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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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

So, when you do not know the Lord and you’re not trusting Christ, Christ, then you are a person without hope, without a guarantee. You can put your trust in anything that you want, but it’s like, I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. Does that mean it won’t rain tomorrow? No, it could rain tomorrow. And so you can hope for a lot of things. You can hope that you’ll have enough money to retire on. You can hope that your health is going to stay good.

You can hope, but those are not things that are guaranteed that they will. I can hope that I don’t die in the next year, or maybe you hope you do. Maybe your wife hopes you do. But it doesn’t mean that you will. Because see, there’s some things that depends on God and some things that doesn’t depend on God. You can make wrong decisions and hope that, you know, like some people, they sow their whileows while they young and pray for a crop failure?

Well, now notice what he says here. In verse 12, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope. Because you see you didn’t have the promise from God of the guarantee. So God guarantees us things. So I want you to look there in chapter 1 of Ephesians in verse 13. Verse verse 13 says, in whom, talking about Christ, he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth.

So you heard the truth, you heard the gospel, you trusted Christ. And he says, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. He was promised. It was guaranteed. Christ says, I will send the comforter, the Holy Spirit, And he came just like he promised because that was guaranteed. We don’t have to, well I hope that I get the Holy Spirit when I get saved. No, you do. That’s why he said on chapter 7 verse 39, on that great day of the feast, Jesus stood in Christ and if any man thirst led him coming to me and drink, and as the scripture hath set out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive.

So when you believe the promise, it’s a guarantee. It’ll come true. So the key thing is, what does God say? But now notice what he also says in verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance. The word earnest is like the down payment. It’s the guarantee that you’re going to get the rest. The Holy Spirit indwelling me is the guarantee I am God’s child. I have eternal life. I’m going to heaven when I die and I’m sealed until the day of redemption.

So therefore, this earnest of our inheritance, you’ll notice if you draw a line from the word earnest in verse 14, you go all the way down to verse 18 where it says, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, know and hope so that you can know what is the guarantee of his calling. You see, God calls by the gospel. And in that call is that everyone who believe it hath everlasting life.

So if you’ll believe it, you can know you have eternal life. And if you know you have eternal life, that knowledge is a guarantee you are who God says you are, and you are going where God says you will go. So do I have to worry about where I’m going when I die? I don’t have the least worry whatsoever. I don’t have any doubts in my mind because my hope is in the one that does not lie. It’s guaranteed.

And you can’t get it any better than that. But if your eternal destination depends upon how you live, you have every reason to worry. Because God never promised to save anyone who tries to save himself. He only saves those who will not and cannot save themselves and doesn’t even try to save themselves. I said to people, well, I’m just so bad. You just don’t know what I’ve done. No, but God does. And he loves you. And you made a payment for your sins.

So as you go down from verse 17 and 18 and 19, all these things are what God wants you to know because it’s guaranteed guaranteed guaranteed. guaranteed. Now I want you to take your Bible and turn to Psalms 33. Psalms 33, the 33rd Psalm, look in verse 22, there is a word that we often use, whether accidental or weather’s delivered, because there’s things that doesn’t always happen the way we want it to. You’re probably sitting here this morning hoping that the preacher will stop on time.

Now that could be a false hope, because it It depends on me. I mean, I’ll stop on time. One man right in the middle of my service, he got up and started walking out. I said, Sir, where are you going? He said, I’m going to shave. I said, why didn’t you shave before you came? He says, I did. One time I pointed to a guy, he says, Hey, wake up that guy sitting beside you. He says, I will not.

He says, you put him to sleep, you wake him up. Some people just can’t win. But they’re here in Psalms 33. Look there in verse 22. that thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee. Here the Hebrew word means to trust in thee. When hope becomes trust, you will say, I hope it doesn’t rain, means I’m trusting that it doesn’t rain. I’m hoping the car doesn’t break down, you’re trusting that it won’t break down, but you don’t know for sure.

But when you put your trust in the Lord, it’s a guarantee. upon what God promised. So you have to find out what did God say so that I know I can trust Him for it. That’s why He says the great and precious promises that are in the Word of God. And if you read those precious promises that’s based upon God fulfilling and all you had to do was trust Him, then it’s guaranteed. And that’s what can give you so much peace and joy and hope.

When the raptor takes place, the Bible talks about that you be not ignorant as those who have no hope. See, there’s some people who don’t have any hope whatsoever. Therefore, we don’t sorrow as those who have no hope because we know we will see our loved ones again. Now, take your Bible and turn to the book of 130 of Psalm, the 130 of Psalm, 130 of Psalm, and And look in verse 5, and look in verse 5, He says, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope?

