Bibles and turn with me to the
book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. I'd like to read verses 32 to
34 and then we'll ask our Lord's
blessing. But call to remembrance the former
days in which after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions,
partly whilst ye 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. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you tonight
that we can call on you. And Lord, I realize that this
evening we have the blessed privilege come together and to worship
together the hearing of the preaching of the glorious gospel of God.
Lord, You said that Your Word would
not return unto You void, but that it would accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. Lord, we don't know what to ask
We don't even know how to ask. But Lord, as frail creatures
of the dust, we ask you this evening, have mercy. And Lord, would you bless this
word to the salvation of sinners. And would you call out of darkness,
Lord, those that you've eternally loved. I pray You would have
mercy. Comfort Your people. Help us to hear. Help us to see.
For Christ's sake, Amen. The Apostle, as we looked at
last week, had set forth a warning to those who willfully the hearing
of the gospel of Christ. And when I say the willful forsaking,
that is what the Apostle was talking about in verse 25, not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some
is. That is the absolute leaving
of the Gospel of God. Walking away from it. Just letting
it go. Just walk away and don't look
back. For if we sin willfully, and
that's what he's talking about, willful, I'm not going to hear
that anymore. I'm not going to listen to that
anymore. I'm not going to sit under a message like that anymore
if we willfully sin after that we've received the knowledge
of the truth. And obviously didn't receive
it with a true heart, but received it as a stony ground here, thorny
ground here. Gave an outward acknowledgment
of it. Well, I can see where that makes
sense. I see that. I've actually had
people tell me that. They said, I see what you're
saying. I understand what you're saying. But have no heart for
it. No love for Christ. If they sin
willfully after they've received the knowledge of the truth, there
remains no more sacrifice for sins. But the only thing that's
left for those that walk away is a certain fearful looking
for of judgment, fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. Now here was the warning that
the apostle gave. Those that despised Moses' law,
they died without mercy. under two or three witnesses.
And then he asks this question in verse 29. 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 hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace walking away, leaving and saying, I'm not coming
back. I'm not going to listen to that
anymore. This is what the Spirit of God says that you're doing.
You're trodden on Christ. You're counting the blood of
Christ as a worthless sacrifice. And you've insulted the Spirit
of God. That's some serious accusations. I know that men, they think that
they're able to excuse themselves and they make light of. They
think nothing of the forsaking of the assembling of themselves
together with Christ. It's not a big deal. We're just
going to go over here. We'll just go over here. We're
not quitting worship, they say. I'm just not going to listen
to what you have to say. No, it's serious. This is absolutely serious. It's a fearful thing, verse 31,
to fall into the hands of the living God. Now, I don't doubt
for a second that many of the hearers of the apostle had suffered
some ridicule. They had taken some real hits
from those that they worshipped with. I know that the Spirit
of God gave these Hebrews, and for us today, has given us some
encouragement tonight in these Scriptures. This is a very encouraging
passage of Scripture. to me this evening. Here's what
he said after those that had walked away and those that were
left. Thought back on them. Thought
back and remembered what had happened. The Apostle says in
verse 32, call to remembrance the former days in which after
ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of affliction. Listen, the world and false religion
does not let true believers leave peacefully. What I'm talking
about is that when you find yourself in the midst of those that openly
stand against the gospel of God's free grace, almost without exception. It's
not a peaceful thing. When I was in South Louisiana,
I was pastoring a little old free will, just a free will church. And it was during that time that
the Lord began to deal with me over a period of months. And
what happened was, my mother, was actually the one that encouraged
me. We're going to have this preacher
that's going to come. Henry Mahan's his name. Why don't
you come and listen? And I did. I did. And over a period of time, I'd
get some tapes and listen. And as it pleased the Lord, after
a while, glorious message of Christ and the honor of Christ. My heart was stirred with this.
I was trying to learn. I was trying to hear. And everywhere
that I looked, I started seeing passages of Scripture that now
fit perfectly with this truth of God's sovereign grace Everywhere
I looked, I said, this is what it says on here. I never saw
that before. And as I would continue to study
and ask, and I even invited Brother Henry to come preach for me for
a week. And boy, I tell you, I thought
everybody This is a wonderful message. This is life. Oh, for a while I was just looking
for something to say. But now I had something to say. And I knew that everybody would
enjoy this. This is wonderful. And it didn't take long. And
then all of a sudden I realized we've got a problem here. I had
a meeting one night. They were going to call it on
a Sunday night, and I called it on the Wednesday before. And
one of the accusations against me was this. We were doing real
good until you started preaching these theories of grace. I'll
never forget that. Theories of grace. And I told
them, I said, this is not a theory. This is real. This is life. Well,
I had to leave. I knew I had to leave. We live
in a world that has absolutely no love, naturally speaking,
for Christ. This world is cursed. Cursed
because of sin. This is not our home. We're passing
through this. We're just sojourners. You never
know what a day is going to bring. Never know. Stan and I was talking. I was telling him, I've got a
cousin. Just found out in Louisiana. About 2 or 3 years younger than
me, Mama, I guess. He's got about 3 weeks to live.
