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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 to cover Lecture 7 here in the defense of the glorious, everlasting, everlasting gospel message. We’ve looked at different individuals and what they said about the gospel. Well tonight we want to look at what does Jesus Christ say about the gospel himself. When he was here what defined the gospel and his gospel had to be a pre-calvary gospel because what did Jesus preach about how to be saved before He went to the cross. Because you see sometimes we forget Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Even you can throw John in there. These are incidences that have happened before Christ died on the cross. Though the books were not written until after He was crucified. So many believe that that’s part of the dispensation of law and that these books belong in that dispensation. But anyway, I want you to take your notes here and look at the headline there. What was the gospel preached by Jesus Christ? He lived before the law. He lived after the law.

He lived during the law and he lives forevermore. Do you think that Jesus had one gospel before the law, one gospel under the law, one gospel after the law? Or is it possible that, well, maybe he just had one gospel. Or where do you find it in the Bible where you cut off the one exactly on the very day, and the other one takes over, and then the other one takes over? Or let’s say, for example, I’ve had people say, well, the great commission, you know, Matthew chapter 28, going to all the world and preached the gospel, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and know, and teaching them whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I will be with you until the end of the age and so forth.

Well, let’s just pretend for a moment. There’s my two disciples down here. Okay, these two guys right here, these are my disciples. Now, I’m sending y’all out into the world. There they go. They’re gone. But at the end of all the stuff going on in Acts chapter 2 and 3 and so forth like that. And evidently, okay, we’re going to start a new message. We’re going to start it to the church and therefore the Apostle Paul comes along and he’s now has got the gospel for the church.

And so that’s what we’re supposed to be preaching. Okay now, these disciples that have already left, you know, gone hither and dither and all around the world, how do I get ahold of them and tell them, look, the message is changed. What you’re preaching isn’t the gospel anymore, we didn’t change that and it’s been changed to something else. Now there’s people that believe that the message has changed, the gospel is different. But how did they tell those other ones that had already done left to started doing the job?

Or the great commission was only good for a few years. We went all over and preached the gospel. No, no, no, that message has been annulled. Because now we’ve got another message that we’re gonna teach and it’s just for the church and it’s just, no. Anyway, look there in your paragraph. What was the real pre-Calvary gospel? This would refer to the saving message before Christ died on the cross. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John are considered Old Testament scriptures from a dispensational viewpoint, even though they are recorded as part of the New Testament because they weren’t written until after Jesus Christ.

So we have an interesting story. Remember Jesus told them in the book of the Luke in chapter 24. He says, That you are witnesses of these things and the witnesses of the death, burial, resurrection of Christ. You saw all of this happening. Therefore he says, going to Jerusalem or going to all the world and preach the gospel, but wait in Jerusalem until you are in dude with power from all high. So the command to go was given before they were in dude with the power from on high, which was the Holy Spirit and dwelling every believer.

So they were commanded to go. But he says, uh, wait. They would wait until the day of Pentecost. And then on the day of Pentecost, then the Holy Spirit came, they preached the gospel, 3000 saved, and the message began to be spread. All of that’s well and good. But now you look there at the scripture where we have it right here in your notes in Luke chapter 24. And Jesus talking to them said unto them, now this is after his resurrection, he had already didn’t walk down the road to Mayus and he had didn’t talk to a couple fellows that didn’t know what was going on.

But they’d seen everything but they said well this is the third day that all these things are supposed to be fulfilled. And he says oh slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have said unto you. So then he began at the scriptures and he went through the Psalms along all the books and so forth. He says concerning me and he taught them the scriptures. So here in verse 46, and said unto them, Thus it is written, it is written past tense, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.

That’s the price of that’s when they were. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached. That’s future. In his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and ye are witnesses of these things, that be whole I sinned the promise of my father upon you, but Terry ye and the sin of Jerusalem until you be in dude with power from all high.” So that was the command that he gave to his disciples. Then we’re supposed to, well, the whole message changed by the time Paul shows up on the scene and God gave him a different message.

No, Jesus gave him the same message. He gave these disciples the same message. It wasn’t a different gospel. It was the same gospel. Just take your Bible and look there in the book of Acts, the book of Acts in chapter 10. Look at Acts chapter 10. This is a very good verse because the apostle Peter comes along and he’s talking to some Gentiles of the household of Cornelius and he was the leader of a rock and roll band called the Itallion Band.

But anyway, it says in verse 34, then Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth, I perceive that God is not a respecter person because he thought they were, that the Jews were better than the Gentiles. Well, God had to teach him a lesson in the same chapter chapter 10. Then he goes down through here and he talks about in verse 37, that word I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached.

