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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 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.

Alright, here in the book of Galatians, I just want to show a couple things to you and then we’re gonna go on a excursion here. In the book of Galatians and chapter one, the apostle Paul gives us, I guess, a word about the importance of keeping the gospel clear. He had led some people to Christ, and then he’d go on to another place. Well, some legalistic Judaizers came down and they had a, well, just a little bit of a twist they wanted to put on the gospel.

Remember, if the gospel is that you’re saved by grace, without any words, the only way you can change the message of grace is by adding works to it. Because anything that’s free is free. So the only way you can change it from being free, you gotta put a price on it. So that changes it. So he says in verse six, I marvel that you’re so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ with the gospel unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you would pervert or change alter.

In other words, to reverse the gospel of Christ. So instead of it, save in, it doesn’t save anymore. But though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be a curse. As we said before, so say, I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that you have received, let him be a curse. For do I now persuade men or God? Or Do I seek to please men?

For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. So you have to make it be mine. Who demands your loyalty? Is it the Lord? Or is it people that we try to please? Now some people are so well known and they’re famous. You know everybody knows them. So you don’t ever want to say anything against that person who’s very famous because that makes you less famous. And the only way you would say something is because you’re trying to blow out their light and how to elevate yourself, right?

Not necessarily. I had years ago, spoke in several of the short conferences where Dr. Curtis Hudson. And he really took a stand for the clarity of the gospel. And he would put some of the articles right out of the Personal Evangelism Handbook by Dr. Ray Stanford, and put him right into the sword. Now he’d never put Ray’s name in it, but as soon as I saw it, I knew where it came from because I quoted it. And it’s Ray Stanford’s gospel.

I mean, it’s right in it. He put things in there about the Lordship Salvation in repentance, and right, right, right out of the book. And so he didn’t have to say where it came from because a lot of people probably would not have read it if they knew that. So it was probably a step of wisdom. But anyway, he did a great job. And then he passed away about 1995. So he’s been gone for a good while. And I have been going to the National Sword of the Lord Conferences when Dr.

Hudson had them. And he had them at Tennessee Temple at Highland Park Baptist Church. He had them at the church there in Greenville, South Carolina, Bob Jones. And he had them at the Walker Town Baptist Church Mr. Steve Robertson up there. So he would have these conferences and not, and it’s possible I always went to the National Sword Conference because I like to listen and so forth. I like to mingle with some of the preachers and get to see what they’re doing and I learned a few things but I always had to filter out everything through what I already knew from Fort Bobble College.

It’s nice to have windows you know that you can look out but it’s good to have screens. They keep the bugs out. And so to me, my education for Bible college was like having a good screen that I screened everything that I saw and heard through the teaching that I had learned from the Word of God. And so I can say, you know, that’s a bug. And that’s a bug. And that’s a bug. I don’t want those into my mind because they get to me in the bugs that make you buggy.

So I didn’t want all these bugs flying around in my mind. So I would listen and sometimes I’d learn a little bit and sometimes I didn’t learn a thing. But I got a sort of lord that came in the mail this week. And when I got it, I was greatly upset. I mean, I was beside myself, but I learned some things that I didn’t like. I heard some things. On the front page was a, you will not come to me.

I thought that ought to be interesting to read. six sad words, you will not come to me. The rest of that, of course, is that you may have eternal life because that’s in the book of John, and he makes that statement. And he’s talking to the Pharisees, he says, such descriptions for him, then you think you have eternal life, but they would testify of me, but you will not come into me that you might have life. So I thought this will be interesting to read.

So I read it, and so I thought, this is interesting. And why any man has lost that, I’ll be good to her, amen. No man is lost because he needs to be lost. Oh, I like that statement. That’s a good statement. So as I begin to read, next thing he says, turn to page 21. So I turned all the way over to page 21. In page 21, he continued, no man is lost because he has gone down too deeply into sin.

That’s a good point. No man is lost because he is too weak to leave the Christian life. I’m not sure about that, what he’s talking about, but I’ll just keep reading. And then he has, why men will not come to Christ? Why men will not come to Christ? That’s ought to be good. Because I’m always trying to get a little, you know, a little bread here and a little bread there and a little bread there. He said, but why will men not come to Christ?

And then as I begin to read the reasons He was saying people wouldn’t come to Christ. I thought this don’t sound good, not to be in the source of the Lord. And so I wanna take y’all on a little test today. Now you tell me what’s wrong with this, okay? You listen so you can tell me what’s wrong with it. There are a great many men in this world who know their need of a savior, who long for a savior, who have a deep desire to take the Lord Jesus Christ.

but they know if they come to Him, they must leave their sins behind. You have to choose between Jesus Christ and sin. Men know that, but they’re not willing to give up their sin. After Mr. Moody had preached on the prodigal son at one of the services in Chicago, I find looking young men came to me and he said, that was a good sermon tonight. He pictured my case exactly. I am that prodigal son. I said, don’t you want to come home to the Father tonight then?

