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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 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.

We are discussing the three tenses of salvation. I received an email and I often get something that bothers a few people when they hear my presentation of the gospel. And so of course they know some verses in the Bible that they assume I have never seen those verses before. So because of that I try to explain a little bit to them because yes I am very, very strong on the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so when you’re strong on what it is, you have to be strong on what it is not.

So when the Bible says for by grace are you saved, it also tells you how you’re not saved. You’re not saved by your works. It’s not of yourself. And therefore it is not compatible for a man to try to save himself by grace and by works. And so the Bible tells us and if it’s by grace then it cannot be by works and if it’s by works it cannot be by grace. Does a man need to be saved? Yes he does.

That is the biggest thing that we ever talk about when we talk about the Bible. And that is the most important theme throughout the Bible is God’s plan of salvation. So the three tenses of salvation is something that’ll help us that when you read these verses, you’ll have a better understanding of where to place these things. But this is a little letter that I got in the mail, and I thought I would share it with you. Brother Arnold, I like it when people call me Brother Arnold.

But this is what he says, Brother Arnold, this verse alone declares your salvation message invalid. Please receive this in the spirit of concern and love that it was sent. Brother so and so. And the verse that he shared with me was the one found in 1 John chapter 2 and verse three through five when we’ll be taking a look at that. But he says, and he wrote me a letter and I had answered him back. And then so he wrote me back again.

And he says, I was listening to your programs of a couple weeks ago. And you seem to me that you conflicted working for salvation with obeying Jesus as a demonstration of showing our love to Him as a testimony that we are indeed redeemed.” Now he was doing fine until we were showing that we were really really saved. And so many people believe that your Christian life must be the proof of the evidence that you are genuine. You’re really saved.

I beg of you to read 1 John 2, 3 through 5, and with an objective, I realize that it states that believers strive in obedience. there’s many people who believe that when you are saved, you are going to strive in obedience. And therefore, it is determined that you will produce evidence in your life that you are a genuine believer. And so it does cause a problem. So very quickly, look there in your Bible to 1 John chapter 2, because you will be receiving a lot of conflict from individuals who will take verses that seems to say.

And then try to prove to you that salvation is not just by grace, but you also got to live the life. And if you don’t live the life, then you weren’t really saved. So here in 1 John chapter 2, look in verse 3, where it says, And here by we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. Now see, that’s clear as a bell right there. We know that you know him if you keep his commandments.

So it’s obvious that if you don’t keep his commandments, you don’t know the Lord. And isn’t that what we try to teach everybody is to know the Lord? Everybody should know the Lord. You say, I know the Lord, but you keep his commandments. Well, well, so then you have a problem. If you say yes, is that because that proves you’re saved? What happens when you don’t keep the commandments? And then which commands what we talking about? We talking about 10 of them, maybe 500 of them.

Or we talking about just one or two. What are we talking about? And so it does cause a problem. Now look in verse four, he that saith, I know him and keep it not as commandments is a who, a liar, and the truth is not in him. But who so keepeth his word? In him, verily is the love of God perfected hereby, no we that we are in him.” See there? And that’s Clearsabel. It says right there that you have got 11 and you’ve got to, you know, that proves you.

You know him because you’re keeping his commandments. And I admit that that can cause a lot of problems because what if you don’t produce the evidence? Well, then people will question their salvation and cause them to doubt whether they’re really saved or not. And so you need to understand who is he talking to, and he is talking to believers. See there in verse 1? My little children. So he’s already talking to those who know the Lord. And he says in verse 1, these things write on you that you sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate.

So he’s talking about, he doesn’t want you to sin, but if you do sin, well, do your don’t How much is enough or too much? So a lot of questions and doubts. Now just take your Bible and go all the way over there to the gospel of John chapter 16. Now the Lord used John to write the gospel of John and first John. So when he talks about this commandment that we’re supposed to keep, you go back to chapter 16 and it will kind of give you a good idea of what he’s talking about here.

