We'll turn back to Hebrews chapter
10. This is the message that I first
intended to preach two weeks ago, but then snow and the bout
of illness interfered with that plan. But we're looking at the
last few verses of Hebrews chapter 10 from 32 down to the end. And I've called this message,
Look Back, Look Forward, and Keep Going. By way of introduction,
True believers, all true believers, I believe, have periods of doubt
in the flesh. The spirit of unbelief, the evil
heart of unbelief, rises up to doubt what God has said. Satan
tempts to unbelief and the flesh seeks to take the eyes of the
believer off Christ and look at the things around us that
are physical. And why do I say I believe this is the common
lot of believers in the Psalms, Psalm 73, the Psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a true believer, but
in the flesh he was tempted to look away. He was tempted to
give up, to walk out on the gospel of grace. He says in the first
verse, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are of a pure heart.
But he said, as for me, my feet were almost gone. My feet had
well nigh slipped. Why? Because he became envious
at the wicked. He became envious at their prosperity. He became envious at the fact
that they hadn't gone through all of this religious deprivation
for the sake of the gospel, and yet they seem to die happy and
have all that they wanted, and he was almost just about to walk
out on it all together. He was just about to throw the
towel in and say, what's the point? I might as well go and
be with them. Look at them, they're having
a good time. Why am I afflicting myself with religious deprivation? Why don't I just go and join
them? And he started walking by sight and not by faith. He started looking at things
around him as they appeared to his flesh. And do you know what
he did? He thought to say it, to voice
his opinion. And then he went into the temple.
And then that changed things. He went into the temple, he saw
the gospel of grace. He saw that again, and that changed
his outlook. Did he fall away to perdition?
Because that's what it is at the end of verse 39, who draw
back into perdition. Did he fall away to perdition?
No. God kept him. God chastened him. God gave him a fresh view. Now
these Hebrews were in danger of casting away. Look at verse
35. Cast not away therefore your
confidence which hath great recompense of rule. Paul wouldn't have said
it if he didn't think that they were contemplating it. Cast not
away therefore your confidence. What were they seeking to do?
What were they tempted to do? They believed the gospel of grace.
But being of a Hebrew background, well, what about all of this
temple worship? Wouldn't it be better? You know, we're under
persecution now. Wouldn't it be better if we weren't quite
so distinctive? Wouldn't it be better if we compromised
and went along with these Judaizing believers who said, yes, Christ
is good, but you need temple worship, and you need circumcision,
like the letter to the Galatians. Wouldn't it be better if we went
back, look at the glory that was in the temple. Look at the
vivid pictures of the animals. Surely we need those things again,
don't we? And this is what he's been showing.
No. Christ is absolutely superior to all of that. They were tempted,
we might be tempted, to return to more like a sort of a mainstream
religion so that we have more friends, so that we have more
contacts, so that we have more, I'll put it in inverted commas,
fellowship with them, though can you really have fellowship
with that which isn't the truth? What about us? We're relatively
alone. In the religious world, and I
don't mean the big wide religious world, but I mean the so-called
evangelical, reformed, Calvinistic believing religious world, we're
despised. let's not beat about the bush,
we're despised. We're treated as an utter irrelevance.
We're treated as just so beyond the pale as to not be worth bothering
about. To not even be counted as a bible-believing
church in the area. That's how we're viewed. We're
not even regarded as being fit to be counted a bible-believing
church. That's what that kind of religion
thinks of us. This is what happens when you
stand And that's what happens when you make a stand for the
truth, when you stand out from the rest of the crowd. We've
made a stand for sovereign grace, for the gospel of particular
redemption. You know, that really is the
issue, that Christ died for a specific number of people, that effectual
redemption is only accomplished in that way, that we can have
no true faith-based Christian fellowship, you can be friends
with people, you can be courteous to acquaintances, but you can't
have the fellowship of the gospel with those that regard the redemption
of Christ as a free-for-all that accomplishes nothing in reality.
