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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.

I don’t know what the any of you in here are saying. And when you get right down to it, you don’t know if I am. True? So we go by what a person tells us, but does God know the truth? God knows if I’m saved or not. You don’t know. We believe it because you testified and you said you were. But I don’t prove that you’re saved because of how you’re living. I go by what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?

That’s how what I want to know. If you came to church and you had your Bible up here, you had it on three-piece suit, I know that person saved. But what did they come in here looking like a bum? How about I had a bath in three months? Long hair and dirty all over? No shoes on his feet? Well I know he’s not a Christian. Oh yeah, how do you know? He may have trusted Christ as Savior and living more of a godly life than somebody sitting there in a three-piece suit.

Is that possible? So you see, you can’t tell that way. You go by, what are you dependent upon to get you to heaven? Well, I’ve been good all my life. Oh, then you must be ready to go. No. Are you trusting Jesus Christ in Him alone? This is the one who died on that cross and paid for your sins. Do you believe He did that for you? That’s what you’ve got to look at. The truth teaches that repentance for salvation simply a change of mind.

From unbelief to believe. If you’re an unbeliever and you repent, what did you do? Change to your mind, you believed. From unbelief to believe. And that no turning from sin is required for salvation. See, that’s what the book teaches. You read the whole gospel of John, and it’s the gospel track that we use. I mean, if you want to tell them about how to go to heaven, that’s one of the best books that we use. It’s so simple, so clear.

And yet you won’t find the the word repent mentioned one time in the whole book. But you’ll find the word believe, forms of it and by faith about 90-something times. So are we against repentance? No. We just don’t agree with them on their definition of repentance. We believe that a man does not have to turn from his sins to be saved because say it. You have to turn from your sin to be saved. All right, now tell the man what do you mean by that?

All right, here’s a man sitting right here. You want to go to heaven? Don’t you want to go to heaven? Yeah, see there he’s saying, yeah. Turn from your sins. Now, doesn’t he have a right to know which ones or does it have to turn from all of them? Just most of the big ones. Well, who decides? Who’s going to decide? See, you can’t answer the question because nobody can. You get a turn from, why you just got to be willing to be, turn from your sins.

I mean, I don’t have to really do it, just be willing to. Okay, I’m willing. Well, how willing are you? Well, when are you going to do it? Well, I just, I was willing to, but I really, so when does God save him? When he promises that he will? Or God waits till after he actually does it, and then he saves him? Well, when does he know? See, when we believe that all you have to do is trust Christ as your Savior.

He then, believe it to me, hath, person tends, hath, right then on the spot. Hat every last night. When would I have every last night? When I believe it. Immediately. Now I know I’m going to heaven. I know I have eternal life. Now what about those people that they talked about when Friday night is so winning? What if you had to tell all those girls you have to promise to be good? Be a good little girl. Don’t do anything wrong.

How many of them you think would understand and they got to change their whole total life? Well now you’ve got to spend another hour trying to tell them what sin is and how bad it is and you’ve got to be sorry and turned from it and not do it anymore and you promise or is it better just, you know, God loves you. He paid for all of your sins. All he wants you to do is believe he did it for you.

And if you’ll believe it, he’ll give you a free gift, eternal life. And they’ll never cast you out and never lose you. And since all your sins are paid, that’s how you can know you’re going to have them because you can’t go to hell. There’s no sense to pay for it. He paid for all of them. Now why did he do that? Because he loves you so much. Now, that’s something you can have right now and know it. You add one work and you have mutilated the gospel of grace.

So the truth is repentance is to change of mind. So they’re saying that you have to change your way of life. And if you don’t change the way of life, then it adapts your salvation. And that caused a lot of turmoil in a person’s mind. You say, are you against people living right? You listen to me long enough, you know I’m not for people and God’s children living in disobedience in rebellion to God. I don’t know of another preacher who tries to get people to serve a Lord more than what I do.

