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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 air. 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.

will seem today like a very light message, easy for everyone to understand. So it will be conceived as a message that is very shallow, but I assure you it is very, very deep because majority of preachers don’t get it. They may know the Hebrew and the Greek and they can go down so deep and stay all down so long and come up so dry. But I want you to understand what I’m talking about today. So turn in your Bible to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 1, 2 Timothy and chapter 1.

Second Timothy chapter 1. And notice there in verse 7, verse 7. I title this message, what is the main impression of the truth of the gospel. After you hear the gospel, what should be your impression? What should you think because of what you heard? Not only what you know, but how were you impressed with the gospel? You see, it should be so different that when a lost man hear it, it’s got to be something that shakes a person. It’s so different.

Majority of the people that I talk to, they always come in this way. I’ve never heard it like that before. I’ve never heard it like that before. And yet they go to church all their life. But I’ve never heard it like that before. And what they’re not hearing that it was totally in reality really free. They’ve never heard that. Because it’s amazing how that so many preachers give a message that causes people to be impressed in a different way.

So their impression of the truth of the gospel isn’t the gospel at all. They’re hearing a false message. The true gospel of Christ should make an impression upon us that shakes us to the core. Because of the truth of the gospel is why I’ve been wanting to give it for 55 years. Second Timothy chapter 1, look in verse 7, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

It’s amazing that after we know the truth, we become afraid of people because sometimes we become ashamed of the gospel. Now we often say, I’m not ashamed of the gospel. You know Romans 1 16, I’m not ashamed of the gospel. But we live like we’re ashamed of the gospel, like we’re ashamed to be called a Christian. Like I’m ashamed to let anybody know I have eternal life. I’m in the secret service. I’m a secret service Christian. But we should understand something that’s very important.

Look in verse 8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. Are you ashamed of what He did for you? Then we should not act like it. We shouldn’t live like it. We ought to be more thankful for what Christ did for us than anything else in the whole world. And He says, Nor of me His prisoner, the person that brought the message. Paul says, you ought to see what I went through to get this message.

To you. How valuable is the gospel? What’s the price you’re willing to pay to get it to somebody? That’s how valuable is to you. What are you willing to give up in this life? Your hopes and your dreams? Whatever you have, whatever you want to do. Money, fame, power, glory. Are you willing to give all that up so that you can reach people for the Lord? You know, I actually believe there’s going to be people that when they stand before the Lord and God’s going to say, look, I told that preacher down there to start a Bible college in a night school.

Why didn’t you go? Why didn’t you go? You didn’t become a good soul, wasn’t it? Because you didn’t know what to do. You didn’t know how to do it. But why didn’t you go? Why didn’t you go? I told you about it. I had it set up for you. But you always found an excuse why not you. That’s good for somebody else. You ever think like that? I know that sometimes when I’m preaching a heart sermon, it wasn’t a while I’ll do that.

You ever see people bobbing to ducking down? That’s because they wanted to hit the person behind him. But that was good for him. That almost got me. Don’t be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. And then he made sure that you understand in a mist of all of this good stuff, he’s telling us, First man, who has saved us? Sadan deal, been saved. Called us with a holy call in. Not according to our works, not according to our works.

He always throws that in there. You know when he talks about reaching for the prize of the high calling of God. Paul talks about winning the prize. And he says, I do this that I might win the more. And I do this that I might gain the Jew. And they do this that gained the Gentiles. I did this, that I can be serving to all, that I can gain them or gain them or gain them. What he was talking about, winning with souls.

There’s your prize. We do all that we can to win the prize, not just to sow the seed, but we want to do it in such a way that we can get a fish on the hook and get them in the boat. We want them to trust Christ as their Savior. You take this dear lady that we were just talking about just a couple of days ago, passed away. Here, gone. But she came to church, heard the gospel, trust Christ the Savior.

What do you think is the most important thing that dear lady did in all 53 years of her life? What if she had came to this church and we didn’t give the gospel? And she still dies, and she never heard the gospel. Will we be talking about how much Hebrew we know? How much Greek we know? How deep we are in the Word? Or would it be better to be clear and plain and simple where anybody can understand what we’re saying?

Or should I come out and speak in Latin? Turn my call around backwards so I can look impressive. You can bow and call me Father and you can kiss my finger or my big toe. No, I’m not into that world. But Now look down here, I want you to see this. In verse 10 says, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, has brought life and immortality to light, and get those three words.