It's not the truth. It just isn't the truth. And
when you stand for it, You're sidelined. You're treated as
alone. You're tempted in the flesh to
say, shouldn't we compromise and go along with them? Wouldn't
it be easier for us? You see, this was these Hebrews.
Wouldn't it be easier for us if we just went back to some
of the aspects of that temple worship? No. We're isolated. And there may be temptation in
the flesh to go for this so-called fellowship. But no, Paul has
shown that The truth is in Christ alone. In the gospel of his grace
alone. That gospel of particular redemption
alone. It's a privileged position. He's
shown you're in a privileged position. He's shown that we're
in the holiest. In the very holiest, that which
was only pictured by the temple and the high priest and the blood,
we're in the very holiest of all by the blood of an acceptable
sacrifice, which is Christ, by that precious blood. He's shown
the weakness and the inferiority of all of that mosaic worship.
He's shown how much less the blueprint is compared with the
reality, which is Christ, which fulfilled it all. True believers
continue. True believers always do continue,
because God has promised to keep true believers. Those who are
not true will count the blood of the covenant, look it says
it back here, in verse 29, they've counted the blood of the covenant
wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite
unto the spirit of grace. Those who are not true will count
the blood of the covenant an unholy thing in the end. What
is it to count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing? An
unspecial thing. An unseparate thing. Holy Bible? Separate book. Different book. Different from everything else.
Holy blood, separate, special, absolutely unique, different
from anything else. But those who are not true eventually
count the blood of the covenant, the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, as a non-special thing. They count it as a universally
applicable thing, I think is what it's saying. To count the
blood of the covenant as an unholy thing is not to see it as that
which specifically paid the price of the sins of a specific people.
That's to count it an unholy thing. And they will do that,
those who are not true. They will walk out on the truth.
They will look at the numbers around. They will say, oh, it's
getting a bit lonely here. Why don't we go and join with
those? They're not that far away. We can compromise on this point
and on that point. I'm not saying that we need to
be... so narrow that you have such
a limited view that you can't have any conversations with anybody
else. People always have slightly different views of things. There
are great men of the past that we would have good fellowship
with who perhaps would have a different view of the Sabbath day than
we would have of the Sabbath day. And we need not differ because
of that. I'm talking about the applicability
of the blood of Christ, the extent of that blood, what the gospel
really is about. I'm talking about having sin
debt paid, because that's what matters. At the end of this life,
when you enter eternity, that's what matters. Has your sin debt
been paid? Or are you just hoping that you
trusted it enough to make that which is universally applicable
apply to you? Because that doesn't save. It's
ineffectual. The thing about the particular
redemption of Christ is its effectual redemption. But those who are
not true walk out on that. They walk out and revert to religion. And they revert to physical,
fleshly presumption. And what a fearful condition
to end in. Look at verse 39. We are not
of them who draw back to perdition. Perdition? Perdition comes from
the French word to lose, to be lost. to be lost, you draw back
to lostness. Can you envisage entering eternity,
as we all must do one day, entering eternity to enter a lost estate,
a dreadful lost estate, draw back to perdition. But he says,
but not you, not you true believers, he says, no, you don't draw back
to perdition, you believe to the saving of the soul. So the
thing is, how should you stay true to Christ? Last time when
we met, we saw that God is faithful, verse 23. He is faithful that
promised. You know Christ has promised
that he'll never lose any of his people. He's promised that,
and God keeps his promises. Secondly, there's the encouragement
of one another by fellowship, because he says don't forsake
the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is. You need to get together. You need to encourage one another.
You need fellowship. God sets the solitary in families.
Listen to his word preached. Come together. Encourage one
another as you can. So God is faithful, and there's
the encouragement of fellowship as we walk this life. But this
week, as we look at these last few verses, 32 to 39, I want
to do what Paul says here, look back, look forward, and keep
going. So let's look back. First of
all, verse 32, he says this. He tells them to look back. Call
to remembrance the former days in which, after ye were illuminated,
ye endured a great fight of afflictions. Look back. The Christian life
is a journey. It's a journey that you walk.
