Thank you. You're welcome to do the service
this morning. We invite you to take your hymnal. Turn to hymn number 275. 275, Savior of Sinners. Let's stand as we sing. Christ is the Saviour for me! Now my guilt changes His darkness,
Now I am free! Shedding His love for my ransom,
Christ is the Savior for me. Now I can say I am born again,
happy and just, divine, free. Saved by Thy blessed Redeemer,
this is the Savior for me! Savior of sinners, Savior of
sinners, join me! Letting His blood pour out blessing, Christ is the Savior
for me! Seeking from judgment to flee
Now there is no condemnation This is the Savior for me Savior
of sinners Savior of sinners like me Shedding His love for
our nation This is the Savior for me. Who shall the glory lead on me? Then is the place I shall see. Sing of my soul in thy gladness. This is the Savior for me. Savior of sin. I think you may be seated as
we take our bulletin hymn sung to the tune of Amazing Grace. you To their foe, and sings their
lip, he pleads. Divide again, the poor son of
God, as he provides a friend. And this is done, that I, my
son, Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave We welcome you this morning to
this service on this rather cloudy day. We wait, as the hymn writers
said, for the unclouded day, and we live with prospect toward
that. I was thinking about what Brother
Isaac Watts of many years ago wrote in this hymn, and that
is if you'll read every line in this hymn, it's true according
to the scriptures. It speaks of God's sovereign
control over all things, and especially all things as they
pertain to his people, to his chosen people. This morning as we pray and we're
delighted to have Brother Ron Trish and Ron Trevante Trish
with us this morning and I'll ask him if he would to pray for
us but as we pray let's be sure to remember Ree and Stephanie,
pray for her, Jerry Malpas, Catherine has COVID, I understand, and
there are others that are sick and some that travel. We want to be sure and remember
them all. But before we pray, I want us
to look together in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 for
our reading. Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going
to begin reading at verse 19. And this is where every believer,
every true believer begins. They begin having. Having. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that and let us consider one another to provoke unto love
and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so
much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice or sins. But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignations which shall devour the adversaries. He that despise Bozes law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and done despite unto the Spirit
of grace. For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again the Lord shall judge
his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Father, in the name of your Son,
I bless the Redeemer of an elect people. I bless the Redeemer
in whose name we have gathered here this morning to lift up
hymns, reading of the Word, prayer, In a few minutes, our pastor
is standing and opening your word and proclaiming Christ in
him crucified. This is a blessed day. This is
a blessed privilege. Don't let us take it for granted.
Lord, we are your people. We're adopted into your family.
We thank you for not excluding us. Bless this service this morning. Bless those who've been mentioned
here at this church and this congregation. as those who can't
be here because of illnesses or other means, other ways. And what we pray here, we pray
for every place where your people are gathered in like manner,
where your gospel is proclaimed in truth and in spirit. Let us
leave this place this morning rejoicing as to what we've heard,
knowing that our Lord is seated there beside you with those nail
scars in his hands and his feet, as a reminder that he died and
bled and suffered your hands for the people that you have
chosen and given to him that he has saved. Thank you for your
spirit that revealed all this to us. We give you thanks and
praise in your son's name for his sake, now and forever. Amen. In your hymn books, once again,
342. 342, when this passing world is done. And Brother Tim, if you'll wait on the congregation. When Christmas Eve goes on, When
Christ, our God, made His Son, Can I stand with Christ no more? your life's history. When, Lord, shall I know, may
know, how you then found a child. When I, standing for the throne,
rest in beauty not my own, When I see Thee in the morn, Loving
with unshak'ning heart, Then, Lord, shall I fully know That
Thou didst love on my own. Way down, up from death to free
In a death-loved Savior's side By the Spirit sanctified Teach
me, Lord, how low you show By the love from a child Your death in life's gloomy strife,
But when fear is at its height, Jesus comes and all is bright. Blessed Jesus, give me joy while
we sing, Now let's honor to the year,
Now let's sing Goddard's choirs, He answers Calvary's call. One sat alone, beside the highway
waiting, His eyes were bright, The light he could not see. He clutched his rags and shivered
in the shadows. Then Jesus came and made his
darkness flee. When Moses comes, the tempter's
power is broken. When Jesus comes, the tears of
life go away. He takes the good and fills the
life with glory. For all is changed when Jesus
comes to stay. From home and friends, the evil
spirits drove him. Among the tombs, he dwelt in
misery. He cut himself, as the bondage
posed as death. Then Jesus came, and set the
captive free. When Jesus comes, the tempter's
power is broken. When Jesus comes, the tears are
wiped away. He takes the bone and fills the
life with glory. For all is changed when Jesus
comes to stay. Unclean, unclean, the leper cried
in torment. The deaf, the dumb, in helpless
destiny. The fever, rage, disease, and
good dislike dawn. Then Jesus came and cast out
everything. When Jesus comes, the tempter's
power is broken. When Jesus comes, the tears are
wiped away. He takes a go and fills our life
with glory. For all is changed when Jesus
comes to stay. so So men today have found the Savior
able, They could not conquer passion, lust, and sin. Their broken hearts I left them
sad and lonely. Then Jesus came and dwelt himself
with Jen. When Jesus comes, the tempter's
