This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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

It was my heart good to see you out here on a Sunday night that studied the Bible. And the things that we’re talking about are the things that you need to know. This is part two of repentance and the gospel. As you know, we are commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel. I guess a lot of people don’t really know what the gospel is. The gospel is good news. It is not good news to tell people to keep the Ten Commandments or to tell people to turn from their sin.

But a lot of people get that meaning from the word repent, which they get from a dictionary or watch some famous evangelists do it and figure out, well, if I want to be successful, I got to do it the way they do it instead of looking at the Bible. I will say this. I went to Tennessee Temple back in 1964, a huge school, big school, famous individual, Dr. Lee Robertson, and I believe he knew the Lord, loved the Lord, great soul winner.

And everybody that wanted to go build a church copied Dr. Lee Robertson and how they did it. They had a bus ministry, I worked in the bus ministry. He was going to hire me at one time to be the first full time soul winner for Tennessee Temple. I guess that would be a great honor, and I was honored. And then Lenten Fowler, whom I just went to see there in Miami, was working in the bus ministry and he introduced me to the Heaven track.

And the Heaven track made a difference. It was so clear. I just started talking to people about the gospel from the heaven track and I’d follow the heaven track. And it was amazing how many people trusted the Lord. Dr. Lee Robertson and others, they were early impressed. And I just thought, well, everybody ought to do it, but everybody didn’t do it. Not all the bus directors did. I didn’t know anything about FBC or Dr. Stanford. But while I was there, I realized that if I had stayed there for those four years because of the the bigness of it, the majesty of it, I would be preaching the gospel exactly like what I hear today in many churches.

Not because Dr. Lee Roberts and he didn’t always preach it that way. Sometimes he would be very clear, but there were teachers in the school that didn’t always make the gospel clear. And you’d come out with a wrong understanding. And you would take the word repent to mean you got to turn from your sins, stop sinning. And if a man had to stop sinning, then we’re all in the heap of trouble because there’s not one of us that can stop sinning.

You can’t turn from your sins. It’s like asking a dog, stop acting like a dog and I’ll make you a chicken. A dog is a dog and that’s what a dog does. And people have a sinful nature. We sin. We are rebellious. You can’t change your nature. That’s why it’s ridiculous for a person to try to change people’s lives by just trying to reform them, trying to convert them. They have to trust Christ as Savior and receive a new birth, a new birth that comes from God, not from the world.

So I want you to look there at the notes up there. Does the Bible teach that an unbeliever must repent in order to be saved? Yes, it does. Every time I present the gospel, I teach repentance because I teach that a man must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. When I tell a person to believe, it means that they’re unbeliever and they need to repent. Change their mind, think differently, reconsider, and trust Christ as Savior. It is not turning from your sins and then meet the criteria or be good enough for God to save you if you quit all those bad things you’re doing.

It is impossible. And that’s why you get somebody, so okay, I’ll quit my drink and I’ll quit my smoke and I’ll quit my cussing. Alright, then when they go back to those sins, then they think they’ve lost their salvation or some preacher tell them you didn’t really mean business and you got to get saved again. So how many times I’ve seen people going forward in their church, trying to get saved over and over and over again. You can only get saved one time.

And if you really believe and understand it, it’s very simple. You see, eternal life is the gift of God. It’s free. And all a man has to do to go to heaven is believe that when Christ died, He died for Him. And if He paid for my sins, then I don’t have to pay for my sins. I don’t have to go to hell and pay for one of my sins because He paid for all of them. That to me was the best news in all the world.

Look at the next paragraph. So what does repent mean? In Acts 2021, it says, “‘Test to find both to the Jews “‘and also to the Greek repentance toward God “‘and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. “‘Change your mind. “‘You cannot save yourself, therefore trust Christ. “‘A man who goes to church and reads his Bible and prays and does all those good deeds in order to save himself must repent, not from his sins, but from his good deeds. He has to change his mind.

Those good deeds will not save you and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s simple when you understand the correct meaning. I want you to take your Bible and look in there in the book of Luke in chapter 16, Luke chapter 16. And I want to read this to you fairly quickly and then make some comments on it. There in the book of Luke chapter 16, it makes this statement. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and feresamptuously every day.