I’ve been around this country, but most of them are trying to get people to stop this and stop that and start this, but not to love the Lord. See, when you understand this by grace, you’ll love the Lord. more than anything else in the world, when you can understand it. And that love is supposed to challenge and motivate us, but wouldn’t it be one of it if it did for everybody? But we’re all different individuals. If Calvinism was true, lordship salvation was true, everyone who trusted the Lord automatically would change their life and they’d all be on the same spiritual level.

But they’re not because it don’t work. Calvinism teaches that salvation is all God’s work. Even faith in a gift is a gift of God. And that real faith therefore cannot be defective or short lived but endures forever. Not a gift what he said. He teaches that salvation is all God’s work. Even the faith is the gift of God. See anything wrong with that. Faith is not the gift of God. Salvation is the gift. Everyone Everyone has been given a measure of faith.

Everyone, you can place your faith in Buddha, Muhammad, and Confucius. You can place it in your good works. You can place it in this church to get you to heaven. You can even trust me to take you there. You ain’t going. But if you trust Christ, you can go. And it says that real faith therefore cannot be defective or short lived, but endures forever. So I believe that once you trust Christ to save you, endures forever. Yes, I do.

But faith did not come from God. when the Bible says, he that hereth my word, and believeth on him. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So you have to hear it. Now, the truth is it teaches that faith comes by hearing the gospel. Scripture teaches that faith can be overthrown. We already read that verse. It can be shipwrecked, and you can depart from it, and it can be denied. But once you’re saved, you’re always saved.

They’re saying that can’t be true, but you can read these verses and you’ll find out in the ones we’ve already read. It does happen and people’s faith can be overthrown. You mean I could have trusted Christ as a vice savior when I was a teenager? And 40 years has passed and I live like the devil and I can still be saved? If you ever were saved, you still are saved. Your lifestyle has nothing to do with how much God loved you and whether he saved you or not.

He saved you because you trusted him. That’s all he required. Now yes, as a child of God, if I served him, I know he will bless my life. And so I know he can’t bless disobedience, so therefore I want obedience, because I want the blessings of God and not the chastening of my heavenly Father. So I serve Him because I love Him. I want His blessings upon my life. I want to please the Lord, not to be a child of God, not to prove that I’m a child of God.

It’s because I am a child of God. That makes so much sense to me because it’s the book. And if you get away from teaching what exactly He says for salvation and and you try to put discipleship and mix the two together at mixing law and grace together and it won’t mix. Calvinism teaches that the object of faith is Christ himself. Faith therefore involves personal commitment to Christ. In other words, all true believers follow Jesus. This is right out of their statement.

All true believers follow, means live for the Lord. And it involves a personal commitment that you’re going to serve the Lord. See, it sounds so spiritual, so holy, so godly. It is so wicked and deceitful. And you can listen. There’s a lot of preachers on radio and television that will not make it simple and clear. And there’s people listening, what he feeds me, I will swallow hope. And they don’t discern. They can’t discern. They can’t discern. They don’t. the air and you say, well, what’s the difference?

Heaven and hell. That’s the difference. Are you really trusting Christ and Him alone to take you to heaven? Or are you trusting your works and you look at your works and your performance and not what He did but what you do? Is there a difference? Yes, there’s a difference. The truth teaches that saving faith has simply been convinced, persuaded that what God says, it is true. True salvation is the decision to trust, not a commitment to serve. I’m going to heaven because I decided to trust Christ in what He did for me.

That’s how I know I’m going to heaven because He said if I trust Him, He’d take me there. Now that’s why I’m going there. And I years later, not too long afterward. I decided I’m going to serve the Lord.” You see, in ranch all the time we get kids to trust Christ as Savior. And then we have camps and we try to get kids to dedicate their life to the Lord because you see the two are different. You don’t dedicate your life to be saved.

Once you have trusted Christ as Savior under it, you’re now a child of God, you’re going to heaven when you die, you have the free gift of eternal life. Now I want to try to challenge these kids to serve the Lord, but not to be saved. You don’t put them together. They don’t go together. It’s not automatic. Otherwise nobody has to be challenged and trained along the line. It does not include a personal commitment or promise to serve the person of Christ.