He brought life, immortality, to live forever, to light, how? Through the what? Don’t you be ashamed of that gospel. It’s the only thing that is a hope for any man in the world. When he talked about Jesus being born that night, behold, is born unto you this day in the city of David, a trailblazer, Daniel Boom, David Crockett, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. This is the good news, peace on earth, good will to all of them. is the only hope there is.

This is the only place you’ll find peace and good wealth is in Christ. Well, that Christ there is nothing. And notice what he says here in verse 12, for the which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed. I’m not ashamed of it. I’m not ashamed of what the Lord did for me and I don’t want to be ashamed of what I do for Him. I know whom I have believed and empersuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day.

Now that’s a done deal. Now look in 1 Timothy chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter 1 concerning of a law Or we could say works for salvation. Many people want to do good works in order to earn their salvation. He says, do you want to be teachers of the law, but they don’t understand even what they’re saying? So you see here in verse 7, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor where up they affirm.

For we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing that the law is not made for the righteous man, but for the lawless and the disobedient, for people who wanna put themselves under the law, what they’re admitting to, I’m really bad. And there’s people trying to keep the law, they’re trying to keep it, as though they can attain, they can accomplish that, and no man can keep the law. No man can ever live good enough to go to heaven.

So in spite of all how bad these people are in the next couple of verses, I mean, you read them and this, they’re really bad. But then you notice in verse 11, what can take these bad people and make them perfect? See the glorious gospel, the glory of God, short of God’s glory, I mean short of God’s perfection, a message that can make people perfect. The law could not make anyone perfect. Hebrews chapter seven, but the bringing in of a better hope did.

So God says this message that we preach, the gospel can make a loss man. perfect. If it can’t make you perfect, it isn’t any good. Because to go to heaven you have to be what? Perfect. Well if the gospel doesn’t do that, then what’s the purpose of it? Is it to help me live good enough that I might attain it someday? Then that’s hopeless because that depends on man. And yet what does the Bible say? Not by works of righteousness which we have to not by work.

Not So then the gospel must make you good to go. So the gospel can make a person perfect. So that’s why he says in verse 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was get committed to my trust. So we have a message that been committed to us. And that’s why he makes the statement that we have this gospel, been committed to our trust, even so we speak not as pleasing men, God which try out their heart.

This message that can save people and get them into heaven, it’s got to be very important. How important is the gospel? How important was it for Christ to die? So we annull all of that great value when we diminish the importance of the gospel. If you’ll notice over the years, guys like Dr. Hank Lindstrom, me, and many others, All they know is that wall of the illustration in John 3, 16. There’s a multitude of people that can be very glad that we knew that.

Because that’s the most important thing. See, all the other stuff is so that you’ll be strong enough to keep giving it clearly and simply. Because if you’re not strong in the Lord, you won’t do it. You become lifted up with pride. So there’s got so much more that’s more important than that. There is nothing more important than that. This is the main thing. Keep the main thing the main thing. And this is the main thing. Now notice what he says in verse 12.

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who had enabled me for that he counted me faithful, put him in the ministry. Now why did he wind up in the ministry? Because he was faithful to that which was committed to his trust. You and I are simply to be faithful with that which had been entrusted to us. And if we will, God will give you a ministry and you’d be surprised at the result of what can take place. So this is a very important thing.

And then He makes the statement down there in verse 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptations that Christ Jesus came into the world to save centers of whom I am chief. And if He can say the chief, He can save all the Indians. Then he says, this is worthy of all to accept. If everybody is to hear it, everybody is to accept. Somebody has to tell them. If the most important thing in my life was to trust Christ’s Savior, the most important thing in somebody else’s life must have been to tell me.

You are as important as the person that needs to hear it because we’re simply individuals where like radio sets, we just transfer in a message, transfer in a message. that’s really what it’s all about. Now take a moment in the book of Galatians in chapter one. The book of Galatians in chapter one. Galatians chapter 1, notice what Paul says about the importance of the true gospel. He says in verse 6 of chapter 1, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

But though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel under you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed. As we said before so say, and now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you then that ye have received let him be accursed. Do you think the word of God takes this thing seriously? Preachers are not free to preach any other message they want to and say God said if God didn’t say it you ought not say it.