And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores. And desire to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table, more over the dogs came and licked his sores. And he came to You pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels and Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes and been in torments and sipped Abraham a far off and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried and he said, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me. He said, Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger and water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveeth thy good things, and likewise, Lazarus evil things. Now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And beside all this between us and you, there’s a great God fixed. So that they would, which would pass from the hence to you, cannot neither can they pass to you.

That would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would have sent him to my father’s house. For I have five brethren that he may testify into them lest they come to this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, they have Moses and the prophets. let them hear them. And he says, may Father, Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. They will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

You see the word repent in the verse 30, they will repent down in verse 31. He says, they will not be persuaded though one rose from the dead. You see, it’s how you think and then being persuaded differently to change your mind, to think differently. Evidently, if Lazarus is in Abraham’s bosom, then he must have listened to what the prophets and Moses had to say. Because he’s also telling them that they have, he has to listen to what Moses and the prophets had to say, talking about his five brothers.

But you see, not everybody listens, but he says, let them hear, hear them. You see, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So evidently in the Old Testament… Under the teaching of Moses and also the teaching of the prophets, there must have been enough of the gospel that could keep them out of hell because no man is saved by keeping the law. The Bible already states that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God.

So he’s not telling you have to keep the law of Moses, but there’s some teaching in there that lets up the man know that he needs to trust the Lord. And as you’ll find as you study the Old Testament, you’ll see the word trust an awful lot. In the new time we have believe, believe, believe. Believing trust are the same thing. Even Abraham believed God, and it was kind of the hymn for righteousness. That’s how Abraham got there. He believed God.

Because the Bible tells us in the book of Romans in chapter 4, what hath Abraham our Father? What hath he found? Well, he found out that he couldn’t save himself by his works. And he simply believed in the Lord. And it makes a statement because salvation has to be free. It is by grace. And if it’s by works, well then it can’t be free. And the truth of the gospel, the test of the gospel, it has to be free and it has to last forever.

If either one of those are missing, then there’s something wrong with the gospel message. What I went down and spoke at the Christian school this last week, and I had about 150 the upper grade setting there and it was wonderful explaining the gospel. And then right at the end I knew I’m going to give an invitation. I didn’t ask if I could. I just, this is what I do. So I had them bow their head and I asked me if what I said made sense to them and I would have estimated a third of them, maybe even up to 50.

But to be conservative I stayed between 30 and 40 but there was a, it was just a wave of kids all over the place. They indicated they would trust great. And then not, you know, a half an hour later, somebody else. No, it was like whenever I said it, they all did it pretty much at the same time. It was just awesome. You couldn’t say, God bless you fast enough. God bless you all and you all and you all and you all.

But it was interesting, it’s exciting. When you know that all they have to do is to believe. And if you can just believe this message, God said He would give you as a free gift everlasting life. What does he say in John 3 16? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, the whosoever turns from his sins and obeys the ten commandments and goes the Calvary community to church and pays fifty percent half their everlasting life.

Now did you hear anything wrong in there? A whole bunch of stuff and the only thing he says is whosoever believeth in him should not perish. He means he won’t go to hell but have everlasting life. We can know that we’re going to heaven when we die, because eternal life is the gift of God and it’s not a works list any man should boast. Look there in Acts chapter 2 and verse 28, just look here in your notes for the sake of time.

I want you to see this. On your notes there are Acts 2.38, like his man broke into this woman’s house one night. And she, she come walking out of the bedroom and he was over there doing some stuff and He says, Acts 238. So he just froze. Didn’t move a muscle. She got the phone. She called the police. The police came and the man was still standing there. And when the police got there, said, what in the world did you just stand there because of a little bitty woman?

He said, yeah, but when that woman told me she had an axe and 238s, I wasn’t moving. Acts 238. Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Repent says Peter, change your mind. Peter was preaching to the Jewish people. Emen of Israel hear these words. So he had told them what they had done and by wicked hands they have taken the Son of God and slew Him.

And now they say, well what must we do? And so they did not believe that the man Jesus was their Messiah or Christ, the God who would save them. So Peter let them know, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, this is what you know. Has to do with your brain. Has to do with it. What you thinking? That God hath made the same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said in the Peter and to the rest of the apostles.

And brother, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, repent, change your mind and see. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And that He is the one, the Messiah that was to come. See, in their understanding when He says like in John chapter 4, we saw this is the Christ, the Savior of the world, the one that should come. They already knew that the Messiah would come, the Christ would come, the Savior of the world. That’s who He was and that’s what He was going to do.

