Thank you, Bert. Good evening,
everyone. Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 42 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns hymnal. Number
42. Let's all stand together. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
prophet, priest, and sovereign king. To him render adoration,
laud and homage to him bring. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
God incarnate from above Came to save his chosen people Sent
by God in covenant love Let us praise the name of Jesus, who
upon Mount Calvary shed his blood and sealed our pardon, died for
sin to set us free. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
Risen, conquering, gracious Friend, Advocate and Mediator, All our
hopes on Him depend. ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? For he brought us to his fold ? ? Come exalt his name
and worship ? ? May the Savior be extolled ? ? Let us praise
the name of Jesus ? till we see him face to face. Then throughout the endless ages,
praise him for his love and grace. Please be seated. You open your Bibles with me
to Jude. The book of Jude, right before
Revelation. We'll begin reading in verse
20. But you, the Lord has just exposed
those false prophets and false believers. Then he speaks to
his people and he says to his church and to his children, but
you, but you, you're different. You're beloved. Building yourselves
on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Keep yourselves
in the love of God. looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. You're not like them. You're looking for Christ, looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith. And of some, have compassion,
making a difference. Some weaker brethren, have compassion
for them. be sympathetic. And others saved
with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments
spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. He's able to keep
you from falling. I like these two verses where
the Lord says, some make a difference, others snatch them out of the
fire. You know, wisdom and compassion adjust its approach to the needs
of the person it's dealing with. It doesn't just insist on having
to be the same way all the time. Well, that's just the way I am,
you know. A wise parent deals with each one of his children
differently, depending on where that child is. And we don't insist
on, well, this is my way, this is my approach, this is the way
I do things, and you're just going to have to take it. No,
we be discerning and compassionate and helpful towards people. He that is able to keep you from
falling and present you faultless. faultless, perfect, perfectly
righteous, holy. To Him, the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and forever. Amen. So be it. So be it. I think most of you all know
Trisha's stepfather passed away Sunday afternoon and she's there
with her mother. The funeral is tomorrow, so perhaps
there's some people that are watching online that don't know
that, but. Appreciate your prayers for her. She'll be back. Before Sunday,
so. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father, We thank you that you do keep
us from falling and that you present us faultless. In the person of thy dear son,
we are presented before your throne of grace, perfectly righteous
in him. Lord, we pray that you would
build us up in the most holy faith and cause us to look to
Christ for all our righteousness, all our salvation, all our wisdom.
All our justification and the hope of all of our glorification.
Would be found in him. We pray that you would cause
him to be lifted up now as we open your word. We pray that
you would open our hearts, open our eyes, enable us to see thy
dear son, to love him, and to rest in him. And Father, we do
pray for Tricia and for her mother and the family that are grieving
the loss of Jim. And Lord, we pray that you would
use this for your glory. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Let's sing hymn number 235 from
the hardbacked hymnal, 235, Pass Me Not, and let's all stand together. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Let me at the throne of mercy
find a sweet relief. Kneeling there in deep contrition,
help my unbelief. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Trusting only in thy merit would
I seek thy face. Heal my wounded, broken spirit. Save me by thy grace. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me. Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in heaven but Thee? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 78? Psalm 78. We looked at the first
eight verses Sunday morning, and I'd like for us to begin
tonight at verse 9. Psalm 78 verse 9 and I've titled
this message Lord keep me keep me the Lord instructs his people
and warns them of apostasy falling away and as we read this recount
in Psalm 78 of the children of Israel in the wilderness and
how rebellious they were and how unbelieving they were. Every
child of God sees the seeds of that in their own lives. And
so I read, I always read a few men that I respect on passages,
scriptures, and I found a lot of wasted time trying to figure
out which exact battle was being referred to here historically
in the lives of the children of Israel. And finally just quit
reading and came to realize this is the battle of the spirit and
the flesh. This is the battle that every
believer experiences in this walk of faith. And so, Ephraim often is used
to speak of all of Israel. And I'm sure that's the meaning
here. I don't know which battle exactly
Asaph is thinking about when he makes mention of this, but
I am sure that the Holy Spirit would speak to each of our hearts
with the battles that we're most familiar with. And that's a spiritual
struggle, though we're in the flesh, the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. They're spiritual. We're fighting spiritual powers
and principalities in high places. Notice in verse 9, the children
of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows, they were armed with the
weapons of warfare. As are we. We are armed with
the word of God. We are armed with the spirit
of God. We're armed with the truth. We're armed with the fellowship
of the saints and the encouragement that we have. These children
of Israel were given the weapons necessary to fight against the
enemy, as are we. They turned back. in the day
of battle. They became afraid. They turned
back. They fled from the enemy. They kept not the covenant of
God. They forgot the promises of God.
