Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with a hymn from the hardback hymnal, number
18. Number 18, and let's all stand
together. Now thank we all our God. Number 18. Now thank we all our God with
hearts and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done,
in whom his world rejoices. who from our mother's arms hath
blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours
today. O may this bounteous God through
all our life be near us. with ever joyful hearts and blessed
peace to cheer us and keep us in his grace and guide us when
perplexed and free us from all ills in this world and the next. All praise and thanks to God,
the Father now be given. The Son and Him who reigns with
them in highest heaven. The one eternal God, whom earth
and heaven adore, for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore. Please be seated. We're going to continue our study
in Hebrews chapter 10, the first hour this morning, Hebrews chapter
10. We had such a wonderful time
in the first half of this chapter, Wednesday night, and I wanted
to continue along those lines. So let's, uh, let's pray together. Ask the Lord to bless his word
to our hearts. Our merciful heavenly father.
We come before Thy throne of grace in the name of Thy dear
Son, thanking You, Lord, that we have an advocate, we have
a Savior who has been our sin-bearer and who has satisfied once and
for all, all the demands of Thy divine justice, putting away
our sin, establish in a righteousness. Oh Lord, we pray that you would
give to us the faith to look unto him, the author and the
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising its shame and is set down at
the right hand of God. We ask it in his name. Amen. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14 says, for by one offering
he hath, past tense, perfected forever them that are sanctified. What a glorious truth there is
in that one verse if the Lord enables us to see the Lord Jesus
Christ having satisfied all the demands of God's justice, all
the demands of His righteousness, and through His death having
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now that word sanctified
means to be made holy. As He is, so are we. All those for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ lived and died are holy before God by the sacrifice that
He made. In verse 18, the Lord says, Now
where remission of these is, where remission of sin is, there
is no more offering for sin. That means we don't add to what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. We don't try to do something
in order to make His offering for sin work for us. Truth is, the Lord did not make
Himself an offering to us. He made Himself an offering to
God. It's not an offering to be accepted
or rejected by us. It was an offering to be accepted
or rejected by God the Father. And God the Father was obligated
to accept the offering that the Lord Jesus Christ made, being
completely satisfied and pleased with everything He did. And so,
the offering's been made, there's no more remission, there's no
more offerings to be made. There's no will, no works, no
special wisdom that we can achieve. It's done. It's finished. What a glorious gospel. What
is there for us to do? To believe. To believe. look what he goes on to say having
therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus we've got we've got confidence now that we can
enter into the very presence of God by the blood that the
Lord Jesus Christ placed on the mercy seat not that mercy now
you know Hebrews is comparing the spiritual covenant to those
physical types and pictures that existed in the Old Testament.
And he goes on to tell us that there is a mercy seat in heaven
not made with hands and that that's where the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ was placed. And it's not a physical thing,
it's a spiritual truth. And the Lord says, here I will
meet with you. When I see the blood, I will
pass by you. Verse 20, by a new and living
way. This word new means freshly slaughtered. And the sacrifice that the Lord
Jesus Christ has made to the father is a fresh offering always
on behalf of his people. It's also fresh to his people.
When we hear the gospel, what a, what a great joy it is to
experience the freshness of the gospel every time we hear it.
not like this is well this is this is you know I already know
that that's that's tell me something new no don't tell me something
new tell me the old old story and might the Spirit of God make
it new and fresh to my heart alright so in verse 22 he says
let us draw near because we have a high priest with full assurance
of faith having our bodies washed with pure water. Verse 23. Now
that's where I want to begin. That's where we left off Wednesday
night. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised. What is the profession of our
faith? What is it that we believe? Well, we believe that We were
born into this world spiritually dead and at enmity with God. We believe that. We believed
that we were unable to do anything to redeem ourselves. We couldn't
see. We couldn't speak. We couldn't
stand. We could not do anything to obligate
God to save us in any way. Spiritually dead in our trespasses
and in our sins. If we were going to be made alive,
God was going to have to do it. And he was gonna have to do it
completely unconditioned on anything that he saw in us. I was talking
to somebody recently, he said, well, you know, predestination
means that God looked down through the quarters of time and he saw
who would choose him, and therefore, because he has omniscience, he
chose them. No. No. Number one, that doesn't
even make sense. And number two, it's not the
way it worked. God chose us in Christ unconditioned
on anything that we ever did. This is our profession. This
is what we believe. Well, we believe in Jesus. Well,
yeah, but this is who He is. This is how He saves. Unconditionally
electing a people according to His own will and purpose before
the foundation of the world. This is what we're holding fast
to. We're not going to compromise that. There's no gospel without
election. There's no gospel without total
depravity. There's no gospel without particular
redemption. We believe that when the Lord
Jesus Christ went to Calvary's cross, that he laid down his
life for the sheep. He didn't die for everybody.
