Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the book of Hebrews chapter
10. The verse that I'm going to begin
with actually is verse 23, where we read, let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering. And the title of the
message is holding on for life. Holding on for life. Now in this passage, the Holy
Spirit inspired the writer of Hebrews to set forth in one of
the most thorough and beautifully explained ways of the ground,
the basis, the very heart of salvation, which is totally wrapped
up in the glorious person and finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The verses that come before our
text today have established without any doubt what the ground and
the cause of the salvation of a sinner really is. What does it take to save a sinner? What conditions must be met? Who meets those conditions? What
does it take to save me And listen to this now, because this is
the subject for today. What does it take to keep me
saved? Now, that's a very touchy subject
in our day, because there are so many people who call themselves
Christians, who claim that you can be saved, but that it's possible
to lose that salvation. And that is not biblical, that
is not gospel truth. Hear me well on this because
this is so important. The people of God, the true children
of God, truly saved sinners, the Bible teaches, are eternally
saved without any possibility of ever perishing. And we call
that the security of the saved. Some people like the term once
saved, always saved. And I know all the objections.
I preached on that before on this program. And I have in the
book that I wrote called, What is Salvation? I deal with it.
And what is a Christian? That book too. But salvation
is all of grace and it's all conditioned. on what Christ accomplished
as stated in this one verse, and there's several verses here,
but look at verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 10. It's one of my favorite
verses. But it says, for by one offering,
he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, as the surety and substitute
of his people, hath perfected. Now that word perfected means
completed. it means finished it means made
whole that's what it's talking about so by his one offering
he hath perfected forever not temporarily or not with some
possibility but forever them that are sanctified now them
that are sanctified refers to believers true believers now
uh... it refers to the elect of God
those whom God chose before the foundation of the world and gave
to Christ. Even though we fell in Adam and
we're sinners and by nature no different than any other sinner,
by nature, that is as we're naturally born, God chose us. His people
now, I'm talking about believers now, I'm not talking about all
without exception. Them that are sanctified, set
apart. God set them apart in electing
grace before the foundation of the world, gave them to Christ,
placed all the conditions of their salvation upon Him, made
Him their surety. All the debt of their sins were
charged to Christ. And then they were sanctified,
set apart on the cross when Christ died as their substitute. How
do you know if God chose you? How do you know if Christ died
for you? You will, in time, by the power
of the Spirit, be regenerated, born again, and brought to faith
in Christ. That's the evidence of being
sanctified. Look at it again, Hebrews 10,
14, for by one offering, that is, His obedience unto death,
What came out of his obedience unto death? Righteousness. That's
what it takes. That's the condition. I don't
have one and you don't have one. By nature there's none righteous.
No, not one. None that doeth good. But Christ
is the righteousness of his people. As their sins were imputed, charged,
accounted to him, his righteousness has been imputed, charged, accounted
to them. And that's stated all through
the scripture from Genesis to Revelation. So he says, he hath
perfected forever by his one offering, them that are sanctified,
set apart. And so what happens is they are
brought to faith in Christ. This is the witness of the Holy
Spirit, he says. This is the covenant, he says
in verse 15, whereof the Holy Ghost is also a witness to us.
In other words, the Holy Ghost, his office and work in the salvation
of sinners, is to apply spiritual life, in part if you will, spiritual
life, to dead sinners. You hath he quickened, Ephesians
2 verse 1 says, that means made alive who were dead in trespasses
and sins. And his office is to apply what
Christ earned and what Christ established on the cross. See,
the spiritual life of God's people comes from Christ, who is our
life, and it's based upon the righteousness He established.
He paid the debt. He put away sin. That's what
that means. He took away my sins. How did
He take them away? He paid the debt. He satisfied
justice and brought in an everlasting righteousness. that cannot be
changed and cannot be corrupted and cannot be taken away, which
is imputed to all of God's people, a righteousness whereby God can
justify them and still be holy and righteous. God shows love
and mercy and grace based upon the one offering of Christ. So
the Holy Spirit comes in time, brings Christ's sheep, God's
elect, under the preaching of the gospel, And they hear of
him, he gives them ears to hear. My sheep hear my voice, he said. John chapter 10. I know them
and they'll know me, they'll follow me. So that's what happens. And they follow him. Now that
doesn't mean that in life they're not going to have struggles,
they're not going to be tripped up, they're not going to have
problems in their lives. If we're saved, we're still sinners
saved by the grace of God. Life's a struggle. It's a warfare
within, but God will not let us go. Now look at verse 23.
This is what it's saying. We're going to hold on for life,
for dear life. We're going to hold on to Christ.
He says in verse 23, let us hold fast, hold firm. The profession
of our faith without wavering What is the profession of a believer's
faith? You know, most people today,
when you talk about a profession of faith, they go back into their
past when they were kids and went to a revival meeting or
a church camp and they walked an aisle and as they say, give
their heart to Jesus. That's not what he's talking
about here. The profession of a believer's faith has already
been stated out. And it's summarized in that verse
14. For by one offering Christ hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's the profession
of our faith. That's what I profess to you.