But you see, they twist the gospel. They pervert it. And how do you change the gospel? The gospel is pure grace. No works added. It’s pure. And it’s purest form. It is powerful. It’s a stick of dynamite. That’s the word that’s even used. It is the power of God. When you add one work, delutes the man. message, destroys the message. And that’s what many preachers are doing. You see, with all priests, the same thing. No, they don’t. I wish to God they did preach a clear message.

It was my father law that explained the gospel to me. And it took him a while to get that done. I just couldn’t believe it’s free. I’d always heard you had to be good to go to heaven. Well, is that true or is that false? That’s false. I don’t have to be good to go to heaven. I got to be perfect and I wasn’t going. But I thought it was. I didn’t know that it was a free gift. So the word of God tells us that there is only this one gospel.

And the test of the gospel is grace. And the way you know it’s by grace is it has to be free and it has to last forever. If it’s not free, well that works. It’s not the gospel. If it doesn’t last forever, it’s not the gospel. The good news is that it’s free and it’s free and it lasts forever. And that’s how you can… Now look there in Galatians in chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 and look in verse 11.

Verse 11, and this is what it says, and I brethren, if I yet preach circumcision or the law, why do I yet suffer persecution? In other words, if I preach that, I would be preaching a message everybody else preaches. If I preach that you had to be good to go to heaven, then I’m preaching what everybody else is preaching. There’s no persecution there. If I tell a lost man, he had to turn from his sins, that means stop being bad.

If I tell him he had to make Christ the Lord and Master of His life means start being good. So if I teach that, I won’t be persecuted because the gospel has no offense to it. It’s not offensive when you tell a man that it’s free that offends people. You tell him you can be saved forever and never go to hell in the future that offends people. And you tend to tell me that I don’t have to do something, that offends people.

The gospel is offensive and that’s why the human nature is I got to do something. I got to have a part. So they think they’ve got to rely upon something that they do. They got to help the situation and so there’s enough preachers that will help teach that message. So they don’t get offended because they’re teaching what everybody else is teaching. That’s the same message that all religions are teaching that or religions teach you got to do something you got to behave you got this list that you’ve got to obey but the truth is none of that’s true it has nothing to do my eternal destination has absolutely nothing to do with the way I live my life that’s offensive to people so I wrote down a few things.

I sit down in my office just and I wrote this down just for you today. And I wrote a couple of questions and statements here and there. I am ashamed of preachers who are ashamed of the gospel. So many are afraid to say I am saved forever. I I have eternal life. Once saved, always saved. They don’t want to give people the wrong impression. They don’t want people to think that you’re doing just giving people a license to sin, so they become ashamed of the truth of the gospel because they’re afraid of men.

afraid of what they will think. I don’t want to give them the wrong impression. What impression would you give? So I wrote another question down. What is the main impression of the truth of the gospel? That when you really hear, what are you supposed to know? What are you supposed to think? Am I supposed to know after I hear the gospel and believe the gospel? Am I supposed to know that I’m not going to hell? Am I supposed to know that I’m going to heaven?

Am I supposed to believe that there’s nothing that could keep me from going to heaven? Am I supposed to believe that? Well, you just believe you right here and just live in the way you want and so go to heaven when you die. You don’t want to give people that impression. So what impression do you want to give? Well, You can’t live like that. You can’t live as any way you want. So I’ve got a choice. I can give people the impression that you can live as you please and go to heaven, or that you can’t live as you please and go to heaven.

Now which one is the truth? Does it matter? And I wrote it down this way, which is the best impression? You can live as you please and go to heaven. you can’t live as you please and still go to heaven. There’s people saying you can’t live as you please. Now if I can’t, how do I know I’m gonna go to heaven then? If I can’t live as I please and still go to heaven, how do I know that I’m gonna go to heaven?

Because I believe that I can do all this wrong and then I’ll go to hell. Either you believe that you’re saved forever and that you can live as you please. or you don’t believe that. If you don’t believe that you can live as you please, then you believe in works for salvation to keep your salvation. What is the impression that you give? If I want people after I give them the gospel, do I want them to know that they’re going to heaven whenever they die?