We don't believe that. We don't believe that it was
an offering that he made for everybody. We believe that he
effectually satisfied all the demands of God's justice for
God's elect, particularly redeeming, accomplishing the salvation through
his sacrificial death on Calvary's cross. We just believe that. This is the faith that we're
holding fast to. We can't compromise it. We can't
allow any leaven to come in. A little leaven leaveneth a whole
lump. Now I know people listen to what we believe and they say,
well you're just, you're unloving, you're narrow-minded, you're
not compassionate, you're mean-spirited. I hear all those things. But no, this is the profession
of our faith that we're holding fast to, believing that He is
faithful. And so we can't have a gospel
without acknowledging our total depravity. We can't have a gospel
without acknowledging the fact that God has elected, according
to His own purpose, a particular people before the world began,
unconditioned on anything He saw in them. We can't have a
gospel without limited particular atonement. We can't have a gospel
without that. Otherwise it's just a universal
atonement and there's no good news in that because now I've
got to do something in order to make what Christ offered to
me work. And that's not good news. If
my salvation is determined by anything I do, I find no comfort
in that. no comfort as I'm sure that I
won't be able to do it right there's no gospel no gospel apart
from irresistible grace when the Lord in his time Paul said
when God who separated me from my mother's womb when he was
pleased to call me by his grace this is a when When the Lord
makes His people willing, they come willingly. He takes out
their heart of stone. He puts in a heart of flesh.
He opens the eyes of their understanding. It's a work of grace. It's called
the new birth. It's called regeneration. The
Lord told Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you can't see the kingdom of
God unless you're born again. You've got to be born of the
Spirit. This is the profession that we're holding to, isn't
it? We can't say, well, you know, yeah, God extends His grace and
you can either accept it or reject it. That's not the gospel. That's
not the gospel. Apart from God's grace being
irresistible, there is no gospel. This is the profession of our
faith that we hold to. Apart from the Lord keeping us
and presenting us faultless before God, Apart from Him sanctifying
us and preserving us and protecting us and causing us to continue
to believe, what do we call it? Perseverance of the saints. It would be better to call it
the preservation of the saints. It's the perseverance of the
Spirit that preserves the saints. And what a glorious hope we have
in knowing that, what do we believe? Here's what we believe in short.
Salvation is of the Lord. From election to glorification,
it's all of God. That's what we believe. And that's
what the Lord is saying. Hold fast to the profession of
our faith without wavering. Don't move. Stand fast right
here. Don't allow any any error to
creep in for he is faithful that promised the only way I'm gonna
stand fast the only way I'm not gonna waiver on the gospel is
if he remains faithful to me I can't depend upon me remaining
faithful to him but I can depend upon him remaining faithful to
me And let us consider one another.
Now there's two things that we're going to talk about this in the
second hour. Faith and love. Faith and love. He's talking
about faith now in verse 23. It's the gift of God. And now
he's talking about love for the brethren. Love for God's people.
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. Oh, we encourage one another
to look to Christ. That's what I'm trying to do
right now, to encourage you, encourage me, to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ, to consider one another, to know that we
are members of the same body. We're members of His body, of
His flesh, and of His bone. And every member of your body
is important to you, isn't it? Your little finger hurts, your
toe hurts, your whole body stops and gives attention to it, doesn't
it? And so it ought to be in the body of Christ. Let us consider
one another, to provoke one another, to encourage one another unto
love and good works. Now let me just pause right here
and say, I think that most times believers lose sight of how important
their attendance is in worship to the encouragement of other
believers. I know you're here because you
need to be here. You want to be here. I can't
not come. I've got to hear the gospel.
