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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 BibleInemistries.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.

Real, I want to talk to you about something that every time I witness to someone, one and ask them do you know where you’re going to go when you die which is the typical question that I ask people where are you going when you die and believe it or not they always say well I hope I’m going to heaven or I think I’m going to go well I’m doing the best I can. So in reality majority of people think that you have to wait until you die to find out where you going.

That idea can come from several verses that seems to say that that’s the way it’s going to be. So I want you to see that take your Bible and look in the book of John, the Gospel of John and verse 29. John chapter 5 verse 29. The Lord says that the day will come when all that are in the graves will hear his voice.” And that’s found in verse 28 where he says, Mar-Vonat at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth.

They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. So there it is. One day everybody’s going to be raised and those that have done good eternal life. Those that have done bad eternal damnation. So it seems like it’s going to happen after you live and you’ve died. Now lo and behold, you’re standing before the great judge and he’s going to put those scales out there because he’s talking about the good and he’s talking about the bad.

Now you can see how somebody could you could get that impression, right? That you got away. If you just went through and you just picked out verses out of the Bible, you can make this book say just about anything you want it to say. Now, take your Bible and turn to the book of Revelation, the book of Revelation, chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20 says, in verse 11, and I saw a gray white throne and him that said on it whose faces the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them.

Look up here. We have the great white throne. The Bible talks about a great white throne judgment. And then he says this in verse 12, and I saw the dead small and great stand before God. And the books were open. And another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books. according to their what? Their work. So you see there? This is after people have died.

I saw the dead, small and great, stand before the great judge at the great white throne. So it gives the appearance that whenever we die, we’re going to stand at this judgment. And we’re going to be judged according to our works. And whether you were good or whether you were bad to see which way you’re going to go. Now let’s just pretend today for the sake of illustration for those individuals who believe they’re going to find out after they’re dead.

Now they will find out the truth after they’re dead but whether or not what they believe was the truth. Are you really going to find out after you’re dead whether or not your good must outweigh your bad to determine which where you go. And he puts the scales out there and he puts your good works over here. All your bad ones over here. And see which way, sitting there, sweating it out. Now, when you get there and you had a choice, and so here’s the judge, and the Lord says, I’m going to give you an option.

Now my son, Jesus Christ, standing right here, he went to the cross and paid for all of your sins. And he offers it to you as a free gift. Or option number two, you can see if you earned it by your good life. Which would you choose? Now think. It’s free if you trust Christ. But you could have this judgment where you can find out, did I earn it? Because maybe I’m good enough. And I don’t have to do that Because I’ve been a pretty good guy all my life.

I’m gonna have it murdered anybody. I Helped a little low ladies across the street They didn’t want to go but I helped him and Maybe you put some banana peelings on the old folks home, but you know, maybe you did a lot of good deeds And you want to sweat it up now God said now before you make this decision. I Want to take and show yourself He says, now I want you to see this. I want you to see that there is this holy city.

Here you are, there’s this holy city that you can live in. So you look down in chapter 21 of the book of Revelation and he makes his statement. He says, and I saw new heavens and a new earth. He says, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more see. And I, John, saw the holy city, knew Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Now you and I know that the prettiest thing we’ve ever seen is when that girl, oh, she may be cute and purting all the rest of it, but she never looks any better than she does on the day she gets married. She’s all dressed up. I mean, she’s got on the makeup and she, her hair’s been done and she’s just gorgeous. And the guy looks around and says, is that the same one? I mean, his heart, pitter patters. And I saw a commercial the other day on TV.

I thought it was so funny. The man walks in with this bride. Getting ready to come down the aisle. And this old man’s up there at the Oregon. And he starts playing. You know, the military charge. And this old woman down in the front, she stands up and shouts, charge! Her heart is broken. This was her moment to be messed up by somebody who plays not the bridal hymn, but the charge. And you can mess things up very easily, but not you think.