They didn't believe the covenant promises that God had made. In
the covenant of grace, they kept not the covenant of God and refused
to walk in His law. They refused to believe Him.
They refused to honor Him and forgot His works. They forgot
what He had done. Now, the rest of this Psalm speaks
of his works and how he delivered them from Egypt and brought them
through the Red Sea and fed them with angels food. The scripture
refers to that manna that came from heaven and the water that
came from the rock. And now they go up against an
enemy and they've got all this weaponry, but they forget what
God has done. and they deny Christ. And consequently they fall and
they die in the wilderness. Now, why does the Lord, and he
does, we're gonna look at a couple of different passages. Why does
the Lord warn against apostasy? Is it to point out the apostate? that those of us who have not
fallen away might feel better about ourselves? No. No. That's self-righteousness, isn't
it? Is it a way of manipulating people's
lives by suggesting that if they don't do right, God will cut
them off? No. That's putting men under
the law. Why is it? It is to say to everyone
that holds themselves suspect. It is to say to everyone who
holds themselves suspect, trust the Lord now more than ever before. Others have seen the things that
you've seen. Others have heard the things
that you have heard. They've confessed the things
that you've confessed. But their experiences and their
knowledge did not keep them. They fell away. Men in religion love to use characters in the scriptures
for examples to follow. We know that the good things
that are seen in the lives of men and women in the scriptures
point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one we follow. Nevertheless,
the Lord does use the negative examples of characters in the
scriptures to warn us, to warn us. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians,
1 Corinthians chapter 10. The Lord is very clear on why
he's given us this account of the Israelites who saw the acts
of God, they heard the covenant, they were there at Mount Sinai,
they saw the dividing of the Red Sea, they saw the 10 plagues
come against Egypt, they saw the destruction of the Egyptians,
and they forgot the works of God, and they drew back from
the battle and they died in the wilderness in unbelief. Why does
the Lord give us these examples? Well, look at verse one of 1
Corinthians chapter 10. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under
the cloud and they all passed through the sea and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat
the same spiritual meat. Now, here's the Lord saying to
the New Testament church, He's saying, those, those, that Old
Testament church, they, they heard the same gospel you heard.
That, that cloud was Christ. That, that, that Red Sea was
baptism. They all passed through those
things. They, they saw the same things you see. They, they, they
heard the same message you heard. They ate the same food. And they all drank the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. So they were drinking physically
from that which typified the Lord Jesus Christ. But with many of them, God was
not well pleased. God's either well-pleased with
you or He's not well-pleased with you. If He's well-pleased
with you, it's not because of anything you've done, it's because
He sees you in Christ. With many of them, God was not
well-pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these
things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters
as some of them. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in
one day, three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as
some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither
murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of
the destroyer. Now all these things happened
unto them for example, And they are written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come. So these things are
written for our encouragement. Lord, better men than I have
fallen, they saw things that were inexplicable. I mean, the
Lord's talking about people who walked across the Red Sea on
dry ground. He's talking about people who
saw the mountain of the law and feared, saw it shake. They saw
Moses go up on that mountain and come back and had to cover
his face for the reflection of God's glory was so great that
they couldn't look upon him. They ate of that manna that fell
from heaven. They saw Moses strike the rock
and the water came forth and they drank of that water. They
saw the quails come. All these things are described
in Psalm 70. They saw things physically that we see spiritually, don't
we? But the physical manifestation
of these things wasn't sufficient to keep them. They didn't see
the meaning of these things. Wherefore, verse 12, let him
that thinketh that he standeth take heed lest he fall. Oh, what's God saying to his
children? Don't say I'm not going to do
that. Don't think that you're above.
