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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

You should have been given a piece of paper with my notes on it for this morning. real deep, but it is an interesting message because it is for your own personal peace of mind. And you need to have a peace of mind. Have you ever felt like giving somebody else a peace of your mind? You should never give someone a peace of your mind, especially when you’re in most desperate need of it. But a couple of questions that I’d like to propose to you as we look here, how do you know you are saved?

If I was asked you, you probably say, yes, I am. All right, the question is, how do you know you are saved? So for your own peace of mind, you should be able to answer certain questions. If you can’t answer these questions, then how do you know you are saved? And so I have a question that if I am saved today and lost tomorrow, why does God not take me home today? If I say I am saved today, but I can do something wrong and be lost tomorrow.

If God is God and He is and He knows the future, and He has saved me today and He knows that I’m saved today but He knows I’m going to be lost tomorrow, why wouldn’t God just take me home today? See most people can’t figure this out. Another way of looking at it, isn’t it true that the longer I live that if I could lose my salvation in the future, the longer I live isn’t it true there’s a greater potential of me losing it.

The longer I live the potential of me losing my salvation has greatly increased. So the most important thing is me going to heaven. So I would recommend that God take me home the very moment I trust him as my savior so that I go to heaven. Why risk it and could go to hell in the future? You see there’s something wrong with that logic. It is this reason because if God saves me today, I am still saved tomorrow and that I cannot lose it.

For example, we have a child over here and we have an old man of 80 years old over here, Al-Marshal. We have an older man, oh he’s 83, he’s an old man over here. But let’s say for example, when is the best time for a person to get saved? Do we say, well, you could say while you’re young, but if you could lose your salvation, if he waited until he’s our marshal’s age and gets saved, he has a less time to lose his salvation.

So there’s a greater potential he might go to heaven, but he might die any time in between. So you see, there’s no advantage unless it’s forever. Are you saved? Question. When were you saved? Do you know when you were saved? I remember years ago I heard a man sing a song in 1962. He got up and he sung a song. I was there when it happened and I guess I ought to know. That’s how I knew I was saved.

I was there when it happened. Great. What happened? Well I was there. So you can testify for yourself that you are saved, but do you have any other proof of your salvation besides you? Oh well my mom was there, my momma vouch for me, my dad, he’ll vouch for me. Well the preacher remembers when I walked down the aisle. You see, your security of your personal salvation should be so rock solid that nothing can ever shake you from it.

Because that’s where your peace of mind comes from is you know in whom you have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which you have committed unto him against that day. Question, how do you know that you did the right thing? I’ve had a lot of people say, well, I’m saved, and I find out what they did, and what they did wasn’t what you have to do to get saved. Is it possible that people can live their whole lives thinking that they’re saved and not be saved?

Yes, I’m afraid they are. Is there anything else to do since then? Well, since today, whatever it was, you got to say, is there anything else that you have to do to stay saved? Well, if there is, did you do it? All of it. Have you failed? If you know that you’re saved, can you know when you’re lost again? If you can’t go by feelings, what do you go by? Well, today, boy, I know I’m saved. I feel it.

Okay? What about tomorrow when you don’t feel it? See, your salvation has to rest upon something more solid than all of that. Next question. What were you saved from? I’ve been saved from what? Well, I’ve saved. You know, saved from what? You see, you have to be going somewhere or something was going to happen to you in order to save you from something. So we know that there is a heaven and there is a hell. So I have been saved from hell.

It means that I can’t go there. If I can go there, I might say from it. So I am saved from hell. Well, what do you save too? Well, I’m saved to heaven, to an inheritance that’s incorruptible in the file that made, if not away, reserved in heaven for me because I believe. So I’ve been saved from something to something, and that can’t be changed, can’t not be altered. I like that. Next question, are you saved or are you trying to be saved?

the two different things. Are you saved or are you trying to be saved? Good question. Next question, can you ever by any means become unsaved? So what I’m saying, is there anything you can do to become unsaved and still go to hell in the future? See, then you don’t really understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet there’s a lot of people who talk about precious gospel of Jesus Christ. I’ve heard preaches on the radio talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then I listen to them and that’s not the gospel. It’s not even close. That has no relationship to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is in particular message on how that a heathen can be justified by faith without works. That’s good news. Who beside you can vouch for you? But let me tell you this. The day I got saved, 51 years ago in the little living room in Athens, Georgia, somebody else was there with me. Let me tell you about him.

It’s very important. He will vouch for me. I’ve got somebody that vouches for me You see the Bible says if we receive the witness of man The witness of God is greater So if everybody in this church thinks Peter a model is saved It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. What you think is What God knows? Are you saved? It doesn’t matter if your family thinks you are. Are you saved? I want you to take your Bible and turn to the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John.

And notice there in John and chapter 7, John chapter 7, John chapter 7. And look at it in verse 37, verse 37. And the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. saying, if any man thirst, let him come into me and drink. And as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And get the next verse. This spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive.