power is broken. When Jesus comes, the tears will
wipe away. He takes the good and fills our
life with glory. For all is changed when Jesus
comes to stay. returning in your Bibles to Colossians
chapter one. Oh, that him All is changed when Jesus comes to save. And nothing will be changed until he does come. Because he does come in power. Colossians chapter 1. Paul is here writing to the people of God who are in this place that he'd be used of God's Spirit
to write to all true believers, all of God's elect. In that second verse it says,
to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossus. And as he writes, one of the
first things he does is he thanks God for them. He encourages them into faith. You know, only those who have
faith, whom God has given faith, those who are born of God, They're
the only ones that are really encouraged by the Word. They're the only ones that will
be encouraged by what He says. And that's because, as the Scripture
says, the hearing ear is of the Lord. You may hear the words, but you
don't hear the message unless you're born of God. He says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God. That's the only reason he
was. That's the sovereign purpose
of God, the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother. To the
saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossus. I went back this morning to make
sure I knew how to pronounce that. And I went to the trusted internet
and some gave it Coloss and some gave it Colossi. So I'll leave
it to you. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all
the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you
since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in
truth. As ye also learned of Epaphras,
our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit,
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you, and desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that
ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened
with all might according to his glorious power unto all patients
and longsuffering with joyfulness." These are words of exhortation,
encouragement, thanksgiving, praising to God. And He always
brings to our remembrance. He always brings to the remembrance
of those He writes to, what God has done for them. What God has
done for them. I thought about it. Preachers
today tell men what they are to do for God, or they tell Him
what God will do for them if they let Him. But notice what
Paul writes in these verses. Giving thanks unto the Father,
who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. Who does he thank? He thanks
God, who himself hath already past tense made them meet, fit
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. And then
he goes on. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. This is all God. This is all
the things he has done already in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. This does not mean that God just
simply existed before anything else. it means he's the first
cause of all things. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having, already having, made
peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all
things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now have he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. In other words, these believers
were to be reminded and remember of all of these things that God
has done for them in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has delivered
them. He has redeemed them. He has
made peace for them. He has reconciled them. and He has saved them all through
His death on the cross. He presents them as in His flesh,
in His death, to be holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. They are not to strive to be
so, or work to be so, They are to thank God because He in Christ
has already made them so. Made them so. And then He comes to that 23rd
verse. Which so many have denied as
to what He has already said. who have erroneously placed the
doing of all these things on some decision or work that is
to be performed by those who are described in these verses. He says, if you continue in the
faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister." He begins that statement with those three words that men
have taken and run amok with to bring concern and to make
light of what God has already done for them in Christ. He writes,
if you continue. And the first thing I want to
say about this is emphatically, this is not a condition. This if you continue is not a
condition. Somebody once said, I read it
years and years ago, but they said never let what you don't
know or maybe don't understand be the enemy of what you do. Never in scripture make it cast
doubt of that which you know assuredly and which is affirmed
over and over again in the scripture. This is not a condition. Because salvation, redemption,
all these things that he's mentioned here, they are never conditioned
on the sinner. No matter what he means by this. We know that salvation is in
the Scriptures to be all of grace. We know that salvation is in
the Scripture always, totally, entirely in the Savior. Choice, His purpose, that was
before anything done by us. We know that Christ, His work
in coming into this world and doing that life and that death
that He accomplished on the cross, that was all done before faith. We know that the Spirit's work
in quickening us, in giving us new birth, in even giving us
faith, we know that that is prior to any action of man. So we have
to view this text, this verse, this phrase in light of the whole. But rather this continuing is
the effect of God's work of grace. It's not the condition, it's
not the cause, but it is the consequence, the characteristic
that identifies all of God's elect. And one Greek scholar said that
maybe the best way to translate those words there, if you continue,
is simply in light of what he has said before this, to interpret
it in this manner, assuming that. because of all of these things
done for us, because of all God's grace to us, because of what
the Father has done, and the Son has done, and the Spirit
has done, assuming that we'll continue, because God is our
Savior. And it's based on what He has
said prior to that. People love to take a verse out
of context. They like to make a condition.