You have more need for God's grace now than you've ever had
in your whole life. And the more you grow in grace
and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more you'll
need him. And the more you'll see of your own weakness and
frailty, and the more suspicious you'll be of yourself. Look at verse 13, there hath
no temptation, no trial, no trusting taken you, but such as is taken
to all men. Others have gone through the
same things you're going through, but God is faithful. He's faithful. There's your hope.
Your hope is in His faithfulness. Lord, I need your faithfulness.
Lord, keep me. Keep me. I'll do what those children
of Israel did. I'm doing it in my heart right
now. Lord, if you don't keep me, I'll
fall. If you don't present me faultless, I'm being tempted
just like they were. God is faithful, and he will
not suffer to be tempted above that which you are able, but
will provide. Lord, provide for me. Provide
for me that way of escape. Provide for me the Lord Jesus
Christ. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge ye what I say. God speaking
to wise men. Wise men are men that know that,
Lord, teach me to know my end and how frail I am. Lord, keep
me. What's the Lord saying? He's
saying what He says all the time. Believe me, trust me, rely upon
me, rest in me. You can't do this. Others have
fallen and you will fall too. And I'm exposing their failures
in order to show you your need for me. And that's a good place
to be, isn't it? That's a good place to be. The reason the Lord warns us
against apostasy is to say to everyone who holds themselves
suspect, trust God more now than you've ever trusted him before.
Others have seen the things you've seen and they drew back. They drew back. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. We'll begin reading at verse
19, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. Oh, we have confidence in the,
the, the result of his shed blood.
God saw his blood, and God was satisfied with his blood, and
his blood's been put on the mercy seat. And God said, where that
blood is on the mercy seat, that's where I'm going to meet with
you. And so the Lord says, enter in with confidence, knowing that
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has been put on that mercy seat
by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh. Here's our hope. When that veil was rent, it was
the same moment that his flesh was rent, wasn't it? And the Lord says, come. The
spirit and the bride say, come. Come. It's been consecrated. It's been
made holy. You've been made perfect through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith is to
have the full assurance of his faithfulness. That's what faith
is. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. It's the evidence of things not seen. It's believing
that he was faithful and I can go before God based on what he's
accomplished for me. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience. Oh, how, how our conscience smites
us. Doesn't it? We, you know, your
own heart, you, I know my own heart. We, the, the thoughts
that we have, the feelings that we have, the ideas that we entertain,
the unbelief that remains in our corrupted flesh. We need
that sprinkle, don't we? I need to have a pure conscience
before God. I need to know that that sin's
been put away. And our bodies washed with pure
water. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised. That's the confession of our
faith. The confession of our faith is that it's finished.
The confession of our faith is that God saw the travail of his
soul and God was satisfied. The confession of our faith is
that the promises of God were fulfilled in the sacrifice that
Christ made on Calvary's cross and the covenant was made sure
and fast. His faithfulness is the profession
of our faith. And let us consider one another
to provoke one another unto love and to good works. This is why
we do. This is what the Lord's encouraging
us to provoke one another. How do we provoke one another
to how do you, how do you provoke me to love you? Well, you love
me. It's kind of hard to not love.
Somebody loves you in it. How do you provoke somebody to
good works? Well, you do good works for them. And it makes
them want to do good works back for you. That's how you provoke
one another for love and for good works. Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but
exhorting one another, encouraging one another, and so much more
as you see the day approaching. The day's approaching. Very soon. God give us the, the grace and the desire to provoke
one another to love and good works and assemble ourselves
together for the salvation of our, for if we sin willfully,
now every sin that we've ever committed is willful sin. But
here he's talking about apostasy. He's talking about the blaspheming
of the Holy Spirit. He's talking about, he's talking
about that sin that Paul, that John speaks of in first John
chapter five. He said, there's a sin unto death.