When you see the holy city prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, it must be at the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. You’ve never seen anything like this. We have never seen a city like this holy city. I mean, suppose I have a river that runs through it with a manner of fruits, 12 different kinds of fruits from the tree of life. I mean, it’s got walls of jasmine, streets of gold. What a place prepared. Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you unto myself. So there’s this holy city. And God says, now, before we make this decision here, He says, it can be free or you can earn it. He says, now, understand this. this holy city and where you will live for all eternity. I’ll give you everlasting life, everlasting life. And he said, not promise. I will never cast you out. So you know that once you get in, he’ll never cast you out.

Once you get in, he’ll never lose you. For no reason, guaranteed. It’s forever eternal happiness, eternal bliss, pleasure forever more. you’ve heard all the words. He says, now, let me tell you something else. So he says that, look there in verse 4, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor cry and neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away. Look what I’ve got for you.

This is what you’ve been wanting all your life. And there you stand. But you believe that you’re going to be judged according to your works, good or bad. And he says, now, this is what I offer you. It’s free. But if you earned it, you also get to go in. You only get one choice. Either you accept what I did, or you must accept what you did. Which way would be the safest way? which would be a guaranteed way, free or dependent upon you.

But before you make that decision, let me explain a little bit more to you. So he says, now let me show you this. So he takes the Bible and he shows you Luke. Look in Luke chapter 16, the book of Luke chapter 16, Luke chapter 16, there’s a story, but let’s say that while you’re standing there and you’re going to make this awesome decision, then this decision that depends upon you, depending upon you and your works, lo and behold he says now remember, if you make the wrong decision and trust in your but you don’t make it.

If you don’t make it, you need to know the consequences. So God wants to lay it out so that you know the consequences of your bad decision. So He kind of moves and slides it over so that you get a literal glimpse into hell. And as you look down in the hell and you see the smoke and you see the fire, you see the brimstone, you see the people. And He makes a statement in verse 23. And in hell, he lift up his eyes, been in tournaments, and seeeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried in and said, Father, Abraham, have mercy on me, and sin Lazarus. That he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. And then the Lord says, now look, if you don’t make it, this is what you’re going to have for all eternity. Over here, you have eternal bliss. given to you by grace, it’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything. I paid the price by giving my son.

He paid your sin debt and you can go freely and it’s forever. Or you can trust in what you have done. But understanding if you don’t make it. This is the consequences. Your place in hell will be forever and forever and forever. Now he says death and hell were delivered up. It means that when you die here and now in this life you will go to a place called hell over there in place of torment. And then at the resurrection he says he’s bringing those people out of there and their bodies will be resurrected and they will stand at the Great White Throne judgment.

So that hell is a temporary hell until the final judgment. And then there is going to be those whose names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be cast into the final Lake of Fire, which is called Gahana. So he lets you know that if you make the wrong decision, you will spend an eternity separated from God in a literal fire burning hell, and as this man says, let him come and dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame and no one could go.

There is no relief of any suffering. So you have been given the information to make a wise decision. Now based upon this, wouldn’t a man be wise to accept the salvation by grace instead of running the risk of his own works? Think about it. But isn’t that exactly what people are doing now? Because God has given us this picture. He tells all of this is true. And there you stand. And so you’re looking for all these good deeds that you’ve done.

You know, you didn’t forget all those bad ones, but God, you remember the good ones. You remember all your good things you’ve done. You probably don’t recall all the bad ones you’ve done, right? And here you are, you’re standing before the judge of all the earth and shall not the judge of all the earth do right? I mean, after all, look how good you’ve been. Look how helpful you’ve been. Look at all those wonderful things you’ve done for everybody.

And now you’re standing before the judge. And now you’re going to put all your works out there. And he says, you’re going to be judged according to your works. So he puts all your works over here, all those, the bad works. And he puts none of your works over here. You say, well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What about all my good works that I did? He says, all of your righteousness are filthy rags.