He says, I do. I says, and the Father wants you to come. He says, I know it. I says, will you come? He says, I will not. He asked, why not? He replied, I am a strange, entangled in a mess of a disgusting sin. Then I said, will you not give it up tonight? No, sir, I will not. That young man went out of that place or he had been brought face to face with God’s love, deliberately choosing a vile sin and death instead of Jesus Christ and eternal life.

What do you see wrong with this evaluation? Raise your hand. Yes, Tom? Works. You see works in there? All right, somebody else tell me, where do you see works involved in this? Yes, sir. Huh? Tell him that he had to stop his sins. Now, does a person really have to turn from their sins to be saved? Is that what he’s harping on though? Would you get that idea that if this man doesn’t meet the criteria, he got to be willing to stop his sins and turn.

Now this is our a tory. He is a well-known preacher of years ago, wrote many books. I’ve read some of them. He’s got great stuff in them, but we’re talking about the gospel. Wasn’t he also involved in Moody? Moody Bible Institute. So he said, well, they all teach the same thing. Really? No, they don’t. Because a guy is entangled in sin, he can’t be saved. So he goes away, so the preacher is telling them, you’ve got to give that sin up.

That’s not the gospel. And if you have to give up that sin, then you have to give up another one and another one and another. Well, how many? Now, he says this, I dare say there are men and women reading this who will go on with a clear view of the fact that they can come to Christ and be pardoned, but who will not come because there is some deliberate sin in their life or heart that they are not willing to give up.

Now, is that the message we preach? That is not the gospel that Dr. Curtis Hudson preached. And this is not the message that I believe that the sword you sustained for. Now it did under John or Rice. He was a turner burn. You either turn or burn. And if you don’t turn, you’re gonna burn. And that’s why we often say, you know, you got to turn to burn for sacred bake, or wine or pine or morna grown. You know, you put it all together.

That’s for good sermon. Number two, some people, because they don’t turn from their sin. But now here’s another reason. love of money keeps many men from coming to Christ. Many of men knows that if he came to Christ, he would lose money by it. There are things in his business that would need to be given up. And he is not willing to sacrifice the profits he gets in crooked ways. He is deliberately choosing a larger income and eternal death instead of Jesus Christ and eternal life.

Of course, you’re saved by grace. See anything wrong with that so far? You see, whenever you know the clarity of the gospel, you can understand the error. But most people will read this and I’m saying probably 95% of independent, fundamental, Bible-emissionary minded Baptist preacher will read this and see nothing absolutely wrong with it because that is their message. And you can go to a a lot of thepherd churches and they’ll tell you you’ve got a turn from your sin and you’ve got to make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life.

This is Lordship Salvation and it’s perseverance of the saints because if you don’t live like a creation that means you never really were saved to start with. So that’s why they get people to, I really mean it this time. This time you really got to mean business. So the last time you see you didn’t mean business. But the problem is it has nothing you mean is God met business. He said, you trust me, consider it done. Isn’t that a lot better than my salvation dependent upon my obedience to God and how I live?

Anyway, he says, how many a young man has come to me and said, when I have urged him to come to Christ, I believe it is a good thing, but I should have to give up my situation if I did. Who told him that? Christ didn’t say that. put in a twist on the gospel, changing it. And then he says, God pity the man or the merchant who requires his employees to lie. And yet there are such who profess to be Christians.

God have mercy on such hypocrites who are hurrying on fast to an eternal hell. So these people who profess to of the Christians and who lets their people and employees and lie, they’re on the way to hell. When I read this, I could not believe this can’t be in the sword. I even… It’s the sword. This isn’t right. This is not a good message. This is not the truth. This is a lie. So I read on. Another reason people go to hell, the love of pleasure.

So that means you can’t a pleasure. How many young men and young women there are who know their need of Christ and would like to be Christians but say if they came to Christ they would have to give up this or that pleasure. I can never do it they say. They are choosing the dance or theater or some other form of worldly amusement and death instead of Jesus Christ and life. So are they telling that you’re going to have to give up your dancing and the booze joints and give up.

Where does it stop? Where does it stop? I remember that after Betty’s dad led me to the Lord. I was going to go out one day and play. I don’t know if it was football or it’s not ball and Betty’s dad says you’re going to what? So I’m going to play ball. Remember I wasn’t raising church. But the Baptist church thought that’s a no-no. You don’t play ball on Sunday. No kind of law. You’ll play on Sunday. And you don’t wash your car on Sunday and I remember that.