I do not say that you should pray for that. What is that? It's one, he's talking about
the Israelites. It goes right back to Psalm 78.
They had the weapons. They were put in the battle.
They forgot the works of God. They drew back and they didn't
believe the covenant anymore. So what the Lord's saying, if
you have heard the gospel, and said that you believe the gospel
and now you've gone back to another gospel? A works gospel? And you've spoken against the
gospel of truth? I was talking to a brother just
recently and a man that had left his church, gospel church, went to another church and was
rebaptized in a church that wasn't a gospel church. just happen and what was he say
well you had to be baptized or be a part of that church baptism
says two things baptism says I'm renouncing everything that
I ever believed before and I'm confessing this as the hope of
my salvation and all that man did was renounce the gospel and
confess a false gospel That's who the Lord's talking about
here. You say, if you sin willfully, you draw back? You get out of the... And let
me ask you this. Why would a person fall away from the gospel? Why would they fall away? You
say, well, they never believed. And that's true. That's true. If a person can fall away, eventually
they will. They never really believed the
gospel. The Lord makes that clear. If
they had believed what they said they believed, they never would
have left. But the will is involved in the
falling away. Now, no man can will himself
to be saved. The will is not free in terms
of choosing God. We've got to be made willing
in the day of his power. We've got to be given a new heart,
regeneration, the new birth must precede faith. We come willingly,
but only after he gives us a new nature. We're not gonna be saved
by a free will. The gospel, however, the reason why a person
falls away is because the gospel was in the way of something else
that they wanted more. Their will was exposed for what
it was. That's the reason men fall away.
What are the three things? What's the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and pride of life? What is the fruit that
was pleasing to the eyes and good to the taste and able to
make one wise? What is it? It's pleasure, popularity,
and power. And every person I've ever seen
fall away from the gospel. Chose one of those three things
over the gospel. The gospel was in the way of
my friendships. with other men. The gospel was
in the way of a sinful pleasure that I wanted to indulge myself
in or the gospel was in the way in that it stripped me of my
power to choose the way I want to go. Pleasure, popularity,
and power, the will cannot save a man but the will will drive
a man away from the gospel. And that's why men forsake the
gospel. And every child of God knows
that they have a desire for pleasure. They have a desire for popularity
and they have a desire for power. And Lord, if you don't restrain
the evil that's in my heart, I'll choose those things over
the gospel. That's why, that's what this
is all about. It's the Lord saying to his children,
Others have fallen. You need me now more than you've
ever needed me before. Go back with me to, um, Psalm
78, the children of Ephraim. It's the old Testament church.
These things were given to you as examples. If you sin willfully
after... We never did finish that passage
in Hebrews chapter 10. Go back with me there for just
a moment. This is the willful forsaking of the gospel. Verse
26, for if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. There's
no other place to go to have your sins put away other than
Christ. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised
Moses law. died without mercy under two
or three witnesses. How much sore punishment suppose
ye shall be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son
of God and that counted the blood of the covenant whereby he was
sanctified. Now, was he actually sanctified?
Well, God sanctifies you, he sets you apart, you're sanctified.
No, but he claimed it to be his sanctification. And now he's saying it's an unholy
thing. and he's done despite to the
spirit of grace for we know him that has said then just belong
to me I will recompensate the Lord and again the Lord shall
judge his people. Now skip it down to the last
verse of this chapter. Or next to the last verse. Now
the just shall live by faith. What is faith? What is faith? It's the confession of your weakness
It's the, it's dependence, isn't it? It's the, it's the spirit
of a little child who cannot do anything without the help
of his, lest she becomes a little child, she's not in the kingdom
of heaven. It's, faith is not some sort of, you know, personal
inner strength. It's, it's, it's dependence upon
Christ. Lord, these people saw things
that were amazing, and they fell away, and others have fallen
away. Lord, keep me, keep me. Enable me to walk this life of
faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him, but we are not of them who
draw back unto perdition. I love the way the Lord brings
us all back. He says, you're, you're not going to, you're not
going to fall back. I'm not going to let you fall back, but you're, you're
not falling back is going to be part of your fear of falling back. We are not of them who draw back
under perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
our soul. Oh Lord, I want to believe to
the end. The only sure evidence of salvation
is believing to the end. That's it. Lord, keep me. Lord, keep me. You take your
hand off of me, I'll do what they did. Thousands have done
it. Alright, now go back with me
to Psalm 78. The children of Ephraim, verse 9, being armed
and carrying bows, oh, they had the scriptures. They had the
weapons of warfare. They turned back in the day of
battle. They chose to forget the covenant
of grace. They chose to trample underfoot
the blood of Christ. They chose to call the covenant
of grace a common thing. Why? because they wanted pleasure,
popularity, or power over obedience, over faith. They kept not the
covenant of God and refused to walk in his law and forget his
works and his wonders that he had showed them. Marvelous things
did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt
in the field of Zoan. Zoan is where Pharaoh lived.