I've got to be saved. I've got to be comforted. I've
got to find hope. But I want you to know also what
an encouragement it is to your brethren when you're here and
what a discouragement it is whenever you're not. And so he goes on
to say in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves
together. Now I'm not, I'm not here to try to put shame on folks
for, for not coming to services. That's not what he's talking
about here. He's not talking about missing for one reason
or the other. If you, if the Lord has saved
you and he's He's giving you a taste of his grace. You're
going to want a lot more of it because you like that. And this
is where he's pleased to feed his children. So we're not here
to shame people. We're not here to manipulate
people or to browbeat people for not coming. That's not even
what he's talking about here. I know there's times things happen
and not able to be a part of the services. But let's read
it in the entire context of this chapter. not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another and so much more as you see the day approaching.
So here we are, we're to, we're to consider one another, exhort
each other, encourage each other, knowing that your brethren have
the same needs you have. They have exactly the same needs
you have. Same struggles with sin. same problems in this world
the same longing to see Christ it's the and so we're we're in
this together and buddy saying there's some who have forsaken
the assembling of themselves in other words they came they
heard they they made a profession of faith and now they have forsaken
the gospel and what have they done what are they done they've
gone back They've gone back to a false gospel. It happens. It
happens. That's what verse 26 is about.
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Let
me ask you a question. When have you ever sinned unwillfully? Every sin we commit. We do it
willfully, don't we? It's not what he's talking about.
He's talking about after having acknowledged the truth, after
having heard the gospel, after having said those things that
we just went over, what it is we're holding fast to. Yes, that's
what I hold fast to. That's what I believe. And now
going back and embracing a false gospel. That's the forsaking
of yourselves, as the manner of some have been. That's the
willful sinning. You can't say any more. Paul said, I was a blasphemer,
I was an idolater, I was an injurious man, but I did it in ignorance. God has forgiven me. I did it
in ignorance. And when we were engaged in a
false gospel, we did it in ignorance, not knowing the truth. But now
that we've heard the truth and we've said that we believe the
truth, if we go back to the false gospel, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sin. There's no hope for salvation
there. But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. I fear, I don't know how to say
this, except just to say it, but I fear for my own soul that
the lowest place in hell will be for those who have heard and
confessed faith in the gospel and then forsaken the gospel
and gone back to a false gospel. That's what he's talking about
here. And it ought to put the fear of God in each of our hearts. Oh Lord, don't let that happen
to me. Don't let me forsake the assembling
of my soul. Don't let me lose sight of Christ. Take not, David said, take not
thy Holy Spirit from me. And every believer, though we
have confidence in Christ, though we have hope in Christ, we're
not so presumptuous to think that, well, we can just forsake
the assembling of ourselves. We can go all back to a false
gospel and everything will be okay. No, it won't. No, it won't. Verse 28, he that despised Moses'
law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how
much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall be he thought worthy
who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified. Now he's not
saying that he truly was sanctified, but he's saying he gave confession
that he was sanctified by the blood of Christ and now He has
considered it an unholy thing. Now you see that word unholy?
It means common. It means common. It's universal
atonement is what it is. In other words, here's what this
passage is saying. Here's a person who's come and
heard the gospel. Confessed that they believe the
gospel. Understanding, at least being
able to give lip service to the truth of the gospel. The gospel
is contrary to the false gospel in that we know that the blood
of Christ was not common. It was not an offering made common
to all men. It was a particular accomplished
redemption for God's elect people. And now this person forsakes
the assembling of themselves with the church and goes back
to a false gospel that says, oh, God loves everybody. Christ
died for everybody and God wants everybody to be saved. And they've
trodden underfoot the blood of Christ and considered the work
of Christ to be a common thing. That's, that's what he's talking
about here. and he's done despite to the
spirit of grace. This is a... John speaks of a
sin that is unto death and he says, I do not say that you should
pray for that one who has committed a sin unto death. This is what
he's talking about. A person who has forsaken the
gospel and gone back to a false gospel and embraced that and
said, God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. He
said don't even pray for them. It's a sin unto death. There's
no more place for salvation there. And here's the truth, brethren.