It sounds logical. It sounds good, but when you add that human element in there and you you start adding works to the gospel, it becomes an accursed message. God does not and will not save anyone who is adding works to the gospel. That’s why their decision is so important. Are you trusting Him and Him alone? And once you do, you have eternal life. Now you may not live like a saint, but in God’s eyes because of your position in Christ, you are.

Now, Calvinism teaches that real faith inevitably produces a changed life. Salvation includes a transformation of the inner person. Sounds good, but is it automatic? If it’s automatic, we’ve got a problem. Now, this is what he also says, John MacArthur. The unbroken pattern of sin and enmity with God will not continue. It says it won’t continue. When a person is born again, those with genuine faith follow Christ, love their brothers, obey God’s commandments, do the will of God abide in God’s Word, keeps God’s Word, do good works and continue in the faith.

That’s all together. John MacArthur. Do you see anything wrong with this? Now, I don’t know how good your discernment is, but there’s works involved all the way through this. And what are you looking at to know you’re saved? What Christ did for me on the cross? Or for what I’m doing for him in my life? What are you looking at? What’s the determining factor? Is it you or Christ? What you do? Or what he did? How do I know I’m saved today?

Because of what he did. But for 55 years I’ve been serving the Lord, going to church, giving money, supporting missions, preaching across this country. But that’s not where I put my confidence and the reason I know I’m saved is because of what He did for me, not what I do for Him. Now this is very important. The truth teaches this. Romans 6 and 4 says that Christians should walk in newness of life. See the word should is it should or is it must.

Should walk in newness of life. you trusted Christ as your Savior and now you’re a child of God, you should walk in newness of life. But isn’t it wonderful that if you don’t, you’re still His child. You see, you got children, don’t you want your children to love you? So of course, do they have to be your child? Are they still your child if they are disobedient? Aren’t you glad? Well maybe not. The next verse Ephesus 2, 10. We always quote Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace are you saved through faith?

That nod of yourself? It is the gift of God nod of works lest any man should boast? For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in. We should walk in them. Romans 15, 1 says, then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the week not to please ourselves. See God’s Word tells us all these things to do and not to do. Well wait a minute if Lordship Salvation is true it ought to be automatic.

Why would you have to tell anybody how to live? It ought to be automatic but it’s not automatic. Well if you’re really safe you’ll do this. Well then why do you have to tell me what to do if it’s automatic? Because it’s not. And it does a lot of damage to a lot of people who are trusting in their works and how they live their life. There is a lot of difference between should, ought, and must, and automatic. Don’t you agree with that?

This way means yes. Don’t you agree with that? You see, it teaches that the judicial aspect of salvation justification, which we talked about, to be declared righteous by God. Adoption, placed into the family of God by the new birth. But one of these days we’re waiting for the adoption of the body. We’re going to get a new body. We’re going to be placed into a new body. Right now we’re being placed into his family. And positional sanctification. That takes place the very moment you trust him as your Savior, my position in Christ.

That’s guaranteed to each and every believer at the very moment you believe. So if you trust Christ, if this man right here, trust Christ has saved me right now, then that moment that payment Christ made put to his account, he has justified just as if he never sinned. Christ paid for all of his sins, all of them. So there’s no sin to him paid for now. That’s why he can’t go to hell because he knows something to pay for it.

He paid for all of his sins. So he has justified declared righteous by God. So judicial act of the judge of all of the earth. And he has declared him to be his child of put into his family and positionally, he is as pure and as holy as God himself. That’s how God sees you once you trust me. And it happens that moment you trust him as your savior. Now he may not live like a saint, but in God’s eyes he is a saint.

And every one of us, yes, we ought to serve the Lord and we should do all those things God wants to do, but if you don’t, you’re just a disobedient child, where you can be an obedient child and do all the things that you should do. In this life, practical, sanctification, and growth, ingrays, is an option for each believer to make which requires a separate act, a choice. You see, trusting Christ as your savior is a choice. When you decided to allow the Lord to be the Lord the master of your life.