You didn’t do that. And there are also some who had strict rules about you pose it, girl, you gotta dress modest. Years ago, modesty wasn’t down to your knee. It was down to your ankle. And then it moved up to your knee. And then all mine went to the thigh. And so, I guess when kid in this restaurant, I mean, he was running around trying to find his mom and his mom was, says, Mommy, mommy, find one, says this.

Why didn’t you hang on to her skirt? He says, I couldn’t reach it. But so you’ve got these standards that people have. And there was a time when you didn’t watch TV. going to movies, you’re going to hell. You just, you don’t do that. And you’d be surprised how many do’s and don’ts that people had that if you do them, that’s the sign either you didn’t really mean business. So evidently you must not really be saved because if you were really saved, you wouldn’t want to.

I mean where does it stop? Well it doesn’t stop. There’s no end to it. So Dr. John John Hall was at Hall. Maybe it’s the relative of yours over here. Maybe some relative. I’m sure you know him. He says, I’m a close friend of Dan Hall. Dr. John Hall was at one time pastor of perhaps the wealthiest church in New York City. You don’t know him. There came to him one day a young lady who was a most beautiful Walter and she says, if I become a Christian, I have to give up my dancing.

What would you say? No, of course not. See, you may want a person to live a holy, godly life, but that’s a different issue. Getting saved has nothing to do with how you have lived, how you are living, or how you will live in the future. That has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation has nothing to do with the works that you have done, good or bad. Your works that you’re doing good or bad. The works that you might do in the future, good or bad has nothing to do with that.

I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did for me. He meant business. Now, she replied, if I must choose between Jesus Christ and dancing, I will hold on to my dancing and let Jesus Christ go. Says what an awful choice, but that’s not really the choice. They’ve lied to them about the choice. You see, the trust Christ or not trust Christ. That’s the only choice you have to make. It’s not because, well, I have to give up my drinking or I’ve got to give up my dancing.

I’ve got to give up Elvis Presley and I’ve got to give up country music and I’ve got to give up. No, that’s not the issue. You don’t have to give up anything. Nothing. You don’t have to promise God anything. thing. Another reason people go to hell, there’s all these reasons people go to hell, but you’ve got to give them all up. The fear of man is keeping many, a man and a woman from coming to Christ and obtaining eternal life.

But how many? There are who, when the invitation is given, would like to stand up, but they think, if I should do this, my friends in business or society would hear about it and what would they say? You keep your seat and you reject Jesus for fear of what they would say. Who says they have to even know that you trust the Lord? Well,govtrack because you’ve got to stand up, then you’ve got to come forward, then you’ve got to confess, public in front of everybody.

Everybody’s going to know. Is it possible for a person to get saved without raising their hand, without coming down to the front, without confessing anything? Yes. They build a straw man and then they attack the straw man and it’s not real. It’s a straw man. It’s an issue that has nothing to do with salvation. My sins, however bad they may be, Christ took care of the sin problem. I don’t have a sin problem about going to heaven, I have a belief problem.

Will I believe that He did that, paid for my sins? Well, if He paid for my sins, that’s not an issue. Does that mean I don’t want people to serve God? I don’t know any preacher who wants people to serve the Lord more than I do, or to live a holy of Godly life, because I do. But I can’t mix that service in with Salvation. Salvation is a gift. It’s free. But when you talk about the other part of service, don’t put it over there with salvation.

It means that together you got a confused message and it becomes a false message. So, in Proverbs 29, 25, we read, the fear of man bringeth a snare. It is bringing a snare that is landing many in a path that leads to eternal ruin instead of to Jesus Christ and eternal life. I would, a great deal rather that men would laugh at me down here for doing a wise thing than that the devils in hell should laugh at me for all eternity for doing a foolish thing.

Laughing has nothing to do with nothing. It’s an issue that’s, there’s no point. Has nothing to do with being saved. Next statement. We have in our country a very foolish custom. It is called April Fools Day. On the first day of April, all the fools in America tried to make fools of all the other fools. I tell you that a day is coming for those men and women who laugh at you because you you choose Christ in eternal life.

When they will say that you have made a wise choice and they were the fools, don’t let them laugh you out of life eternal. In my mission I asked a woman how she was getting on. She replied, I am not getting on at all. I am perfectly miserable. Why is that? I don’t know. Another says, I can tell you why it is. She has never told her husband that she has accepted Jesus Christ. Is that so? It is. But you stood up in the meeting, yes, but not when he was present.

What you must tell him, you must. I can’t tell my husband. He would laugh at me. Never mind how much he laughs. I can’t do it, she says. So anyway, it’s foolish talk. It’s jibber jabber. And this is the man who was the president of Moody Bible Institute. This is his gospel. See anything wrong with it? This teaches doubts for salvation. This teaches Calvinism, perseverance of the saints. This is talking about works for salvation. You’ve got to get rid of all of these things.

