Bibleline Radio Show – 2020-05-28 – Must We Keep Believing To Stay Saved? Pt.2
Transcription:
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. and reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.
Look at the next statement. 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 sins 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 intimidat, 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 Calvary. I believe we are always to love and fear God. 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 said, 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 as you’re only hope to go to heaven, you’ve got reason to doubt your salvation.
Look down at the bottom of the page where I have the word response. John 647. Verily, verily 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 that lasts 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 cannot 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, and I might have to try to keep getting saved. That’s because I don’t believe what he said. But he says he that believeth on me half what? Ever lasting life shall not perish. Page two, 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, he that heareth my word and believe it on him that sent me hath, hath, that means president, 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 at that, 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 gotta do something. You can’t tell me, 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’re sinned again. Okay, how long did you have it? How long did 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 passed, 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 anacoma, or if he has all-hymers and he can’t remember anything, 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 Him 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 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 a surgery and they say now start at a hundred and count backwards. They would I never get to about 95, 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 have him 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. Look at the next statement. Must we keep believing to make the following true? A good way to determine the word should is by examining the context as to whom it depends. If it depends on the Lord, it will be true. If it depends on man, it might be true. So whenever the Bible says that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that host so ever, believe it in Him, should not perish.
See if it depends on me, it could mean might not perish. But if it depends on God, it will not perish. And does my salvation depend on God? Depends on Him. I cannot perish, but have everlasting life? Well, see, that means if my going to heaven depends upon him. He can guarantee I will not perish. But if my salvation depends upon me, I might not perish if I behave and I do all the, see then it depends on me, doesn’t depend on God.
And have everlasting life, well, if it depends on God, then I can know I have everlasting life. If it depends on me, I might hope I have everlasting life. You’ll see, if anything that depends on me, I’m not sure of me. That’s why some people don’t know for sure they’re going to heaven because it depends on them. If I take God at His word, it’s simple. He said, He saves me. He said, He’d give me eternal life. He said, He’d never cast me out.
But I can say, oh, I’m trusting the Lord. But if I can lose it, then it depends on me. See how simple, it’s so easy to understand this. But you ought to see all the comments that comes upon our YouTube channel, that questioned salvation. Because they can’t believe, God meant what he said. You can’t know you’re going to heaven. Well, didn’t the Bible say the things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son? You may know that you have it.
didn’t it say that in the Bible? Yeah, so can I know I’m going to heaven? Yes, I know that. Now look at the next statement. In the book of Ephesians in chapter two, we often code Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For by grace are you say through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And then the very next verse in verse 10, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
If I should walk in them, then that depends on me. But if it depends on God, everything’s sure. Depends on you and I, it may or it may not. It might happen and it might not happen if it depends on us. See, there’s a lot of verses in the Bible talking about what we should do, but we may not do them. There’s some things that the Bible says, God says this should be, and if God stands behind it, it will be.
So you see, the word should can be used to certainty, or maybe, perhaps, we should go to church. So that means that we will. If it depends on us, no. Every person who trusts Christ as Savior should go to heaven because it trusts the Lord. It means it will. If people can understand the simplicity of it, there’s no problem to it. Look there in your Bible at the next scripture of reference, right here on your notes. And I want to run through these very quickly.
I want you to see this. In 2 Peter 3.9 says, the Lord is not slack and certain in His promise as some men count slackness. But His long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. All should come to repentance, but that means if it depends upon us, it may or it may not happen, but God is not willing that any should perish, but some people will perish because they will not come to Him.
And there is a difference in using words because that depends upon our choice. Look at the next verse, for this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. Does the Bible say that we should love one another? So because God wants us to love one another, we automatically do. So if you don’t, that’s a sign you weren’t really saved. No, that’s not what it’s saying. We should love one another. That means it depends upon us, and we may or may not love one another.
Do we all love each other the way we should? Does every husband love his wife the way he should? Does every wife love her husband the way he should love the Lord the way he should? No, because when it depends on us, but we’re sinful. We don’t do everything that we should do. Look at the next verse. In 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 2, now this is a good verse, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men but to the will of God, that he no longer should.
