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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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Now, hold your place right here just for a second, and look in the book of John, the gospel John in chapter 7, John and chapter 7. Now this is what Jesus said because of what John the Baptist was doing. When Jesus was here, Jesus never baptized anybody with the Holy Spirit. All it was here. Nobody was baptized by the Holy Spirit in the days of Christ. That didn’t happen until the day of Pentecost and then Jesus has already been gone.

And this was 50 days after the resurrection of So looking verse 37, in 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, he that believe it on me as the scripture hath said, scripture is Old Testament. If you’ll believe on me as the scripture hath said, now he’s telling them this in the gospel of John, so how were they saved in the Old Testament?

Same way we’re saved in the New Testament. There’s not another gospel. There’s only one gospel that saves a person. Look what he says. He that believeth on me as the scripture hats it out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. I wonder what this is. Well if we read the next verse it might tell us. This spakey of the Spirit gets us which they that have been baptized in water and keep the Ten Commandments and obey the law.

Oh is Is that what it says? Did I misread that? I sure did. Look in verse 39 again, but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him, should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. So, water baptism that John talked about was something was gonna happen after Jesus rose from the dead, because nobody up to this point has been baptized by water. But if you had to be baptized in water in order to be saved, but it represented the Holy Spirit baptism.

So you can be baptized in water and still not have the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, I want you to go over there with me to the book of 1 Peter chapter one, 1 Peter chapter one. But 1 Peter and chapter one. Now, we’re going to read some scripture that was mentioned way back there in the book of Isaiah. And I told you, remember this because this is what John, the Baptist was preaching in the book of Isaiah in chapter 40.

Look what he says now in verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, that means it can’t be of the flesh, it can’t be something that you will it to happen, You cannot produce it because we’re all corrupted. We all come from a bad tree. So there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves. Now get this, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveeth and abided forever. Remember the thing about the flesh and about the word in Isaiah chapter 40?

You’ve got exactly the same thing right here. And John the Baptist was a forerunner of this message. message. And look what he says in verse 24, for all flesh is as grass. And in the Old Testament, we know that that word grass refers to people and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. That was also mentioned back there. The grass withered, that was mentioned. The flower, they’re I’ll follow the way. In other words, we’re all going to die.

But this is the message John the Baptist was going to preach. But the word of the Lord endured forever. That’s also mentioned back there. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So John the Baptist had to preach this message. He had to preach the gospel. And it has to do with the new birth. Therefore, John the Baptist did not teach the law in order to be saved. He didn’t tell them you have to keep the commandments to be saved.

The law was always used to show a person that they cannot save themselves by their works of righteousness. You only say by the grace of God. Or now take your Bible and look there. In Luke 23, Luke 23. Matthew, Mark, and Luke chapter 23. It is important to know this because when we get down to covering all the verses in the book of Galatians, we can only take the time to refer to these things, but you’ll already have a good foundation knowing that there is only one gospel and curses any man who preaches another gospel, which is not another.

There is no other one. And that all these fellows preached the same gospel. I just got another email today where somebody is trying to prove to me that the apostle Paul’s gospel was different from Jesus Christ and all we need is just the writings of Paul. We don’t need the writings of anybody else. I believe all scripture is profitable. All of it. And like Paul says, I have not shunned to declare all the word, all the counsel of God.

Well, why would he do that? Well, there’s no New Testament. He must have been declared something It had to be the Old Testament Scriptures. When we talk about the Bereans and how they studied in research, well, what were they studying in researching? Evadilly, I think it was the Scriptures that they did have. So here in the book of Luke in chapter 23, look in verse 39. In verse 39 of chapter 23, there’s these two thieves hanging on the cross.

And they both railed on Jesus. But one of them, somewhere along the line, he must have saw the light. Because he says, and one of the male factors which were hanged railed on him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him saying, does thou not fear God? in thou art in the same condemnation. We indeed, justly, for we received the due reward of our deeds. In the words, we deserve to die.

We’ve done all this bad. But him, he ain’t done anything wrong. And so he says in verse 42, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. You know, that one little verse is an awful lot. And Jesus said unto him, very I send you today, shout out, be with me in paradise. That one little verse also says a lot, an awful lot. And it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

And the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was running the mist. Now remember, so that means that they must have hung on the cross for another three hours after he was told this. But they had to break their legs, but not Jesus’ legs, because Jesus had no bones broken and he had already died. Now look at this. I wrote this in here and I want you to look at it. Notice how many things that can be gleaned from this small portion of scripture.

Remember now this is before Jesus died and how was this man saved? So did the thief on the cross have to keep the law to be saved? Did he make any promises of how he was going to live? Did he guarantee that he would turn from all of his sins? I mean, he’s nailed to a cross. I promise I won’t do it anymore. Yeah, I don’t guess you will. You promise to live the rest of your life a little well?