You’d be surprised how many people I talked to and they say, oh yeah, I’m going to heaven. I talked to one girl on the street. I said, where are you going to die? She said, oh, I’m going to heaven. I says, no, you’re not. I just take it a chance that she really didn’t know. I usually don’t do that, but I just felt like I’m gonna do it this time. Because I want her proof to me. I said, you are not.

She says, yes, I am. I says, no, you’re not. I says, you really don’t know where you’re going when you die. She says, I do too. I says, no, you don’t. She’s on the other side of the counter there. You said, you should do that while I did it. I said, how do you know you’re gonna have and she said, because I’ve been pretty good. See what I mean? So did she really know she was going to, if she died today, she thinks she’ll go to heaven because she’s been pretty good.

But what about tomorrow when she’s pretty bad? And if she was pretty good, all her life, would it work? It still wouldn’t work. Well, because she has to live a perfect life from the time she’s born. Has she fulfilled that? No. If you haven’t been perfect so far, what makes you think you will? Now listen to the truth. I can trust Christ as my Savior, live as I please, and still go to heaven when I die. Regardless of the impression that that gives, it’s still the truth.

Because if that’s not true, there is no gospel. There is no gospel. If that is not true. Yes, I can live as I please, but I have chosen in my own personal life, I chose to please the Lord. I can live as I please. I chose to read my Bible, and I chose to study God’s Word and pray and witness, and I chose to go to church and live as God is the life. I chose to do that. But that’s not why I’m going to heaven.

I chose because that’s what I’m living as I please. And if I choose to rebel against God and live like a devil, my Heavenly Father who loves me so much. Gunna beat the Torah to me, but he can’t send me to hell. I’m glad to know that I have a choice to live as I please. Isn’t that what everybody else does? Isn’t it nice to know that you’re going to heaven because it’s not by your works? But at least now I know that I’m going to heaven because God loved me that much, that He would give to me as a free gift that everlasting life.

And I can live to please God now, or I can live to please me. I can live to please whatever I want to go to a better and different. And it doesn’t affect where I spend eternity. Not to believe that is not to understand the truth of the gospel. If you believe in your mind, well, if you’re really saved, you’re not going to want to go out here and do all these bad things. You don’t get it. You still have a struggle with that in your life.

You still want to do what’s wrong. You still think wrong and you know it. You still get mad and angry and upset and feel with bitters and envy and jealousy and all the, you know it’s true. You see, I have not, I’m not like that. Let me talk to your wife. She’ll tell the truth on you. You’re not as holy as you think you are. Another statement I wrote down, it proves your works really have nothing to do with your salvation.

Now or in the future. It means that my works have nothing to do with my salvation, not by works of righteousness, which I have done. The next statement, if it is true that you can trust Christ, live as you please, still go to heaven when you die, then you can be secure that you’re going to heaven. You change this anyway and say, well, no, you can’t, then you can’t be sure going. You see, either you can or you can’t.

If I can live as I please and still go to heaven when I die, it means that what He gave me really was free. If this is a contingency and I don’t do this good deed, good life, and He takes away my free gift of eternal life because I messed up here, this was contingent upon my behavior. my good deeds is why I’m going to heaven, not because it was a free gift. It wasn’t free. It was loaned to me, and if I obeyed and kept the payments up on it, I could keep it.

But if I didn’t keep these payments, then he’s going to take the house away. He’s going to take the car away because you didn’t make your payments. No, it’s free or it’s not free. And I live as I please, yes. But don’t I also have the choice I can choose to please God? Well, that’s what I chose to do. Because I’m not doing it to get to heaven, but because I’m going to heaven. I can’t go to hell. It’s impossible for me to go to hell.

I am secure. He died to pay for all of my sins. People need to understand that. Hello, this is Peter Amato from Bibleline. We hope you’ve enjoyed the message from Dr. Arnold and pray that Bibleline is helping you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thanks for your donations and support of Bibleline, we’d like to send Dr. Arnold’s complete teaching on the Book of Revelation. Compiled on one disc are 27 lessons in MP3 format of all 22 chapters of the revelation of Jesus Christ that was given to the Apostle John.

Dr. Arnold provides clear insight and understanding to this often misunderstood book and for a donation in any amount, we’d like to send this gift to you today. You may contact us by calling 1-800-576-3771 or by mail to 4811 George Road Tampa, Florida, 336-34. And don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. Once again, thank you for supporting Bibleline and may God richly bless you. 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.