They knew that He was supposed to make a payment for sin. But they didn’t believe it. He said, change your mind. Think differently. Reconsider this thing. See, it means to change your mind and trust the Lord. And you would be cleansed in the name. And it says to receive the forgiveness of sins. See, when you believe on Jesus Christ, God forgives you. He made a payment for all the sins of all the world. But you’re not forgiven of your sins until you believe on Him so that you can have forgiveness.

He can only forgive you because He paid for the sin. The sin had to be paid. God just don’t forgive you of your sins. It has to be paid for. It has to be a reason because there’s a God in heaven, and judicially God has to keep His law so that He can be just when He justifies the unjust. So He says, no assuredly, that this same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ, now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and you and I know we’re not talking about this thing down here to pump blood.

I know it sounds romantic to say to your girlfriend, I love you with all my heart. But really you’re saying I love you with all my brain, with all my mind. But it doesn’t sound very romantic, does it? No, I love you with all my heart. Maybe it sounds a little bit more, you know. But anyway, he says they were pricked in their hearts and they made a statement. What shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin.

You do not get baptized in water for your sins to be paid for or to be taken away or to be forgiven. You’re baptized by the Holy Spirit the very moment you trust Christ as your Savior and you’re baptized into the body of Christ. This was there in the day of Pentecost. And this is when it began, but anyway, the Jews were pricked in their heart. Your heart is the part of you that thinks, feels, and wills. It is your mind.

They needed to change their mind and believe that Jesus is the Lord. He is God. He is the promised Messiah. And this is why Jesus says to the Jewish people, he says, He says, unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins. You see, Jesus is not just a man because a man just can’t save you. It was the God man. He was perfect God and perfect man. And so he wasn’t 50% man and 50% God.

He was 100% man and 100% God just without a sinful nature. And he came into this world to make a payment for our sins. He is the promised Messiah who would save them from their San Peter, never mentioned in his sermon a need to quit sinning or feel sorry for sin to be saved. Though the Bible says they were pricked in their heart and they trust the Lord. There was other ones when Stephen was preaching to them, they were pricked in their heart and stoned them to death.

Remember that? Which one would you prefer? getting right or stoning you to death. He is the promised Messiah who has saved them from their sins. His sermon centered on the resurrection proof that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. So it is evident from the context here also that repentance involves a change of mind. The basic meaning of the word salvation is deliverance. It can refer to deliverance from hell. Deliverance from ruin or lost, deliverance from physical harm, deliverance from the Philistines.

Whatever a man is delivered or safe from is not included in the definition of salvation. You could be saved from a lot, I was saved from a car wreck the other day. I saved this one man’s life. I thought about running him off the road and then I changed my mind. Years ago I had this one guy, I was going to kill him. So I didn’t, so I saved his life. I’m joking, no, I’m joke in it. Whatever a man is delivered or saved from is not included in the definition of salvation.

It is the same with the word repentance, which means change of mind. It can be used in a lot of ways because you can change your mind about a lot of things. Some of you weren’t going to come tonight and you’re repented. And you came. There was other ones that probably said, I’m going to church tonight and they they repented. They changed their mind. Didn’t go. So you can change your mind about a lot of things. I’ve heard about a lot of girls have been left standing at the altar.

He promised to marry me. He changed his mind, evidently. Turn your paper over. It can refer to a change of mind about anything. Whatever a man changes his mind from. Art too is not included in the definition of repentance. Good illustration of repentance is found. and Matthew 21. So take your Bible and turn to Matthew and chapter 21. You see, if a man has to turn from his sins in order to be saved, then I should preach that. Every preacher should preach it, if that’s the truth.

And if a man has to turn from his sins to be saved, I believe I owe them a list of what sins and I should let him know by what date he has to turn from them because I mean this thing can’t drag on forever so is God going to save a man because he promises to turn from his sins or does God save the man when he stops his sinning? Isn’t that a good question or when the man starts sending again does God take it away from him.

If he does, can you really know for sure you’re going to heaven when you die? If I have to stop my sins to be saved? At what point have I accomplished this? At what point did God save me? And if I go back to my sin and He takes it away, at what point did He do it? Is there any security there? You would have no clue where you’re going when you die because you’re going to heaven would depend upon your performance.

