Let's just go ahead and pick
up right where we left off. The Lord had given instruction
in verses 1 and 2 and now in verse 3 He says, Remember therefore
how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch,
I will come on thee as a thief, thou shalt not know what hour
I will come upon thee. Remember how thou hast received. Remember that it was by God-given
faith. Remember it wasn't you yourself
that initiated the hearing. The Lord gives his people ears
to hear, eyes to see, heart to know. Remember how thou hast
received and heard. Remember how you heard it and
remember too what you've heard. Remember that glorious gospel. The gospel electing grace. That God chose. That song we
just sang. Lord, if I loved you, you had
to have loved me first. I wouldn't have loved you. Lord,
but that you chose to show mercy to me. Chose me in Christ. Elected me. Predestinated me
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to yourself. Remember what you've heard too
concerning redeeming grace. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ
laid down His life for the sheep. You know what that says to me?
There was no blood wasted at Calvary. There was no blood shed
in vain. If His blood was shed for everybody
and somebody goes to hell, if He's paid the debt for everybody,
as men falsely say. If he's paid everybody's debt
and one person goes to hell, then he's a failure. He's a failure. Oh no, oh no. The scripture says
he shall not fail. He shall not be discouraged. Remember that quickening grace.
That all that the Father chose and the Son redeemed, the Spirit
of God is going to come. Remember how you received and
heard. And hold fast. Hold fast to the
truth of the Gospel. Watch over. Keep. Give heed to. Make much of. Only a possessor
of the truth. is encouraged to hold fast to
it. He got to have it. To say hold fast. I mean it's
got to be something that you have. Faith to believe. Hold fast. I know this. Not everybody standing in a pulpit
is preaching the truth. I said this, we considered that
verse the other day. It says, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits to see if they are of God. When he said,
believe not every spirit, and I just kind of summed it up by
saying this, when you hear somebody preach, unless you know exactly
what they're saying, don't believe them. Believe not every spirit,
try it. I've said before, somebody tells
me that they're a preacher and this is just me, but you're guilty
until proven innocent. Why? Because there's many false
prophets gone into the world. But when I hear the glorious
gospel of God's grace, when I hear Christ being honored, when I
don't hear any glory given to man, then I say, you know what,
I can enter into that. Hold fast. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
5.24, hold fast that which is good. Hebrews 4.14, seeing then
that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus Christ the Son of God. Let us hold fast on profession. Hold fast our profession. profession. How? How? I mean, you think about
that. Hold fast. How? How do you hold? What? By making
much of the means of God's grace. By making much of hearing the
gospel. I cannot say that enough for
myself or to you. Make much of hearing the gospel. When God Almighty gives us opportunity
to assemble ourselves together. Make much. Priority. Priority
one. What are you going to do? I'm glad they said to me, let's
go to the house of the Lord, where God's raised up the truth.
Let's hear what God has to say. The Lord may be pleased to say
something to me. Make much of hearing the gospel.
Be much in prayer. When you pray, the Lord said.
When you pray. Get off by yourself. Get into
your closet. Pray to your Father in secret.
The Father that hears in secret, He's going to reward you openly.
How? In whatever way He's pleased
to do so. Study the Scriptures. Make much
of reading the Word of God. Read the Word of God. Take what
I'm saying. This is what they did at Berea. They search the scriptures to
find out if these things are so. If I tell you this is what
that word, you know, means right there, get a concordant. Get
you a strong concordant. Go look it up. Don't believe me just because
I said that. Look it up. Find out if these things are
so. Hold fast and repent. Repent of what? Of our negligence
to hold fast. because there's not one of us
here that's not guilty. We don't pray as we ought. We
don't study as we ought. We don't hear as we ought. I
know for a fact, even as I'm preaching, I find my own mind. Now this is amazing to me, how
I can catch myself. I've got a set of notes right
here. And I'm looking at them, and I catch my mind wandering. And I know it must be the same
with you. How many times, how negligent
we hear. All like that. Lord, forgive
me, repent of our negligence. The Lord says, if therefore thou
shalt not watch, Not going to be careful. I will come unto thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come unto thee. If there's negligence found,
and there is. Let me just say it like this.
Since there's negligence found, Because as I said, there's no
one here that's not guilty. We're all guilty. Here the Lord
promises that He will come in a way of chastisement, not in
judgment. God, the Lord Jesus Christ has
borne the judgment of His people. He said, I'm going to come to
you. Let me tell you one of the first that I'm aware of. One of the first lines of chastisement,
right here. We read this, and the Spirit
of God chastens us with it, spanks us with the Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and it's profitable for rebuke, for correction in righteousness. The Word of God is sharper than
any two-edged sword. It cuts, and a believer hears
it, and they say, That's me, that's me. But these loving chastisements. He chastens his children, especially
his watchman. Watchman is called to be faithful. I desire that, desire to be faithful
to hear. I want to be desiring faithful
to hear to preach the gospel. I want to hear the Word of God
and to make my calling and election sure. Hold your place right there.
Just turn to 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Now here's the Apostle Paul.
