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 home page. 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.

But anyway, I want to speak a little bit a little bit on the two main subjects because of what I hear people say and I think, do they really understand what they’re saying because this is such an important issue and that is when it’s all over with, when you’re bullet all down is where are you going when you die? Because we all have problems in life, we all have things that we consider to be, pertinent issues and priorities. But when you die, it’s where did you go?

That’s important. And it’ll override everything else that you ever decide upon. It’ll be the greatest decision you ever made in your whole life is to make sure that you have eternal life and know that you’re going to heaven. Well, there’s a lot of people that are going to church, reading Bibles doing a lot of praying and posting a lot of things on Internet. And I think sometimes there must be a fake Bible out there someplace because they got fake news.

It’s not the real thing. It’s not what God said. So I know by certain questions that people asked whether they really get it or not. And I’ve had people say, well, you know, yeah, you’re saved by grace. But if you don’t live right, you’re not really saved. Now that sounds spiritual. Like they really know what they’re talking about. They haven’t got a clue. That has nothing to do. How you live your life has nothing to do with where you’re going to spend eternity.

It doesn’t. So anyway, I want to have you turn your Bible to the book of John, the Gospel of John in chapter three. simple things, but they can cause you a lot of problems if you cannot answer certain statements. And I want to show this to you. There’s a lot of people who are getting messed up because of the word should, should. And so the hosts who ever believe within him should not perish. Well, you shouldn’t, but you still could.

But have everlasting life. Well, see, well, you shouldn’t perish, but you still could perish. So should depends on you got to keep believing. He that believeth hath everlasting life as long as you believe you have everlasting life. But if you don’t continuously keep believing, then you don’t have eternal life. And so therefore they mean by you keep believing, you got to keep believing and keep walking that straight and narrow way, or you lose your salvation, then you got to get saved all over again.

Well, is that true? Of course it’s not true, but I want to show you something. Look there in verse 14, John chapter 3, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. In the Old Testament, the Book of Numbers talks about were murmuring against God, against Moses, and serpents were sent, poisonous snakes. They were biting the people, and people were dying. So he says, put a serpent made out of brass upon a pole, and whosoever would look would live.

So I got bit by snake. I’m don’t look, and I would live. So what they’re saying is, you can’t just take a look you got to keep looking but if you take your eyes off of it up you die. You got to look and keep looking. It doesn’t say that. One look is good to go. When Jesus told a woman at the well, if you drink from this water that I have to give to you, you’ll never thirst again.

What they’re trying to say is you got to drink it and then keep drinking it. And when you start drinking, you’ll lose it. So you got to drink and keep drinking. He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. and he just, this bread shall never hunger. So that means you gotta eat this bread, but you’re saved as long as you keep eating this bread.

And when you stop eating the bread, you’re no longer saved. Is that really what he’s saying? No, it is not. Now look there in your notes. The little statement there, I’ve got where the second paragraph down, I have been told that we are saved if we only believe, but we must keep believing, if we are to stay saved. Because if you stop believing, then you’re no longer saved. Now that might sound good, sound spiritual, but the Bible doesn’t teach that.

You see, I am saved, not because I’m still believing. I heard it 58 years ago in a little old living room in Athens, Georgia, and I believed it and God saved me. But I’ve had to keep believing it all these years, and when I stop believing it, then I lose my salvation. I’m worn out, but I’m hanging in here. No, look at this statement here. But we must keep believing if we are to stay saved, it’s like having an endless supply of pizza delivered to your door and it will keep coming as long as you keep eating.

But when you stop eating, it stops coming. That’s ridiculous. Oh, look at the next statement. Now everybody knows that Adam and Eve were placed into a garden, beautiful garden. There was no sin. And so they were in pretty good shape. But lo and behold, they ate the fruit. When they ate the fruit, they did something wrong, they became bad. Now look what I wrote here. Did Adam and Eve have to keep eating the fruit to stay bad? Did they have to keep eating the fruit to stay bad?

No, that one time they ate that fruit, they became sinners. Traw then on. One time, they didn’t have to keep eating the fruit to stay bad. So if they wanted to get back into the garden, all they had to do was stop eating the fruit and they can get back into the garden. If it doesn’t work that away, why should it work the other way? They said, well, you gotta get good and stay good. You gotta go to church and keep going to church.

And you gotta give money and keep giving money. You gotta change your life and keep changing life. You gotta always do right. And if you do wrong, then you’ve lost it. So they say that your faith has to be a continuous faith, that there’s no end to it. You gotta stay right. And then when you don’t, well, that was a sign you probably never really were saved to start with. How would you like to live for 20, 30, 40 years?