You walk a journey, and it starts with illumination. What's the
illumination? It's the shining of the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
It's when the Holy Spirit comes and gives life, where there was
nothing but deadness and just flesh. He comes and plants a
new man. the man of the Spirit of God,
that new birth, a man must be born again, and he gives that
new person, who has new senses, spiritual senses, to hear the
things of the Spirit of God, to see the things that the Spirit
of God says. It's illumination. It's in a
dark place, pitch darkness, and the light is switched on. There's
darkness concerning who is God. There's darkness concerning what
is sin, what am I? There's darkness concerning eternity. There's no knowledge and you
look all around us and you see everybody living as if it doesn't
matter. It's because they're in darkness.
They don't see. It's as different as a pitch
dark night and an absolutely glorious morning. It's as different
as this. I remember when we went to Switzerland,
was it? No, it was the year before last, I think. But I remember
when we got there, about 5,000 feet up this mountainside in
a village in a lovely hotel and we go out onto our balcony and
guess how far we could see. If you stretched out your hand
you could barely see your fingertips because it was thick, thick mist.
And you couldn't even see the trees on the other side of the
road as far away as the back of this room is. You just couldn't
see a thing. And it was like that for 36 hours. What on earth have we come all
this way for? It's just white. White in the day and pitch dark
in the night. You might just see the odd little
light in the street below. You couldn't see a thing. It
was such a thick shrouding mist. And then the next morning we
woke up. Wow. just opened those blinds and
opened the door out onto the balcony, and there's the most
magnificent sight. You just cannot describe how
beautiful it was. Clear blue sky, gorgeous green
valley below, lovely snow-capped mountains in front. It was all
there, we just couldn't see it. And that's what it's like with
illumination. When the Spirit of God comes, that which is just... You ask the average man, what
do the things of the Spirit of God mean to you? He says, I can't
receive them. I don't know anything about them.
They'd mean nothing to me whatsoever. But to you who've believed, you
have seen, it's like that sight on that glorious morning. You
see what Christ has done. You see what God has purposed
in eternity. You see where you're going. You
see what really matters in this life. You see all of those things.
Look back at coming from that position of illumination. Think
how glorious it was when you first believed those truths.
You know that you have a high calling of God in Christ, don't
you, if you're true? You know that. You remember the
time when you were babes in Christ, when you desired the sincere
milk of the word that you might grow thereby. That was proof
of a vital relationship with God. And that should go on. It should be your experience
now. Aren't you conscious of God keeping
you now, even despite fleshly weaknesses? We all have fleshly
weaknesses. We have spiritual depression. We have... times when we're physically
low, and that leads us to feel low and depressed in ourselves. And all of those things cause
us, at times, to doubt our position in Christ. But this is the assurance
God gives. In Psalm 37, verse 24, he says,
Though he fall, speaking of one of his people, though he fall
in this life, though he trip up in this life, he shall not
be utterly cast down. for the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand." Think of that. That's the assurance. Believer,
that's the assurance. You're weak in the flesh, but
you won't utterly be cast down. The Lord upholds his people with
his hand. And look again, look back at
this journey. Verse 32, he says, partly, he
says, you endured a great fight of afflictions. Verse 33, partly,
whilst you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and
afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them
that were so used, for ye had compassion of me in my bonds,
and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves
that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Think
back where you've come from, is what he's saying. Think back
to it. Remember the afflictions that
you've been through for the gospel's sake. These people had, these
first century believers, had suffered great persecutions at
the hands of the Roman emperors. Tearing them to pieces in the
Colosseum in Rome became public pastime. It was the great spectator
sport. Taking their goods away from
them, spoiling their goods. treating them with contempt,
not doing business with them, leading them into poverty. They
suffered a great fight of afflictions. Why? Because of what they saw.