And the reference here is to those 10 plagues that God brought
to the Egyptians and how he made a difference between the Egyptians
and the Israelites in all those plagues. And I brought the children
of Israel out of Egypt. He divided the sea and caused
them to pass through. And he made the waters to stand
as a heap. In the daytime also he led them
with a cloud and all that night with a light of fire. He claved
the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink out of the great
depths. He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters
to run down like rivers. But those experiences and that
knowledge of the power of God was not sufficient to save them.
What is sufficient to save us? It's God's grace in revealing
to us the glory of Christ in those things. Christ is that
rock. He's the one that was smitten
with the law. That red sea, there's a picture of our baptism. Egypt,
the taskmasters, that's the legalism of religion that God's delivered
us from. The angel food that came down
from heaven, the bread of life, Christ made it clear. Moses didn't
give you that bread. My father gave you that bread.
I am the bread of life. He's the manna that came from
heaven. Verse 17, in spite of all these
things that God did, they sinned yet more against him by provoking
the most high in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their
heart by asking for meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God. They said, can God furnish a
table in the wilderness? Can God provide you with everything
you need in this wilderness? Can he? Yeah. What does unbelief do? Well,
God's not meeting my needs. I've got a need for more pleasure.
I've got a need for more popularity. I've got a need for more power
and God's not meeting and I'm going to forsake the gospel in
order to pursue those earthly things. That's exactly what they
did. They did not believe God. Behold, he smote the rock that
the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can he give
bread also? Can he provide flesh for his
people? Oh, yes. Yes. Your heavenly father
knows what your need is. Consider the lilies of the field.
Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed as one of them. How
much more your heavenly father cares for you? Birds of the air,
they don't spin. They don't fret. Your father
feeds them. Is he able? Yes. Lord, I need you to feed
my soul. I need you to provide for my
daily needs in this world. confident that you will. I need
you to forgive me of my sin. I need you to give me hope in
Christ. I need you to keep me from falling and present me faultless
before the throne of God with great joy. Lord, I'm in need
of a savior. And Lord, I know you're able
to save to the uttermost. What's the Lord saying to us? What's he saying? Trust God more
now than you ever had before. You need him more now than you've
ever needed him before. Others have fallen. Others have
fallen. They've seen the works of God.
They drew back. Lord, I I'm dependent upon you. Our merciful Heavenly Father, We ask that you would make these things an example
to us and cause us, Lord, to confess our weakness and our
dependence and our reliance upon the faithfulness and the accomplishments
of thy dear son for all the hope of our salvation. Lord, keep
us. from falling and present us faultless
before thy throne with much joy. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 11, let's stand together,
number 11. With broken heart and contrite
side, A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry, Thy pardoning grace is
rich and free. O God, be merciful to me. ? I smite upon my troubled breast
? ? With deep and conscious guilt oppressed ? ? Christ and his
cross my only plea ? ? O God be merciful to me ? No works
nor deeds that I have done can for a single sin atone. To Christ the Lord alone I flee. O God, be merciful to me. ? And when redeemed from sin and
hell ? ? With all the ransomed throng I dwell ? ? My raptured
song shall ever be ? ? God has been merciful to me ? Hi Gabriel, how you doing?