And right before you die, you really mess up bad. And then you die. Now you’re going to hell. Look at the next statement. The last verse there, and the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery servant, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten when he looketh upon it and keeps looking shall live. Did I add anything to it? And see what I added isn’t in the Bible. He didn’t believe it on me, hath everlasting life.

He didn’t believe it on me and keeps unbelieving, keeps unbelieving, keeps unbelieving, hath everlasting life. No, when I believe on Christ one time, one time in my whole life, I trusted Christ as my Savior. That was good for my whole life. I never have to do it again. You say, well, what if you don’t live right? I knew you was gonna ask that. So look at the next statement, right in the middle of your page. You know where I got this?

I got it right off of our website, off of our YouTube channel. I was told that we ought to take it and have a bunch of these little four, five, six minute little dillies on certain issues and complicated scriptures and put it on the YouTube. So we went into the office in here and Jesse got his little camera, you know, and my very first one. Believe it or not, I had what’s her name, Lucia. She came in there and took about 10, 15 years off my life.

She decorated me up and she made me look real nice and pretty. She smoothed out my skin and blackened my eyebrows and my hair. Well, not to that extent. But I mean, she really, she kind of waxed me and made me look good, you know, so that, and I’ve never had such stuff before. But Betty didn’t recognize me +#. So we didn’t do it anymore. And so that sermon that I did, it’s only four minute long, but it had, it’s got over 30,000 views on it.

Now look at this one, this one here I did. What if a man sins willfully after he saved and it’s got over 79,000? That was yesterday. Now since then there probably is a right around 80,000 that have viewed that one little five-minute message that I put up on it and you ought to see the things that people put up there. It’ll blow your mind because if you sin willfully, that’s a sign you weren’t saved. And they have all kinds of stuff, all kinds of comments.

But some wrote a couple things and I want to read a couple of their their questions that they put up there are statements that they made. So look at what they said because see the reason I’m doing this is because people come to church and they have the same thoughts, they just don’t say anything. But they have the same questions, same comments, they believe the same way. One said, God forgive me. I used to sin willfully even though I knew it was wrong.

I read the Holy Bible twice a day and prayed to God three times a day. I’m done reading my Bible in the morning and evening and right before I go to sleep. I always say a quick prayer forgiveness every time I catch myself sinning. Isn’t that wonderful that he does that? That’s great. But do you have to do that to go to heaven to be sure you’re going to make it. So every night before you go to bed, you get on your knees before the bed and you say, as I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” That’s not good. I prayed that for years. I didn’t know the Lord. But you don’t have to do that. But there’s nothing wrong when you’re trying to straighten up and fly right to guard yourself in your life. Look at the next statement. Anyone who willfully sins is going to hell. Repeat. Anyone who willfully sins is going to hell. Bible is clear on that.

Don’t be fooled by all this watered down preaching, cherry picking scripture, Christ died so we would not sin no more. For one example, I very seldom, if at all, do I sin. I can say I do not sin anymore. I used to, not anymore. Do you sin? I bet you do. Take a lot of discipline, but I do not sin anymore. And there was a few other things, but I had enough of that. I’ve met people that said, I have never sinned in 40 years.

One guy told me that. At a truck stop when I was bringing some kids down from Colorado to a camp in Florida. And some kids came running to me and said, Yankie, this is a gal there, says he ain’t never sinned. Says he ain’t sinned in 40 years. I walked over and I looked down and I says, they tell me you say you haven’t sinned in 40 years. That’s right. I haven’t sinned in 40 years. I says, you’re all liar.

It kind of shocked him. He says, I am not lying. I says, yes, you are. And you know what, and I know it, and everybody else knows it. You’re so deceptive. You’re trying to fool everybody. You can’t fool anybody. Everybody knows you’re a liar. And he says, I am not. I says, yes, you are. He says, I am not. Yes, you are. And we got in a great big old argument. I says, are you mad? I says, you just lost your salvation.

I kept on to I made sure that he was good and mad. I hated to cause that man to lose his salvation, but he realized he wasn’t perfect like he thought he was. But anyway, you see, you shouldn’t have done that. I thought about it after it, then I was glad I did. Look at the next statement. Unfortunately, Pastor, you are in there. Once saved, always saved is not correct. God expects us to stop habitual sinning and to learn from it and willfully not do it again.

We are not perfect and because we are not perfect, we must constantly be repenting and learning from our past ends to become godly in nature. Now all that sounds good. But do you have to do this in order to go to heaven? Do I have to continually keep repenting, keep believing, keep in order to keep what I’ve got? When I trusted Christ as my Savior 58 years ago, God said He saved me and gave me the free gift of everlasting life.