It’s a choice. But I’m not doing this thing to be saved. I did this to be saved. And I may never do the other. So I decided to be a disciple if you learn a follower of Christ. So important to understand this difference. You see, truth teaches that submission to Christ, supreme authority is not your main to the saving transaction. This simply means that a person does not have to promise, submit, guarantee how he or she is going to live.

This would make my salvation subjective to my performance. If I don’t perform, then I won’t be saved. Forget all of those things. I don’t have to submit the promise to guarantee anything about my life. I am a sinner on my way to hell and I deserve to go there. But he loved me, paid for my sins. all of them. And all he wanted me to do was the only thing that I could do is it, well you trust me as your Savior and I trusted him as my Savior a few years ago and I know that I have eternal life and I know I’m going to heaven and I don’t have to look at anything else except the Word of God.

That’s the only thing I have to look at is the proof that guaranteed that I’m going to have God said so. He said he’d never cast me out. He’d never lose me. Now either that’s true or it’s not true. And if it’s not true, nobody knows where they’re going when they die. Because there is no other way of knowing unless it’s totally free and all by grace. Although Jesus is the Lord, I do not have to serve Him to be saved or to keep my salvation.

Teaches that behavior is an important test of one’s salvation. Obedience is evidence that one’s faith is real. This is what these teach. On the other hand, the person who remains utterly unwilling to obey Christ does not evidence to faith. So this is why they call it Lordship Salvation. You must make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life in order to be saved. And so if you don’t live like a Christian, that means you’re not a Christian. So I have a few questions that I like to ask.

There are good questions I think. Galatians 519, can a saved man walk into flesh? Yes. Well that means that he can be disobedient, right? And if he’s disobedient and he can walk into flesh, how long can he walk into flesh and still be saved? Or at what point, if he walks in the flesh too long, he’s not really saved. And how do you know? Because they say, if you’re really saved, you might walk in the flesh a little bit, but not for long.

Okay, how long? What do you use to determine? And it says, for this cause, many are sick and many are weak and many are dead. Talk into believers. So if a believer is dead because of not having a clean life and doing right, could he be a Calvinist? Because see, if you pose a persevere in the faith, can a Christian die in sin? And if he dies doing something wrong, evidently he didn’t persevere in the faith. True? So anybody who dies because of sin could not have been saved, right?

You see how confused it is a can of worms. Now, truth teaches that disobedience and prolonged sin are no reason to doubt the reality of one salvation. You may have trusted Christ to just save it 20-30 years ago and you haven’t lived like God’s child in one, Iowa. Does that mean your loss or save? Doesn’t mean anything. It means that you didn’t live right. If you were saved, you’re disobedient. If you were lost, it don’t matter. You may doubt a person’s love for the Lord and his love for the neighbor and love for spiritual things because none of these things are required for salvation.

You can doubt all of that. Well, I don’t believe you love the Lord. That’s good. You don’t have to love the Lord to go to heaven. Oh, well, you don’t love your neighbor. I don’t have to love my neighbor to go to heaven. to go to heaven. Well, you don’t do anything spiritual. Don’t have to go to heaven. What you have to do to go to heaven and where you trust Christ is your Savior. Now, did you do that?

Yes, that’s what gets you to heaven. None of these other things do. Now, get this last statement. I even put it in bold and put it in yellow so that you could see it real clear. Trust in Christ by faith alone cannot be revealed by works at all. Salvation can only be revealed by works if works are required to be saved. Are works required to be saved?

No. No works of any kind, at any time. I’m going to heaven because of the work Christ did for me. Now, Calvin teaches that genuine believers may stumble and fall, but they will persevere in the faith. You may fall but you’re going to get up. So you just got to make sure that you get up before you die when you fall. So I asked a nice simple question, the last one on there. Is it possible for them to die when they are down if they must die living in the faith?

