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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. And reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

So you look down at the bottom of the page there, get letter A, none righteous. None righteous. How many are righteous? You got that? None are right to. This is the condition that you and I are in without Christ. When we’re born into this world, our first birth, we’re children of the flesh. There’s none righteous, no not one. Not one. Number two, there’s none that understands. You cannot understand spiritual things because those spiritual things are spiritually discerned and without the Holy Spirit, you cannot understand the things of God.

So he says, there’s none that understand, none that seeketh after God. Now you may have a desire, but wouldn’t it be neat if everybody just sought the Lord? But with the gospel of Jesus Christ, it’s the light that shines into a dark man who can’t see and God enables a man to see by the light of the gospel, then he can understand that he’s the center and he needs a Savior that is going to be judged. Let her see none that doeth good.

No, none. Not a one. They are all gone out of the way. In the Old Testament he puts it this way, all we like sheep have gone astray bad. But the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of all those to everybody. See, some people like to misquote the scriptures, and they really believe it that way. But when I do it, you catch it, because you can discern. You know that, hey, that’s not right, because you know and you believe the Bible.

But there’s none good, no, not one. All right? Page two. All have sinned. All have sinned. She said, well, you just don’t know my aunt Susie. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. I mean, she can give you the shirt off her back. If anybody’s going to heaven, surely she will. Well, I got some bad news for you. If Aunt Susie hasn’t trusted Christ to save you, Aunt Susie’s not going to heaven. You ever heard of a person by the name of Mother Teresa?

I mean, you’ve heard of Mother Teresa, let me see your hand. Mother Teresa, and they talk about all the good things that she did. And I think it’s great that somebody does all that, But is she trust in those good works that get her to heaven, or any good deeds that she’s ever done to get to heaven? Or trust her Catholic Church to get her to heaven? She’s not going to heaven. It doesn’t matter. There’s no difference. They’re all in the same boat.

You can take the Pope. The Pope, he’s not my Father. I don’t bow to him. I won’t kiss his ring. Where’s Toh? I will not honor him. Why? He’s nothing more than a man. He’s nothing more than a sinful man also. He’s just like the rest of us. He’s no better than anyone else. I’m the preacher here at Calvary Community Church. That makes me better, right? No! I got one fan here. And only one. I’m no better than even, I’m a sinner, saved by grace.

And if you’re saved, you’re a sinner saved by grace. And that’s all you are. Isn’t it wonderful that God so loved the world? Not, I love those that are better than others. No, you so loved the world. Now, notice, because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, the glory of God is the perfection of God. See, here’s God and He’s perfect. He’s just, He’s righteous. We are sinners. There’s nothing we can do to be equal with God.

We cannot justify ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot exalt ourselves to be equal with God. But what Jesus Christ did, He came down into the world, took all of our sins, paid for them on the cross, and went back to heaven. And He says, Whosoever will accept that payment, He will give you His righteousness. Now if God gave me His righteousness, that would make me as righteous as God. If He gave me his perfection that would make me as perfect as God.

If he justifies me just as if I had never sinned then I am just what God God can find no fault in me. He justified me, declared me righteous. I am a child of God. You see, that is my position in Christ because all I did 55 years ago was I trusted Christ as my Savior and He did all that for me. Nothing that I’ve done since that day has added to my salvation. I am just as saved today as I was 55 years ago.

I’m not more saved because of what I’ve done. I’m more saved, more sure, more, no, no, no, no. That day I trusted Christ as my Savior, I was saved. Justified, declared righteous, made pure and holy and set apart and belong to God. Now, you notice what he says here on the next one. The wages of sin is what? Death. Wages sin death. Everybody sins. Everybody must die. That’s why everybody dies. The next statement, letter F R are not the children of God.

Romans chapter 9 and verse 8 says and makes this statement, that is, day which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Look up here. Let me show you a simple illustration. I’ve used it before, others have to, but I learned it mainly from Dr. Ray Stanford, in whom I consider to be a tremendous Bible teacher. He’s now in heaven and I bet there’s a lot of people up there that are thankful that he came this way through the world because he contacted so many people and gave them the Gospel.

But now let me tell you that. This is when we’re born into this world. This is our flesh birth. I was born into this world 74 years ago on Thursday. And so I am a child of the flesh. I have a sinful nature. And because of that sinful nature, that’s why I lie and cheat and all those things. It’s not good, just like you. We have a sinful nature. We naturally are rebellious and we want our own way. Everybody’s the same way.

And God says, there’s none righteous, not a one. There’s none that doeth good, not one. There’s none that seeketh after God, not one. So God says, because you’ve all sinned, you all have to die. So as long as you are in the flesh body, and that’s what I see, that’s your first birth. And you have sinned and you are going to die. And when you die, you’re going to be separated from God for all eternity. You can’t change that.