That’s the same word as trust. So I put my trust in the Lord and I wait patiently. That’s why in Romans in chapter eight, you saw where it talks about the earnest expectation. You saw the wait, the wait, the wait, the hope. Because see, when you’re trusting the Lord, you can wait patiently for it because you know it’s gonna work. You know it’s the truth. God does not lie. And so that’s the reason why it can build your confidence and your trust in the Lord.

God said, he’ll never leave you and never forsake you. You can take that to the bank. You can trust him. And he also makes the statement that he will not put up on you anything greater than what you can bear. Believe him, it’s the truth. You can take it to the bank. You say, I just can’t take anymore. Yes, you can, because there is no reason for God’social to vot on the pressure. You break down on the pressure because you choose to, not because relegation had to.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit lives within you to give you the strength and the grace that you need. Strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength. And when you don’t have the joy of the Lord, you don’t have the strength and you can’t keep going yet. You crumble and you fall. but that was a inside job. You did it to yourself. Of course you blame God because he put too much on you. God doesn’t put too much upon you more than what you can bear.

You can bear it. You just don’t like the situation. You can complain about the situation. Or you can learn to trust the Lord. Put your hope in the Lord. Put your trust, your confidence in the Lord. Now I want you to take your Bible and also turn over there with me to the book of Romans in chapter 5. Looking Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 and look there in verse 2. See in the New Testament, the Greek word is not a word.

it is help us and it means to expect or anticipate with pleasure. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? So now you have here in Romans in chapter 5 and verse 1, excuse me, verse 2, by whom also we have excess by faith into this grace wherein we stand. Now where we stand is absolute, it’s concrete, it’s surety, it’s security, it’s a promise by God. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, you became a child of God. You have a new standing in Christ because now you’re his child.

And then notice what he says. Wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You can stand and rejoice in this hope that one day you’re going to be just like the Lord. We’re going to be in heaven and we’re going to be as perfect as righteous as God. God’s already sees us that away. But you see, we’re to live with this hope. But not a, well, I hope it works. I hope you’re gonna get there.

I hope, I hope, I hope. No, not talking about that kind of a hope. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about something that’s guaranteed by God. Now, take your Bible and look in the book of Titus in chapter 1, the book of Titus in chapter 1. Titus chapter 1, and you’ll notice there a very interesting verse. Titus chapter 1 and verse 2. Verse 2. And this is what it says in hope of eternal life. See there it just says you could hope for it doesn’t mean you have it.

Well understand what he’s saying but look what he says. In hope of eternal life and now look at this guarantee what’s it based upon? Which God though we’re talking about your hope on this eternal life issue is about God. And then notice what it says, that cannot lie. That means that whatever God says, it must be true and it must be real and you can go to the bank on it, it’s guaranteed. So if I put my hope, my joyful anticipation, my earnest expectation upon what God promised and it cannot lie, it must be the truth, it must be real.

And so he says, it’s based upon God who cannot lie making a promise. What did he promise? That he would give to you and I eternal life by faith alone, and that was a promise. But because of who it is, it says it. And who it is that does it that saves you. money in the bank. It’s a guarantee. So my hope, my earnest expectation is not, well, I hope I’m going, is that I know that I’m going. And that’s why he says, promise before the world began.

See, before God ever made the world, before he ever made the first man, God had a plan of how you were going to save man. God was not surprised when Adam and Eve sinned. The foreknowledge of God lets us know God already had a plan and he says about his son Jesus Christ who was crucified before the world began, before the foundations of the world. In the mind of God, his son had already went to the cross and paid for the sins of the world before he ever made that first man.

that’s God. So our hope is in the promise of God. So if God makes a promise and I believe that promise, it is guaranteed because it’s based upon God’s performance, not by performance. Oh I love that. I think that is awesome. Now turning your Bible to the book of Colossians in chapter 1, just turn to you left a little it to the book of Colossians in chapter 1. And look in verse 5. And verse 5 says, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, or you could write the word in Center for the guarantee.

The guarantee which is laid up for you in heaven, where of ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. This is what God has done for us. Believe it. Put your confidence, your trust in the Lord. Let me give you another one before we close here. I just got to show you this year. But look there in the book of Titus in chapter 3. You was already over there in Titus. But there’s another one that I wanted to show you here.

in Titus in chapter three and look there in verse seven. Titus chapter three and verse seven. You’ll notice the Lord tells us that when we trust him as our Savior, he gives to us the free gift of everlasting life. He’ll never cast you out, never lose you. You see there in verse five where he makes a statement, very easy, he says, “‘Not all by works of righteousness which we have done, according to his mercy, he saved us. So I’ve already been saved by God doing the work.