As far as I know, he's never said unto the Gospel. Never. This life is a paper. These Hebrews
had some real trials. And the apostle told them, called
to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated,
you did endure. You endured a great fight of
afflictions. Trials and tribulations for the
sake of the glory of Christ are needful. Needful. They distinguish believers from
unbelievers. They distinguish the truth from
man-centered, self-righteous, false religion, all based upon
nothing more than man's works and man's honor and man's glory. We only know what we've experienced.
We only know what the Lord has graciously caused us to go through. That which is for His honor and
our good. Peter says in 1 Peter 4.14, if
you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. Now, we're grieved when men refuse
to come to Christ. And we are sorry. And we hurt
for those that rail on us and we're reproached and we're defamed
and we're taunted and laughed at and ridiculed. But in Christ,
we're happy. Paul was telling them, I know
those that you once worshipped with that forsook the assembling
of yourselves together, those that willfully left Call to remembrance
the former days. Those days in which trials came
and the Lord Jesus Christ kept you, sustained you, upheld you. When trials come, when family
and friends forsake you and shun you, call to remembrance the
former days. Think back. Think back right
now. Think back. I guarantee you there
are very few, if any, believers in this congregation that can't
look back and remember the former days when you were illuminated
and you endured a great fight of affliction. You remember how
after you were called out of spiritual darkness, there was
a point in which you did have to make a decision. between family
and friends are Christ. This is what he's talking about.
Call to remembrance the former days when after you were illuminated
spiritually and you endured a great fight of affliction. It was going
to be, as Moses said, that group of Korah,
Nathan, Byron. And they came to Moses and they
said, You just take too much on yourself here. And Moses said,
We're going to let God decide this. Moses that next day said,
Who is on the Lord's side? They want to come over here.
You remember what happened? The Lord opened up the earth.
And that whole group Those three men that stood against Moses
and 250 of their followers and family. The Scripture says,
God opened up the earth and they all went down to hell alive. God just opened the earth up.
A fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. By
the grace and purpose and will of God Almighty, you were kept. You didn't faint or renounce
your profession. That's by the grace of God. And
it hurts. It hurts. It hurts when those
that you love and those that you've been with and those that
you just thought you were worshiping with and you find out that it's
not, The way it is, you endure it. Call to remembrance
how you endure it. Apostle Paul says in Romans 8.37,
Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Brother Henry made this statement.
God had one Son without sin, but He's got none without affliction. None. We endure a great fight
of affliction. Call to remembrance. Partly,
verse 33, whilst you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches
and afflictions, and partly whilst you became companions of them
that were so used. When either you and your zeal
and your love for Christ and your stand for the gospel, and
I'm telling you, don't ever be surprised. Often a man's enemies are going
to be those of his own household. That's the tender part of it. That's the part that just tears
your heart out. I mean, those you love. I mean,
you love them. It just grieves me when I think
of those that have stood against God's people It just railed on
them and railed on them. The Lord said, I didn't
come to send peace. I came to send the sword. This gospel of God's grace, it
divides. It's divisive. And it's only by the grace of
God that any of us will stand. that any of us are kept. But
there's not a believer in here tonight that would not, by the
grace of God, make this decision. Listen, I may have to lose my
friends. I may have to lose my family.
But I can't, Lord, where am I going to go? Where am I going to go? Where would you go? If family
told you it's either us or that gospel of Christ that you're
listening to, you'll stay right here. That's what you'll do.
Believers don't count their reputation to be so precious that they're
going to stand passively by when it comes to the glory of Christ.
Partly, he said, called a remembrance. Partly, while you were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly,
while she became companions of them that were so used. Believers are going to ally themselves
with other believers. They're sheep. They're together. You've got
people in this congregation that you're closer to than your own
immediate family. This is your family. This is
God's sheep. You'll ally yourself with God's
people against those that don't love Him. And that, by the grace
of God, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 13, being defamed, we
entreat. That is, we desire to encourage
those that defame us to look to Christ. Being defamed, we
entreat. We are made as the filth of the
earth, the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto
this day." I looked up that word off-scouring. I didn't know what
it meant. The dirt rubbed off. That's what
it means. It's just... This is what man
by nature thinks of those that love Christ. I'm going to stay. I won't leave. I'm not going
to go. Men that love, women that love
the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says we're made as the filth of the
earth and just the dirt rubbed off from all things to this day. What an honor. What an honor. Look on God's people and just
consider them to be nothing more than just the dirt rubbed off.
But when we consider that He has eternally looked upon us,
having been given Him in that eternal election as the apple
of the Father's eye, that He would look upon His people in
Christ and see them as precious and worth the cost. Remember
that? You know, one vessel under honor.