You saw these things, didn't you, in the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's saying to them. You saw these things. Why would you cast
away your confidence. Why would you cast away that
which has great recompense of reward? You've seen these things. Wasn't it worth it then? It's
good to look back at where the Lord has brought you. If ever
you think, oh, I've had enough of this, think what it was that
made you stand for the truth. Think what it was that made you
say, I just can't continue with that situation. I have to make
a stand and come out of that situation. I have to do that.
The reason is because of the glory of what you saw. The reason
is because going back to the analogy of the view from the
balcony, you know, it doesn't matter if days become cloudy
again. It doesn't matter if nights become dark at times, you know
what's out there, because you've experienced it. Think back to
those days that you saw that. Think back to the days when you
saw that glory of the gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why
did you endure such a great fight of afflictions, the spoiling
of your goods? Being treated with condemn, this
is one of the reasons why I am persuaded that this epistle was
written by Paul. You had compassion of me in my
bonds. I think that to me, of all the
other things that says this has got the fingerprints of Paul
all over it, I think above all that says to me, yes, it was
written by Paul. He was the one who was in bonds. He speaks of
his bonds in the other epistles. Why did they suffer such things?
Because they counted them, as Paul says elsewhere, as light
afflictions which are but for a moment. That's what Paul says.
The afflictions of this life, light afflictions but for a moment,
compared with the riches that you have in eternity. compared
with that great recompense of reward that you have in eternity. That glory, that bliss. You see,
to die, to be stripped of all your worldly possessions was
a small price to pay in order to continue in Christ. You know,
it was all you have to do to continue in peace and prosperity
is renounce the one thing you know you cannot renounce as a
believer. That's why the covenanters who were put to such torture,
I always mention it, the young lady and the old lady that were
tethered to the stake in the Solway Firth as the freezing
cold tide came in. And all they had to do was renounce
the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of his grace, and they'd
let them go. And that old lady and that young lady together,
they couldn't do it. Why? Because of what they'd seen.
Not the freezing cold water coming in around them. Not that bleak
setting, because I tell you, this time of year with a northwesterly
wind blowing in, it's a bleak setting up there on the Solway
Firth. No. No, they drowned, because they
wouldn't, they couldn't renounce the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because
they'd seen such a great recompense of reward that made it a light
affliction, but for a moment. We might not say so, but it is
a light affliction, but for a moment. So he's saying to them, why would
you return Why would you even contemplate a return to that
mosaic worship now that you've seen the glory of it fulfilled? No. Look back and remember where
you've come from, but then look forward. Look at verse 34. towards the end of it. Knowing
in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance cast not away therefore your confidence which has great
recompense of reward. It's a journey from that enlightenment
but there's an end in view and you're on the way and some of
you are furthering that journey than others but the end is the
same it's that glory of eternity in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
that in heaven that better and enduring substance. You know
that the things that we see, that we think are real, are only
the temporary passing things. And the things that we don't
see that are spiritual, they're the things that are really enduring. Paul said that in Philippians
chapter three, he said, I press toward the mark. for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. How are you living
this life, Paul? I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Heaven is
the end of the journey. Christ is the prize. God himself
as he said to Abraham, is his people's exceeding great reward. This is what's waiting the people
of God, those pictured by Jesus as the sheep on his right hand.
Come ye blessed of my father. Enter in. Enter into the kingdom
that's prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Welcome. There's a voice of welcome, not
a lost eternity, not perdition. There's a welcome, a great recompense
of reward. And how is it accomplished? It's
accomplished by Christ, and in Christ, and not by any works
religion, not by anything you do, not by any associations that
you have, just by Christ and by faith in Him. All that depends
on you, if I can put it this way, is to continue in the assurance
that none of it depends on you. That it's all of the grace of
God. And verse 35, he talks about your confidence. Cast not away,
therefore, your confidence. What is your confidence? If you
have this goal set before you, if this is the end of the journey
to which you're aiming, what's your confidence that it's got
anything to do with you? I mean, are you good enough to
have this confidence? What have you done? Were you
born into the right clan? You know, if you're going to,
if you have your heart set on a stately home, then you better
trace your ancestry and see that there's something in the will
that mentions your name, that you've got some part in it. What
makes you think that you've got some confidence that there's
something for you in eternity? Well, none of it depends on you.