He saved me, not me saved me, not me help him save me. He saved me. And then in verse 7, he says that being justified by his grace, that means I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t earn it. It didn’t work for it. It wasn’t dependent upon me. If it was by my work, it would depend on me. Grace means it all depends on Him.” So he says, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life or the guarantee of eternal life, the joyful earnest expectation of what God promised you’re going to receive because it’s based upon something other than myself.

You see, if it depended upon me, my performance, then it’s not a sure thing. Like there’s a lot of people go to church all the time and they hope, hope that they’re good life, you know, going to church and giving money and praying and paying their bills and loving each other and all that. That’s going to get them to heaven. No, it won’t. It won’t even help. So you’re hoping in something that will not save you. That’s why this church can’t save you.

This preacher, I can’t save you, but I know someone who can and that’s the Lord. So if you trust Him Christ, He will save you and give you the free gift of everlasting life. See, I can’t give it to you because you see, I’m not God. It’s the gift of God, which is eternal life, not the gift of Yankee, gift of God. And so He makes this statement here in verse 7, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

That means that what God had promised, you can joyfully expect, anticipate it. It’s something that you desire, it’s what you want. And so you have those two wonderful little words that I, have you ever had something to I feel like this ought to be? And I expect this, I desire this. Well, how do you know this is going to happen? Well, I just feel it. I just feel it. Have you ever seen guys before they ever play a ball game, football game, what are you, we’re going to win today.

I just feel it. And then they get slaughtered. Just get slaughtered. Have you ever played a game of golf and just knew before you ever got out of a car before your hands ever touched that golf club? You could see that ball just splitting that fairway out there about 300 yards. You know, when you hit the ball, it duck hooks into the water. It’s nothing like what you hoped. And so you’re just going to have to face reality. Everything you want and everything you hope and everything you desire may not happen at all.

How old are you now? You probably didn’t think you’re going to live this long, did you? Like I’ve had a lot of people say, if I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have took better care of myself. Well, hope. Hope, hope. I hope it don’t rain. I hope the preacher finishes on time. I hope he gets something to eat. I hope I get all my work done. I hope I hope I hope. When it depends upon you, yes, you can do all that hoping.

But it’s not guaranteed. It’s not security. But isn’t it wonderful to know that in this insecure world we have the word of God. It’s rock solid. It’s sure. It’s our foundation. And when God says something God means it. So we can joyfully anticipate the day when we get to heaven. Because see, I don’t hope I’m going to heaven. I know I’m going to heaven. Why? Because of what he said, he promised. If Christ walked in this room right now and he offered you the free gift of everlasting life and you accepted, what would you have?

The free gift of everlasting life. Well, if it’s everlasting life, how long would it last forever? Well, if it lasts forever and all your sins are paid, where would you go when you die? What do heaven? And this is one of the things that I found very effective in talking to people. And I do this all the time. I ask the question, isn’t it true that you have heard almost all your life that Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for all the sins of the world?

And you be surprised how many say yes. And I ask them to question. If he paid for all the sins of the world, why should you or me or anybody, why are we going to hell to pay for sin if he paid for it? I don’t know. I says, because you must believe. You must believe. He did it for you. Because see, if you believe he paid for your sins, then you’re not gonna spend the rest of your life trying to pay for your sins.

Because you believe he did. You’re not trying to earn your way to heaven when you conclud already going to heaven. The only thing you have to do is, will you believe that when Christ died, he died for you. He paid for your sins. It means that if he paid for my sins, I don’t have to pay for them and people can’t get that. But it is so simple. It’s so, I guess it’s so simple. It’s frightening. Scares people to death.

You mean I got to trust Christ and Him alone is my only, I want to help a little bit. They believe that He is necessary. They just don’t know He’s enough. my sufficiency is in the Lord. The Lord is sufficient. He’s sufficient. When He says, it is finished. It means there’s nothing you have to do. So He says, going to all the world and preach the forgiveness of sin so people can have eternal life and know they’re going to heaven when they die.

All they have to do is believe the message. Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? All God requires of you and me is, will you believe what He said? And that day, 53 years ago in a little living room, it wasn’t in a church. I trusted Christ as my Savior. And I knew at that moment, I’m going to heaven when I die. I’m going to heaven. And it wasn’t because I promise God anything?