So if you believe, you receive. If you believe, you will receive. Not only the gift of eternal life, but you receive the Holy Spirit. And believe it or not, The greatest witness will be the Holy Spirit, and I’ll explain that in a minute. So how can the Holy Spirit be my security? Because I can’t see the Holy Spirit. I can’t feel the Holy Spirit. So how does that help me to have a peace of mind that I know I’m saved?

I’m not through yet. I just ask a lot of questions. Stimulate your mind thinking a little bit. But don’t you believe that if there is a heaven and if there is a hell, you ought to know for sure where you’re going when you die. If that’s true. It is true and you can know for sure. But know this, that they which believe should receive the Holy Spirit. Now look in Romans in chapter eight, the book of Romans in chapter eight.

Romans chapter eight and I want you to look there in verse nine, in verse nine. Pieces but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if, see that word if if, so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So nothing else matters. If you do not have the Holy Spirit living within you, he says you’re not of his. You’re not of God.

So there has to be a time. And we know that not all lost people or all the people in the world have the Holy Spirit. So there has to be a time when you receive the Holy Spirit. Because when you receive the Holy Spirit is when you got saved. So if you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit. Now do you have the Holy Spirit? And how do I know that I’m saved? Because how do I know I’ve got the Holy Spirit?

When you can’t see Him and you can’t touch Him. So how do you know? interesting, isn’t it? Here in the book of Romans, it goes a little bit further, and it makes a statement in verse 14 that when you trust Christ as your Savior and the Holy Spirit that lives within you, if He leads you and guides you, which is what He is there for, and to teach us, He is the great Competer. It says, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons or the maturing sons of God.

You see, the Holy Spirit that lives within you is why it’s called a spiritual birth. You were born by the Spirit of God because you’ve received and believed the incorruptible Word of God. So you were born into God’s family. You have been born again, a spiritual birth. That which is of the flesh is flesh. That’s your first birth. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. That’s your second birth. Says, Marvel not that I say to you must be born again.

So if you’ve never been born again, that means you do not have the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you don’t belong to the Lord and you’re not a child of God. So it’s not something you can just think about. Hear about. There has to be a conscious decision somewhere along the line that you deliberately be lead something. You cannot maybe remember every moment in the detail or even the exact moment, but you know there was a time, there was a time for your own peace of mind.

I believe that. And when you’re not sure that you ever have, when do you think would be a good time to do that? Right now. And while I’m talking, I wouldn’t want to waste another second with the possibility that I could spend an eternity separated from God in a literal fire burning hell that God wants to save me from. So look there in verse 15, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, and you ought to underline these words, ye have past tense, receive past tense, have received the spirit.

So if you have believed, you have received. So you see, the receiving of the Holy Spirit is because you believe something and you’ve got to believe the right thing. The word of God tells us that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. And the Bible says the Holy Spirit is to teach us all truth and to lead us into all truth. So he’s to be a witness of truth. And notice what he says here in verse 16.

In verse 16, that makes the statement, the spirit itself, bear it witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. So how do I know that I’m a child of God? Well, his spirit bears witness with my spirit that I’m a child of God. That’s interesting. I can’t see my spirit and I can’t feel my spirit and I can’t see Him the Holy Spirit and I can’t touch or feel the Holy Spirit. So I hope those two got it right.

But how do I know? Because you see, you were spiritually dead severed from the life of God. So whenever the Holy Spirit quickens your spirit and makes you spiritually alive, it’ll be forever. It is the body that causes us to be world conscious. It is the soul that causes us to be self-conscious. And it is the spirit in man that helps him to see that he’s God-conscious. So not only am I God conscious, I can communicate with God through my Spirit.

And the Bible tells us that God must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. So you and I have a spirit and his spirit bears witness with my spirit that I’m a child of God. Okay. That’s interesting so far. How did he do that? Remember, the word of God was written by men as they were moved or guided along by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is the author of the word of God. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit of God that authored the word of God lives within us.

So the Holy Spirit living within us is to teach us the Word of God. So that our confidence comes from the Word of God. So His Spirit will bear witness with my Spirit through the written Word of God that I know, that I know, that I know, that I’m saved. How do I know I’m saved? Because the Word of God says, I’m saved. The word says so. And I could say, God says I am. You see, God was there when it happened.

If God is God, and He is, and we studied the other day in the book of Acts 15 about people who had heard the gospel and received the Holy Spirit. The only way they can receive the Holy Spirit is because God knows the heart and knows they believed because those that believed would receive and they did. And it was the only requirement because they received the moment they believed it.

So that means that they’re saved at the moment of belief. And they had not yet lived any life in no way, shape or form. And yet they were saved. And that’s why Paul says, we shall be saved, or Peter made the statement, even as they are saved by faith, grace alone in Christ alone. So here he made the statement in verse 16, you ought to underline this verse, it’s a wonderful verse. The Spirit himself or itself bears witness with our spirit that we all are present tense right now are the children of God.