See, when it depends upon us, we may or we may not. But when God says, if you’re saved, you should do this. But if it depends upon me, I may do it, I may not do it. But when it talks about what God going to do, EDITION count on it. That’s definite. That is the will of God. That will happen. Now get this. 1 Peter 3, 9, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
Here you argue, trust it, Christ is your Savior. You have eternal life. You’re going to heaven when you die. God wants us to be blessed and we’re the one that determines whether or not we will do that which will bring the blessings of God or not the blessings of God. And so I know that if I serve the Lord God must bless me. But his blessing me is going to be because it depends upon what I do. Am I going to do what this verse says I should do?
And this verse simply tells me, not rendering evil for evil. Don’t doing people wrong because they did you wrong. People may wrong you, may wrong me. We can forgive them means that I’m not going to do them wrong for what they did. It means that I’m not taking vengeance out upon a person who has wrong me. People will wrong you and you can forgive. Doesn’t mean you forget, doesn’t mean you restored them to everything that they had. That doesn’t mean that.
It means you’re not personally going to take vengeance upon a person and railing for railing, but contrary to why you want to do right by people and treat them right, not to be saved because you want to be blessed by God. So there’s things that we should do, but you may not do them. God wants every one of His children to love Him, but you may choose not to love Him. To honor the Lord, you may not honor Him.
Look at the next verse where he says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 21, for even here unto were you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. Does that mean that everybody will follow his steps? No, because this is what you should do, and you may and you may not do it because it depends on you. So when salvation depends upon you, you have no guarantee because you are not infallible.
You are not perfect. But when you trust Christ as your Savior and it depends upon Him, He said you should not perish. He says you have everlasting life. He says it because it depends on Him. That’s why a man cannot lose his salvation. Why? Because it doesn’t depend upon man. It depends upon God keeping his word. Look at the next statement. Hebrews 11 and verse 5 says, by faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death, God’s choice, and was not found because God had translated him before his translate.
He had to say he please God. So Him being translated out of this world, that was God’s choice. It wasn’t Enoch’s choice. All He did was be faithful, but God made a choice about translating him out of this world so that He would not see death. That did not depend upon Enoch. Enoch could not do anything about that. Look at the next statement. Hebrews 2, 9, but we see Jesus who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death.
That’s God’s choice. So if he by the grace of God should taste death, that means he’s tasted death for every man because that’s grace. This is why Calvinism doesn’t work. Because grace means that he tasted death for every man, and they don’t believe that God did it for every man, but the Scripture says it was every man. And when he says it should taste death, it means it was true, and it did happen, and it was the will of God, and it was permanent, and it was done.
But now if it depends upon us, we say, well, he should have done this, he should have done that. But that’s according to us. But according to the word of God, Jesus Christ went to the cross and tasted death for every man. Look at the next verse, Titus 2, 11, 2, 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and whirly lusts, get this, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present. How shall we live in this world? I’ll have to say it.
Should we live sober and righteously and godly in this present world, should we? Does that mean we all will? No, because it depends on us. But it’s still what God wants us to do and desires for us to do, but you’re free to make choices. Contrary to God’s will. That does not affect your salvation because that depends upon God, keeping his word. But he is telling us as his children what he wants us to do and how he wants us to live in the grace of God that bring the salvation the peer to all men teaching us.
And that’s what it does. Look in Ephesians 2-10 right during your notes, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Should we walk in good works? Is that the will of God? But walking in good works is our choice. It’s up to us whether we will will not do that. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 15, and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth.
From now on, live unto themselves. That does not mean you will live for the Lord. And henceforth, live unto themselves. A lot of people live only for themselves, But it doesn’t affect their salvation because that salvation depends upon what God does. How we live depends upon what we do. And there’s a lot of things God’s word of God says that we should, but we don’t always do what we should do. But it cannot and does not affect our salvation because salvation depends upon God keeping his word and God does not lie.
And he says, you should not perish. What do you think that means? Oh God, I hope you don’t perish. Have it or last in life. Well, if you can keep it. No salvation depends upon him, keeping his word. That’s what he promised. Now look at the next statement. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. Somebody see that? See the hell deny you? He’ll deny you. deny you what? He can’t deny you salvation because that depends on him.