Rather, all of it depends on Christ and the view that the
Spirit of God has given you, of His body broken for you. of
His precious blood, paying your sin debt, to know that your sins
are forgiven, of His resurrection justified, raised again for our
justification. He was raised. Why? Because it was proof that it
was accepted. He was raised. It was proof that we're justified
before the throne of God's justice. justified before him, ascending
to glory as the first fruits. He's gone. We know that we're
going to go there. He's the first one. All others
will go in him. His imputed righteousness. That's
my confidence. I need holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. I better start working for it,
hadn't I? No, that's the very thing you don't do. You trust
Him. For His righteousness is imputed to His people. And it's
a perfect robe of righteousness. It's not many weeks ago that
we saw in Isaiah 61, at the end of it, that He's clothed me with
the garments of salvation. A seamless robe. I don't want
to sew the filthy rags of the patches of my own work onto that.
He is my confidence. Everything that He has done is
my confidence. He's promised to keep me. He's
promised the Holy Spirit to comfort me as I walk this life, as I
continue now on the road from my illumination to the time when
He takes me to be with Him. It's those things that keep me.
The keeping power of the Holy Spirit. It's not what he calls
elsewhere the weak and beggarly elements of the gospel blueprint,
which is what the Hebrews were tempted to go back to. No, look
back, look forward, it's a journey, you walk this life, but now keep
going look at verse 36 you have need of patience that after you
have done the will of God you might receive the promise for
yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will
not tarry now the just shall live by faith but if any man
draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Now, keep
going on this journey. Exercise patience, he says. You're here now. You know what
you've seen. You know where you're going.
It just seems an awful long time sometimes. It just seems as though
nothing is ever going to change. But he says you need patience.
exercise patience, wait. Psalm 37 again, verse 34, wait
on the Lord and keep his way. Often the Psalms say wait on
the Lord. Wait on the Lord and keep his
way. And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the
wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Wait patiently. Have you ever set off with young
children in the car? It's always worse when they get
to about five years old and you're going on a hundred mile journey
and you get two or three miles down the road and the question
starts to come. Are we there yet? You know, impatience. We're like children in the spiritual. Are we there yet? No, we're not.
Wait patiently now. Oh, but it's been such a long...
Wait, wait. Just be patient. Yet a little
while. He says he'll definitely come.
He says his time is fixed. Nothing will delay it, because
it's delayed a lot. No, it's always been fixed. It's
always been fixed where it is. It's just that people have always
thought it should have been sooner, and it hasn't been. because it's
fixed. He will not tarry. You read Habakkuk,
he says he will not tarry, he will come at the right time,
he will come. You know how in the book of Daniel
and the book of Revelation we read of a time, times, and half
a time. A time is a long time and it
goes on and on and on, when's he coming, when's he coming?
Oh, a time. And then you get to the end of that one and it
starts again and it's twice as long as it was before. and it's
still going on and is he ever going to come and then another
time starts and it's oh well he's never ever going to come
and right in the middle of that one he comes time times half
a time he's coming again this is the testimony of scripture
just as it was in the days of Noah Exactly as it was then,
life was going on. They were marrying and giving
in marriage and doing business and everything else. And there
was Noah, at God's command, building an ark, which was the picture
of Christ. And he said, come in, come in, because the judgment
of God is coming. And they all laughed him to scorn
for, what was it, 120 years, something like that. And then
in one day, God brought them into the ark, God shut the door,
and then it rained. And the fountains of the great
deep were broken up, and the earth was flooded. And whatever
uniformitarian geologists might try to tell us, the evidence
of the fact that he did it is everywhere, all around this planet
of ours, everywhere. But anyway, that's a separate
subject. He is coming, and he will come, but now, Have patience. You have need of patience. And
what do you do while you're waiting? While you're waiting, verse 36,
while you're waiting and having patience for God to come in God's
time, you do the will of God. Do the will of God. After you
have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. Do
the will of God now. Jesus, when he went away, In
John 17, he prayed that high priestly prayer for his people.