I'm professing to you, every time I come on this program,
that my whole salvation, its initial origin, its maintenance,
And its final culmination in glory is all conditioned on Christ. His blood, His righteousness,
His obedience unto death. None of it is conditioned on
me. That's the profession of my faith. Christ is my all. I have no righteousness but Him. And in Him I'm secure. That's
the profession of my faith. It's the gospel profession. I
stand before God whole, not because of anything I've done or anything
I've decided. I stand before God whole, complete,
accepted, based on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, freely
imputed, charged to me. And my friend, I didn't have
anything to do with it. Now that's what I'm saying. That's
the profession of my faith. Now, believing repenting, obeying,
and persevering, holding fast. These are the evidences of what
Christ did on the cross. You understand what I'm saying?
Now this answers the objection that people have to the security
of the believer, the eternal security of the believer. Now
remember what I said in that verse 14. Christ, by His one
offering, perfected forever. And that had nothing to do with
anything done in the sinner or by the sinner. It was his work
alone. So people object and they say,
well if that's true, I'll just go out and sin all I want to.
No, that's not what the Bible teaches. You see, there's the
grace of God that comes by the Lord Jesus Christ forming the
basis, the ground of salvation, His work alone. And then there
is the grace of God in the fruit, the evidence of salvation, which
is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and following Him. So
when he says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith,
he's talking about perseverance. He's talking about persevering
in the Christian life. He's not talking about a person
who looks at it and says, well, I'm just gonna go out and live
like the devil. A person who does that doesn't
know the grace of God, has not experienced the power of salvation. That's a cop-out. But he says,
let us, based upon what Christ accomplished in his great work
of perfecting his people, making them righteous before God, based
on that, motivated not by legalism, not by mercenary promises of
earned reward, but motivated by grace and love and gratitude,
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
And look at the next line in verse 23, Hebrews 10, 23. Here's
the power of it. For he, that is Christ, is faithful,
that promise. There's the foundation of the
perseverance of the saints, of the holding fast. You see, perseverance,
continuing in the faith, holding firm and fast without wavering,
is not within my power. It's not within my goodness,
you see. It's all because of the power
and the goodness of God who preserves me by His grace. Now that's stated
several times in the Bible. But if you go back to Hebrews
chapter 7, he's talking about the high priesthood of Christ
here. And it says in verse 24, this
is Hebrews 7.24, He says, but this man, and man is in italics,
this one, this person, talking about Christ, the God-man, because
he continueth ever. In other words, his priesthood
is forever. His standing as a mediator and
an advocate is forever. He hath an unchangeable priesthood. He's not like those old covenant
priests that changed as men lived and died. He has an unchangeable
priesthood. Can't be changed. That means
the righteousness he established is unchangeable. Can't be changed.
And so he says in verse 25 of Hebrews 7, wherefore, or for
this reason, he, Christ, is able. He is able also to save them
to the uttermost. That is to the nth degree. uttermost
all them that come to Him unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for them." That's why they cannot be ever
be lost again because Christ continues forever. The merits
of His righteousness is forever. He is able. You see, holding
fast, persevering, enduring to the end is not by my power. It's not by my ability. He is
able to keep. Paul said this, wrote this in
2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12. He said, for I know whom
I have believed and am persuaded that He is able To do what? To keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. And that's any day, the day of
trial, the day of testing, Christ is able to keep. In John chapter
10, when he's talking about the good shepherd who gave his life
for the sheep, he said the good shepherd gave his life for the
sheep. And that's the basis of salvation.
And as the result, the fruit, he said, they'll hear my voice
and they'll follow me. and they will never perish. No man, no one, no being is able
to pluck them out of my Father's hand." That's what he said. To
him who is able to keep that which I've committed. So understand
that you see. So he says in verse 24 of Hebrews
10, now look back at that. He says, now, through this, let
us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
In other words, love and good works, that's what believers
are to promote within their fellowship. Not hatred, envy, not evil works. You know, a person who says,
well, if I believed once saved, always saved, I'd just go out
and sin more. Well, verse 24 answers that question. No, consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works. Now, good works cannot save us. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Good works cannot earn God's
favor and blessings. Good works cannot make you righteous
or holy. But the good works themselves
are covered and washed in the blood of Christ, accepted in
Him, and they redound to His glory. That's what Matthew chapter
5 says, you know, when it talks about, let your light so shine
before men, in verse 16, that they may see your good works
and do what? Give you the key to the city,
or applaud you, or give you a trophy? No. Glorify your Father which
is in heaven. And the light there in Matthew
5.16 is not your works. The light there is Christ and
the gospel light that shows that we have no righteousness but
Him. What I want you to know, whatever you see me doing that
you may call good or whatever, that may be an act of obedience,
I want you to know, let the light shine on it. Here's the point.
That does not save me. That does not make me righteous.
That does not earn anything from God. That's to the praise of
the glory of His grace. I have no righteousness but Christ. So he says in verse 24 of Hebrews
10, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. Verse 25, he says, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but
exhorting, encouraging one another so much the more as you see the
day approaching. What day is he talking about?
