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

As you know today, we have communion service And it’s in honor of what Christ did on the cross for us. He says, this do remembrance of me. I wanna give you a couple things to remember. So, turn in your Bible to the book of first Corinthians in chapter one. First Corinthians in chapter one. They’re in verse 17. It makes the statement, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. That doesn’t mean that you’re not supposed to baptize.

It’s just that baptism is not a part of salvation. Paul did not want them to think that they were special because he actually baptized him over what somebody else did. So to keep a problem from brewing, he solved the problem. He says, I only baptized a few people. The Bible also says that Christ did not baptize but his disciples. If baptism a part of salvation, then whoever baptize you is the one who saved you. And if Christ didn’t baptize anybody, then Christ didn’t save anybody.

If you have to be baptized to be saved. Think about it. Now, he says he was sent to preach the gospel, the Apostle Paul, And he says there in verse 17, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. So the gospel that we preach is the cross of Christ because without the cross there is no gospel. Therefore we distinguish between anybody named Jesus and the one who were trussing as our Savior.

He’s the one that died on the cross to pay for our sins. So it wasn’t just anybody, it was a particular person who came and lived and died, paid for our sins, came back again from the dead. But in verse 18, you see the simplicity of the gospel really is a stumbling block to people who think there’s, you have to do so much more. And to think that it’s not by your works, because there’s so many people that think they’re so strong.

So whether he calls you trust in your intelligence because of how much you know, or because of your own physical prowess because you can do so much, the gospel strips a man of all of his pride. Because a man is not saved by cause of his intellect and a man is not saved because his power or ability to do anything about it. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to astound the world, something so simple and yet so loaded with wisdom.

His story exceeds the wisdom of the Greeks and the power that the Gentiles or the Jewish people look for in signs and miracles. So he says in verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, is the power of God. Power of God because a man is not smart enough, wise enough, intellectually a human that he can figure it out on his own. Somebody has to explain the gospel to him.

And a man does not have any physical strength or ability to save himself. So it kind, kind of, takes it away from the man and there’s a reason why. if you look very quickly over there in verse 29 where it says that no flesh should glory in his presence. So God took it away from man, salvation, man can accomplish only the Lord. So only the Lord gets Just a credit. But he did it in a way that’s really fantastic when you look at it.

Look at it, look at it in verse 21. For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It didn’t know God and cannot find God. So therefore the wisdom of man is not sufficient to lead or to guide him because if your wisdom can’t lead you to God and you can’t find God then your wisdom is inadequate. So then he makes this statement. He says, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that does something so simple, so easy.

Believe. You see, last week we talked a little bit about the purpose of the law, how that we’ve all sinned and none of us could keep the law. So God showed demand that He can’t save Himself by His works and gave Him something that He can you can believe. You can trust. It’s not by your wisdom, it’s not by your might. But by my spirit, sayeth the Lord. Man doesn’t have the power to save himself or even help save himself.

So he says here in verse 22, for the Jews require a sign the Greek seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greek foolishness. This message that we preach, the simplicity of the gospel by grace and grace alone is a stumbling block to the majority of people they stumble over it because it’s too simple. It’s too easy. You’ve got to tell me you can’t just believe it’s got to be more than that.

And so therefore they’ve got to make it more than that. They cannot accept what God said. It’s too easy. You’ve got to do something. You can’t tell me that all you’ve got to do is believe and you can go to heaven when you die. Well, I can’t tell you that and God can’t tell you that. I guess nobody can tell you that. But it’s what God said. So you look there and he says in verse 24, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greek Christ, power of God and the wisdom of God.

and this is so important because it shows two things. It shows you about that the wisest man in the world can’t save himself and that the strongest man in the world can’t save himself. So he showed the people of the world how foolish it is to trust in their ability or their pride or their intellect or whatever and it’s freemorrow. It’s the gift of God. Not of works. So now look there in verse 30. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom.