And he said, I am going out of the world. He said, I will no
longer be with them in the world. He said, but they, his people,
will be in the world. And he prayed to his father,
keep them in the world. Keep them. Keep them safe. Keep
them true. Keep them faithful to the gospel
of grace whilst they live the life that they have to do patiently
walking for chastisement and for every other reason that is
good in the eyes of God for his people. Keep them. Keep them. Don't take them out of the world,
but keep them there and keep them safe and keep them protected
and keep them mine. And so what is it to do the will
of God whilst we wait patiently? What is it? What do you do if
you do the will of God? Here are some things, this isn't
an exhaustive list, but some things for you to think of. You
repent. It's the will of God that you
repent. Keep on repenting. The more we know of what we truly
are as sinners, the more that's doing the will of God, repent,
repent. Know what you really are, repent.
And what goes with repent? Because that's the gift of God,
is repentance. God has granted to the Gentiles
repentance, it says in Acts. That gift of God is the will
of God that we do it, that we repent of our sin, that we rethink
our situation, that we see ourselves in the light of God's holiness
and God's law. and what we're really like and
how just the condemnation of God is. Continue to repent as
you patiently walk this life, but continue to believe. What
is it that we do the will of God? This is the will of God
that you believe on him that he has sent. That is it, that's
the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And it isn't
just a one-off, it's a continue to believe. Go on believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ. You're waking up You're through
the day, you're going to sleep at night. What's the basis of
your confidence? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the will of God, that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. Another thing, forsake
the world. Yes, we have to live in this
world. Yes, the believer is told to pray that God would grant
us our daily bread, the things that we need to live this life.
And he says, He says, take no thought for all of these things,
what you shall eat, or what you shall wear, or wherewithal you
shall be clothed, or all of these. He says, all of these things
do non-believers worry about, and don't they just? Never was
a truer word spoken. Look around, don't they just?
That consumes every waking moment, is how are we going to get the
next good thing? We need things. He provides the
things that we need. He says your father knows you
have need of things and he provides them. He says he gives food to
the sparrows. Don't you think you're of more
value than sparrows? Is he not going to look after you? But
don't be in love with the world. Live in it. enjoy what he gives
you from it. You know, he gives you oil and
wine to make your face shine and wine to lighten your spirit.
You know, all metaphorical about the things of this world that
God gives his people to enjoy. Yes, enjoy those things, but
don't be in love with the world. Don't be seduced by the world.
Don't be enticed by the world. Don't be dragged away by the
world. Think about it. Liberty, and we have liberty
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But think about that liberty
and don't use it as license to live just as the world does.
And then here's another thing, and you might think this is a
bit strange. but leave nominal churches, nominal religious associations. Do you know, you say, what an
obscure thing to say is the will of God, but it is, it's in the
word of God. Paul talks to Timothy about those who have a form of
godliness but deny the power thereof. From such, separate. Come away from them. Don't continue
with them. You can't continue with them
as Christian brethren. He says the same about false
preachers. There are a number of people who say they're believers
and yet they tolerate false preachers. They sit under the sound of false
preachers. And yet, the Spirit says through
Revelation chapter 2, he says to the churches, he says, you've
tried those who say they are apostles. Oh, there are plenty
of them. There's no shortage in the religious world of those
who say they are apostles, and they're not. You found them wanting,
and you've rejected them, and you've come away from their teaching,
and you've got to, that's to do the will of God. That is,
be assured of that, that's what he said. What else is the Lord's
will? To seek his face. How do you
do that? Through his word, by his spirit.