Because if you got a persevere in the faith to make it, well you may fall but you’ll get back up so that when you mean when you fall, that means you can’t die because you can’t die without persevering. You say I’m confused. So are they? Look at the statement. Those who later turned completely away from the Lord show that they were never truly born again. Show who? Themselves? Who did they showed that they weren’t really saved? You? Because you were that inspector.

Remember? You’re looking at people’s lives telling who’s saved and who’s lost. Well, I know that Peter Amato can’t be saved. I saw him speeding down the road the other day. Is this truth? How much time must they stay down to know they never were saved. Well, you’re going to fall. Okay, how much time do I have to stay down there to know that I was never saved at all? How fast must they get up to know they really were saved?

Can you figure it out? Do you have any answers? They don’t either. That’s why it’s totally a confusing mess. That’s why he says, beware of those who try to get you away from the simplicity. Simplicity that’s in Christ is simple. You’re a sinner. He’s a Savior. You trust Him. He saves you. Da. That’s simple. You add works to it and you open up a whole can of work. Why? Because it’s not true. It’s the devil’s doctrine. teaches that God has chosen who goes to heaven and allows the rest to go to hell without a God-given choice.

You see Calvinism teaches God has chosen who he wants to go to heaven and the rest of them they don’t have a choice. God compels the person to choose to believe on Christ. God compels a person that he chose to believe. So I asked a couple of stupid little questions in my little mind. If this is true. The next question, does a man that is predestinated to go to heaven really need to hear the gospel and believe? If I’ve already chosen him to go to heaven, why does he need to hear the gospel?

Well, how does he need to hear it? I’ve already chosen him to go to heaven because I’ve chosen to go to heaven. So he doesn’t need to hear the gospel and he doesn’t need to believe. What does it accomplish? The truth is still the truth even if no one believes it. A lie is still a lie even if everyone believes it. True? I’ve asked somebody to say you can’t be sure of anything. Really? Was that true? There is absolutely no reason for a man that was previously chosen by God to either hear the gospel or believe on Christ because hearing and believing has absolutely nothing to do with his final destination if that is true.

And their predestination is true, but it’s not true. Get these two statements. These are two good statements. They believe because they were chosen. And number two down out the next one, we were chosen because we believe. Is there a difference here? Look at the difference. They believe because they were chosen. Well, they still chosen if they never hear the gospel. What’s the point? The truth we were chosen because we believe. Therefore because God has from the foundations were chosen to save everyone who believes.

Therefore, me here in the gospel and believe in the gospel is absolutely important because God is chosen to save all those who believe on Him. You see, they believe because they were chosen so they don’t need to hear it. They’re already going to heaven. He’s He’s already chosen it, but that’s false teaching. We’re chosen because we believe. God has chose to save every person that will trust Him. You ever heard of John 3 16? I mean, if you’ve heard of John 3 16, look at the verse for God so loved the elect.

I mean the world. That He gave His only begotten Son that whoever I have chosen ahead of time. whosoever believe it, in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So the ones that don’t perish and go to hell, and the ones that go to heaven is though that believe, and it’s whosoever. Now they can’t take this verse at face value, they have to change it and make it say something that does not say. This is why this message is so important because it deals with heaven and hell.

It makes a difference. It really makes a difference. Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, we are thankful for all that you’ve done for us. Help us, Lord, and not only love the gospel, but defend the gospel, the truth of the gospel. Thank you for this day and we commit this day to you. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. And we pray now for safety and protection and for wisdom and the decisions that has to be made. Keep us safe in our country and help us Father to honor you in all things in It’s time to make plans for the summer.

Join us for summer camp July 9 through the 13th and fits Gerald, Georgia. At summer camp, teens ages 13 to 18 will enjoy fun competitions while learning about the word of God. Over the years, hundreds of kids have been reached with the Gospel at summer camp. This is your opportunity to make summer meaningful and memorable for a teen in your life. The cost of summer camp is $150. If you’d like to donate a summer camp scholarship, you can do so by calling 813-884-4328 for more information.

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. leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.