And so, let’s look in chapter 15 first. In chapter 15 of the Gospel of John, look in verse 9, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. continue ye in my love. Keep loving others like I loved you. So, this is not to be saved. He’s talking to his disciples here telling them this is what he wants them to do. And in verse 10, if ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. So, as you read first John, you’re going to see that it’s talking about continuing in love, walking in love, walking in faith, and these are things that Christians ought to do.

Now, you don’t do these things to be saved, but because you are saved, you may do these things. And if you don’t do these things, it doesn’t affect your eternal salvation. This is why the three-tenses of salvation and understand it is so important. So he says here in this verse, 11, these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and yet your joy might be formed. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

So this is the commandment that John is talking about over here in 1 John. So go back to 1 John in chapter 2 and if you take one word and explain what he means by this word because he’s already talking about his children that know the Lord and the Lord knows his children. So in verse 3, and hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandment and in context in the previous chapter talking about that your joy may be full so that you might know more about the Lord.

So he’s talking about do you love him. So he says in verse three, and here by we know that we love him if we keep his commandment. He that sayeth I love him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But who so keepeth his word in him? Verily is the, see that word, love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him, he that sayeth he abided in him, ought himself also ought to walk.

He ought to do this. So it’s to the believer about what He ought to do. This is not for salvation. This is in your walk with the Lord, which deals with sanctification. So we’ll look at these three tenses of salvation because I believe it’s important to know it because it’ll help you to discern so much of God’s word without getting it all messed up. We are saved when you trust the Christ as your Savior. We are saved from the penalty of sin.

The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God. We’re in hell. So if we don’t want to go to hell, we trust Christ as our Savior. He made a complete payment on the cross for our sins. So we believe that, we trust Him, and He gives us the free gift to be turned to life. Now, after you trust Christ as your Savior, you understand that we are being saved, That is in our Christian walk. And we’re being saved from the power of sin.

So in our physical bodies, we have an old sinful nature. The old sinful nature has sinful desires. And those desires can be very strong. So the key to having the power that you need is stronger desires. So if you have the desires that God gives to you, and you satisfy those desires because of the Holy Spirit that lives within you, teaching you the Word of God and your desire to please God is stronger than the desire not to please God, you will have the power that you need.

There’s a lot of power in the strong desires of your new birth because there is a desire to study God’s Word to know the will of God for your life to please God to live a holy life. So there’s desires that are there. And when you start fulfilling those desires, those desires can grow and you become strong in your Christian life and have the power that you need in order to deal with that old sinful nature that we have.

So this has to deal with in our life that we live after we trusted Christ as our Savior. So we have been saved from the penalty of sin, about the penalty of sin that Christ made on the cross for us, He paid our dead in form. So we never have to worry about that again. And now you and I are looking forward to the day when we will be saved from the very presence of sin. So we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved.

So there is these two posts, so to speak. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, He did that. You didn’t do anything. That was by grace through faith alone. In Christ alone, He saved us from hell and we were born into His family. Then He says that in the future we are going to be delivered from this body of sin, from this world of sin and we will be caught up to be with the Lord in heaven, whether by death or by the rapture.

So we have two things that we do nothing about. The Lord does that. So He saves us from hell and He’s going to take us to heaven. In between those two things things that God does without anything from us is the life in between until then we are making decisions. And these decisions is going to affect our joyfulness and youthfulness in this life. And so this is why it is so important. But the day will come when we will leave this world and will be in heaven.

So the one that affects our life here and now is the second one and this is what we’re going to spend most of our time talking about. But first of all, when we’re saved from the penalty of sin, understand that when Christ went to the cross, He died on the cross and He paid for the sins of the world. We had a sin debt. We had a debt. God cannot allow us in the heaven as long we have a debt to pay down here.