Christ becomes my wisdom. Not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom which is of God. And the next statement and righteousness, Christ is my righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He is all that I need. Whatever man can’t do, God through Christ did. So therefore we have something in Christ that the world cannot understand. Now take your Bible and turn there to the book of 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians in chapter 5. Simple little verse, but a powerful little verse.

And you notice And notice where he says in verse 21, this is 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, you see Christ is my righteousness. He is my righteousness. I don’t have any. You don’t have any. The Bible says ours is as filthy rags. All have sinned and come short of God’s glory, short of God’s perfection. So you and I, the Bible says, do not have any righteousness that God can accept. He wants us to accept the righteousness that he sends down.

And then he says here in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, For he, God hath made him Jesus Christ, Who knew no sin to be sinned for us, That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Bible says, for he, God, hath made him Jesus Christ. He knew no sin. He never did anything wrong. Made him to be sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness of God. You see, He gives us His righteousness when we believe.

His righteousness is imputed to us, put to our account when we believe, according to Romans in chapter 4. When we believe it, His righteousness is put to our account. We go to heaven on what He did. He has given it to us, but look at that verse. In verse 21, for he hath made him to be sinned for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now because of this, God says that he has given to you and I the ministry of reconciliation.

You see, there’s God and there’s man and there’s empathy between them. We can’t get to God. God can’t get to us because there’s a problem. We have a sinful nature and sin cannot dwell with God. God hates sin, despises sin. He is holy. So there’s a barrier between us. So the Bible says, he sent his son to die to pay for the sins of the world. And so when we believe that, we are reconciled. We’re at peace. we have peace with God because of what Christ did, not because of what we’ve done.

It’s not based upon our commitment to Christ or anything else. It’s because of that payment Christ made. And we are justified just as if I had never sinned. So I have received justification. I’m not going to be justified. I’ve already been justified once and for all through the payment Christ made on the cross for me. So look there at this verse in verse 18. And all things are of God. And these are all things He’s talking about is the all things that are new.

These are all things that deals with the new birth. The all things that deals with this new body. All these things. And you’ll find that word in verse 18 of the previous chapter of things and things and things and things. There are things that are of the world and there’s things that are not of this world. And so these new things, because of a new birth that we have in Christ, He says, are of God, who had reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and get this, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

So it’s one thing for the Lord to save me and give me eternal life and justify me as though I’ve never done anything wrong and then on top of that He left me here and gave me a ministry. But he did you too. Every one of us have a ministry. You are to be in the business of getting people reconciled back to God by telling them about the one who made that payment for them. And by faith alone in what Christ did that is taken away and they are joined together for all eternity, never to be separated.

He gives you eternal life and will never cast you out and never lose Him. That is a very wonderful thing to know. Look in verse 19, to witness that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. He imputes His righteousness unto us. He imputed the sins of the world to His done, but those to his account, and he gives his righteousness to our account. And all that is done, not by me promising God that I’m going to live worthy of it, or be good enough, or follow him, or obey him, or commit my life to him.

No, it was done because by grace alone. I didn’t deserve it, and I don’t have to promise how I’m going to live. No man has ever been saved because He promised God how He’s going to live if God would save Him. Now you can say it all you want, but nobody has ever been saved because of any commitment of any kind on your part or anybody’s part at any time. You’re saved by grace alone in what Christ did for you and that alone.

Now I believe that every person ought to serve the Lord, yes, but I don’t have to. and you say you have to, that’s a whole different ball game. What we should do is one thing, we should all serve the Lord. I think all of God’s children ought to go to church every service. I think everybody ought to give to the Lord’s work. Because we know if you should do it, then you ought to do it. And if you don’t do it, then maybe God ought to take your salvation away.

But I’m so glad God doesn’t work that away. What God wants me to do, and what I have to do is two different things. I don’t have to love God to go to heaven. And I don’t have to go to church. And I don’t have to give any money to go to heaven. Why? Because it’s free. Totally. Now, because that is so true, most people don’t get it. But I want you to see this in verse 20. Now then we, we, that’s us too.