You can alter that. Your works have nothing to it. You can’t change that because it’s on the inside of you. It’s your nature to be sinful and to be rebellious. And God says, these that are children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Sometimes you hear people say, we’re all the children of God. No, we’re not. We’re all the creation of God and God is our God, but He’s not your father until you’re born into his family.

So yes, we’re all sinful. We’re all going to die. You’re not a child of God. And the next statement, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Now this I say, brother, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. See, corruption cannot inherit in corruption. You cannot better yourself. A rock can’t become a plant and a plant can’t become an animal. An animal can’t become a person. Now a person can become an animal. But now here we are.

We cannot move into a new realm and elevate ourselves into another dimension. It’s impossible. You are a center. You need a savior. So the Bible says the children of the flesh cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God unless they’re born again. So look at the next statement, the new nature. If the gospel we preach does not make one perfect immediately upon the new birth from above, it is totally ineffective in getting us to heaven. You need something that can make you perfect.

And here’s the only way it can be done. When you hear the gospel the good news of Christ coming to the world down on the cross paying for saying coming back from the dead and God said if you’ll believe that I’ll give you a new birth. So that means you’re accepting his death as your death So you can’t get the new one until this one dies Can’t get this one till this one dies. It means your first birth that you have because you’re condemned by the law So Christ came into the world died for you.

So when you accept his death payment in God’s eyes, that was your death of the first birth and he gave you a new birth. This one is born of God. See, if this one is born of God, there’s something special about this second birth. This is the one that’s born of God. Now look what we have here. Let our aid, Jesus says, you must be born again. That which is born of the flesh, flesh, that which is born of the spirit spirit.

Marvel not that I said anything, you must be born again. Now you know what most preachers are trying to do? They’re trying to take the child of the flesh and convert him. Getting the change be good enough. And so that’ll change him. I mean, if you walked into a garage, would that make you an automobile? Walk into a bakery, that turned into a donut. It was a chocolate bee, Claire, my work. And neither does it go into a church turn you into a Christian.

You can’t convert this man and make him a child of God. He has to be born into God’s family. And the only way is because you have to realize he died for me. So I’m accepting his death as my death as the payment for my sins. Because I’m going to die and I got to pay. Christ died. He paid for your sins. Come back from the dead and when you believe that he did it for you, He did it for you.

He gives you a new birth, but your new birth is not this one. That which is of the flesh is flesh. That which is of the spirit. Spirit, the second birth is a spiritual birth. You can’t see it. You can’t feel it. Because it’s based upon the Word of God. What God says. God is a spirit and He gives you a spiritual birth. Now when you are a believer in Christ, that’s when you’re a believer in Christ. when God gives you this new birth.

You see there? Look at the next statement. You’ll notice here in the letter B, at the moment of receiving Christ, but as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Look up here. The very moment you believe in trust Christ as your Savior, God gives to you a new birth. This new birth makes you God’s child. You’re born again. See this one came from above.

This one came from below. This was man. This was born of God. Now understand this. Your new birth is born by the Word of God. It means that it can’t sin. Because God can’t give you a sinful nature. This one has no sinful nature. If it has no sinful nature, it can’t sin. You can’t sin, can’t die. How long will this child live forever and ever and ever? Look at letter C. Being born from above lasts forever. See this?

Being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. See this birth is because you took God at His word and you believed what the word of God said. And so you accepted Christ as your Savior in Him alone. You can’t get this birth if you’re trusting anything this one can do. This one can’t do anything but die. Christ died in your place so that you can have this new birth.

So whenever you accept Christ as your Savior, you’re born in the God’s family. Now you are His child and He is your Father. He has no sinful nature. You have no sinful nature. And because you have no sin for nature, you cannot sin. This one cannot sin. This is perfect. Remember, Andal the law cannot make you perfect? Man, by his work, cannot make you perfect? But the bringing in of a better hope did? What was that? What Christ did for us is why we could have a new birth and be perfect.

See, this is my second birth. My second birth is perfect. When you look at me and I smile a while ago, that was the first one you see. This one’s going to keep on until it gets old and older and older and older and it’s going to die. This one can’t die. That’s why once you become a child of God, how long will you be a child of God forever? And that’s why that so important. Look at that or D down at the bottom.

Those born of God cannot sin. Now, I’m going to get this. This is 1 John 3, 9. Whosoever is born of God to not commit sin, for his seed remaining in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Whosoever is born of God. Look up here. Which one is these? This born of God. This one. Can not sin. Now, some translations and a lot of preachers will tell you, see there? Well, it means you You won’t practice sin.