You read Paul as he wrote, 1 Corinthians 9 verse 26-27. Listen to the
honesty of this believer. Let me ask you this, can you
enter into this, 1 Corinthians 9 verse 26-27, I therefore so
run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the
air, but I keep under my body Bring it into subjection, lest
that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway, a reprobate. One that did not stand the test,
that's what it means. A mind, a reprobate mind that
God must reject. A believer is one who is aware
of the presence of sin. And he's one that does not excuse
his sin. He does not excuse his frailty
and his inconsistency. A believer will not excuse himself. He's going to admit what he is.
I know this. The more the Lord is pleased
to show us us, the more beautiful grace appears. You take the backdrop
of the blackness of what we are by nature and the presence of
sin, we know that's there. And oh, how beautiful is mercy. Mercy, compassion. If I think
I earned it or did something for it, it's not that beautiful.
But oh, I'm telling you, if I'm incapable, and I know I am, How
wonderful. Verse 4, Thou hast a few names,
even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they
shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Here's a revelation. There's a few names, he said.
Oh Lord, may I be found in that number. Lord, may I be found
in that number. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord,
you said, he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Lord,
I want to come. I want to cast myself on your
mercy. I know that that's my only hope. I know that. There's a few names. Thou hast a few names, even in
Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, that has not
laid claim to have something that they've done to earn their
righteousness. That's what He said. There's
some that'll admit, I am what I am by the grace of God. My
only righteousness before God is that He died for me, put away
my sin, and robed me in His obedience as a man. What He earned, His
righteousness before God as a man. That perfect righteousness that
He earned as the Son of Man. God, Man, Mediator. Robed in His righteousness. That's
the only righteousness that God accepts. This is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. There's some, a few, even in
Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. Not that we can
defile the righteousness of God. He's not saying that. But what
he's saying is, that which they claim to have, righteousness
before God, they know that it is not of themselves. It's not of themselves. They
know that. They've not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in
white, for they are worthy. They shall walk with me in my
righteousness, in the righteousness of the saints, the imputed righteousness
of Christ that clothes them. Found in him, robe him, cover
me, Lord, in your holiness, in your righteousness, in your obedience,
And the scripture says the reason that they shall be found walking
with him because they're worthy. Worthy. In themselves? Oh no. Oh no. Not in myself. But I'll tell
you why they're worthy. Ephesians 1 6. They're accepted
in the beloved. Accepted in The Beloved. How accepted are they? 1 John 4, 17. Herein is our love
made perfect. Now listen to this. Herein is
our love for Him. Herein is our love made perfect. that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. They're worthy. Not anything
they've done, but they have been accepted in Christ. Worthy. Let me ask you this. Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And being
found in Him, robed in Him, kept in Him, chosen in Him, redeemed
by Him, as He is, as He is, and the fullness of that, as He is,
so are we in this world. Oh, by nature, we would dread
the presence of God. He's a consuming fire. Why? Because we are sinners. But a
believer doesn't fear death, being found in Christ. We approach
Almighty God, we approach death in confidence that God, for Christ's
sake, loves us. We're His children. My kids are my kids. They're
my kids. I may be disappointed in them,
I probably will disappoint them, but I'm still their dad. They're
my kids. We've been adopted into his family. Adopted by Jesus Christ. Cleansed
by his blood. Sin put away and accepted of
the Father. for His sake. Verse 5, He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and
I will not blot out His name out of the book of life, but
I will confess His name before my Father and before His angels. He that overcometh, how do we
overcome? Listen to 1 John 5, verse 4.
Whatsoever is born of God, whoever is regenerated by the grace of
God, whoever is born of God, overcometh the world. Now, that
the world right there is everything that is contrary to Almighty
God. The world. My old corrupt nature. The world. My old man, the world. The wives
of the devil, the world. The cares of this life, the world. The world. Everything that is
contrary to that which is right and holy and pure and good, they're
in the world, they're not of it though. I'm not of the world,
that's what the Lord said. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world. This is the victory. Even our
faith. He that overcometh. How? By believing Christ. By belief. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
his righteousness. White raiment. And I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life. It's there. He said, He that overcometh that
name that has been written from before the foundation of the
world. The book of life. All the names of all the ones
that Almighty God was ever going to save, ever call out of darkness.
Names were written from the foundation of the world. And He said, I'm
not going to blot your name out. If He ever put your name there,
He don't change. He doesn't change. He does not
change. He said, I will not blot out
His name out of the book of life, but I will confess His name before
my Father and before His angels. I will acknowledge. I will proclaim
Him to be mine. This is mine. This is mine. This is my bride. This is my
bride right here. I will confess His name before
my Father. Last verse, Romans 10, 9. Romans
10, 9. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, here you go, and shall believe in thy
heart. Just because a man says something,
A man can say something without faith in his heart. But the Lord
says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead. A. Have him put away your guilt
first. He died under the judgment of
Almighty God on the behalf of his people. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in thine heart that God
has raised him from the dead. Why did he raise him from the
dead? Because he accepted. He accepted what he did. Raised him from the dead. Thou
shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. What
does he mean? I'm confessing that he's my life.
Confessions made unto salvation. He's my hope. He's my peace. He's my righteousness before
God. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches. Lord, help us this day for Christ's
sake. Amen.