How God unknown in Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good. And healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. We’re witnesses of all these things, which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him, God, raised up the third day and showed him openly. Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to them or to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. To him give all the prophets witness.” Now that’s Old Testament prophets. That through his name, whosoever, believe it in him shall receive remission of sins. So the message that whatever he told him to do was to believe on him for the remission of sins. See if God takes and removes all of your sin, takes all of your sins away, you have eternal life.

Forgiveness of sin goes with salvation and forgiveness of sin goes with eternal security because if God has forgiven me of all my sins then I have eternal security. So simple, easy to understand. And so that was the message that He gave to them and that’s what you read over there in chapter 24 of the book of Luke and that was the gospel. Now look back here in your notes. The word remember this is Christ speaking to his disciples about the gospel message they were to preach beginning at Jerusalem and then into all the world the disciples were to preach about what they were witnesses of the death burial and resurrection the reason I think this is so important because there’s a lot of people today that’s not important And yet it’s the foundation because that is how I know that I can trust Christ because he came back from the dead.

If he didn’t come back from the dead, then who am I trusting? What am I trusting him for? How do I know he paid for my sins if he’s still dead? But he came back from the dead. See, that’s what he says on evil and adulterous generation seek it after a sign, but there shall be no sign given to it. But the son of the prophet Jonah, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the world’s belly, even so shall the son of men be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

He doesn’t come back. from the dead. That’s what he was talking about. Look at the next statement, some made doubt that the payment by Christ was preached in the Old Testament, but I cannot see how it can be left out of our gospel presentation. If some of my brethren had not made this an issue that the death, burial, and resurrection was not part of the gospel or needed to be included in the gospel, I would not have included these statements about it in these lectures, but I’ve had to for the simple reason that there are so many people that are free grace and just believe in Jesus for eternal life.

And you don’t have to know about the death, burial and resurrection. You can just leave all that out and just tell a person just believe in Jesus and you can have eternal life. Well, my question was, what Jesus? How do you know what Jesus you’re talking about? I mean, what did he say? Why should I trust him? I mean, there’s a lot of people better name Jesus. And it’s not the Jesus who can save. I mean, I could tell you, look, if you want to go to have, just trust me.

Now what was wrong with that? Well, one, I don’t have the ability to save you. I don’t even have the ability to save myself, let alone anybody else. Look at the next statement. The gospel was also to include repentance and remission of sin. Repentance is changing your mind. The reason you’re trusting Christ is because you realize you can’t save yourself. That’s the only thing you’ve got to repent about is you can’t save yourself. You can’t save yourself by your works or religions or anything else.

And so you realize, okay, I cannot save myself. I must trust Christ. So God commands every man everywhere to repent. Change your mind. Reconcant that you cannot save yourself. That’s why we trust Christ as our Savior. Even though you don’t find the word repent mentioned in the gospel of John, the meaning is there throughout. Why? When it says, What did you do? Well, if you was an unbeliever and you believed, what did you do? You changed your mind. You don’t have to use the word repent.

I hardly ever use the word repent when I witnessed anybody. Why? Because it’s explanatory whenever you give the gospel and their losses, they can be and explain it. And then they’d go into heaven when they died. Somewhere along the line, they had to change your mind. I was locked. Now I see. And I’m going to heaven. And it makes so much sense. But now what I want you to do is because this word repentance does cause a little bit of a problem.

I want you to look there in the book of 2 Timothy and chapter 2, 2 Timothy, chapter 2. So in 2 Timothy, chapter 2, look what it has here in verse 18. The reason we study verse 15 is so that we will not be shaken by everyone to doctrine. It comes along. We’ll be grounded. We know what we believe and why we believe it. But there’s some people who teach air. And that’s what’s going on in verse 17. And when it talks about hymenians and not valleys, in verse 18, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is passed already, overthrow the faith of some.

So some people have faith, they’ve trusted Christ, but they’ve been overthrown the first Timothy in chapter one, talking about their faith is shipwrecked. In other words, they can’t sail anymore. They don’t know how to walk on water. They don’t know how to trust the Lord for other things. And so is it possible for you could trust Christ as your Savior today? And if you don’t get grounded in the Word of God, you can live long enough to doubt your salvation?

Yeah. And you don’t even know what you believe anymore. Well, that’s what he says happened here. But in verse 19, it says, nevertheless, even though you are not sure anymore, you got questions and doubts. Well, I don’t know if I’m really saved. Well, that question comes up and God answers it. Nevertheless, the foundation of God’s stand of sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. You may not remember a lot of things, and you might even doubt whether or not you’re still saved.

Well, if God ever saved you, you’re still saved. God knoweth them that are his. No. He doesn’t tell us to turn from our sins to be saved. But look what he does tell those that are saved. And look in verse 19 and last part of verse 19 and let everyone that name of the name of Christ depart from iniquity. In other words, turn from sin. This is after you’re saved, but you don’t tell a lost man. In order to go to heaven, you’ve got to turn from your sins.

