Bibleline Radio Show – 2019-05-21 – The Dangers Of PC – A Presbyterian Church Teaching Pt.2
Transcription:
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
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 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.
Look at the next statement. Repentance on the life is an evangelical grace. the doctrine we’re off is to be preached to every minister of the gospel as well as that of faith in Christ. So you’re to preach repentance. Let’s find out what they mean by that. Number two there, by it a sinner so grieves for and hates his sin as to turn from them all under God. So are they saying that you’ve got to turn from all your sins in order to turn to God?
Is turning from sin? Does that make salvation by works or that makes salvation by grace? It’s by works. It means if you don’t turn from your sins, God cannot save you. But they have to turn from their sin because God already chose them to do so. Now look at Else. He says in the next statement, letter number three, this is code number three, although repentance being not to be rested in didn’t make any sense. as any satisfaction for sin or any cause of the pardon thereof, which is the act of God’s free grace entries.
Yet it is of such necessity to all sinners that none may expect pardon without it. So no repentance, no pardon. These good works done in obedience to God’s commandments get this and I underlined it so that you would definitely see it are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. So if you are saved you will have fruit and so the fruit becomes the evidence that you really believed it. That sounds so good. That sounds so spiritual.
It’s just that it’s not true. So I wrote this little statement in bold. there are no visible evidences of a believer that guarantees one is saved, this is heresy. How do I know that I’m saved? Because I’m a preacher, because I go to church. I give money. I pray. I give to missions. That’s not the evidence that I’m saved. A lost man can do that. That doesn’t make him save. The only reason I know I’m saved is because the Word of God says that if I trust Christ as my Savior, He saved me and gives me eternal life.
If I never produced one work, am I still saved? I’m still saved because I was trusting Him and I wasn’t trusting me. So my works or lack thereof does not affect my salvation. It sounds spiritual to say so as though you’re more godly but it’s not true. All Calvinists despise those who don’t present their position as though they have the epitome of all knowledge and they despise anyone who doesn’t rise to their level of intellectual accountability and credibility. Well, pardon me, I know what they believe and I don’t believe it.
Look at the next statement. Of the perseverance of the saints, now this is their statement, it’s in there’s the perseverance of the saints, that’s in their doctrinal statement, since when do we believe that saints must persevere? They whom God had accepted in His beloved can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace. Eternal security, boy, they believe just like we do. Not so fast. But shall certainly persevere therein to the end? If you really saved, you’re going to live and persevere to the End.
That’s the proof that you really were saved. But what happens to people who say they get saved and they don’t persevere? They fall into sin and they die. So they can’t say they persevered to the end because God’s Word says that many are sick and some are weak and some are dead. So they’re dead because they were no obedient. So they didn’t persevere to the end but they were dead but they were believers. It contradicts the Scriptures. It teaches air.
Look at the next statement. As yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and love Him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before Him may get this in this life. Be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace. So how you pose a no you’re really in the state of grace because you walk in good conscious before Him in this life and you love Him sincerely. So that becomes the proof. So I wrote this little statement.
We get our assurance from the Word of God not from the walk of man. Next statement. Not only those that do actually profess Christ in and obedience under Christ but also the infants of one or both believing parents are to be what? That’s in their Joshua’s statement. Now is this baptism of infants? Look what else? Although it be a great sin to neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparable next to it as that no person can be regenerated or saved without without it.
What? Anyway, that was just my input. Now in the shorter catechism where they’ve tried to define it in simpler words so that you can understand it a little better, what is a factual calling? A factual calling is the work of God’s Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our mind in the knowledge of Christ and renewing our wills, He does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ. So that’s what the Holy Spirit does. See, the Holy Spirit gives you the faith to believe, renews your will, He does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.
Since when do we believe that God must first give us the faith in which to believe? So they say that when He says in Ephesians is to 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith in that, not of yourself. See faith is not of yourself. God gave you the faith to believe. It’s not talking about your faith, there’s talking about salvation. For by grace are you saved, we’re talking about salvation is by grace. And through faith that’s the means, but it’s salvation.
But anyway, look at the next statement down to the bottom of the page. We must turn away from being our own God. Jesus says repent and believe the gospel. While we know of uncapped promises to do better, we repent is something much deeper to repent. To repent is to turn the opposite direction from where you have been headed. In other words, for example, if I’m walking this way, repent means to turn and go this way. So if I’m living wrong and doing all these bad wicked sins, I’ve got to stop my sin and turn and go this way.
