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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 Bibleignmenistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to take your Bible and turn it me to the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy, the apostle Paul was a great man, solid in the faith. If there’s anybody solid, it was him. He knew the law because he was a Pharisee. And he trusted the Lord and he says, the gospel that he preached was the gospel that he got from Jesus Christ himself. He said, didn’t get it from man. He got it straight from the Lord.

So I imagine that if he got it from the Lord, he must have got it pretty straight. But not everybody was in love with the Apostle Paul. He made a few enemies here and there. And there were false teachers already in his day. And so he says here in writing to young Timothy, he mentions a man’s name and this man, he said, had done him a lot of damage. But also what hurt Paul was a lot of people that he had been, had with him at this stage of his life and left him.

And he says here in verse 13, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpeth when thou cometh bring with thee and the books, but especially the parsement. Alexander the the Coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his words, of whom be thou where also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. In other words, there are some people that know your position and know it well, but they don’t believe that position. And so they’re able to take the knowledge that they have about your position and are able to twist it and call it a lie.

And then they’ll present their position. He says in verse 16, “…at my first answer, no man stood with me.” In other words, nobody backed me up. Like, I’m having to confront this guy who did me a lot of damn, a lot of evil. And he says, “…but all men forsook me.” I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. So somebody must have been pretty good at articulating their view and casting questions or doubts upon Paul or his message.

He even talks about a man named Demas that first took him, that left him. And so just looked there in chapter 4 where he says this in verse 10, for Demas had forsaken me having loved this present world. And then he says in verse 11, only Luke is with me. Take Mark, bring him with thee for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And so he was sending people in different places and asking others to come and see him.

He says, but when he finally finished his course, he didn’t have an awful lot of people around him. And that must be a little on the heartbreaking side. But he says, it’s not all over him. It doesn’t mean that Paul must be wrong because, you know, so many people were able to even withstand the words that Paul had given. And so he says here in verse 16, my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.

I prayed God that may not be laid to their charge, notwithstanding, and you are on the line in this phrase, the Lord stood with me. In other words, the Lord never left him. The Lord strengthened and gave him what he needed for finishing his course. And he says, he finished his course with joy, but he says in the last part of verse 17 that I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. See, the devil uses people too.

The devil uses people. You don’t see the devil, but you do see people. And it’s amazing how you can get so discouraged because of things that people will say to you. And it can totally destroy your zeal, your motivation, or to give different teachings or doctrines that kind of steal away from the things that you know to be true. And you get to where you begin to wonder whether or not do I really believe correctly? Now, just in this last couple of days.

I’ve had people that have responded to some of the things on YouTube and I had somebody also write me a letter and ask me if I were to answer a question. But I don’t really like writing letters explaining things because I like to state my position but I don’t like to debate them. But there’s times when you have to do just that and if I have to then I will. But someone says that they had questions about, you know, salvation by grace and then all the questions that you have about.

Well, if salvation is really by grace, are you trying to tell me that you can go out and live like your place and still go to heaven when you die? Well, see if you say, well, no, then you really don’t believe it’s by grace. But you don’t want to say no because you don’t want to think, people think, well, you can just live like your place, you know, and everybody knows you got to be good to go to heaven and you know if you’re bad you go to hell.

But you’re saved by grace but you don’t have to be good. But if you’re not, you probably aren’t going. And you talk about a whirlwind and can cause a lot of questions and doubts, a lot of confusion. This is one that somebody put upon my sight. He says, and this is a guy’s name, I won’t even give it to you. Speaking about salvation, some people say one thing, and others say something different. Is it a free gift from God?

Or do we also have to do something in order to achieve it? Is salvation only obtained by faith and without works? Or by faith when it is accompanied by works? One saved, are we saved forever? Or can salvation be lost? What do you think? Those sounds like some mighty good questions that know him. Now think about it. You’d be surprised where the man believes, or he stands. I think the real answer to these questions can only be found by making clear what salvation really is about.

And how did Jesus define it in his teaching? Now he says, Jesus says this, but the apostle Paul said this, and we should go by what Jesus said, not by what Paul said. So he’s already made a division because he believes that Jesus says, it’s not just enough to believe you’ve also got to commit your life. You’ve got to keep the law. You’ve got to do all these good works. In other words, it’s like this. When Jesus made the statement in John chapter 3, then unless you’re born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God and you cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless you’re born again.

So being born again gets you into the door and this door opens up. Now you’ve got inside the door, but that’s not the end of it. You see, there is a path leads to a destiny. So there’s a door, there’s a path, and there’s a destiny. Well that’s where you’re headed. So believe in on Christ and being saved by grace opens the door. Now there is a path that you have to walk. You see, you’re not there yet. You have to walk this path.