They like to make God's people worry. They like to make God's
people work. And be concerned always above
that which God has already done for them. But here, this is saying,
assuming that, based on what has been said And that's often
the way it is in scripture. This is the consequence of being
saved. As a matter of fact, whenever
you see something like this in the scripture, and it appears
to be a condition You can surely bet, read in the context and
read properly like it is, it is just simply a consequence
of being saved. Listen to this in John 8. Then
said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. There were actually
many Jews that professed to believe on him, but to those that believed
on him, He said, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples
indeed. Not simply if you said, I like
your sermon, Jesus. I believe what you said and then
turn later on and go about your own way and never hear the word
again. But he said, if you are my disciple,
you'll continue in my word. Romans 8, I mean Romans 11, chapter,
verse 22. Behold, therefore, the goodness
and severity of God on them which fell, but toward thee, goodness, if
thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou shalt be cut off. The people of God, seeing all
the judgments of God, they continue in the grace of God. They acknowledge
the grace of God. Then it's only by the grace of
God that they are what they are. By the grace of God that they're
saved. Whatever comes to or fro with
anybody. Then in 1 Timothy chapter 2,
speaking of the woman. Notwithstanding, she shall be
saved in childbearing if they continue in the faith and charity
and holiness with sobriety. Does that mean that if she will
have a child, she'll be saved? No. That means that women who
have children and women who don't, regardless if they are found
in the faith, and charity and holiness, if they continue believers
of the gospel, that will show and demonstrate that they're
God's elect. Then he says this in 1 John chapter
2. Let that therefore abide in you,
which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have
heard from the beginning, and that's the beginning that you
actually heard the gospel, the truth. If that which ye have
heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall
continue in the Son and in the Father. In other words, these
things, this continuing, is evidence of God's choice, evidence of
Christ's death, evidence of the Spirit's work, whereby we are
identified and made manifest as the children of God. There are many people who emphasize
perseverance, the perseverance of the saints, and we ought rightly
to emphasize it. But God's people persevere because
they are preserved by God. They persevere because they are
the preserved in Christ Jesus. They persevere because they are
kept by the power of God unto that salvation ready to be revealed. They are kept because they are
sealed by the Spirit of God. They continue. But notice what
he says also. He says if they continue in the
faith, in the faith. Now it's real easy to be led
to think that simply means if they continue believing, which
that truly is characteristic of a child of God. But what he
means here is if they continue in the faith, the faith is the
truth of God. The faith of God's elect. Not only does the Bible speak
of faith, which is believing, it speaks of the faith which
is the truth, the gospel. If they continue in the gospel.
If they depart and go to something that's not the gospel. If they
leave and forsake the truth. If they are found in many of
the idolatrous worship and all that's going on in this world.
If they leave the faith, the truth. Oh, I went to church today. That might be to your condemnation. If you didn't go where the truth
was preached. That didn't benefit you one bit. That didn't identify you as a
true Christian. Everybody in our day almost is
a Christian. But do you know in the book of
Acts, in the New Testament, when the word Christian was first
used, it was to identify a people and hold them in contempt. Because they identified with
that man, Christ Jesus, and in identifying with Him, they identified
with His Gospel, with His Word. He said, if you're ashamed of
me and my words, I'll be ashamed of you before my Father and all
the holy angels. If you continue in the faith. When somebody departs from a
gospel preaching group. I'm not like some people. They
automatically say, well, he left, he joined some other group, he
left, he's not good anymore. They automatically condemn that
person. I don't. Because I know that the Lord's
people, they are in this flesh, Nevertheless, they're weak. They
can still be deceived, and they still can be self-deceived. But
if they're His child, He'll bring them back to the truth. But if
they go, and they depart, and they are never brought back to
the truth, they never feel the Spirit bringing them back and
drawing them back to the gospel of Christ. I have no hope for them. I have no hope for them. He says
if you continue in the faith. God said they continue in the
faith. Once that God reveals to them
the truth, to whom shall we go? There's no place else to go but
Christ. There's no place else to go but
His Word, His truth, the truth about Him. And it says here,
continue in the faith grounded and settled. That means on a solid foundation. That means on Christ alone. There's just one foundation. There's just one stone. That
stone that God the Father laid in old eternity. He that believeth
on him shall not be ashamed, shall not be confounded, shall
not be disappointed, shall forever be able to rest, not tossed to and fro by every
wind of doctrine. Paul said that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that ye be rooted and grounded in
love. Peter said, but the God of all
grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, established,
strengthened, settled ye. I'll tell you how you can know
if you're on that one foundation. Is if you can rest. If you can rest. If you're on
a half solid foundation and a half weak and frail foundation and
you're rocking back and forth, you can't rest. But if you're on that one foundation, if you're resting in Christ alone,
if you're resting in what He did and what you're doing or
what you strive to do or all these other things, if you're
on one, He wants His people. It's His purpose that His people
be grounded and settled. on a solid foundation. Does that
mean I know everything, I've studied everything? No. It means
that Christ is my only refuge, my only foundation. It means that I believe that
promise in Luke 6, where he talks about those that build on this
sand and built on an unsure foundation and the wind comes and the storm
comes and the rain comes and washes that foundation. But we
have hope in Christ and in Him alone that we're on that solid
rock. Our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Paul said, therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for ye know as much as your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. I often come to church. I wonder who'll be here. I'm often disappointed. I look
out and I see so-and-so's not there, so-and-so's not there,
or that's an empty pew over there. But I preach. I can be steadfast. I have the
same message. Because I'm on this foundation.