Well everybody, I know don’t need to practice. They’re pretty good at it. By now they’re professionals. It doesn’t say practice and it doesn’t say continue. It’s talking about once you trust Christ to save your whosoever is born of God, to not commit sin for his seed remaining to him because it’s the incorruptible. He cannot sin. He can’t commit one single act of sin. That’s why once you trust Christ as your Savior and you have eternal life, your child, Now, you can’t go to hell, impossible.

I’m not saying that just because I’m trying to be a smart alec, I’m saying it because it’s true. I am thankful for the gospel, the good news of what Christ did makes me perfect in God’s eyes and I’m going to heaven because of what He did. I don’t take credit for that. I didn’t do anything. He did it all for me because He loved me. Now I’m imagining He loves you too. No, he does. He loves the whole world.

He died for everybody and who so ever would believe it could have as a free gift everlasting life. Now look at letter E. You are seen by God as in the spirit, but you’re not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he’s not of his. Look up here. The flesh doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. It’s only the new birth.

So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, God doesn’t see you in the flesh in the first birth anymore because you trusted the Lord. Now you’re in His family. You’re a child of God. You’re going to have, now as a Christian, you’re living in this one body. I only got one body, but I got two natures living in here. And they like to fight. Well, maybe not like to fight, but they fight. And so you have a struggle that goes on.

See, you know and I know you didn’t really die, but God declares that man dead. And when you trust the Christ as your Savior, God declared you righteous. You have been justified as though you have never said, this new birth has never sinned. God can give you his righteous. He didn’t give it to the flesh. He gave it to your new birth. Your new birth, you are as righteous as God. 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.

So when you trust Christ as your Savior, your God’s child. Now a lot of people take a verse and they misuse it, like in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, down at the bottom of your page, where it says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, all the things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. So they say, well, see there, when you trust Christ, everything changes in your life and And you’re not going to want to do those bad things anymore.

And now you just want to honor God and sit around and sing kumbaya. And you know, well, not so fast, Charlie. Understand this. This is the first birth. You trust in Christ. He gave you a new birth. Now he didn’t do away with this one. You see, if he’d done away with it, your body wouldn’t be here. If he did away with your sinful nature, you wouldn’t be here. in your flesh, it’s in your body, it’s in your members.

So this body that you have, you’ve got this whole sinful nature and you’re going to carry around that whole sinful nature until the body dies. Now you like that. So your old sinful nature, God didn’t take it away, he didn’t change it, he didn’t alter it, he didn’t do anything with it. When you got saved, he didn’t change this, he gave you a new birth. And then he says in the book of Romans in chapter 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, and the God which is your reasonable servant.

And then he says this, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So that means that you didn’t transform your life to get saved. After you are saved, it’s the will of God that you let the new birth control, this old body, and yield this body to the power of the Lord. And your life can be transformed that you may find and discover what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God for your life.

So yes, I was in the flesh. But I trusted Christ as my Savior, and if any man be in Him in Christ, as He says here, He is a new creation. This old condition is passed away. God no longer sees me in the flesh. He no longer sees me as a child of the flesh. I’m now His child. And God now deals with me as His child. And if I will as a child of God, if I serve the Lord, which is my choice, you see, I’ve got two now.

away. So some of God’s children walk in the flesh and they commit every sin in the book. And then you’ll have some of God’s children that are walking in the Spirit and love the Lord and be obedient and they do the things that God wants and God honors. But then as time goes on, they may walk in the flesh. And those that were walking in the flesh might walk over here in the Spirit. That’s why this is so destructive for the fruit and spectra they go nuts.

If you watch me long enough, you’ll see that, hey, I saw yanking the flesh the other day. And it might be sometimes, Lord, will it? You’ll see me do something right. But when I get to heaven, God is going to reward me for what I did in the second birth, nothing that I did in the flesh birth. This is a total waste. So all of your life, if you live in the flesh and live in like a lost man, loving the world, the things of the world, you’re going to lose an awful lot of rewards that you could have had.

See, God is going to reward you when you get to heaven for what you did because you walked in the Spirit. And you’re going to lose so much that you could have had because you walked in the flesh. So can you walk in the flesh? Of course. Can you walk in the Spirit? Yes. It’s your choice. So God says it this way. Once you trust Him as your Savior, you’re God’s child. But as a child of God, say you have a choice.

You’re going to be an obedient child. This obedient child. If you’re an obedient child, God said, I’m going to bless you. But if you walk in the flesh, you’re still my child. But you’re walking after the flesh, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. I’m going to have to chase him yet. And God will chase in his children that walk in the flesh. You see, God wants you to serve him and to honor him. But if you don’t, there’s consequences to your decision.