So because of this debt, we’re not free to leave until we pay our debt in full and we’re in a heap of trouble. Since we’ve all sinned, we’re all in debt, and we’re all going to die. So when Christ came into the world, He made that payment on the cross for us, paid our debt. God is satisfied, and all that we need to do, the only thing that we can do is accept what He did for us. So He’s the one that saves us.

Now, keep this in mind. Titus chapter 3 and verse 5 says, not by works of righteousness which we have done. Let’s look at the power of those words alone. Not by works of righteousness which we have done. But according to his mercy, he did what? Saved us. So I have already been saved. It’s a past deed. It’s done. It’s finished. I can’t get any more saved than that saved from hell. There’s nothing I can add to it. Nothing I need to do because Christ paid it all.

It is finished. He did that work for us on the cross. So not by works of righteousness, which we have done. So I was not saved because of any good deeds that I’ve done. And it’s amazing how many people want to add to what God’s Word says. I’ve already been saved, so nothing I do after that point can add to what’s already been done. I have been saved by the grace of God. Now, we know Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and these are two of my favorite verses in the Bible, where it says, 4, by grace are you saved, saved from something, you’re saved from hell.

And when you’re saved, you’re saved from something to something to an inheritance that’s incorruptible and undefiled that fate if not away reserved in heaven for you. So once you trust Christ as your Savior, you are saved for all eternity. I have a place reserved for me in heaven and that’s where I’m going. and get this now. To be saved from hell is not of yourself. That means you didn’t do anything to add to it. Your good intentions, sincerity, going to church, giving money, all these things have nothing to do with your salvation.

You did not give anything. God didn’t want anything from you. Salvation is not you giving God, it is God giving us the free gift. And it is the gift of God not of works. Why? Less any man should boast. So the reason is because God is a jealous God. God does not want anyone to get glory for our salvation. That’s why he says it’s not of yourself. God cannot be beholding to you and I as though he’s in debt to us because we live so good he had to save us.

That is not going to happen. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 21 says, for after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Now you stop it, all the wisdom in the world, of all the libraries in the world, all the books has ever been written, all the wisdom of all the men, in all the world, they cannot know God. If it wasn’t for God revealing Himself to us through His word, man could not find God.

Man could not know God. So because He revealed Himself and came into this world, in the person of Jesus Christ, we can know God, but only if we know his son Jesus Christ. So Christ says, no man come up unto the Father but by me. So it please God that by the foolishness of preaching. And some people think, you know, that is so simple, that’s too easy. Or you got to do just believe and they stumble over the simplicity of the gospel.

They stumble over grace because in their mind, you got to do something. And yet God says, says, there’s nothing that you can do. It is the gift of God not of worth. And so it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that simply believe. And that’s all you have to do. And the reason for all of this is so that mankind can be saved. If he can’t be saved by his works, aren’t you glad you can be saved by grace?

And that’s the way it is. John 3 17, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world. And the reason is because the world is already condemned. God says in Romans in chapter 3 verse 9, he says, all the world has become guilty before God, but that the world through him might be saved. The world through him, no one else. You cannot save yourself. You can’t help save yourself. And when you really get this down, it helps you when you go to verses and it seems to say, well, it seems to say, understand it is impossible for a man to save himself.

It’s impossible for a man to add to salvation by grace. He can’t have any part in it. It’s not a man. Now, your theological description is called justification because when you are saved, it means that God no longer sees you as a person who has a debt to pay. In other words, your debt has been satisfied. paid in full just as if you never had a debt, is paid totally. That’s why in the book of 1 Peter in chapter 3 and verse 18 where he says concerning Jesus Christ and it was the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, the just for the unjust.

We were unjust. We were not fit to go to heaven. We are not good enough to go to heaven. And so therefore Christ comes, takes our sins, pays for them the cross, comes back from the dead. And if we believe that, his payment is put to our account and his righteousness is given to us. And therefore we’re good to go. We go on his righteousness and not our righteousness. So God says you have been declared righteous, justified just as if you had never sinned.