See, trusting Christ is not a commitment toISION serve. It’s a commitment to trust. I decided to trust what He said, what He did. And He gave me the free gift of everlasting life, and that’s how I know that I’m going to heaven when I die and look up here. This hand represents you and me. And the wall it represents sin. We all have sin on us. Now God says that He loves us. You know, isn’t it wonderful to get an email from a guy that’s going into maximum security down in Australia because he learned how to do the wall CoC, watching the videos?

I think that’s awesome. It really is. If you’ve never done it, maybe you need to check it out. You and me, sin. How easy this is? Christ. If you can do that much, you can give the gospel. God so loved the world. Hates what we do wrong. But the Bible says all of us have sinned. And because of sin, we all have to die to be eternally separated from God. But God loves us. Wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven, we have to be perfect, no sin.

But nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s righteous. Nobody’s good enough. And so therefore God says, don’t trust in what you can do. Because all of your good deeds, there’s no different from your bad deeds. There’s no difference. All have sinned. All of your good works, God says, are His filthy rags. So God says, you cannot save yourself. You may desire, you may expect to get in because of all of your good hard work. God says, not of works, that any man should boast.

This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. He came into the world. Why? Because He loves us. Hates our sin because it separates us from Him. So Christ did something for us. He took all the sin of all the world. Paidford on the cross came back from the dead and said that if we would believe that he did it for us, he would put this payment, Tarracam. See, I’ve got a payment for all of my sins.

Well, who was my payment, Christ? Christ was my payment. He’s the one that paid my sin debt. So I have a payment for all of my sins. Therefore I don’t have any sins now to pay for it. Do I deserve to go to heaven? No, it’s by grace. Grace means unmerited. I don’t merit it. I don’t deserve it. Some people can’t see this and understand this. So Christ came back again from REPLY believe that He Shanahan would give us a free gift everlasting life and you can know that you’re going to heaven.

So I know I’m going to heaven. My hope, my trust, my desire is in the Lord. I believe that what He promised He cannot lie. It’s based upon the promise of God. So I know that I have the free gift of everlasting life. Best news in all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around. If you’re here this morning, and maybe you’ve never understood this before, but right now in the quietness of this moment, I’m not asking you to change your life.

I’m not asking you to join the church. I’m not asking you to quit a religion. I’m just saying, do you want to go to heaven? Do you understand you are a sinner? You’ve done things wrong. Do you understand that when Christ died, He died for you? He paid for your sins. All that He asked you to do is will you believe that He did it for you? Will you trust Him? Will you put your hope of going to heaven in Christ?

then it’s guaranteed. Then you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. There is no other way. In just a moment I’m going to ask for, raise your hand. But raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that it made sense to you. And I’d like to have prayer for you. So in the quietness of this moment, is there any one of those? I’ll say, yes, that made sense to me. And I want to know that I’m going to heaven when I die and preach our life for you to pray for me.

pray for me. If you’ve already done it, you don’t have to do it again. But if you never have, but right now you see that made sense to me and I want to be sure of going to heaven, would you trust Christ if you will? Would you just slip your hand very quickly and put a rep back down and say, I want it all. Yes, God bless you, man. God bless you. Anyone else, just very quickly, just slip it up and put it right back down.

Other others, be sure you’re going to heaven when you’re die. You cannot earn eternal life. You can hope in the wrong things. Put your confidence in what Christ did for you. Everyone else before we close? So yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning. And by trusting Him, God gives you as a free gift everlasting life. When you get up to leave, you can say, I’m going to heaven because today I accepted Christ as my Savior. He paid for all my sins.

Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Bless each one, especially the one that indicated by an uplifting hand that they would trust your Savior. They’re putting their trust, their confidence in what you said. They believe it. By doing so, they become your child. You’ll never cast him out, never lose him. It’s guaranteed they can know they’re going to heaven. We thank you for it in Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Read Bibleline would like to extend a free offer to those who support this ministry financially.

This month we are sending a free copy of the book, The Gospel Driven Man, for a donation of any amount. It is a small way that we can show our appreciation for your support of this radio program. Without your thoughtful gifts and prayers, we would not be able to remain on the air. The book explains the basic doctrines of the Bible and can help you to be more confident in leading people to Christ and for understanding the driving principles of the gospel itself.

So during the following month, we would like to send to you a free copy of the Gospel-Driven Man by Dr. Ralph Yakey Arnold for a donation of any amount to Bible on. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address. Thank you again for your continued support and prayers and helping us bring the clear gospel message to the world. 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.