Yeah, how much time have I gotten? No, look at the statement. The believing thief knew that he was a sinner. He knew that he deserved to die. True? He knew that he was not worthy to enter the kingdom and that’s why he wanted Christ to remember him. He knew that Christ was not dying for anything that he had done wrong. He knew that Christ was the Lord, because he says, Lord, remember me. He said, he knew that Jesus was a king of a kingdom.

Well, now come us into thy kingdom. He knew there was nothing he could do, but trust and believe that’s, what else could he do? Well, he could get down and go get baptized. Could he get down and join the church? He had to go and confess it before the men. No, he’s not familiar with that. All he had to do was believe. He believed in the resurrection of Christ when he says, when thou cometh into thy kingdom, he must believe that he was who he came to be and that he was going to come back from the dead and that he had a kingdom and he wanted them.

He wanted to be in it. He knew thatAssuming that he was going to die, but that he would live forever. He knew that day he would be in paradise. Why? Because Jesus told him today, shout thou be. He was me in parallel. He knew before he died he was going to be in parallel. And there was nothing after Jesus said that. There’s nothing he could have done to go anywhere else. I like that. He knew before he died where he was spent eternity.

He did not have to turn from his sins nor promise that he wouldn’t do anything wrong anymore. He did not have to promise cries that he would make him the Lord of his life to be saved. He did not join the church, pay money or get baptized. knew there was nothing he could do that could keep him out of paradise. Why? Because God had given his word. Page 2. Remember, once Christ gave his word today, shout out, be with me in paradise, there was no way God or the thief could alter the outcome.

Notice that this is how he was saved before Christ died, but the promise held true after Christ died because Christ died first. True. He died first. So would Christ’s words still be good though? The thief lived on both sides of the cross. He had the promise before he died and he went to heaven after the cross. I thought of that one day. I said, that’s pretty good. Right at the time. Now look at the next statement. What about the Philippian jailer?

Look at the scripture and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house, and thy house if thy house believes. And they spoken to him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. Why would he ask the question? What must I do to be saved? Evidently he must have heard them singing. amazing grace amazes me that night in the jail cell.

They must have heard Paul in them singing. And then they must have been saying something about being saved because he had to hear it. What must I do to be saved? He had to be talking about something because he was ready to take his life. So he’s not talking about the physical life. They told him, said, this is what you got to do. Look at the next statement. All that the jailer needed to do was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved.

But it definitely was not all he needed to know. How did he know to ask the question? Who told him that he needed to be saved? What did he need to be saved from? Why was he baptized? But he was. So there’s more that was explained than what is explained in the scripture here. We’re just giving the capsule a little tidbit of what took place. But that’s not all of it. There has to be more behind the scene. It’s just like in the Old Testament, I believe that they were told many things, but never wrote down.

And if it wasn’t for the book of Jude, we might never have known that Enoch was a preacher of righteousness. And he talked about Jesus Christ coming in power and great glory. And he lived before the flood and knew about Christ. Moses is steaming the reproach of Christ’s greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” Well, it steamed them. Treasures of the Lord. Greater? Well, how did he know about Christ? Well, the Scripture says he did. And I just happened to believe the book.

Look at the next statement. Don’t we tell people that water baptism is the picture of something? What? It’s not only a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus’ Christ. Baptism is a picture of my death and my burial and my resurrection because I was crucified with Christ. If I was crucified with Christ, the Bible says I was crucified with Him. I was buried with Him and I came back from the dead with Him and I’ve ascended with Him and I’m seated in the heavenlies in Him.

Because what He did was put to my count like I’m the one that died on that cross. I paid for my sins. I came back from the dead and I’ve already ascended into heaven. That’s how righteous I am in God’s eyes and that’s where God sees me and you can’t change that. That’s as good as it gets. As Freddy Colle will say, ain’t that good? Ain’t that good? Ain’t that good? That’s good. Then in the way, all we have to do is the only thing we can do is trust Christ as Savior.

This is all any of these people in the Bible, nobody ever got saved in the other way. Nobody was ever saved because they kept the law. Find the verse in the book of Galatians in chapter three talks about if there had been a law given we could have given life. Righteousness should have been by the law, but no law was ever given to save a man. It was given to condemn us. And it condemns everybody the whole world so that man can only by faith alone in what Christ did can he have as a free gift have everlasting life.

Now look at this verse John chapter six verse 47. I love this verse. It’s so simple. So simple. Now this is all you have to do, but it’s not all you need to know. I need to know who he is. This is why Jesus says, except you believe that I am he. You shall die in your sins. It’s not just the matter, just believe in Jesus. What Jesus? There’s a lot of people named Jesus. Get out in the Mexico.