And God will save me if I’m really sincere. And if I endure to the end, I’ll be saved by grace. Now, if I don’t do that, can I still get saved by grace? Grace means unmerited. but if I do that, then I deserve to be saved. It’s a contradiction of the truth of the gospel. And this is why so many people do not understand, where are you going when you’re done? Well, I don’t really know. I hope I go to heaven.
I’m trying. I’m doing the best I can. That’s why they say things like that. Look at the second paragraph there. If however your hope is solely in Christ, built upon what he alone has done, it does have unmistakable effects. Now get this, the Bible teaches you that a real faith in Jesus will be proven in a changed life. Now that sounds very spiritual. You shall know them by their fruit. But that didn’t book you of Matthew chapter 7 is talking about false teachers.
The false teachers have a false message and people who believe a false message have a false salvation and they trust in their words. Look what we have done. We’ve cast out devils, done many wonderful words, and Jesus said, depart from me. You workers of iniquity, I never knew you. Not that you were saved and you lost it. No, you were never saved. I never knew you. So this is why these things are so important to understand. So easy to say, oh, we believe the gospel.
We all believe the same way. There’s no difference. Why be so picky? Because the difference is heaven and hell. That’s the issue. And if I don’t want people to go to hell, they’ve got to believe the gospel and I want to have the truth of the God. I don’t want it to get so deluded that people won’t even recognize we’re not necessary anymore. If our message is as good as all the other churches around here that closed the doors and just go through them, why go through all this playing this game?
Or it’s not a game. Look at the next statement. After that that bold statement. First, you will no longer wonder about God’s character. You will know him. Also, you will be moved to love Jesus just as he taught that those who have been forgiven little love little but those who have been given much will love much. You will, you will, you will. But what if you don’t? Well then you got recently questioned your salvation. That means you didn’t have genuine faith.
No, look at the part that I put in to state that we will is not the same as what we should. Should I love the Lord after I’m saved? But I might not. Doesn’t the Bible tell us in God’s word, talking to my little children, love not the world. That means I could. I could. I can love the world. My little children, these things right, that you sin not, that I can. Well, you won’t. No, no, no, no, no.
There’s a lot of difference between what you will and what you should. There’s a lot of things that I should do, but I don’t have to do them. And I’ll still be saved. But when you say you will, well, God, you will love God and you will go to church and you will pray and you will give money. Well, what if you don’t? That must mean you’re not saved. Causes questions and doubts about the promises of God and everything changes.
Look at the next statement. Somebody wrote. I was going to try and defend heart because I know some Presbyterians that are straight on the gospel, but I can’t find a statement of faith on that page, so they look and didn’t find it. I did. Because I know they’re straight on the gospel. Does it sound like they’re straight on the gospel? No. It’s not the same message. So I had this man named Hart email me, but it’s posted and everybody to read it.
This post was meant as an encouragement only. It was my hope that the growth of the kingdom through the gospel presentation and church planting might be an encouragement to my FBC friends who seek the same thing, Christ alone, grace alone. See there? So now I am being rebuked because of my position. I guess I shouldn’t have jumped into that beehive. But somebody needed to say something. And I wasn’t going to let it go. I’d do something, it cost me a friend.
But maybe somewhere along the line I might have made one. So he says, I have never and will never use this space to spar over doctrine. Well, he won’t. He just presents it and then hoped that nobody says anything. Most people here know who I am and my conversation to reform theology as a senior at Florida Bible College. Lee Stanford threatened to withhold my diploma at the time. I was not the first FBC student to attend Westminster Seminary. I have worked in PCA churches for over 30 years and I’m currently a ruling elder at Redeemer Church PCA Presbyterian churches of America.
Did he go to Florida Bible College? Did he graduate? That’s what he says. They stand for threatened to withhold my diploma at the time. I don’t know if you ever did or not. I don’t know. I was only hoping to communicate by what we do share gospel centricity and a deep desire to affect our culture through the gospel and the expansion of the church. So I’m not, I can’t question his motive. His motive he just, he’s just trying to help.
He’s just trying to encourage but I don’t believe his gospel. He’s not qualified to teach a Sunday school class in our church. He may be the elder and a Presbyterian church but he can’t speak in ranch. Why? He don’t believe the same thing. And you have to watch people that are very charismatic and are very articulate, but they’re wrong doctrinally because they can win in sway and woo and cause people to believe that what they’re saying is the truth when it’s not the truth of the gospel.
Notice the next statement. He says, I was only hoping to do this. So, he says, Christ alone, he said, as for the Westminster Confession, it has been a standard for evangelical Christianity since 1649. Well, that’s okay. Mine goes all the way back to the first century. There. Now, so I put this into bold. If you believe that a person is not truly saved, unless he proves it by his works, then you don’t believe that faith alone is enough.