See, all of life is making decisions. So if you’ll serve the Lord as a child of God, God will bless you and reward you when you get to heaven. And if you don’t, God’s gonna have to chase in you. So it’s your choice. That’s why it makes sense to me. I want God’s blessings on my life. I want rewards when I get to heaven. I don’t know what they are. Whatever they are. I want them. You say, you’re just reward motivated.

I know. God says we’re reward motivated. So he says, if you do this, I’ll do this. I said, okay, I’ll do it. And I won’t know until I get to heaven what I’m going to get. But I know if I rebel against the Lord, I got a good idea what I’m going to get. So I would rather trust the Lord and believe in the He’ll take and honor His word. So He says, if any man served me, then will my Father honor.

But see, none of that is important if you never trusted Christ as your Savior. Have you been born again, born into God’s family, by faith alone. If you’re trusting the church to save you, you can’t go. Trusting the good words to get you to heaven, you can’t go. You’re trusting the fact, well I stopped some of my sin. I stopped smoking, drinking, lying, dipping into you and running with the girls to do. And you think that’s going to help get you to heaven?

You ain’t going. You cannot depend upon your works, your performance as the basis for your salvation. It must be and only can be. I’m accepting what Christ did for me. He died and paid for my sins. And if I trust in God said, He would save me and give me eternal life. Best news in all the world. Let me wrap it all up by showing you this simple illustration I invented yesterday. I mean, what I lied to you, if it did, it was this guy.

Because this guy, he wouldn’t lie to you. What do you, this guy, He would, did he lie? Yeah. This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin on us. God, he loves us, but he hates our sin. But everybody’s a sinner. We are all condemned because we’ve all sinned and the wages of sin is death. So we’re all in the same boat. To go to heaven, We have to be perfect. And nobody’s perfect. That’s why we can’t earn eternal life because it requires perfection.

And nobody can be perfect. So God says you cannot save yourself, you need a savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He was perfect. He had no sin. He didn’t have to die. He came into this world because he loved us. And he hated our sins because our sins separate us from him. So Jesus Christ did the only thing that needed to be done. He took the sin how much? All of it. For how many people? Everybody paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead.

He says if we would believe that He did it for us. That’s all He’s required. Would you believe that I did this for you? And when you believe it, this payment goes to your account. See the payment is Christ. Christ is the payment for my sins. He was the satisfaction, the propitiation for my sins. So when I accept Jesus Christ, He is my payment. The nails in His hands and in His feet, that is the proof of payment. I have a receipt.

That is my receipt. And He gives Himself to me, I have a receipt. And He says, I’ll never cash you out, never I have this receipt for all eternity. Nobody can send me to hell. I couldn’t go to hell if I tried. I’ve got a receipt for all the sins that I’ll ever commit. But because of what he did for me. Grace does much more abound. I serve him because I want to, not because I have to. There’s nothing that I can do to add to what he’s already done.

That’s what grace means. Grace means undeserved. I’m deserved. Undeserved. I don’t deserve to go to heaven. But he loved me. Paid for my sins, came back from the dead and says, if you’ll believe that I did that for you, you can do that. You can handle that. So that’s all you got to do. Does God know your mind? Does God know you’re sitting there and saying, I believe that. I believe that. But you need to say that. You need to believe that.

Let’s pray, shall we? every head, bow in every eye, close, no one looking around. If you’re here this morning and have never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you right now, right where you are, simply say this, Lord, I’m a sinner, and I know I need to be saved, and I want to be born into your family by faith alone. I right now believe you did it for me, and I’m gonna accept that payment you made for me when you doubt on that cross, you paid for my sins.

And friend, if you’ll trust him right now, God said, He would save you right now. I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you, but I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that you understood and that you’re trusting Lord, and I’d like to have prayer for you. Would you let me know if you hear this morning and you’re trusting Christ as your Savior, you’ve never done it before, but you’ll do it right now.

Would you just slip your hand very quickly and put right back down to anyone at all? Anyone at all? Just God bless you, anyone else? There’s no tricks to it, no gimmicks, I got embarrassed you, but right where you’re sitting. So yes, that makes sense. Anyone else before we close? Anyone else? If you have a question, man, I love to talk to you. I help you all I can. Father, we thank you again for your blessings. Thank you so much for the gospel, the glorious gospel, the gospel that makes a man a center, perfect, good to go.

We thank you Lord for the one that indicated by an uplift at hand that they would trust your savior. And Father, we pray that if there’s someone watching by internet, that’s never trusted your Savior, that they would do so right now. And we love to know. And I pray Father, your blessings upon each one. Thank you for this day and all that you do for us. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. 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 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.

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.