They’re full of them. True? A lot of Spanish people would call Jesus or Jesus. Is there another way of saying it? I don’t know. But this has, once again, this is all a person has to do, but it’s not all that a person needs to know. I teach the kids in college. There’s seven steps in the presentation of the gospel that we use that we have found to be very, very effective. And so whenever we do the wallet illustration, we do it in order, seven steps, and we’ve got something that’s going to have to do this on Friday, and they’re looking forward to it.

Yes, you are. Yes, you and I go like this. This means yes. You see, you know, I was going to say, you’re going like this. So they got to stand in front of the others, and they got to do all seven steps in order and tell me what verse goes with which step. That’s such a piece of cake. They see me, you see me do it all the time. How many times have I done that wall of illustration since I’ve been here?

You ought to know it by heart going to sleep. I think Zann representing you and me. You can do it in your sleep. But there’s only one thing a person has to do if he goes to heaven and that’s believe the message. But we break that message down in seven parts so that you can understand. There’s four parts of it that’s bad news, three parts of it that’s good news, and therefore we present the gospel. But once you’ve presented it, they only have to do one thing, and that’s to believe.

Now, Matthew chapter 5 written here, for I see unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. You shall know wise or no case entered to the kingdom of heaven. He’s talking to the law keepers, but he’s also referring, look, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, You can’t enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, that’s easy. When you accept Christ as your Savior, God gives me His righteousness. Is that righteousness that God gives me better than the righteousness of the stripes and the Pharisees?

Well, then if it is, then it’s better and I’m good to go. See, we’re going into the kingdom upon the earth or into heaven, wherever the Lord is, that’s where I wanna be. And it’s by grace alone, by faith alone and what Christ did on the crossword. Now look at the next statement, just kind of a simple little thing, because this kingdom of God is really a spiritual spirit. It’s where everybody who is in the kingdom of darkness, when you trust Christ to save, you’re born into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of God.

And that’s why Jesus says, unless you’re born again, you cannot see the kingdom of1900, or enter the kingdom of God unless you’re born again. So that’s a spiritual birth thing. And that’s from all time and eternity, from Adam and Eve all the way through. And the kingdom of heaven is a particular period time upon the earth, which is a thousand year reign upon the year. Now just like we can say, this is Tampa and there’s, it’s Tampa is in Florida.

Now you can be in Florida and not be in Tampa, but if you are in Tampa, you are in Florida. So I am a child of God and I am in Florida, but one day I’m going to be in the kingdom of heaven. I’m not in the kingdom of heaven yet, but I am in the kingdom of God. Look down to last line, verse eight or chapter eight, the unique answered Philip and says, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself or of some other man, then Philip open his mouth and begin at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.

Where was he reading from? Isaiah. He’s using Old Testament to talk to this man about Jesus Christ, and he’s using Old Testament. So is the story of Jesus in the Old Testament? Whatever it was and whatever Jesus did must have been enough, this man got saved because of it. And this man named Philip was an evangelist and he went around preaching. So this is after the resurrection, so they were still preaching that you simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, not get this.

And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water. Now we don’t have it explained where did he talk to them about that? Well, evidently they had more to talk about. And the eunuchs said, see here is water. What did it hinder me to be baptized? is though is there some reason why I cannot be baptized? Remember baptism is for believers only. If you’re not a believer, you cannot be baptized. And so people dunked in the water are not being spiritually baptized or baptized in any way because they’re just getting wet.

I mean, I don’t say I got baptized last night because I took a bath. So every time somebody takes a bath or I got baptized, I know. Ben baptized scripturally means that you are, it represents something. And so this statement here is, what did hinder me? And Philip says, if thou does what? If thou believeth, thou will be the only thing that will keep you from being baptized. And if you believe, or you say because you are baptized or say because you believed, because you believe.

Same thing John the Baptist preach It’s the same thing we preach, because there is no other gospel. He says, I believe that Jesus Christ is Jesus. No, he’s something else. He is the Son of God, because it’s a matter of who is just Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh. He is the Son who came into the world to make a payment for the sins of all mankind. He’s the lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

And we’re supposed to believe that and understand. So he commended the chairs to stand still. bow went down into the water and the sprinkle water on their head. No, they went down into the water. I mean, this is supposed to represent a burial, right? I’ve been to a lot of funerals and I’ve never said, you know, sprinkle them dirt. He’s buried. I sprinkle some dirt. He’s buried. No, you put them under. It closed them up totally. I’ve never seen them just leave them on top of the ground with a couple of sprinkles of dirt.