And whenever you can see and understand what a person is thinking, then you can understand where he’s coming from and why he can twist certain things and be logical in his own mind. So they say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re saved by grace, but that just gets you into the door of salvation. You’ve got that path ahead of you. So this is what he says. He says, and how did Jesus define it in his teaching? He says, enter ye in at the straight gate for why does the gate brought as the way that lead of two destruction?

Many there be which go in there because straight is the gate, narrow is the way which lead on the life. So the way leads to life. So there is a door that you got to go through but then there’s a walk that you have to obey in order to get to that final destination and so they don’t see anything wrong with teaching works and grace and faith together. And this is where a majority of independent fundamental Bible and missionary minded Baptist preachers are I hate to say because they will say you’re saved by grace but if you don’t walk that narrow way and you don’t live right well that’s a sign you never really got into the door.

You really weren’t saved to start with. And you talk about confusion and there’s people who can state your position better than you know your position. And they know every verse that you know. And they can tell you what you’re going to say next. They know where you’re coming from. But in their mind, see, they’ve got a picture. You are of Paul. They are of Christ. Now, who do you think would carry more weight? Paul or Christ, but Paul got his from Christ and does what Christ teach contradict what Paul taught, did Paul contradict what Jesus taught?

Now listen to this, here he speaks first of a door, then of a road and last of a destination. And since that destination is life when he spoke of being saved, Jesus apparently did not not refer only to being saved from past sins through repentance and faith in his sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, which obviously it is not thanks to our good works. But he refers as salvation, the fact that we can finally enter the kingdom of heaven by obedience to his commandments, in which our actions do play a determining role.

Does that sound like he really believe that salvation is by grace. No. And then he says this, is salvation then something instantaneous, free and irrevocable that is received at first by just going through the door for which it is enough to just believe and confess Jesus as your Lord by making a prayer and presto you are saved and do not need to do anything else. Since salvation is only by faith and not by works. So He can state our position very well because that’s what we believe.

It is instantaneous. When that day, 57 years ago in that little old living room, when I trusted Christ as my Savior, I was saved that very moment. God gave me that day eternal life. And I can never lose my salvation. I know I’m going to heaven. I’ve known it all my life, 57 years of it anyway after that day when I was 18 years old. So yes, I know I have eternal, I know I’m going to heaven when I die.

But can they really know for certain that they are going to heaven if they only entered into the door, but they’ve got to walk the path to get to the final destination? So they don’t know for sure they’re going to make it because it depends on what they do. So they really don’t know where they’re going when they die because they don’t know when they’re going to die and they don’t know the condition they’re going to be and when they die.

But it says this, or is salvation in every sense of the word a destiny that is reached after traveling the road all the way to the end? Sad to say what most people seem to believe is the first based obviously and exclusively in the writings of Paul. You just have to read the verse that those who defend Paul’s gospel quote to verify that practically all of them come from Paul’s writings and not from the words of Jesus. So the only reason we believe this is because, well, that’s what Paul said.

Paul says it was just by faith without works. But we know that Jesus says it is by your works too. Do we have a contradiction in the Bible? The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. Paul and Jesus did not have two different gospel messages. He says this, you just have to read the verses. If you look at the biblical references, you will see that practically all of them come from the epistles and not from the four gospels. I don’t know about that.

I’ve read the Gospel of John and John 3 16 only believe and somewhere along the line he’s forgotten something and he don’t believe if it’s not condemned but he don’t believe if not it’s condemned when because if not walked that long pathway that road that finally gets to the destination you don’t find that in the I spoke to John, he’s in air. Somebody else had wrote me and this was my letter to them temporarily. Just to answer a few of his questions because he asked me probably, I don’t know, 30, 40 questions in one email that I got today.

Or yesterday I think he was. Thanks for your inquiry into my position on theological matters. To rightly divide the word of God, I make a clear distinction between God talking to the nation of Israel and to an individual. There are things God requires of a nation to secure the blessings of God and eliminate the chasting hand of the Lord. I don’t build a boat because my name is not Noah, and I don’t tell Pharaoh to let my people go because my name is not Moses.

I believe that all scripture is for me, but not all scripture is to me. When God gave the civil law, ceremonial laws, and the moral law contained in the 10 commandments to the nation of Israel, they did not apply to the Gentile nations. This was a covenant made only with Israel. God would use a special nation to produce the Messiah, bring forth the word of God to the world, and to be a testimony from God to the Gentile nations.

And that’s why God did what He did. I never asked my three children to promise how they are going to live until after they were born. Doesn’t that make sense? I never asked my three kids how they’re going to live until after they were born. See, there’s people who want to get you to promise how you’re going to live before you get born. And you don’t do that. You see, you have to be born, and then after you’re born, Then you can teach the kids right from wrong.