You don’t have any good works. There are no good works. It’s not like I got a chance to get all these good works that I’ll weigh my bad works. God’s already says, there is none good, no not one. All of your so-called righteousness in our eyes, God says they’re filthy in his eyes. It’s an abomination. And here you were depending upon these good works to outweigh those bad ones. And you find out there are none. All were bad. Now at this moment when you found out you had no good works, you knew you had no reason, no justifiable cause for the judge of all the earth to let you into heaven and you knew you blew it.

Your hope is gone. You made the wrong choice. Wouldn’t that be a terrible, terrible moment? But I believe that a lot of people are going to find out just how true this is. But you know, you don’t have to wait until you die to find out where you’re going. You say, well, how do you explain some of those verses. Look there in the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 5. In John chapter 5, there’s a wonderful verse and you’ll understand verses better when you keep them in the context in their own chapter and their own book and you’ll have a better grasp of these truths.

Look what he says in verse 29, he says, and shall come for they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, the way that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. That’s what he says. So how you explain that? Good, bad. It is very simple. You see, if you’re in verse 24, verse 24, he says this, barely, barely, I send you, he that hearth my word. You have to hear it. Then he says, in verse 24, he that heureth my word and believe it on him that sent me half everlasting life.

You see a lot of people believe this. They believe that when you get to heaven that is when eternal life begins. That’s when you get it and that’s when eternal life begins because see if we’re in heaven and now he’s going to give me eternal life and then they take the verses he’ll never cast me out because I’m in heaven. He’ll never catch me out. Isn’t that wonderful? He’ll never lose me. I’m in heaven. That’s wonderful. Now I know I have what they call eternal security.

Right? Once you’re there and you got it. It’s the, what, you think people have trouble with eternal security then? Why do they have trouble with eternal security now? What’s so bad about once saved, always saved? Isn’t it true that once I’m in heaven, isn’t it once you’re saved? You’re always saved for all eternity? You say, how do you know that? Because you take God in His Word? Well, wait a minute. The God who says it here said it back there.

So I’ve already got His Word on it. And so the key thing boils down to is when does God give to me eternal life. When does he divot to me? Well, when we get to heaven, we’ll get it. You need to understand what he said. Now look what he said in verse 24. He says, half, present, tenth, half, right now, half what everlasting life. And then look at the last part of that verse. And shall not come into condemnation.

That’s in the future. You cannot be condemned in the future. You see God’s Word is true. So he says, He that hereth my Word. Look in verse 25, very, very, I say to you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. So those that are yes in the grave they’re going to hear his voice and he’s going to say to those who already believe on Him, their gonna, bodies are gonna come from the graves.

The other ones, they won’t until about a thousand, seven years later, at least. And they will stand at the another judgment of resurrection for here when Christ comes back and all the believers of the Old Testament, so they’re gonna be resurrected, their bodies, especially from the tribulation period. We are taking out here the rapture, but Jesus is coming back. And he is going to sound forth his voice. And those who hear, there’s going to be a resurrection. Those that have done good unto the resurrection.

But what is this good? He’s talking about the voice. Look at in verse 28. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming to which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice. He just said in verse 24, he that heareth my word and believe it. So those who have heard the voice heard his word, heard what he had to say. Well, what did he say? He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Now take your Bible and look in John chapter 3, the gospel of John chapter 3.

Remember, he makes his statement over and over again as to when you receive eternal life. So when do I get this eternal life? Because once I get it, he guarantees on the authority of his word you can never lose it. You cannot lose eternal life. It would be temporary. It’s eternal life. So he says here in John chapter 3, look in verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up on the cross.

And then in verse 15 that whosoever anybody believe it in him should not perish. That means will not go to hell. But have everlasting life means go to heaven. So every person who trusts Christ will have everlasting life. Have when you believe it. So when do you get eternal life? When do you get it? the moment you trust Christ as your Savior. I am not going to get eternal life. I already have eternal life. Understand this. The Bible says in the book of 1 John 5, it makes a statement, this is the true God and eternal life.