Even those people in Corinth, these worldly, carnal-minded Christians, we are ambassadors for Christ. We are ambassadors. You see, we represent a king of another country. We’re in a foreign world. We’re aliens. Illegal aliens? We are here representing a king. of another country and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ and he says here we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ dead or in Christ’s place be reconciled to God so we have a ministry this is what we do this is what it’s about this is why it’s so important take your Bible and turn to the book of Philippians in chapter 3 Philippians in chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 Paul goes through parts of his life tell you who he is, what he’s done, and how if you know being somebody is somebody he was somebody but

he lets you know he was a nobody and became a nobody because he wanted to know more about Christ. So he says here in verse 9, look at verse 9, and be bound in in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. So God says, don’t be caught trusting in your good works. Don’t, He says don’t do it. You see, what’s the consequences?

Hell, if God comes looking for you and He finds you trusting in your works to get you to heaven. You don’t go to heaven because you’re trusting the wrong thing. He says, but be found in Him in Christ. What he says, be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. In other words, not be found having my own righteousness.

And if you don’t be found trusting in, Well, I committed my life to Christ. I give my life to Christ, my life to the Lord, that will not save you. Has nothing to do with salvation. There’s a lot of people who are teaching things that are not correct. And your eternal destination is at stake. It is so easy for people to believe things that are not true. I talked to a person just recently. They come to church. Every once in a while and I’ll save them and shake their hands and bye bye.

But I asked the question just recently. I said, let me ask you a question. I said, you mean come to church? I said, oh yeah. I said, where are you going today? I’m going to heaven. I said, well, if you were to stand before God and God said, why should I let you in? I said, what would you say? Well, because I try to live right and I go to church and I’m doing the best I can. Was that the right answer?

Not the right answer. And yet you can sit here and you’ll hear it over and over and over again and still don’t get it and still not get it. So that’s why I know, I don’t care how many times you’ve been here, I still don’t know if you trusted the Lord, unless I asked you and I get some specific answers, but I would hate to think you heard it a thousand times and he’s all, no, here he goes, that wallet trick again.

And you listen to it. And then one of these days when you die and here you are thinking you’re going to heaven, but you never trusted Christ. You trusted in the fact, I dedicated my life to God. I committed my life to serve in God. I changed my life. I stopped some of my sins. None of that will work. Not of works means. Not of works. Not of yourself means. Not of yourself. Not having your own righteousness. But that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith.

There is no other kind and there’s no other way to get it. Is when you believe that when Christ died, He died and paid for your sins and that’s what you’re accepting. You see if I accept that payment He made as a payment from my sins, I have a payment from my sins. That’s why I can’t go to hell. Why? I don’t have any sins to pay for. I can’t go to hell today, I can’t go tomorrow. I can never go to hell.

Why? I don’t have any sins to pay for. They’re all paid. Did you get it? How many of you get it? Let me see your hand. I’m gonna say all right put it down. You know you raise your arm, you lose your charm. I don’t want to ask too long. How many of you don’t get it? Don’t raise your hand. I’m just just joking. Just don’t. But this is a heaven and hell issue. Be found in him not having my own righteousness.

Take a Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter three. Romans in chapter three. And look in verse 21, verse 21. And this is what it says. But now the righteousness of God, He just spent the first two and a half chapters showing how nobody is good enough to go to heaven. Nobody can be justified by His works. So He says all have sinned. Everybody has come short of perfection. And God has judged the whole world. And the whole world is guilty before God.

up in verse 19. And verse 20 says, therefore, look in verse 20, therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. What that means is by no commitment of your life, no good works, no committing your life to Christ, nothing like that. Because see, that’s means you’re promising how you’re going to live. You can’t promise God how you’re going to live for the rest of your life. You don’t have the power to fulfill your promise. I won’t do anything wrong.

I’ll do my best. You will not. You will not do your best. No man does his best. You’d like to think so and believe so. When you do your best, you mean you couldn’t done a little bit better. And who’s the judge? Whether you gave it all you had. Did your best. You? And And God says, even if you gave it, you’re all and gave it your best, committed every second of your life to Christ. That’s not how you’re saved.