Just like here I am at 73 years of age and just think of how many sins I must have committed in 73 years. No, don’t even think about it. But think about all the sins that I might have committed in my whole life and they’re all gone like I had never committed to one. That’s because God has justified me. So I have have already been justified. And in Romans 3, 24, he says, being justified. It’s a done deal. I’ve already been justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

So once you trust Christ as your Savior, you are justified freely by His grace through that payment, that redemption, the price that He made for you and for me. So this is why this is such a good deal. When are you justified? The very moment you believed. So 55 years ago sitting in a little old living room in Athens, Georgia, I didn’t understand all this. So all I knew is I’m a sinner. Christ died for sinners. If I trust Christ is my Savior, He’ll save me.

And that night I believed that. That night I was justified, that very moment, and I’m good to go to heaven, not because of anything that I’ve done, and not because of anything I’ve done since then, the last 55 years, has nothing to do, cannot add to a work that’s totally completely finished. That’s good news. We’re being saved from the power of sin, that means during our lifetime. So the Bible tells us that in our physical bodies is an old sinful nature, but also now my body has become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

We call this a sanctuary, but God doesn’t live here. God lives in our bodies in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives within you, And know you not that your body is the temple of God, that you have of God, and you’re not your own, you’ve been bought with the price, therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit which are gods. My body belongs to God, your body belongs to God. So the temple of God today is your physical body.

So in this physical body of ours, we have an old sinful nature and we have the Holy Spirit. And so we have a choice and I try to explain to individuals that once you trust the Christ is Savior the penalty of your sins has done but for my life God gives us choices and sometimes I tell people you can now you can you’re free to live like you please but now I’m free to please God or I can live to please myself so I’ve got the freedom of choice I can choose to serve the Lord forward.

And be obedient. And I can choose to be disobedient. Not serve the Lord. But there’s consequences. There’s things that’s going to happen because of my decision. So if I study the Word of God and find out what places God, then I want to please God. So I have to go by the Word. So I find out there’s some things in the Bible that says this place is God. There’s some things in the Bible says this doesn’t please God. And God tells us in his Word in chapter two of 1 John and verse 16, 17.

It says, love not the world, neither of the things that are in the world, for if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now, you may be saved, you have eternal life. You and I were not saved because we love God. We were saved because God loved us. But now, when you learn what God has done for you and wants to do for you, and he’ll never leave you, never forsake you, you’d be surprised how much better your life is if you learn to love the Lord above everything else in the world.

So you and I in our life, God wants to save us from that power of that sinful nature that lives within us. So you learn how to do what God says and we walk with them. Now look at this verse in 1 Timothy 4, 16 says, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself. Now see,errors a verse in the Bible that says you can save yourself. Well now we have to understand now what are we talking about?

You see in the chapter 4 it’s talking about there’s spirits that are going to be teaching false doctrine, things that are not true. So you’re to learn the word of God and no sound doctrine so you can detect air when people present it. And in doing so So if you study this doctrine, you’ll save yourself from false doctrine, because if you don’t understand truth, you cannot discern the air. So you learn the truth so that you can save yourself from believing the false doctrines.

And in you learning it, as Paul tells Timothy, you’ll not only save yourself from false doctrine, but you’ll be able to save those who listen to you. So we’re to teach others so that they can be found faithful. So you teach sound doctrine. But see, if I was to take this one verse and say, see there, this is how you’ve got to live in order to be saved, well then there’s no end to this. At what point? How much?

I can save myself. But then you know that flies in the face of all the verses that says you can’t save yourself. And God says it’s a gift. Well, this isn’t a gift. This isn’t free. This is something you’ve got to continue in doing. This is something you’ve got to learn and study and do, practice. And see, there’s no end to that. But that’s because this is in between what Christ did on the cross for us when we trust Him as our Savior and the day when we leave this world.

So we’re talking about that which lies in between. This is where we are. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy.

There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Man. The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. 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.