Listening to preaching, reading it for yourself, prayerfully.
Wait at his feet, willing to do whatever he tells you to do,
because he will. He will speak to you, he will
show you in circumstances what to do, he will guide you by his
word, he won't ever tell you to do what his word objects to
or contradicts, but listen to what he says. As you study his
word, as you listen to preaching, apply it to your situation. Wait
at his feet, willing to do what he says. What didn't Mary, the
mother of Jesus, say at the wedding of Cana at Galilee when they'd
run out of wine? And she said to the servants
this, and it's good advice, about Jesus. She said, whatever he
says to you, do it. Whatever he says to you, do it.
This is doing the will of God. Whatever he says to you, do it.
Where you base your life, where you direct your career, your
family, whatever he says to you, do it. He that honors me, him
I will honor, says God. Resist sin. That's the will of
God, that we resist sin. He says, you haven't resisted
unto blood, fighting against temptation, resist sin. If your
eye offend you, pluck it out. I don't mean literally, just
don't look at it, don't go there, don't do those things. And keep
going, keep going. How do you keep going? Verse
38, now the just shall live by faith. How do the just live? By faith, by faith. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 7, we walk, we live this life by faith and not by sight. We're told to walk in the spirit
in Romans 8, not in the flesh. Guided by the spirit, seeing
things that only the spiritually sighted can see. You know that
well-quoted verse, 1 Corinthians 2, 14. The natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to
him. Neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
He doesn't have spiritual discernment. Why? Because he's just the man
in his flesh as he is. You can't persuade flesh to believe
God. It's impossible. Preach the gospel
of God's grace, and trust the Spirit of God to give new life,
because it's only new life that has faith, and only faith can
see the things of the Spirit of God. Don't walk. Don't, as
it were, live life in God now, looking at, touching, feeling
physical things. In the case of the Hebrews, it
was the physical things of blueprint temple worship. But by faith,
what is faith? The sight of the soul. It's that
which the spiritual man sees. The sight of the soul, seeing
the fulfillment of all of those things, and the reality of it
all in Christ. Those who are just, he says,
the just, are you just? If you're in Christ, you're just.
You're justified in him. You're made the righteousness
of God in him. Walk the journey from enlightenment to heaven,
enduring the physical, fleshly trials and opposition because
of what you see by faith that others don't see. The natural
man doesn't see it. What do we see? We see Christ
crucified for us. We see Christ risen for us. We see Christ ascended on high
for us, seated in glory, His work finished, preparing all
things, holding out assurance of heaven. We're not ambling
around in a confused state, you know, like you see a confused
crowd, but we're like purposeful walkers going from one place
to another. We have a specific goal in view
just like the Psalmist in Psalm 73 when he went into the temple
he saw the gospel again in all of its symbology and seeing the
gospel by faith seeing the truth and the light then he says this
about all of those of whom he was envious then knew I their
end then knew I the end of all of these things and that motivated
him to praise God and continue patiently waiting You see, what
we see by faith is the reason that we're motivated to continue
by faith. Now, you might say, well, can
we have some examples of people who've done this? I'm not sure
what you mean. Well, there's a whole chapter
of it coming up, chapter 11, but we'll wait. We're not going
to do that now at this stage. The whole of chapter 11 is examples
of people who waited patiently. On the basis of what they saw,
they walked this life by faith, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of their faith. But any, as we've already seen,
verse 38, any that don't have true faith, that gift of grace,
they don't see. The stony ground into which the
truth of the gospel fell stunts their roots. The thorns grow
up and strangle them. They don't bear fruit. and they
really do draw back to perdition, to lostness. Their feet really
do slip, like the psalmist said his feet had almost slipped.
But not you, not you, not you, verse 39, but we are not of them
who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe. Believe
what? That the Father chose us, that
the Son redeemed us, that the Spirit quickened us. To what
end? To the end that you shall be
saved.