Now if He gave it to me and it was free, there’s no strings attached, then there’s nothing that I have to do to keep it. Now, if I have to do something to keep it, it’s not free and it’s not eternal life. Look at the next statement. This is my personal thoughts toward one saved, always saved. I feel I am saved and I’m so glad that salvation is based on feeling instead of facts. But anyway, he says, I feel I am saved, but still fear God’s judgment.

The fear is a good thing and a respect for God’s earned authority at Calvarym. I believe we are always to love and fear God. If this fear keeps us saved and from willfully returning to sin, then we are better for it. If this fear keeps us saved, is it fear that keeps me saved or is it Christ that keeps me saved? See, it can sound so good and people can be swayed by comments that other people make. And so they begin to do, well I know I’m saved.

How do you know you’re saved? Well I fear God. I love God. But because I don’t want to sin anymore. Because I confess all my sins. And because I, wait a minute, if it has anything to do with it, you trust in Christ and Him alone is your only hope to go to heaven. You’ve got reasons to doubt your salvation. down at the bottom of the page where I have the word response. John 647, very, very I see unto you, he that believeth on me, hath everlasting life.

Although, hath means present tense and can mean habitually, meaning you can give me an apple today if I receive it and an apple tomorrow if I receive it tomorrow. So I can keep receiving that a gift today and I can get, that’s why I like to have it my birthday it’ll last for three months. Because I can get a gift today and I can get another gift the next day and I can get another gift the next day. But God’s talking about the free gift of everlasting life.

How many times can He give you the free gift of everlasting life? One time because it’s everlasting life and it’s free and it’s a gift and once you have it, you have it. And you can’t take it away from you because then it wouldn’t be great. Grace means you didn’t deserve it and you don’t do anything to keep deserving it. It was a gift of God. Look at the next statement. In John 3 16, it is clearly stated that it is a one-time acceptance by the addition of shall not.

That means in the future shall not perish. If therefore, it cannot mean a continual believer to keep everlasting life. If I trust Christ as my Savior today and He gives me the free gift of everlasting life and says, I shall not perish. shall not means future. If I cannot perish in the future, then I have nothing to have to keep because I can not perish if I believe what he says. So do I believe it or don’t I believe it?

But if I still believe that I can perish, yes, then I might have to try to keep getting saved. That’s because I don’t believe what he said. But he says he that believeeth on me half what? Ever lasting life shall not perish. Look at page two, top of the page. Says this in John chapter 5 and verse 24. It’s a very good verse in your Bible. Verily, verily I say unto you, heareth my word and believe it, thong him that sent me, hath, hath.

That means present in hath right now, hath everlasting life. So if I believe it, when do I get eternal life? That very moment. When I believe it. If you believe it, you have it. And shall not walk, that’s future. That means in the future. Shall not come into condemnation means I cannot be condemned in the future. What if you did a bunch of bad things? Cannot be condemned. But it’s passed from death in the life. It’s already done. That’s past tense.

So if I believe what the word of God says, then I can know that I have eternal life now, and I can know that I can’t be condemned in the future, and I can know that I’m going to heaven whenever I die. If I believe what he said. But you see, people cannot believe what God said, because it’s too easy. You got to do something. You can’t tell me you can trust Christ as your Savior and go out here and live like your place and still go to heaven when you die.

Yes, I can. And any preacher who will not tell you that isn’t telling you the truth about the gospel. The gospel is good news. Is it good news? Okay, you have eternal life until you sin again. Okay, how long would you have it? How long would you keep it? Because if you can sin and lose it, why waste the time getting it?

Because, see, when you trust Christ to save it, it’s eternal life, last forever. Now, yes, there’s things that we talk to about Christians and consequences in your life, but now notice it. Jesus promised those that believe on the Father after hearing his word, they may have everlasting life, present tense. Number two, shall never come into condemnation. That’s future. Have passed from death in the life, that’s passing, it’s already done. God sees me already as His child and seated in the heavenlies because I am in Christ and Christ is there and that’s where I am.

My life is hid with Christ and God. Now look at the next statement. None of those promises are true. If our continuous faith is a condition for our stay in saved. And here’s a couple of little things to maybe think about. If you have to continually keep believing in order to keep it, all right, if we cannot prove or disprove that a person can believe or disbelieve during sleep, can a person, when he’s totally asleep, trust Christ to save you if he’s asleep and, or if he’s in an acomma, or if he has all hymurs and he can’t remember anything.

Can you trust Christ as your savior? Or if you did trust the Lord, can you lose it because you can’t think about it, and you can’t continuously keep trusting in it because you don’t even know at a point you even exist. When I go to sleep at night, I go to sleep. And I don’t have to worry about losing my salvation in the middle of the night because I didn’t have a continuous faith. Look at the statement. How can we prove that faith is in a continuous state of belief during sleep?