Because see, if you must turn from sin to get saved, you must stay turned from sin. to stay saved. I thought about today and I wrote that down. I thought you’d like that. Let me give it to you again. If you have to turn from sin to get saved, then you have to stay turned to stay saved. Don’t that make sense? Because if you stop turning from sin, then you don’t want to lose what you gain because the only reason you got saved was because God’s that you turn from your sins.

And then when you turn back to your sin, then God will have to take salvation away from you. And there’s people that believe that and teach that. But that is not true. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans very quickly, Romans in chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 and look in verse 1. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, you’re born into God’s family. You have eternal life and He’ll never cast you out, never lose you.

him. But because of what he did for us, he says in verse one, I be see to therefore brethren by the mercies of God. In other words, because God had mercy on you and he saved you by grace. You didn’t have to turn from your sins, stop anything, join anything. There was a gift. So he says that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable. See the word service, that service, that’s not to be saved.

You see, you don’t present your body to the Lord until after you’re saved. You don’t serve the Lord to be saved. But you see, there’s individuals trying to get lost people to present your bodies of living sacrifice and you’ve got to commit your life to Christ and promise to serve the Lord and let him be the Lord and the Master of your life. No, that’s heresy. You’re telling them that’s what they got to do to get saved. No, this talking about after you’re saved.

Look at the verse 2, be not conformed to this world. This is those who already know the Lord, but you don’t tell a lost man he has to conform his life. He has to change his life. He has to promise how he’s going to live. He’s got to stop being bad. Turn from your sins and make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life in order to get saved. No, that’s works for salvation. After you’re saved, yes, but how do you do it?

How do you conform not to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That’s what God wants his children to do. But God does not want lost people to present their bodies a living sacrifice. They got to get saved first. And I think that’s self-explanatory. Now, go back here to your notes. The gospel was also to include repentance or remission of sins.

Our gospel must include why a man needs to repent, changes by him, but how he is saved, not of man, but all and only of Christ, and forgiveness of sins. All sacrifices in the Old Testament dealt with the main purpose, the forgiveness of sins. Eternal salvation has to do with the forgiveness of sins. It is clearly evident that the lost men must know what sin is, what the payment for sin is, and why he needs to be forgiven. This must be and should be included in the gospel.

I don’t know if Dr. A. Ray Stanford fully understood the value of those seven little simple principles he taught when he did the wallet illustration. But 50 years later, I find that is the most simplistic way of understanding the gospel that that is held up all these years because it is so truthful. It is the gospel. It explains it. Which one of the seven points would you leave out of the gospel? Well, all have sin. Well, we don’t have to tell them that.

You can’t leave that out. Cause that’s a, that’s a, that’s a, that’s a, that’s a nowhere all sinners. Wages sin is dead. Well, we don’t have to tell them what the wages sin is. All right, you can’t leave that out. Well, you got to be perfectly go to heaven. Do we leave that out? I wouldn’t leave that out because they need to know that’s part of the problem. You gotta be perfect to go over. You cannot earn eternal life.

Number four, you can’t earn eternal life. You can’t work good to heaven. Well, should we leave that point out? Well, no, that’s why we got to trust and cry because we can’t earn it. What’s the next? Number five, Christ died. So we got to know why Christ died. Why did He die? He died to pay for my sins? Came back from the dead. Number six is only believe. That’s all we got to do. Oh, should we leave that out?

Well, if I do believe it, number seven, go to heaven. I can know I have eternal life. Do we leave that out? Now that’s the purpose of telling them the whole thing. But one of those should you leave out, all of it put together and don’t skip on the gospel and leave out certain things. It works better when you all put all of that together and it’s amazing how people will understand the gospel. Now look at the next statement, I know that it’s difficult for people to understand but John’s gospel is a pre-calorie gospel.

That did not nor can not change after the crucifixion of Christ. John wrote after the cross what he writes about happened before the cross. It’s not a matter of believing that Jesus is Jesus but that Jesus is the Christ and the Christ is the one that was to be the Lamb coming into the world, the down on the cross to pay for our sins and come back from the dead. That’s what the word Christ is referring to and that is why it is so important.

And there’s a couple verses in the gospel of John that even says that. Look in John chapter 20 here in verse 31, you got to your notes right there, just look at this. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is hot, is the Christ. It’s not just believing that Jesus is Jesus, just believing in any Jesus. You don’t have to know who He is or what He did. Yes, you do. He says, unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.