If God doesn't keep us, we'll do that. We'll do that. And if we do that,
if we do that, it'll be a sin unto death. for which there is
no redemption and to which the lowest... Do you know how rare
it is to hear the gospel? Do you know how few people have
actually heard the gospel? What the Lord is saying is, I
have given you that rare opportunity to hear the truth You've acknowledged
it, and now you've forsaken it. For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto 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. Lord, judge me in Christ and
keep me in Christ. This is the heart of this passage
and this is what I hope the Lord will bring each of us to confess. But call to remembrance. Why
would we do such a thing? Why would someone do such a thing?
I've seen it happen. I've seen it happen over the
years here. Someone comes, they hear the gospel, they rejoice
in it, they email me, they text me every service after every
message and tell me what a blessing it was to them. And then you
know what happens? Their family begins to blackball
them. Members of their family begin to try to shame them and
draw them back in. And finally, the pressure from
family is so great. that they forsake the assembling
of themselves here and they go back to the false church where
they were and they forget all about what they agreed to here. Call to remembrance the former
days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great
fight of affliction. When you first heard the gospel,
you experienced that, didn't you? You were ostracized by your
family members. You were made fun of. There was
an attempt to bring you back into the fold, wasn't there? It happens to every believer.
And what the Lord's saying is, remember those days. Partly, whilst you were made
a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst
you became companions of them who were so used." In other words,
part of the persecution that you experienced was because of
the confession that you made, and part of the persecution that
you experienced was because of the people that you associated
with. Oh, you belong to that cult. You following that preacher. Isn't it? And the Lord says,
remember what it was like then. And the Lord brought you through
that. And he enabled you to remain
faithful. And you didn't forsake the gospel
then. For you had compassion on me
and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourself that you have been having a better and enduring
substance. You were willing to suffer, knowing
that the sufferings of this world could not be compared to the
glory that shall be revealed in you. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence. This was the confidence the Lord
gave you when He first redeemed you. Don't cast it away. He's
just admonishing us. He's encouraging us. Does the
Lord keep us? Yes, He does keep us. Does he
use the admonishment of his word in order to accomplish that end? Yes. And that's what he's saying. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Oh, what
a reward. Our confidence is in Christ.
And our hope is that it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall see Him
as He is and be made like Him. That's our reward, to be made
like Christ. And the Lord is admonishing His
church to perseverance. Don't be like those who have
forsaken the gospel. Continue in your confidence in
Christ, for you have need of patience. You need patience? Oh, Lord. You see, what God is
admonishing us to do here is to call upon Him for the grace
to persevere. Lord, keep me. Keep me. Don't let me fall away. You have
need of patience that after you have done the will of God. What
is the will of God? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe on Him to the end. That's the will of God.
He's not saying after you've performed your duty of law-keeping. He's saying after you have persevered
and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you might receive the
promise for yet a little while, and He that will come shall come. Oh, we have... We have no understanding of how
brief this life is. I'm just sure of it. You know,
we live by minutes and hours and days and weeks and months,
and we just think time just clicks on. And we're so much like the
five-year-old who's been put in the corner for a timeout. and he's only there for five
minutes, but in his little mind, he thinks he's been sentenced
to a life of solitary confinement. You know, he's just, isn't that
true? Oh, this is just going to last
forever, and it's just a few minutes. And we look at that
little child and we think, well, you know, how immature they are
and how little, God must look at us the same way. You know,
we think, well, we're in solitary confinement for life, you know,
and the Lord's looking at us and thinking, oh, my little child,
you have no idea how brief this life is and how few days you've
got. Lord, give me grace to reckon
my time like you do. for yet a little while. Here's
what God says, just a little while. It's just a little while.
That's what we would say to that little child. You know, it's
just a little while. God says, just a little while, just a few
more days. It's not long. And this is not, this is our
hope, isn't it? This is the believer's hope.
Oh, well, we've got a few more days. For yet a little while,
and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. For the just
shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him." We're going to live out
this life by faith. We walk by faith, we look by
faith, we wait by faith. It's all faith. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, and I love the
way this chapter concludes. Take a moment with me and look
at verse 39. But we are not of them who draw back to perdition. That's reprobate. That's what
that word is. We are not of them who draw back
to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of our
souls. Oh Lord, make me like that. Make
me like that. Alright, let's take a break. Thank you.