Well, he's talking about the day of our death, the day of
the second coming of Christ. It's getting nearer and nearer.
The end's coming, folks. It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after that, the judgment. We're gonna have to stand before
God and give an account. Now, what is the account of a
believer? Christ died for me. That's what
Paul wrote in Philippians 3 when he talked about that I may be
found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. We plead
Christ. He took care of my sin debt.
I have his righteousness. That's my account. But understand
the context here. And this is very, very important.
Many of these Hebrew believers, or let's put it this way, Many
of these Hebrew Christian professors had left the faith. They had
totally forsaken the gospel truth. They had totally forsaken the
fellowship of believers, especially in their worship services, the
assembling of themselves together. That's what he's talking about.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. Some had forsaken These worship
services, you know, we talk about people, well, they stopped coming
to church. Well, I don't know what their problem is and I don't
know what that church is preaching. So don't think of it that way.
Think of it this way. Here's a person who claimed at
one time to be a true believer and to believe the true gospel
as it is written and preached in the word of God. And then,
for some reason, they turn away from it completely. They forsake
Christ. And we're going to see what they
do, what the ones he's talking about here, is they have totally
called Christ accursed. Now, why? Because they didn't
want to suffer persecution over the cross. That's what happened. To show up at these worship services
with other believers would bring derision and persecution from
unbelieving Jews. Well, what was their problem?
Well, they were never saved to begin with. We've talked about
that. Over in 1 John 2, in verse 19, he said, they went out from
us. If they had been of us, they would have remained with us,
but they went out from us that it was made manifest that they
never were of us. A person who claims to believe
the truth but then totally forsakes it and turns against it was never
saved to begin with. That's called apostasy. And that's
what he's talking about in verse 26. Now look at that. He says,
For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Now that verse has been abused
so much. If we sin willfully, I've heard
people even say this, they'll say, well, now a Christian can
sin, but they won't sin willfully. Well, that's crazy. That's not
true. What he's talking about is the
sin of apostasy, forsaking Christ. What does he set up? Let us hold
fast, hold on for life. If we forsake Christ, there is
no life. If we sin willfully, that is,
if we forsake the truth, apostatize, turn against Him, after that
we receive the knowledge of the truth, that is, after we've heard
and claim to believe it, there's no more sacrifice for sin. My
friend, if you forsake Christ, there's no sacrifice for sin
for you. Christ is the only surety, the only substitute, the only
sin bearer. And so he says in verse 27, but
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries. In other words, if you don't
have Christ, if you're not washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness, all you have to look forward to is the wrath
of God. Condemnation. Verse 28, he goes
back to the law. The law of Moses, he that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
That's those laws of capital punishment. Verse 29, of how
much sore punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy
who have trodden underfoot. Now this is the sin willfully.
What'd they do? Who have trodden underfoot the
son of God and have counted the blood of the covenant, Christ's
blood, wherewith he was sanctified that set him apart. an unholy
thing, and have done despot or despite unto the Spirit of grace."
That's the sin he's talking about. If you willfully forsake Christ,
you have no hope. You see, he's the only hope for
sinners. In verse 30, he says, for we know him that hath said
vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, save the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. Verse 31, it is a fearful thing
to fall in the hands of the living God. Why is it a fearful thing
to fall in the hands of the living God? Well, who's he talking about? A sinner who appears before God
without Christ. That's a fearful thing. Paul
in 2 Corinthians 5, 10, 11, he calls it the terror of the Lord. My friend, it's not that God
is a bloodthirsty God who takes delight sadistically in condemning
sinners. It's this, he's a just God. Yes,
he is a gracious, loving, and merciful God, but he's also just. And he cannot show love and mercy
and grace to any sinner without justice being satisfied. And
the only one that you're going to find justice satisfied in
is the Lord Jesus Christ, who by his one offering hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. If you don't have Christ, it's
a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God. Therefore,
he says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith. Come
to Christ, believe in him, submit to his righteousness, cling to
him, hold on to him for dear life. And when you stumble, keep
on holding. And you know what? You're going
to find it's not by your power of goodness, for he is faithful
that promised. Christ is the only hope for sinners. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And here's the thing, God is
faithful. He's faithful to damn sinners
who stand before Him without Christ. And He's just and right
to do so. But those who stand before Him
in Christ, He's just to save them and to bless them and to
bring them into His eternal presence. Hold fast, hold on for life because
hold on to Christ. Live life looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of faith. He's the only way, the only one
that can shield a sinner from the wrath of God. And how did
he do it? By his one offering. He took the wrath of God upon
himself as the surety and as the substitute of his people.
And he drank damnation dry so that we who are in Christ, we
don't have to fear God with his legal fear of punishment. Oh,
we respect God. We reverence Him. That kind of
fear, that's a godly fear. But the fear that he's talking
about here is a legal fear of punishment. Well, my friend,
if you don't have Christ, you have every right to fear in that
sense. That's the fear of unbelief.
That's the fear of not standing before God in the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.