If you could save yourself by your work, why did Christ die? He died in vain for no reason. Now look what he says here in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law, without trying to keep the law, without trying to earn your salvation, without going to church, without giving money, without committing your life, without changing anything, without turning from sin, without promising, no, without that. Look in verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without any additional, without any supplementals.

I got that word from a health insurance. Aren’t you glad it finally came in and it’s free to everybody? Just like it was promised. I’m glad God doesn’t give us an empty box. We’ve been sold to build the goods. You open up the box with nothing in it. But Christ says, I’ll give you the free gift of eternal life, the gift of eternal life, and it’s by faith alone in what Christ did on the cross for us. So when he says, without the deeds of the law, it means without me promising to stop something or join anything or start anything or committing my life to Christ.

It’s wonderful to know that, don’t you believe a man out of committed life to Christ? Yes, but not to be saved. Don’t you think a person out of the church would give a minute? Well, of course, but not to be saved. Some people just don’t get it. It’s free. I wonder what part of free don’t they understand. Now look what he says here in verse 22. The righteousness of God which is, which is, it’s not by the law, it’s not by you earning it, faith of Jesus Christ.

He didn’t prove all have sinned, the whole world is guilty, no man can save himself, all have come short of God’s perfection, but his righteousness is unto most of them. all, but it’s only upon, on, then that believe. So if you do not believe, you do not have God’s righteousness. You don’t collect $200. You don’t go past go. You don’t go. It’s unto all, but it’s only upon those that believe by faith alone. You add any works to the gospel, you are not saved according to the Bible.

You’re trusting in your good works. And that’s why if you want to find out whether or not you really believe, take all of your good works away and live like the devil in your mind. Just say, if I live like the devil, would you still go to heaven? this way one time because he wanted to get really smart. And I thought I’m just as smart as he is. I said, well, let me ask you a question. Can a practicing homosexual trust crisis savior and not change his ways, not stop anything, die in the very act and go to heaven.

And I’ll have majority of people say, ain’t no way that man’s going to have him. I said, if he did get the heaven, it would be grace, wouldn’t it? Would it? If you say no, you don’t get it. If in your mind, you say, no, no, no, no, you don’t get it yet. You’re still struggling. You don’t get it. You say, well, he doesn’t deserve it. Nobody deserves it. The man with a three piece suit. Ooh, it’s okay. I’ve only got a two-piece suit.

It stands in the church and he reads the Bible and he prays and doesn’t know the thing. If he hasn’t trusted Christ to save you, he’ll burn in hell. It don’t matter who he is and it doesn’t matter how bad people have been. That’s what’s so difficult for people to understand. Well, we know we’ve heard it all right. Good people go to heaven. Bad people don’t. Okay? Who’s the good ones? There is none good, no not one. If God had to say, but one, I knew that was a bin may.

And if he just says, you know, we’re all righteous except one, I would wonder, I wonder if that’s me. But he says all. But he will save any and all. This is why it’s so important. Look there now in verse 24, be unjustified, justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That word redemption means that He paid for my sins. And now look there in verse 25 because there’s a word here that I want to bring to your attention.

In verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Propitiation, it’s a big word, but it just simply means that sacrifice. Christ was the sacrifice. In the Old Testament, they would take the blood in his sprinkle upon the mercy seat. Well, Christ, his blood was taken into heaven and sprinkle upon the mercy seat. But his is incorruptible blood. It never has to be done again. And he was the satisfaction. You’ve been listening to another great message from Pastor Arnold and we at Bible Line thank you for tuning in.

In appreciation to those who support this ministry financially, we would like to send to you a copy of the Jim Tingen story. The Jim Tingen story is a true story about a young man that just couldn’t explain the gospel clearly. He wasn’t the type of kid that most people made friends with, but he knew that people needed to hear the gospel to be saved. Believe me, you’ll be affected by this story in a profound way, and this book is offered to you as a gift for your donation in any amount.

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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.