choose the multitudes. I haven’t answered this letter yet, but I’m going to. That whosoever believe it, then Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You see, if you say what He says, it’s simple and easy to understand, but when you get too intelligent for your own good, then you can’t just be linked to it.

what he says. You’ve got to explain all the time what God really meant to say, but he really didn’t say. So I want to share a couple things with you. These are just two that I got a couple days ago. It’s Pastor Arnold, I have been seeking God’s truth and have been watching many sermons on YouTube. Some videos seem to preach what you would call worship salvation. I have seen several of your sermons on YouTube and your explanation on why lordship salvation is wrong definitely makes sense.

Your interpretation of the Bible seems logical, as Spock would say. I know you don’t know who Spock is either. I’ll bet you do. And you want to go where no man’s ever gone before. That’s what I say every time I hit a golf ball. I’m going where no man’s ever gone before. This one, he says, Hello, I am Andrew from Western Massachusetts. I wanted to thank you for your reach and help on clarifying Calvinism for me. Very thankful I can listen in on your website.

I found you on YouTube in search for truth regarding Calvinism. See, you live here in this ministry. You live a sheltered life. ThereGAME is a world out there that don’t Yemeni knowountain what you know, and don’t believe like you believe. So you have been taught by Dr. Hank Lindstrom, the clarity of the gospel, the simplicity of the service for the Lord, and just simple truths. And you have taken it and you believe it, and you probably assume, well, everybody’s like this.

this. No, they’re not everybody’s like that. And so there’s a lot of people that are hungry to know what you hear all the time. But so many people are not clear on the gospel. They don’t make it simple. And so I wanted to share a couple of things with you. Take your Bible and look in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 1. 1 Corinthians in chapter 1. And you’ll So notice in chapter 1, and this is on page 12, 12 in a church reference Bible there, where it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17, for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel, not, not, no.

Just see that word, not, not with wisdom of words, not with wisdom of word. And this is talking about the wisdom of man’s words. In other words, God is capable of saying what he means. And he says, not with wisdom of words, because there’s people who love to make things so flowery, sounds so great, so intellects that you’re totally impressed and just blown away by it. You can go to a lot of churches and buddy, there’s preacher that can preach circles around me.

I’m talking about understanding what’s been said. And then did the same thing worth listening to? By the time you get through with all of it, what did he say? What did he really say? You see, I am aware of some of these things because I do something that most a lot of people don’t look. I witness. I sometimes talk to people about where they’re going to go and they die. I ask the question. And there’s a lot of people that go to a lot of churches and they don’t know where they’re going when they die.

Now if they don’t know where they’re going when they die and they’ve gone to church for five, 10, 15, 20, 30 years, somebody’s not making it clear. They’re not making it clear. They go in the church, but they don’t know where they’re going when they die. Then what is the purpose of the gospel? The gospel, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person. means that it must be something that can alter or change something because why preach it if there’s nothing to come from it.

So that means that it must be a message there to believe. So if you call the message, well did anybody hear the message and if they heard the message, did they understand the message? If they understood the message, did anybody trust Christ as their Savior? Shouldn’t trusting Christ as their Savior be the purpose of preaching the gospel? Well, if they have a church for all those years and nobody ever hears the gospel, then maybe somebody’s not preaching the gospel.

They’re not making it simple, not making it clear where people can understand. That’s why our church is not limited to these four walls. We’re going into about 120, 130 countries every month with the message. And that’s why it’s so important, whether it’s on the internet, we thank the Lord for the opportunity. We don’t know how long it’s gonna be before they start taxing and everything else. And you’ll be off of there too. But understanding the last part of this verse, look at the last part of this verse, less the cross of Christ should be made of, and see those two words, none effect.

Well, the gospel has no power, no effect. Why? Because you added the wisdom of man’s words to the message. Because you can’t agree with what he said, you gotta change what God said. If God says it’s free and somebody wants to charge forRegistered, it’s not the same thing. If you add one word to the gospel, it’s no longer easy to believe. It’s hard to believe because it’s hard to understand what work.

Well, all you got to do is trust Christ’s Savior, but, and then whatever they add, whatever goes after that, everything’s changes. There’s no longer that simple, easy, clear message that God gave. Now, while you’re right here, look there in chapter two. In chapter two, look where he says in verse four, And look what the Apostle Paul is stating here. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of what? Man’s wisdom. You tell them what God says, let God defend himself.

If you don’t think a person should be able to trust Christ’s Savior and live like the devil and still go to heaven, then God shouldn’t have said that. But he says that you can trust Christ as your savior and he will give you as a free gift ever lasting life without any commitment that I promise to change my life any way, shape or form. Well, I don’t think that doesn’t matter what I think. Doesn’t matter what you think. Doesn’t matter if you can understand it, can’t understand God says it’s free.

can you understand the word free? The gift of God is eternal life. Can you understand the word gift? Do you know what gift is? It’s free. You don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. You don’t deserve it. Everlasting life. I wonder if God understood what he said. He said it was everlasting. But we know he didn’t mean that. Or did What do you mean that? So there’s people who just don’t get it and got to try to tell you what God really meant to say.

Is it good news? Good news. The gospel, good news. Is it good news to talk to anybody and tell them you’ve got to clean up your life for God to save you? You’ve got to turn from your sins. Just think what that says. What that means is that good news. I got good news for you. You know all those bad things you got to stop them. Isn’t this wonderful news? I got some more good news for you. You got to promise to live for God and live holy and walk that straight narrow path and you can’t do anything bad anymore.