You teach them how to walk and talk in the rest of their lives that I shut up The salvation of the soul in reality is being born into God’s family Regardless of how my children choose to live They were still born into our family because how they chose to live after they were born Had nothing to do with their birth They got an old sinful nature from the mother, but I’m talking about the the young. No, we all have a sinful nature.

We got that the day we were born. But after they’re born, then you’ve got to teach them how to live. And there’s a lot of things about things to do and things not to do. And we want them to be happy and we want to bless them and do things for them. But if they disobedient, we may have to discipline chasing them. But we don’t kill them. But just think about it. Once they are born, regardless of how my children chose to live, they were still born into our family.

Once they were born, there was absolutely nothing for them to do to be born or to stay born. Do they have to do anything to be born or stay born if they’re already born? No. They are born. In like manner, once a person is saved, there’s absolutely nothing for that person to do to be saved or to stay saved. They are saved. So I’m not seeking to be saved. I’m already saved. So I don’t have to go to church to get saved.

I don’t have to keep the tenant. I don’t have to do anything. I don’t give any money. Why? Because I’m already saved. Well, when was I saved? Well, 57 years ago, when I trusted Christ in my Savior, He saved me. When that day, well, if I’m already saved, I don’t have to seek to be saved. I’m already saved. When God says that a man is saved by grace through faith, He means that a man is not saved because he deserves to be saved, but by putting his faith in the work that was done for him.

So I’m not saved because of my faith in my works. I’m saved by my faith in his work. He did the work and I’m just supposed to believe it. That’s all God wanted me to do, to go to heaven. I’m sure that you have heard that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for sins. This means that he loved us so much you would rather die than live without us. This also means that he paid for my sins before I was born.

See, and he sate it. How many of my sins did Christ pay for? And they say up to the time you got saved. So he paid for all the sins. And then when you trust Christ and Savior, he forgives you of all of those. But now what about all those other sins you’re gonna do? So that’s why when you commit to sin, you gotta get forgiveness. And then again, and then again, and then again. But if you die and you didn’t get forgiveness for one sin, well, I’m sorry, you messed up, man, you made it best up.

But see, the key is this, and understanding. When Christ died, he paid for all of my sins. Where did he start and stop for my sins? Did he start here or he knew I was gonna trust the Lord? Yes, so he just paid for those. Or did he pay for all of my sins, past, present and future? How many of my sins were in the future when Christ died? All of them. I wasn’t born yet. So that means he’s already paid for all of my sins.

So if I was not trust the Lord when I was 18, But I trust the Lord when I was 75, would that include those sins too? Well, then he’s already paid for those too. When I accepted the payment he made, I have a payment for all my sins, not most of them, not up to the time I believe, but for all of my sins. That’s why I can’t go to hell because I don’t have any sins to pay for.

And when you understand that, it makes sense. This is why sometimes people say, well, if you commit suicide, that’ll send you to hell to commit suicide. And the reason they say it because if you commit suicide, is that a sin? Yeah. Well, you’re dead. I couldn’t get forgiveness because you’re dead. So, evidently, that’s the unpardonable sin. No, it’s not. If I commit suicide, is that a sin? Paid. Paid. Paid. All my sins were paid. When a person really doesn’t, don’t reason I’m going to have to because Christ died for my sins.

Let me read this to you. Now this is what I wrote to this person. When Christ came back from the dead, the only thing He wanted me to do to order to go to heaven, to be saved or have eternal life, or to go to heaven, or to obtain His righteousness was simply to believe that He did it for me. The reason I cannot go to hell today, tomorrow or any time in the future is because I don’t have any sense to pay for Him.

No man can know He’s going to heaven until He knows He cannot go to hell. So if they’re still trying to walk this narrow way in this nice wrong road and don’t know how long they’re gonna live, well if you can’t know it until you’ve lived it then you really don’t know if you’re gonna make it. Don’t that make sense? But if I accept it as a gift and he gives it to me as a free gift and he said he’ll never cast you out in nevelation.

Well when can I know I’m going to actually really go to heaven. The day I trust Christ is my Savior. So the day I trust Christ is my Savior, He gives me eternal life and it is for how long? Forever because He gives me eternal life. Eternal life, not temporary life, not life until I sin again. If He gave me life till I sin again, you might as well keep it. Why give it to us? So no man can know He’s going to have…

If your salvation depends on any works of any kind for any length of time, then your salvation cannot be by grace alone. For salvation to be sure, it must be totally free, would no works required. Now, if a man is going to be saved by his works and he has to walk down this long road until he dies, well, if God really wanted to be able to heaven, isn’t the longer that road is, the greater the possibility of him losing it.