Let me read it again. If you believe that a person is not truly saved unless he proves it by his works, then you don’t believe that faith alone is enough. He’s got to have the works to prove it. And if you don’t have the work, then his faith alone is not faith alone. It’s not enough. It’s got to be faith plus works. Can’t they see this? I am very aware of the F.C. perspective on Reformed Doctrine. I am very capable of discussing the issue.
but I wouldn’t do it here. I wish you every blessing in your ministry. Please pray for us as we seek to glorify the Lord through transforming Pope County through the gospel. And the person at the bottom, I am ashamed to say I was not aware of these positions of the PCA. Well, he knows it now. The back page, I wrote Wayne back since he said a nice word, I responded to that. Many people are not aware of the dangers of Calvinism.
I believe it is a sin to teach that a man is so totally depraved that he does not have the ability to choose at or believe on what God says. To believe that God must first give faith to a man of his choosing. Before he can believe on Christ is to state unequivocally that God is a respecter person. For those who teach that God has chosen from the foundation of the world, I select few to be saved and go to heaven while the majority of people remain lost.
Because doesn’t the Bible say, many on the road to destruction and few there be that find it on the narrow way. So there’s more people who are lost than they are saved. So if God’s going to do that and save anybody, he loves everybody. He created everybody. Well, if he’s going to give faith to a few, why don’t he just do it for everybody? If he’s not willing to any should perish and you can’t be saved unless he chose, why did he just choose to save them all?
Well, the Bible does say that God so loved the world until Christ died for all the people in the world. And he says, going to all the world and priests to gospel. So I don’t have a problem in telling everybody God so love all of you. But a true Calvinist can’t say God loves all of you because he doesn’t know who is the elect and who is not. And so God only loves the elect. And I don’t know there may only be three of y’all in here that he chose to save.
And the rest of you, well, you know, that’s the way it goes. Where the cookie crumbles. That might be alright if you were one of those that he chose, but how do you know you are the one that he chose? You can’t know it until you live your life. That proves you were really one that was elected. So they still don’t know. But anyway, look at the next statement. For those who teach that God has chosen from the foundation of the world, I select for you to be saved and go to heaven, while the majority of people remain lost condemned to hell without the possibility of ever been saved because they were not chosen, is to be in total denial of what God said and what Christ did.
The Lord has not authorized any man to alter his clear stated word that he commanded the entire world to hear, to limit the payment that Christ made for sin. To a select few makes the claim that God did not so love the whole world, or that Christ did not die for all men. This is to teach heresy. To teach that God’s grace is so irresistible that the man whom God has chosen to be saved is helpless to resist. It is also to teach that no man can be saved whom God has not chosen.
This damned of all teaching in reality denies to every man the choice of heaven or hell, leaving every man with no responsibility for his destination. What right does any man have to cause any person in this world to believe? That God doesn’t love him? Christ did not die for him, or that he could not go to heaven if God did not choose. The good news is that God loves all and that Christ died for all. God blessed and always stayed in defense of the truth of the gospel.
That was my reply. Then I got another reply. Shirley said, I cannot understand how a person who knows the Bible can believe that the God of the Bible would not allow the majority of the people he created to choose salvation. That to me denies his nature. Now she is for what I’m saying. She’s a good woman. I could have told you her name but I chose not to. The next one I got a response. If I didn’t believe in the ability of men to choose Christ, why would I preach the gospel and endeavor to start churches?
That’s a good question. What is your real reason? Because is the lost man who can’t be saved, can’t be saved? and though that God chose to save, will be saved, so you’re not necessary. So why are you doing it? Why would you do it? Why do you have to tell anybody anything? Don’t say anything and no, still be saved. Well, because we want to, you know, reform and transform the county and people to, you know, live better and do better because they know Christian principles and so forth.
But the issue of heaven and health is not and cannot be the purpose of why they do what they do because they’re already going to go if they’ve been chosen and they can’t go if they haven’t been chosen. Yeah, I got a problem with them. Down at the bottom of the page, somebody else decided to write to Shirley. Reformed theology does not say that God does not allow the majority of people to choose salvation. It does. What I’m going to do is just read Matthew chapter 7, pew there be that find it.
It affirms that because of sin, no one left to themselves will choose to face their need of grace and trust in Jesus for salvation. So this is why God must give them the faith to believe, because God has to give them the faith. However, in his amazing grace, God graciously, mysteriously work to draw people effectively to change their minds, to repent, to believe this PCA is a great partner for the gospel. Thanks, Hart Hogan. May God richly bless you.