And it’s not looking too good. Matthew 21, I want you to see this in verse 28, but what think ye? You notice those two little words? Think ye. You’re on the line them. A certain man had two sons. He came to the person and he said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and he says, I will not. Don’t that sound like a son you may have. I will not, but look, afterwards he repented and he went.

What do you think the word repent meant? If you went just by what it says, he changed his mind. I will not, then afterwards he repented and he went. He changed his mind and he went. Oh look in verse 30, he came to the second and said likewise and he answered and says, I go, sir, and he went not. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said unto him the first. Jesus said unto him, them, verily I say unto you, now get the lesson, the point that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

For John came unto you in the way righteousness and ye, what’s those two words? You ought to underline them. Ye, believed him not, you did not believe it. You didn’t believe. But the publicans and the harlots and you ought to on the line that were believed them. And ye, when you had seen it, repented not afterwards. So even in the illustration, what would the word repent mean? Change your mind. You can’t get it any better than that. God’s Word generally will teach God’s Word.

He will explain what He means by what He’s saying. And the last part of verse 32 says, repented not afterwards that you might what? Believe Him. So it’s a choice. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ dying on the cross and paying for our sins and that we can be justified, made right to declare right to by faith, alone without works of any kind. When you believe that God saves you and justifies you and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did for you.

Look there in your notes again, the first paragraph, thus believers can and need to repent also. But not about the same thing, the laws need to repent for it. You see there’s scriptures that talks about the Christian need to repent. In the book of Revelation chapter 2, chapter 3 talks about the church repenting. So it’s talking about those that we’re not doing right and he says you need to repent and bring forth the first works. So there is an inkling of an idea that you talk about repent means to change your mind that leads to a change of action.

So if you have a change of mind and it’s talking to the lost man about the gospel, change your mind, and the change of action would be, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting Christ as your Savior is the result of you changing your mind. That makes sense. When he’s talking in the Old Testament, you’ll find the word repent used, and you’ll also find it talking about the things that happen in life. And as a nation, the nation was judged to be rebellious, and God was going to use another nation as a rod to whoop his people.

Then after he gets to whooping them with this rod, then he usually would break the rod, because they were bad too. So God can use bad people to whip God’s people. That ain’t no fun at all. And God says for us to learn things from this. So we are to forsake our evil way because of judgment in this life upon us physically that God can take you out of this life. And a lot of things can happen to you in this life.

So as a child of God, you can live like you please, but you can’t get away with it. There’s a price to pay. So God, even to the believer, asked the believer to repent, change your mind, think differently, reconsider and do the first works, like loving the Lord like we’re supposed to. You can do the works, but do you love the Lord? And therefore God talks about, even in chapter 16, how about how that the people, even though they were being tormented in the tribulation period, says they repented not because of the plagues that came upon them.

Because even lost people have to understand that they can’t live as they please and get away with it either. The wickedness that’s going on right now in America by the homosexuals and the abortion and all those things that are wrong, there’s to pay. God will have to judge this nation because God is a just God. And it doesn’t matter if lost people rebel against God or God’s children rebel against God. They both need to repent, change their mind and correct the problem.

So the Lord tells us to do this. Look up Aaron $_ that notes that I want to show you. A believer in the city of Samaria was told repent. We know he was a believer because 813 says then Simon himself believed also. When Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given to people at that point in time, through laying on of the Prossal’s hands he tried to buy this power from them. Peter told him thou have neither part nor a lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God. This is talking about a saved man turning from sin. See, God does want his children to turn from sin because after you trust Christ’s Savior, the Holy Spirit lives within you. Now you have the power in your life to guard against some of those things and refrain some of those things and yield in yourself to the Lord. Due to the generous offer of an anonymous Colorado supporter of Bibleline, we wanna make you an offer you cannot refuse.

He has purchased 68 copies of the book, The Gospel Driven Man, by Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, to be given to anyone who donates any amount, as a thank you for helping to keep Bible line on this station. He writes, What would be the most important item one could receive that would be appreciated? Which would answer many questions, which would be easy to read, understandable, and uses God’s Word as the source? What came to mind was your book, The Gospel Driven Man.

This book has helped me and my wife considerably. We have given the book out as gifts before and continue to do so. All the basic doctrines you hear me teach on the radio is found in this book. One book per donor. So remember, mail your gift up any amount today and we will send you your copy of the Gospel-Driven Man. Be sure to include your mailing address. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. 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. 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, just keep looking up.