Because we are the children of God. We have received the Holy Spirit. Now look during the book of Ephesians in chapter one, the book of Ephesians and chapter one. Ephesians chapter one and look in verse 13. Verse 13 says, in whom ye also trusted because it goes back to verse 12. Verse 12 says that ye should be to the praise of His glory who first What did you do? Trusted. You see, when you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, because you heard or believed that He died and paid for all of your sins.

And you believe that. You’re trusting Him as your Savior. So then verse 13 is written to those who trusted. After that, you heard the word of truth, the gospel, the good Lord. news of salvation, you heard it, you believed it, you trusted him. In other words, I am depending upon what he said and what he did was for me. I believed that. And notice what he says that when you believed that, in whom also after that you believed, or the moment you believed, having believed, You were what?

Sealed with the Holy Spirit that he had promised. So what did you do? Well I heard the gospel. I believed it. I trusted Christ as my Savior. And the moment you believed it, you received not only the free gift of eternal life, you received the Holy Spirit of God and you became a child of God. Your confidence that you’re saved should not be because, well, I changed my life. Well, I joined the church. Well, I seen them the choir.

I became a deacon that has absolutely nothing to do with your salvation. And if you think so, you don’t get it. You see, when I say I was saved 51 years ago, in that little old living room, that’s the day I got saved. That’s where I was. This is what happened to me. It never happens again. You have never been saved twice. It’s impossible. I talked to one man one time. I said, have you been born again? He says, yes.

I said, well, wonderful, great. says when? He said all many times. He believed in reincarnation. So there’s a lot of people who really don’t understand when you get saved and he saves you from hell. He gives you eternal life. He can’t give you eternal life twice. He can’t save you from hell twice. Why? Because it’s appointed unto every man once to die. Men don’t go to hell twice, he only goes once, but if Christ died for him, he saves him and only has to save him once.

Because he paid for all of his sins, not some of them or most of them were up to the time he believed. He paid for all of them 2,000 years ago. Never has to be done again. Such a simple thing. But look in the last part of verse 13 again. He says, after that He believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Plumb, sealed. You are in His hands and no man can pluck you out of His hand.

You’re safe. You’re secure. That salvation. Now take your Bible and look at the other scripture. that we know that He is the spirit of truth. And He bears witness with our spirit. What would He tell me? The truth. He can’t tell me a lie. He can only tell me the truth. And the Holy Spirit tells us what’s in the Word of God. He manifests the Son of God. He reveals the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is not about the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s all about Christ. Look in 1 John chapter 5, 1 John and chapter 5. You’ve seen some of these verses many a time, but it won’t hurt to look at them for one more time. And 1 John chapter 5, I want to know that there’s things that God says that bear witness of something. So just very quickly, look there in verse 5 of 1 John chapter 5. Who is he that overcomeeth the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. And get this. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is what? Truth. Truth bears witness with my Spirit. And what is the truth? What did God say? You should always base your beliefs upon a foundation that will not change. solid rock. The Word of God. You see what I believe 51 years ago? Fifty one years later it hasn’t changed.

This book doesn’t change. It’s rock solid. And it has given me the stability of my soul. And I have great peace of mind. I never questioned, never doubt my salvation. because I know what God said. And that means more to me than anything else in the world. My pastor that was up there is coming gone. A lot of my relatives have come and gone. The guy who led me to the Lord, dead and gone. But there were somebody else that was there that night.

And he bears witness to the truth. He knows, I believed, and the foundation of God’s stand of sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and he has revealed his word, it is the truth. Look what he says there in verse 7, and there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood.

three agree and one. Then he makes a awesome statement. If we can receive the witness of men, and I asked him not long ago, I said, anybody here ever been to Russia? Nobody had been to Russia. I said, how many believe there is a Russia? I said, why do you believe in something you’ve never been there? You haven’t seen it. Oh, you know what somebody told you. Did you know that there’s still people today that never have accepted the idea that man has actually walked on the moon.

They think it was all done in the studio. Never really happened. But I’ll be honest with you. I believe men did walk on the moon. I believe that they have put things in space. I believe a lot of it, but I can’t prove, but I believe it. If we can receive the witness of man, what man says, And that’s why in the day at a court of law we have to have witnesses. Somebody to testify, somebody to speak up about your character.

Somebody just gave me a piece of paper the other day. He says, would you kind of give a reference for me on my character? I said, yeah, you’re quite a character. But to witness, to say something about somebody as though it’s got some validity to it. But did you know the greatest witness in all the world is the Lord? 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. book The Gospel Driven Man covers all those topics and we want all new listeners of Bible line to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of The Gospel Driven Man.

The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound and we will be changed.

caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.