So he has rebuked me on other occasions, so I was not surprised to see him rebut me here on this one. So anyway, I thought I would voice my opinion, and you’d be surprised at the people who agree with what they were teaching on the gospel. Supposedly sound people that believe know the gospel and train just like I was or Hank Lindstrom was. And so therefore I had to voice my opinion. I wanna read just this one statement in New York closed.
Look there in the book of Galatians, Galatians in chapter one. Galatians chapter one. And you’ll notice in verse six, Galatians chapter one, verse six. He says, I marvel that you’re so soon removed from him that calls you into the grace of Christ into another gospel, which is not another gospel, but there’ll be some that were trouble. You will pervert the gospel of Christ. He says, if angel from heaven preached unto you any other gospel than that week we have preached unto you, let him be a curse.
And as I’ve said before, I said again, anybody preach any other message, any other gospel. He says it’s, let him be a curse. So now look in verse 10, for do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? Or if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. My goal is not to try to please everybody, to please any man. Christ died for me. He paid for my sins. He told me what to say.
Therefore I want to be true to the truth of the gospel If it costs me, if it’s so call friend, I’ve ever had. So be it, so be it. But either I’m telling the truth or I’m telling the lie. And I don’t like what I see coming. And a lot of people are drifting away from the truth of the gospel. This church was very fortunate to have somebody like Hank Blenstrom that held y’all on course for 42 years and never wavered.
And whenever he finished preaching the gospel, That was the same message he had when he started preaching the gospel. So I hope that helps you to understand just a little bit more. Look up here. And of course somebody might be listening by way of internet. This will represent you and me. The wall represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. How many does he love? Well just a few. He loves all. So because we have all sinned, we’re all condemned.
But God is not willing that any man should perish. He doesn’t want anybody to go to hell for all eternity. So God says the wages and his death, and we’re all condemned, we’re all guilty. To go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God, and nobody is. So the Bible says that God who loved all of us sent his son Jesus Christ into the world to pay for all of the sins, not some of them, all of them for everybody came back from the dead.
And God says, going to all the world and preach this good news, I paid for all of their sins. So that anybody who so ever will believe can have as a free get have everlasting life. And God says, once you believe it, I give you everlasting life because you have no sins to pay for. He paid for all of my sins. That’s why I’m going to heaven. If I do not have any change in my life does not annul the pardon that I received.
That doesn’t annul might be and declared righteous and justified. I have eternal life and he’ll never cast me out and never lose me, never take it away. That’s the best news in all the world is to know that. And then to be able to, I don’t care who you talk to, you can talk to them with all the sincerity in the world. God loves you. Christ died for you. I would hate to think, well, that is if you’re in the LA, but I don’t really know.
So I don’t really know God loves you. But I hope he did. But just in case. That’s not a message I want to talk about. I want to be able to tell everybody, look him straight in the eye, God loves you. Christ paid for all of your sins and you can have eternal life. It’s your choice, it’s your choice. God has chosen to save everybody who chooses Christ. God has predetermined before the foundation of the world to save anybody who will believe the gospel.
Therefore he says, going to all the world and preach the gospel so that anybody can be saved. And that’s the best news I ever heard. Let’s pray, shall we? The head, bow, knives, clothes, no one looking around. If you’re here tonight or you’re watching by internet, if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, I want you to know this. God loves you. And He loves you so much, He sent His Son to die for you. And what did He do?
He paid for your sins. And why did He do that? Because He wanted you to go to heaven and not have to go to hell and pay for sin. And the only thing you have to do is the only thing you can do where you believe he did it for you. If you believe he did it for you, he gives you as a free gift of our lasting life and you get to go to heaven whenever you die. If you’ve never done so, would you do it tonight?
Say, preach of that made sense to me and tonight I will accept Jesus Christ as my savior. I’m not gonna have you forward, not gonna embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting. So that made sense to me. And right now I trust Christ as my savior and I wanna pray for you. But I don’t know who you are. And I want you to let me know by slipping up your hand very quickly and putting it right back down. See everyone at all, just slip it up very quickly, put it right back down.
So yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior tonight. I wanna know for certain that I’m going to heaven. Anyone at all. If you’re watching by internet, right on the screen says yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. I pray that you will. Yes, God bless you. Anyone else? Anyone else? Our Father, we thank you again for your blessings. Thank you for all that you’ve done for us, for giving us a free gift of everlasting life, that we can offer to anybody in the whole world because you so loved the world, and you paid for the sins of the whole world, and help us to be true to the faith that has been committed to your saints.
In Christ’s name is Ray, 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 who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel-Driven Man, covers all those topics. And we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy.
There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771, or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven 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 4081 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. Taught 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.