Be ready to turn from all of your sins to qualify for God to save God. God can’t save you the way you are. You have to be willing to change. Well, anyway, an unforgiving spirit is another thing that is keeping men and women from coming to Christ. They know they cannot come and bring a heart full of hate. So they choose bitterness and hatred and death instead of Christ in life. One afternoon after Mr. Moody had been speaking in Cleveland, he brought me to a lady to show her the way of life.

I don’t think that was a wise move. I had been speaking to her, trying this and that passage to see what was in the way of her accepting Christ. When suddenly I turned to her and said, is there somebody you cannot forgive? She looked quickly at me and says, who told you? I said, nobody told me. What is salvation going to do with her having a bitter spirit towards somebody or angry at anybody or not having a forgiving spirit?

That has nothing to do with going to heaven. Absolute nothing. But it has everything to do if you have to turn from your sins in order to be saved. If you’ve got to turn from your sins and you harp in that bitterness and that envy and that jealousy, you’ve got to get rid of all of that. You see, then salvation in presenting the gospel is not the easiest thing in the world because now you just can’t tell me Christ died for you and paid for your sin, you trust me, have eternal life.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because now you’ve got to get them to be willing to change their life and turn from their sins. So that’s going to take some time. That’s why some people can’t leave people to the Lord in a few minutes. They’ve got to have days and weeks and months. Nana. There are a great many people in this world who are not willing to surrender their wills to anybody. So if you left off something, you’ve got to surrender your will.

The woman told me recently, I cannot give my will up to anybody. What foolishness. Who is this God to whom we ask you to surrender your will? Is that what we have to do to be saved? Surrender your will to do whatever you want and do only what God wants. So now you must make him the Christ, the Lord, the master of your life. It is not wisdom to surrender our will. Is it not wisdom to surrender our wills to infinite love and wisdom?

all the folly of those who will not surrender their wills to God in his love. See, that sounds so spiritual, but it’s trash. It’s trash. This is from the fundamental Baptist fellowships that support this and this is what they’re doing. I can’t believe that Shelton Smith allowed this to get into the sword. So you should have wrote in my letter. I did.

He says, some of you are not willing to lay your pride in the dust. You’re not willing to throw your pride to the winds and go to God and seek pardon through the atoning blood of Christ. You will never be saved any other way. A lady came to me and says, my Christian experience is not satisfactory. I says, I don’t think you have any Christian experience. Why? have, I am the widow of a minister and a member of a church.

Well, I don’t think that you ever were saved in your life. No, you never were. What? Because she’s miserable. She’s not satisfied in the Christian life and miserable. So this is a sign you never saved. But anyway, I don’t think that you ever were saved in your life. No, you never were. For you never saw yourself as a lost sinner in your life. How does he know she would save or not saved? You’re assuming? He says, let me deal frankly with you.

You are just full of conceit. Unless God opens your eyes to see that you are not essentially better than the valus sinner and unless you come to God and cry for mercy. This is why they got to tell tear jerking stories at the end of the sermon so they can get people to come down their front and weep and well and ask your teeth because they got to get results. So that Jesus, their whole message. What you believe about the gospel, is it important or not?

It’s very important. It does make a difference. But pride operates in another way. Oh, that by the help of God, I could tear those awful scales from your eyes. Pride makes people sit themselves not to do certain things which they are asked to do. I am not coming to the meeting, they say, or I am not going to the front seats or I am not going to the inquiry room. A person can be saved without that. They can beyond a doubt.

But if you make it a point that you won’t do something of that kind, you won’t be saved until you do. It says you don’t have to, but if you make it a point, then you can’t be saved until you do. Isn’t that clear? It says, if you say you won’t do a thing, you will never be saved until you do. You’ve got to lay your pride in the dust before you can find Jesus Christ. Some of you men and women think your position in society is too exalted for you to come up to the front with common folks and accept the Savior just as ordinary men and women do.

But if you think that, you will never be saved until you humble your pride in the dust and are willing to go anywhere to find peace and pardon. Let us throw away everything that stands between us and Jesus Christ. What stands between us and Jesus Christ? Our unbelief, and that’s the only thing. This is your invitation to join us for our third Sunday dinner held in the Florida Bible College of Tampa building on the Calvary Community Church Campus. The dinner is a family-style We’ll cover dish dinner, and a great way to showcase your favorite dish and pick up new recipes.

Each month, you have the opportunity to invite your family and friends to join us for our Sunday morning service at 1030, and then stay for our third Sunday dinner immediately following noon. Third Sundays at Calvary Community Church, where you’ll be fed spiritually and physically. 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.