How do you continuously believe during sleep? Is there continuous faith during Alzheimer’s? Brain injury, mental illness, coma, sleep, sedation? I’ve had people, doctors give me drugs right before surgery. They say, now, start at 100 and count backwards. They would tell you that. I never get to about 95. I never get that far. I start 1, 2, or 199 and gone.

Now I’m glad that I don’t lose my salvation because I wasn’t able to constantly, continuously, be aware that I’ve got to keep believing. You see, it doesn’t make sense and it’s not the Bible. That’s what some people want to say. See, the devil has his own gospel. The devil has his own ministers and his job is to make sure you stay confused. It’s so easy, so simple. Okay, I trust Christ as my savior. He gives me eternal life. I’m going to heaven when I die.

Now, what’s the problem? Well, that’s too easy. Well, you didn’t make it, God did. God’s the one that says what to do and what not to do. So let’s just take God at His word. I’ve never been sorry that I trust the Lord. This thing, when we get to heaven, we’re not gonna be sorry, we did so. Now down here, you may be afraid ashamed that somebody knows your Christian. But in heaven, you won’t be. But the Lord says, I will be ashamed of you because you were ashamed of me.

That doesn’t mean you don’t get to go to heaven. You still get to go to heaven, but you’ll be ashamed because you never witnessed for him. And the Lord says, live now because one day he’s coming and in the book of 1 John in chapter 2 verse 28, now my little children abide in that when he shall appear, we shall have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. And a lot of God’s children are going to be ashamed.

A shame they never did what they could have done. Because we’re not asked to perform miracles down here. We’re not asked to be supermen. We’re not asked to do anything we can’t do. We can do what God wants us to do. All we have to do is just explain the gospel to people. So when you leave, make sure you have tracks. And make sure you try to talk to somebody this week. always ask the Lord, let me talk to somebody this week, somebody, give a tract to somebody.

That’s the word of God. Somebody, I’ll trust the Lord from it. And it may lead to an open door where you might get to talk to him about the whole thing and explain it to him. You see me do the hand gesture a thousand times, learn how to do it, be an expert at it. A soul winner is nothing more than a person who makes the gospel clear for the lost man to understand. The power is in the message.

It’s not in you, it’s in the message, it’s in the message is in you, yes. But God can use you. Look up here. This end represent you and me and the wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God says that He loves us, He hates our sin. And for you and I to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven we have to be perfect as right as is God.

heaven is perfect, God is perfect, and we have to be perfect to go into heaven. But we can’t because of sin. God will not allow us into heaven. So how can God get rid of the sin? And remember, the sin is not just the sin that I commit, it’s the sin nature that’s within me. I could take this away and I still can’t get in because you see the sin nature is still inside of me. I committed this because I am a sinner.

So God has to give me a new birth, not change me, not change me, not send me to church and do all a good deed. God has to give me a new birth. So this hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world, he has no sin, no sin nature. So he has no sin. But Christ, because he loves us and hates our sin, it says that he hates it because it separates us from him.

So what Christ did for us, He took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said, if we would believe it, He would give us His righteousness. And if God gave me His righteousness, then I would be as righteous as God. Can I go to heaven if I’m as righteous as God? Well, yes. That’s a righteousness that God gives to me by faith in what He did for me. And God says, once you trust Him, He’ll never catch you out and never lose you.

And all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around, if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, right now, why not just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this? Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I don’t understand it all, but I know that I’ve done things wrong. I believe that Christ died, paid for my sins, and I’m going to trust Him this morning as my only hope of going to heaven.

Friend, I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. But right where you’re sitting, if what a said made sense, would you say, yes, Lord, I will trust Christ as my Savior right now. And friend, by doing that, God will give you eternal life as a free gift. And He’ll never cast you out, never lose you. And you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. Would you believe it? Would you trust Him?

If you will, we just look at it very quickly and say, pray for me. I’ll trust Christ as my Savior this morning, and I’ll like for you to pray for me. Is there anyone at all before we close? If you’ve already trusted Christ as your Savior, do you see the responsibility? how that all of us as God’s children are responsible to preach the gospel. One way or another, find a way, find a way. Because one day we’ll all stand before the Lord and give an account of ourselves.

I won’t be judging you. You won’t be judging me. We all have our own heavenly Father and we’ll stand before Him. And you don’t want to be ashamed before Him, it’s coming. Our Father, we ask Your blessings upon each one here, as for the protection because we’re living in a sinful world. And the devil would like us to do everything in the world, but talk to people about their soul. He’d help us to have the confidence in the bones that we need and use this for your honor and your advice.

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