The Lord knows them that are here. He knows. He knows where they are. And He says, and be not moved
away. by false preachers. Somebody
said, asked Brother Richardson one time, said, so and so, they're
going to steal your congregation away. He said, if they can, they
can have them. That's it. You could find something
you like better. Oh yeah. One man told me I'd taken I'd
taken him as far as I could go. I started to say, Amen. I've taken you as far as any
man can take you, if I've taken you to Christ. The last days, he says, will
be characterized by falling away. There'll be people who profess
to believe the truth, There'll be people who identify with the
truth, but they'll be falling away from it. They're not God's
people. They continue steadfastly. Well, they may fall on the rock,
but they'll fall off the rock. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel. What is hope? It's an expectation I'm not talking about hope as
it's used in secular language. I'm talking about hope as it
is in this book. What is hope? You might say that all hope is
an expectancy. But a Bible hope is based on
God. It's based on His purpose. It's based on His power. It's based on His promises. Now, if I promise you a million
dollars tomorrow morning, you might have an expectancy, but
you might better not have hope. Because I don't have the ability. But God has the ability and the
faithfulness to do all that He promised, especially the promises
which are yea and amen in Christ. Someone said one time, God's
promises are better than man's checks, man's catch, the promises. What is the hope of the gospel? Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter
1. And look at the very first verse.
1 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
which is or who is our hope. That's the hope of the gospel. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 26 and 28, he refers
to the hope of Israel. What was the hope of Israel?
The coming Messiah. But Christ is the hope of the
true Israel. The Israel of God. Christ is our hope. He is our only hope. He is all
our hope. And His gospel is a message of
hope. It's the only message of hope
to sinners. There'll be a lot of messages
preached today. There'll be full of a lot of
things. There'll be inspirational. There'll be instructional. There'll be how to live, there'll
be all, but if you're a real sinner, there's just one message
of hope for you, and that's Christ. You say, well, I believe, I'm
trusting Christ, but there are no buts behind it. Christ and
Him crucified. It's the hope of eternal life.
that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. There's no eternal life outside
of Christ. This is the record that God has
given to us, eternal life, and this life is where? It's in His
Son. The Gospel reveals the righteousness
of God, that which He requires, that which He is, and that which
He gives as a gift that is only found in Christ and His work
of righteousness. This is what Paul says, for we
through the Spirit wait for the hope of the righteousness by
faith. Not that we hope one day that
we'll achieve righteousness, You see, it's only through God-given
faith that we receive the only righteousness there is. Because
it's in Christ. We look to Christ as all our
righteousness. We call Him, as Scripture does,
the Lord our righteousness. The hope of the gospel is the
hope of glory. Verse 27 of Colossians 1, To
whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. What does it mean, Christ in
you? Well, some say it means you're going to live like Christ.
I wish. Christ in you, he says, let the
Word dwell in you richly. The Word of Christ is this reference
for Christ in you, the hope of glory. God has revealed by His
Spirit Christ to us and in us enabling us to believe and look
on Christ Himself. Look back at that verse, which
you have heard. I'm so dumb. I'm a repeat offender at numbness. How many times have I turned
on that computer? How many times have I, at the
right time, turned on the cameras and everything? You've seen me
do it. I started this morning, and I
had the preview sign up, But I failed in the first part to
click on the live part. It said, we're coming live. But we weren't until I clicked
on that button. He said, what you heard. So I get all bent out of shape
thinking, oh my, the live stream, I really messed it up. The sound
was going out, but the camera was not. You know what came to my mind?