Oh well. I’ll never forget But when I went to stay with my uncle in Virginia, me and my sister were there together because my mom couldn’t take care of all six kids. They were going to put us in foster homes if we didn’t separate a little bit. So we went to stay with my aunt and uncle. And I stayed there two years and my sister, Lizzie, she’d stay for one year. But he took us to this Lutheran church. So when we went to this Lutheran church, he says, y’all need to get baptized.

I don’t know. ever talked to me about the Lord didn’t say anything about that. So that Sunday men lives gonna get baptized. So we walked down there to the front and he had a little bow and he says some mumbo jumbo and he went and that was it. I’ve been baptized. I had no clue what it meant. Didn’t know what it represented. I had nothing about Jesus Christ. Nothing about sin has been paid for. I always thought Jesus Christ was a cuss word.

That’s the only time I ever heard it. I don’t even I remember ever hearing it in the church. I heard it from my dad all the time. So, was I baptized? Well, whatever it did, it didn’t even wash the dirt off my neck because I hate it when they would get a rag. Dry wash rag and my mama was trying to clean, let me clean out your, there’s enough dirt in there to raise potatoes and she was like sandpaper.

Your mother never do you that way and then you scrub your neck and it’s dry. I don’t mind if it’s a soapy rag, but a dry rag, and then she’d go in here and then she’d bring and pull it out the other side. This is just terrible, just terrible. Well, almost. Felt like that anyway. Look at the bottom of the page. Without explanation, believing Jesus for eternal life is totally inefficient and ineffective for salvation. You gotta know who Jesus is.

You gotta know what he did and why you’re trusting him. See, that’s your foundation for your security. If you don’t understand when Christ paid for all of my sins, how are you gonna have to secure it? Because the question always comes up, what if I sin tomorrow? What if I can admit a real bad sin? Well, if you understand when Christ died to pay for all my sins and that I have a payment for all my sins, then I don’t have to worry about losing my salvation.

See, people who believe they can lose their salvation because they don’t believe Christ paid for all of their sins. It always boils down to that. And so I don’t have to worry about persevering in the face because it’s not according to what I’m living. It’s because of what Christ did. He’s already paid for my sins. I have eternal, those five words Christ died for my sins. Most powerful words in the whole Bible. And they’re founded in 1 Corinthians in chapter 15.

Very good verses. Anyway, look up here. Now, some of them need to really watch real close here. HUH! I used to love it. You remember when you had to do that, Trent? Did you get an A on the day? Did you get an A for the day? You don’t even remember. You don’t even remember. Can you do it yet? You better be able to. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us.

Now God loves us. Now He hates our sin. All mankind from the beginning, we’re all the same. We all have sin for nature and we all sin. It doesn’t matter what comes and goes, nothing else ever. It’s still the same for everybody. And the wages of sin is dead. So that means we’re all going to die and people down to the ages have all died and we’re going to be separated from the Lord. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven.

And that started with Adam and Eve. God loves them just like He loves us. So Jesus Christ says we have to be perfect to go to heaven because heaven is a perfect place and we’re not. And so because of sin we can’t get in so we need a Savior and we cannot save ourselves. sin represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord God in the flesh, came into the world because he loves us, hates our sin because our sin separates us from him.

So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die so he took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said if we would believe that he did it for us, he would give us his a free gift after lasting life and we can know that we’re going to heaven. Best news in all the world. Now we always have somebody watching by internet. And so if you’re watching tonight and you’ve never trusted Christ’s Savior, the only thing you have to do is the only thing you can do.

Will you believe that when Christ died, He died for you. And if you trust Him right now, He’ll give you a free gift every last time in life. Let’s pray, shall we? With His bow and eyes closed, no one looking around. I hope that I make the gospel clear and simple that there’s There’s no confusion in the Bible. There’s not a lot of different kinds of gospels. There’s only one that can save a man. And it’s by us putting our confidence, our trust in what Christ did on the cross for us.

And I pray that you’ve done just that. If you haven’t, trust Christ’s Savior. And God will save you and give eternal life. Our Father, we thank again for your blessings. Thank you for this time together. And we do pray to Lord that you’d watch over and help us to get things done that we need to. We’ve got a lot of things coming up. And Father, help us not to get weighed down and loaded down with a lot of burdens and so on, just to trust you to walk us through it.

And we thank you for the finances that have come in. And for all the work it has been done and for the work yet to be done. We ask your blessings upon those that watch by internet that would be a blessing to them and that many would understand it, but they’re trusting Jesus Christ as their only hope of what happened. We pray that you’ll give us a good Sunday in Christ and then we pray. Amen. 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, covered 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.