But he can deny you reward because rewards depend upon you. The simple scriptures are when you keep things clear, when you keep it separate, but if you don’t, your mind gets mixed up and there’s a million preachers out there that are mutilated in the gospel. And that affects what you’re trusting in to get you to heaven. So it’s a heaven and hell issue. And that’s why I harp on it all the time. I just don’t want people to go to hell.
And you’re not going to heaven until you know you cannot go to hell. Look at the next statement. If we believe now, what if I trust Christ by Savior 58 years ago and I did? And today I deny everything. I don’t believe the Bible. I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in anything. Therefore, I’m not speak one hell now. No, I’m going to go to heaven whether I like it or not. If we believe not yet, he abides faithful.
He cannot deny himself. He cannot deny himself. You see, whenever you trust in Christ as your Savior in the book of 2 Timothy and chapter 2 and verse 19, he says that we have this foundation. This is a great foundation. The Lord knoweth them that his because right before he talks about how people were saying things that were not true and overthrow the faith of those who believed in him. So can you buy wrong doctrine in a wrong place cause you to question your salvation and doubt your salvation?
Yes. And overthrow your faith? Yes. Shipwreck your life? Yes. But aren’t you glad that God know of them that are His? Once you trust Christ to save your His. And you belong to the Lord. Now look at these last two verses down here at the bottom because of communion service. 1 Corinthians 1131 says, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. That depends on you and I. If we will do this, we will not be judged.
That depends upon me. So every one of us as a child of God, it is the will of God that we examine our life. To see as a child of God, are you living the way God wants you to live? Are there things in your life you’re tolerating, sins in your life that you need to take care of. You cannot play games with God. You cannot win. Understand that. And so the next verse says, but when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.
That depends upon God. See the reason God chastens his children here, and he will judge his children because we cannot be condemned with the world. We can’t go to hell. So your heavenly Father, see there’s things He says this can happen and there’s something that can happen. So when it depends upon you and I, yes your heavenly Father may have to step in. And God says even though you’re chasing by God and judged by God, you cannot be condemned with the world because that depends on Him.
This is why it is so important to understand that as a child of God, God is the one who, well, this is the Lord’s table. This is not the church’s table. This is the Lord’s table. It is a divine command. It’s from the Word of God and God wants His children, those who trust the Christ of Savior, to examine themselves. Not each other. I’m not here to judge you. I hear judgment, but you’re to understand this is why Christ died.
He paid for all of my sins. I have eternal life. I’m his child. And there’s a lot of things that I should do, but you need to examine it. Am I doing these things that I should do? If not, then talk to the Lord about that. Every hit by and every eye closed, no one looking around. If you’re here today and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, understand this. The Bible says that God loves you, and so do I.
God has sent his son Jesus Christ to down the cross and pay for your sins. And the only thing that you had to do was believe that he did it for you. And so he that believeth of me hath everlasting life. So if you’ll believe that he did it for you, he puts that payment he made to your account and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did on the cross for you. Would you trust him right now as your Savior.
Friend, I pray that you will. It’s the greatest decision you’ll ever make. So it is about nice clothes no one looking around. Is there anyone at all that says, preach that that made sense to me. I want to know I have eternal life and I want to be certain I’m going to heaven when I die. And right now I will accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. Would you just slip you in it very quickly and put it right back down anyone at all before we close.
If you’re watching on the internet right where you are you can trust Christ as your Savior and I pray that you will. Father, we We thank again for this time together. Bless in this moment that we spend time talking to you about things in our own personal life. In Christ and we pray, Amen. Men, reserve the last Saturday of the month for the Iron Sharpen’s Iron Men’s Bible Study and Breakfast at Calvary Community Church. Join us at 730 for a home-cooked breakfast.
Then, at 8 a.m., the featured speaker of the month will present a one-hour classroom style, men’s Bible study, in a relaxed atmosphere where questions and dialogue are welcomed. The scripture tells us that Iron sharpens iron, and this men’s Bible study is open to those of all levels, whether new believers or mature Christians. The Iron sharpens iron men’s Bible study and breakfast. Don’t miss this monthly opportunity for fellowship and the study of God’s Word. 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 in that the Lord is coming soon, just keep in looking up.