The person doesn't have to see me to benefit, to believe. For faith comes by what? Hearing. We're supposed to be going all
out now, but if all I had was a sound, that would have been
enough. The Word, the Gospel. Would ye have heard? And look
back at the verses 5 and 6 in chapter 1 of Colossians. For
the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. Where is it? It's in heaven. Why do you have it? God laid
it up. Which ye heard before in the
word of truth the gospel which is come unto you as it is in
all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it does also in you
since the day ye heard. That's actually what it says. and knew the grace of God in
truth. How long have you known of this
hope that's laid up for you in heaven since the first when you
heard and knew the truth of the gospel, the
grace of God? He says, that was preached. Please God,
through the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. We're rebels at heart. We don't
want a man telling us what to do. Telling us what to believe. He sent out those disciples and
he said, at every place. He that hears you, hears me. That's not true of every preacher.
But if he's preaching the gospel, the true gospel, that he lives
all the glory to God, that abases man, that declares God's purpose
from the old eternity, His sovereign free grace, glorifies Christ
and His finished You better hear. How can they hear? How can they
believe except they hear? How can they hear without a preacher?
How can they preach except they be sent? Maybe he's ugly. Maybe he's stammerers
like me. Maybe he's all of the above. But if God has given him the
gospel, He says to every creature, and
that's in all creation. It's all the world as it is in
verse 6, which is come unto you as it is in all the world. All
of creation. Not to every creature in the
creation. Surely we know that can't be
true. But all of creation. And hope is the enjoyment. I tell you, this is a hopeless
society that we live in. When a 10-year-old boy takes
his own life because he's bullied and because adults stood by and
allowed it to happen, so to speak, humanly speaking, this is a hopeless
time. we have hope. And it's hope in
the enjoyment of what God has given us in Christ. Hebrews says, but Christ as a
son over all his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast
the competence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. But there's another side of that. Job says, for what is the hope
of the hypocrite? Though he hath good gain, when
God takes away his soul. I grew up, and I heard people
saying, you know, They were asked, are you a Christian?
Well, I've got a little hope. What good's a little hope if
it's not hope in Christ? What hope, what is the hope of
the hypocrite? Though he hath gain, when God
taketh his soul away. Proverbs. The hope of the righteous
shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. When a wicked man dies, his expectation
shall perish, and the hope of unjust men perisheth. Listen to these blessed prophecies. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all
that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from thee
shall be ridden in the earth, because they have forsaken the
LORD, the fountain of living waters. The Lord also shall roar out
of Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem. You say, I'm listening for that
roar. I'm roaring this morning. That's what he's talking about.
Out of the church, out of Zion, out of Jerusalem is going to
be this cry, this message. And it'll be a roar, not because
the man speaks it, but because it's God's Word. He roars from
heaven, and the heavens and earth shall shake, but the Lord will
be the hope of His people and the strength of the children
of Israel. Hebrews chapter 3, for we are
made partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast into the end, that's not a condition either. Those who hold fast the confidence
by the grace of God, they're the partakers of Christ. You know, we're encouraged to
continue in the faith, and we are assured that all in Christ
surely will. I thought about it. What about
trials, when trials come? When things in God's providence
come, and people say, I used to be a Christian, My wife got
sick and died. You know what believers do when
that happens? It may knock them to their knees. So they continue. If I'm hurt, if I need comfort, Where do I go? I go to the only
source I've ever founded in. And that's in the gospel of Christ. That's in the goodness and grace
of God. That's in the promises. These
trials and afflictions and all to God's people, they don't stop
them. They run them back to Christ.
And they continue. Oh, they may say, I can't go
any farther. I probably said that, probably
said it lots of times, but by God's grace I have. The righteous shall hold on his
way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. It's not if you continue as a
condition. It's your condition as a thing assured that God loves
you, Christ died for you, and the Spirit in you loves you. There are no conditions of salvation. Faith is not a condition. It's
a consequence of being saved. Paul said, if God's done all
these things for you, continue. And God says, my sheep hear my
voice, and they follow me. But if you follow Christ, you'll
have to follow Him all the way to Heaven. That's where He's
at. Father, we thank You this morning
for Your Word. For every precious promise, every declaration of
what You've done, everything about the work of Christ, everything
about your love, everything about your character, we thank you
for it. It's bread for our souls. It's
meat by which we are enabled to carry on. Help us that we
might be of those who continue, those who are steadfast and immovable,
grounded on that one foundation, resting in what we've heard and
been enabled to believe. We thank you and praise you in Christ's
name. Amen.