Jesus Christ is eternal life. He that hath the Son, hath life and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. So having the Son is having eternal life. He is eternal life. And He said, He will never leave me. You know what He said? He’ll never leave me. He won’t. I have eternal life from now on. When did I get it? The day I trusted Christ as my Savior. This is why He says, as many as received Him to them gave He the power to become the sons of God.

You became a son of God the very moment you trusted the Lord and all of God’s children have eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, yeah, I’ll never catch you, I’ll never lose you. So do I have to wait for some judgment in the future to find out where I’m going? No. You see, I’ve already made that decision. I don’t have to wait till I get there to find out if my good outweighs my bad. You see, the only reason that’s for them, that’s to determine the amount of punishment they receive in hell.

It doesn’t determine their destination. They’re already going to hell. When you trust in Christ as your Savior, you’re already going to heaven. There’s no judgment in the future that determines your destination. Your destination was determined the day you trust in Christ. You made that decision at that moment in time. If you wait until you get to heaven to think you’re going to get a second chance, it’ll never happen. choice to be able to choose God in his sovereignty chose to give us a free will you make that decision in this life if you wait until it’s too late and you die without Christ you will go to a Christless hell and eternity separated from God and it doesn’t have to be that away you see I’m a kind of old-fashioned I still believe the Bible is true I believe there’s a heaven and I believe

there’s a hell. And the reason I’ve been certain on the Lord for 55 years is because I just don’t want people to go to hell. Not when they don’t have to. Most of them just do not understand. They’ve never heard the gospel made simple and clear. So how do you explain this? They did have done good under the resurrection of life. Those that have done even to the resurrection of damnation. we’re talking about those who hear. What’s the good thing for you to do when you hear it?

Believe it. There’s those who will not believe it. So you see this in chapter 3 of John. Look what he says in verse 16. For God so loved the world that it gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe it. And him should not perish but have everlasting life. And then in verse 17 where he says, For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Now, who did you do this for?

The whole world. The whosoever in the whole world. God does not want you to die and stand at the great white throne judgment to be judged by God to determine the punishment you receive in hell. You see how a man lives is very important. It doesn’t determine your destination, but it does determine the amount of punishment a person receives. You’d be taken into consideration the amount of life that a person has. Does God know what you know? Does God know what you could have known had you sought?

He says, seek the Lord with all your heart and you shall find him. People who really you want to know God, you can know God. All you have to do is follow truth, follow light. It always goes back to its source. Now, notice what he says here. In verse 18, he that the leeveth on him is not condemned. But he that believeeth not is condemned when. So you see you’re not waiting for some judgment and eternity to find out whether or not you’re condemned or not.

God says the whole world is guilty because everybody’s sinned and everybody is guilty. Everybody’s condemned. But He says, they that believe are not condemned, but they that believe not are condemned already. So we’re not waiting for this judgment to determine this. this. It’s determined by the decision you make now, will you believe or not believe? That word believes it means to trust to rely upon. Will you rely upon what Christ did on the cross to get you to heaven?

See, if you don’t trust that, you’re going to have to trust your works. But God says, by your works, no man is justified. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works. But any man should vote. If he says it’s not of works and no man can be saved by his work, why do you think God will let you stand in some judgment to determine whether you go to heaven or not by your works?

You’re already condemned. Every man who stands in that judgment is already condemned. You see, you and I as Christians, we will stand at the judgment seat of Christ. I reward him stand. That’s why God is going to reward you for what you did for him. So we’re going to be judged. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10, we’re going to be judged. But it’s a reward he’s going to see the rewards that you’re going to get because of what you did for the Lord while you were on the earth.

They’re going to be judged according to their words, but not for rewards, not for salvation, not for punishment. 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 Manual. 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.