So look at the next verse. John chapter 13, verse 19 says, Now I tell you before it come that when it come to pass, ye may believe and that I am he. Not just anybody, not just any Jesus. I am the Jesus that pays for sin. He’s the savior of the world. His name Jesus, believe it in his name because his name meant something. He is Jehovah Yasha, he is the savior. He is the protector, he is the deliverer.

He is the payment for our sins. Now look there at the little boat, you may believe that I am He. You must believe that Jesus Christ is the payment for our sins, not just any Jesus. And see, there is a group that call themselves free grace, but they don’t have to believe in the death, burial, resurrection. They’ll tell you that they believe in it. But when you talk to a lost man, that’s not that important. And so they want to strip away everything they don’t need in just, well, the heavy turn of life, just believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Well that might be all you have to do but that is not all you need to know. I didn’t know I was going to preach up a storm tonight. Look down at the next verse John chapter 8 and verse 24 says I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins for if ye believe not that I I am he, ye shall die in your sin. Jesus says, you must believe that he is the Christ, or you will die in your sin, you’ll die lost.

So it’s not just a matter, just believe in Jesus. There is a false Jesus, there’s a false gospel, there’s a false Holy Spirit, false spirit, not a false Holy Spirit, there’s only one Holy Spirit. So look at the next page, John chapter one, and Notice what he has here in verse six. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light. Now get this, I put it in bowl so that you would really see good.

That all men through him might believe. All men through him might believe. See, John wanted people to know that he’s not the light, He came to bear witness of the light. And that light was the true light, the light of every man that cometh into the world. And he was in the world and the world was made by him. And while I had him was not anything made that was made. And so we have a payment for our sins.

Jesus Christ, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, it says, behold the what? Now, the Lamb of God would take you the way the Senator, that was at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. not the beginning of it. So did John know that Jesus was the one that was gonna take away the sin of the world at the very beginning? And everything you read in the gospel of John happened before Jesus died. So that’s part of the pre-calvary gospel. That’s what they preached before Christ died.

And so this was the gospel. This was the message and therefore I don’t think it changed after Jesus died. You know what he told the person that died on the cross? And that person also died on the cross. He says, Lord remember me when thou come us, come unto thy kingdom. Well, Jesus said unto him today, shall thou be with me in paradise. Now remember, Jesus had also mentioned in chapter 12 of the book of Matthew when he made the statement that an evil in a daughter’s generation seek it after a sign but no sign shall be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the Wales Believer so shall the son of maybe three days and three nights where?

Heart of the earth. But now his body was place in the grave. mmol Jesus was not in his body that was in the grave. Jesus went to the place of paradise. “‘Cld he told the thief on the cross, today shall thou be with me in paradise.’ So he was in paradise. And when he told that thief on the cross, did that thief have to promise? I promise that I’ll turn from all my sins. He’s nailed to a cross. He’s not really going to have to fight it too much.

And I promise that I’ll serve the Lord for the rest of my life. Well you only got a couple of minutes left. I mean that would be easy for you maybe to keep. Jesus never told him anything like that. He believed that Jesus was not paying for his sins. He says we have done and we’re getting what we deserve. But this man have done nothing to miss. And that’s why he says when thou come us into that kingdom. So he believed he was the king.

He believed he was going to come back from from the dead. Just in that one little story that doesn’t say all of these things, but by just a few words, you can see it. He had to believe this, he had to believe this, he had to believe it. So he did believe in the death, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. And he knew that he had eternal life. And when Jesus said to him, today shout out, be with me in paradise, there’s nothing that that thief on the cross could have ever done to change it.

He couldn’t change it. Why? Because Jesus already said, today shout out, be with me, you will be with me in paradise. He couldn’t change it and God can’t change it. When I trusted Christ as my Savior 58 and a half years ago, God promised me eternal life and He can’t take it back. And I can’t give it back. I haven’t tried. I really don’t want to anyway. I kind of like the idea of knowing heaven when I die. Let’s pray show Him.

But his bow knives close and no one looking around if you are watching by internet tonight. I hope that what I’ve said made sense to you. But if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, right now it’d be a good time to do so. I told a man one time, I said, you need to trust Christ as your Savior right now. He says, well, I’ll think about it. I said, then do me a favor. I says, don’t die until you do.

He says, I can’t control that. I said, that’s the point. That’s the reason you should trust Christ as your Savior right now, while you’re in good mind and you can make a good decision. Only a fool would turn down a free gift. And so if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior right where you are, say, yes I will accept Him as my only hope of going to heaven. I believe you died on the cross, paid for my sins.

And right on the screen, I says, yes I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. I pray that you’ll do that. Follow with thank again for your blessings. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. Help us to get all the things done we need to for this coming And for the missionary conference, the alumni meeting, and pray that all these things would be honored to you in Christ’s name. 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, 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.

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. Believe it that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.