If he is saved and God allows warren down here to live five years, but Dan he lets him live for 70 years. Which one has the greater possibilities of losing their salvation? Dan. So why would God let him live five years and let Dan live for 70 years because he only He had to watch himself for five years. He had to watch himself for 50 more years. Is that fair? She says yes.

So, aren’t you glad that your salvation does not depend upon it? Otherwise, you know when I would want to die? The moment I trust in Christ is my Savior. Kill me, take me home right now. Don’t let me live another minute. Because what they’re saying is true, If He kills me right then, why trust the Lord? And I’m out of here. At least I know I made it. But it lets me live for a minute, I don’t know. See, that’s junk.

That’s trash. When He saves you, He saves you. I mean, I’m saved from you. He can’t be my savior unless He saved me. Well, if He saved me, what’s He gonna do? Throw me back? This fish is too small. I need a, I want a bigger fish. This is a little, he’s a little fish. No. At camp, we mentioned this before, and I’ve had prayer about it, and that is about the four talks. And Jesse did an excellent job at camp talking about the four talks.

Well, you see, if you’re going to have to earn your way to heaven or maintain a certain level of, you know, perfection in your life and walk, right, then every person has to know the four talks before they begin to walk. Because see, if you’ve got to do this, And is reading the Bible? Is reading the Bible? Is that going to be important? If you’ve got to walk the walk, then you’re going to have to know the Word. And if you’ve got to talk to the Lord through prayer, that means you’ve got to know how to do all of that.

Well then you’ve also got to talk to the lost people because it is God’s will that you witness, spread the gospel. Well then you’ve got to do that too. And also you’ve got to have fellowship with others. That means you’ve got to go to church and have good fellowship with other believers. So you got to talk to the believers and talk to the lost and talk to the Lord and let God talk to you Those are the four talks So we’ve got all of this that we got to do and you got to know that in full Before you start your walk Because you can’t let you fail Because if you don’t do everything okay now if I got to go to church, I got to have the right church Okay now how many times a week do I have to go who becomes the judge?

And you got to give money. Okay, well, how much do I have to give? Just give it all. That’s why. And if you have to, if you’ve got to take and study the Bible so that you’ll know what God wants, how much of the Bible would you have to know? You’ve got to know it all. That’s where he says, curses is the man who is under the law. Because he’d have to continue to do all things to do all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

So if you’re going to have to obey the Word, how much? You’ve got to know it all. Who qualifies? Jewish kids for their bar and this was, you had to memorize the first five books of the Bible. You want to try that. And after they They had memorized it. They didn’t keep it. Not one man has ever kept the law until Jesus Christ came. So if you want to live that clean life and earn your way to heaven, you’re going to have to live it as good as well as long as Jesus Christ did, your whole life.

Good luck. I also wrote, eternal life is the gift of God. Therefore it cannot be a reward for keeping the law. Isn’t it eternal life the gift of God? Well then eternal life cannot be a reward that God gives you because you earned it. It’s the gift of God. A gift means you didn’t earn it, you didn’t work for it. To be saved by grace means unmerid did favor. You mean you didn’t merit, you didn’t deserve it. That’s what grace means, you didn’t deserve it.

And God saves you anyway. So it had nothing to do with how you live your life. Your destination does not depend on it. And that blows most people’s mind. By the law is the knowledge of sin. And no man is justified, has ever been justified, or ever will be justified by keeping the lung. Since the day I trusted Christ as my savior, the Lord has been my father, and I have been his child. This positional truth cannot be changed, altered, rescinded by me or God.

As a child of God, I know I now have choices to make. I can choose to be an obedient child and receive his blessings in this life and rewards when I get to heaven. Or I can choose to be a disobedient child of God and receive chastening from my loving father whereby many of God’s children are weak, sick or dead. No child of God can live as he pleases without suffering the consequences of his bad decisions. But can a child of God choose how he lives?

Of course he can. That’s why when I tell people, you know you can live like you please. Because you can please to choose to serve the Lord, and you can choose to be rebellious. But you still made a choice, and you can choose to please God, or choose to please yourself. But there’s consequences to your decisions. That’s why you need to teach people what the word of God says, so they’ll make wise decisions. Don’t miss out on all the fun.

Join Pastor Jesse and Kyla Martinez On Thursday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. for Tampa Youth Ranch and Calvary Community Church. Tampa Youth Ranch is a great mix of live music, games, Bible study, food and fun, where teens 13 to 18 get to know God and the Bible with their friends. Check it out online at tampayouthranch.org and see the cool pictures from past activities and all the fun you’ve been missing. No Ride, no problem. Call 813-334-4655 today for information on getting a ride to Tampa Youth Ranch.

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.