Isn’t that good news? Now, with great, swelling words, fair speeches and picing words of man’s wisdom, They add to the gospel and makes the good news of none effect. You can’t trust you and Christ to save you. You can’t have a part in it. I’m sorry. God did this in such a way you get no credit whatsoever. You see, trusting Christ as your Savior is not a commitment to serve. It is a decision to trust. Fifty-three years ago in that little old living room in Athens, Georgia, when I got saved, I did not commit myself to serving God.

I committed myself to believing God. I believed what he said. If I trust him, he would save me. What’s the problem? We can’t believe that God would love us that much? No, no, no, God doesn’t love it. You have to deserve it. So when you tell a man you’ve got to stop something or start something, you say, no. you got to deserve God’s love. You got to deserve to be saved. You got to qualify. You don’t qualify yet. And then now let’s all stand and sing just as I am, just as I am when they just lied to you.

So he says here in verse four, my speech, my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and the power. Did you know that if you listened to me, You’re just liable to understand what I’m saying. Do you know why? Because I try to speak clearly, plainly. And I don’t use great big words for several reasons. One I don’t know. And if I did know them, I would not know how to pronounce them.

I’m having a good time. So take your Bible and look there in the book of 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14, look there in verse 9, verse 9, page 12, 24 says, so likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue. difficult to be understood, easy to be understood. I was always taught in Bible college, you put the food on the bottom shelf. God says, feed my sheep, not my giraffes. So you put the food down where they can get at it.

So he says here, so likewise you accept the utter mother tongue, words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken for you shall speak into the air. You’re wasting your time and a lot of people are very impressive because the people are more impressed if the preacher can talk in such a way that when you get through you don’t know what he said because then you know he had to be intelligent and you’re more impressed with his great knowledge and intellect but what did he say?

I don’t I don’t know. Boy, well sure good. I guess I have to put up a little bit of that. I’ve had people go out the door and they’ve shake my hands and preached that with a great sermon. I said, what did I say? I don’t know, but it sure was good. Well, that’s very impressive. I appreciate that. Now, if it was a month later, it might be different, but you know how that goes. But now, look at this verse.

See, in verse eight, one of the reasons, if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? I mean, you know, here you got the troops, you’re ready to go, you charge, and you just play. Can’t you see the horses up there going, You don’t charge with, you know, the blue Danube. You don’t do that. You got to figure out what you’re going to do. What do you want them to do? They used to play revelry.

You may know what revelry is. Is that when you get up or go to bed? What if it’s time to get, they play taps? Are they the same thing? not the same thing. Things that are different and not the same, ain’t they right? They’re different than not the same. So look there at this verse. Look what he says in verse 19, yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also.

Then 10,000 words in a unknown tongue or a language or so filled with man’s wisdom of words. They don’t have a clue. What know what are you talking about? Now, I could listen to a lawyer. If you ever seen things that are written for the common man and then written for the lawyer to understand, that’s why you should never elect lawyers to go to Congress. They write the laws in order for you to hire lawyers to figure out what they said.

And this is why so many of the laws they make, you have to wind up in court trying to figure out what did they say. Did you know it’s also part of our constitutional background and Some of the, what do they call it? I can’t find the right word for it right now. But it’s simply that if it’s vague, it’s not clear, the law is null and void. You have to have where the common people can understand it. If they can understand it, the law is unconstitutional.

That’s the truth. They ought to apply that to Obamacare. If you can’t understand it, it can’t be a law. because the common people have to be able to understand what they say. Wouldn’t that eliminate a lot of problems? So when God says something so simple, so clear, and man adds to it, it complicates it. It means that people don’t understand it. It means it causes this powerful message to have no effect because people don’t trust it. People don’t believe it.

Because that’s why some people you talk to, Have you ever had somebody take the Bible and explain to you how you can know you have eternal life? Well, I’ll believe it when I can live it. You ever had anybody? I’ll believe it when I can live it. Whoever told them they had to live it. Some preacher standing in the pulpit telling them you’ve got to live it. If you don’t live it, you don’t have it. So if I get it, I’ve got to live it.

And if I’m not willing to live it, then I ain’t going to get it. Because I’m going to be a hypocrite because I promise to do something I won’t do. Well, where did those messages come? That’s not the Bible. That’s man’s logic. That’s man’s wisdom. But it’s not the truth. It’s not the book. And it makes the difference. It’s the difference of heaven and hell. So important. Look there in 2 Corinthians in chapter 3.

2 Corinthians in chapter 3. And I want you to look there in verse 12. Verse 12. Pace 1332, verse 12 says, seeing then that we have such hope. We use great plainness of speech. In other words, you need to understand what’s being said. Did you know that there are some churches, you can go to it? And there’s people that give their money, they’re faithful, they go, and they say and do everything in Latin. And the people haven’t got a clue what they’re saying.

But they do it in a language they don’t understand. And then they we get through all that stuff. What a waste of time. If you don’t understand what the man is saying, what are you listening for? What did you go to get? Do you want to know truth? Or do you want to listen to man’s wisdom? to the book and God’s Word says make it plain, keep it simple, plain words. It’s what Paul says, it’s what Christ said, it’s what they did.

You listen to the stories of Jesus and we talk to people, it was in such small words. Anybody can understand it. But people don’t want to believe because they got to add with their pride, got to add something to it. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tappa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing tool free, 1-800-576-3771.

1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage 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. For 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.