He's made one vessel under honor and another under dishonor. That
word honor, worth the cost. Look what it cost Him. That the
world would consider us to be the dirt rubbed off? That's okay. I mean, I say okay. I don't mean
that way. I mean, we can't take that, you
know, as being something that would cause us to walk away and
forget it. To you that believe, Christ is
precious. He's precious. Call to remembrance
the Lord's mercy. I know we're often tempted to
despair, but lift up your eyes unto the hills from which cometh
my help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and
earth. Call to remembrance His mercy,
His deliverance. When you're reproached by others
or when others are reproached that you love, you'll stick with
them. We bear one another's burdens.
We keep and stay with those that the Lord has given us a heart
with for Him. To endure affliction for Christ's
sake, to be a companion of those that suffer for His name's sake,
is the evidence of being the Lord's disciples. By this shall
all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one
to another. Verse 34, 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." Now, I'm going to tell you right now, Lord willing,
next Wednesday, I'm going to preach again out of that last
part of verse 34, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven
a better and an enduring substance. But I've prepared one message
on just that last part. But I just want to touch on it
tonight and then we'll stop for this evening. And then Lord willing,
I'll pick it up this next week. But Paul was saying that obviously
there was a time when these Hebrews had shown the apostles great
sympathy in the hour of his need. Whenever a believer hurts, whenever
they suffer, we all suffer. We've known. There's other believers,
other pastors, other churches where we've found out. And other
churches too, not just Katie. I'm talking about God's people.
God's people are generous people. God's people, when there's a
need, they see a brother, a sister, a church. When they see a need,
they just step up to the plate. That's the heart of a believer.
They give. They're sympathetic. Paul had
said that you had compassion of me in my bonds, and you took
joyfully the spoiling of your goods. The cost, whatever the cost is,
don't we know that our Lord shall supply? I was reading in a book
I'd gotten from Neil Fox's Book of Martyrs and just reading some
of the instances of men and women that had to make the stand. I mean, they were just pressed.
They were pressed. It's either renounce what you
say you believe concerning the gospel of God's grace, or it's
going to cost you everything up to their life. And how many times, time after
time after time, I read of one instance where a group of people,
a man was going to be burned at the stake, and a group of
people that loved him told him, said, listen, Do you think that
you'll be able to endure? Do you think that you're going
to be able to stand it and stuff like this?" And he told him,
he said, I'll tell you what I'll do. He said after they light
the fire, he said, if all is going well with me, he said,
I'll lift up my hands and you'll know that all is well. He said
they lit the fire and the fire just started consuming him. And
it said that after just a few moments, everybody just assumed
that he was gone. He was gone. And after, I mean,
just moments, not a long time, but after moments of just assuming
that, okay, it's over now. In the midst of the flames, he
just lifted up his hands and started clapping. And he said,
and that's where he died. Paul said, you had compassion
of me and my bonds. sympathetic to me, and took joyfully
the spoiling of your goods. When a child of God is called
upon, if he loses by the good providence of God, all his earthly
possessions, his wherewithal be, Lord willing,
this next time, you know in yourself, you know God's Spirit bears witness
with our spirit that you have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance where moth doesn't corrupt, rust doesn't corrupt,
thieves don't break through, the market doesn't matter, enduring,
enduring. but especially in calling to
remembrance. Pray that the Holy Spirit might
refresh our hearts and call to our minds. Cause us to remember. Call to remembrance right now. God's eternal mercy and compassion
toward us. Call to remembrance that the
Father according to the good pleasure of His will, chose us
in Christ. Chose to show mercy to us in
Christ before the foundation of the world and predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Remember, that this evening we
stand before God Almighty for all that love Him, believe Him,
that all that trust Him. You stand right now. There is
no condemnation to you. You leave this world right now
and Almighty God receiving you unto Himself, no charge. No charge. It's not imputed to you. God
does not charge you with sin. You say, but I see the presence
of it in myself. I know you do. But I'm telling
you that the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the debt of it already.
It's put away. He paid it. It's paid. Oh, the
presence of it grieves you. And I know you struggle. I know
you're hurt. But you remember this. Call to
remembrance that Christ was made sin for you. You that love Him. You that believe Him. You that
trust Him. He was made sin for you. He delivered you from the
curse of the law. He was made a curse for you. He laid down His life and was
forsaken of His Father. And you call to remembrance that
God the Father It's not going to forsake you. And you remember
that the Spirit of God effectually called you out of spiritual darkness
when it pleased God. And He sealed you. Sealed you. Sealed you. Put God's stamp on
you. You're God's. You're His and He's yours. And
He's the earnest of our inheritance. The down payment. And everything that you know
concerning God's grace, God's mercy, God's will, God's purpose,
everything you know, the Spirit of God taught you. They're all
taught of God. The great revealer of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He only speaks of Christ. And
He opened your eyes. And He's teaching you right now
and giving you faith right now to believe. As I said before,
yesterday's faith is gone. That's faith cometh. It cometh. It cometh. It cometh. He teaches
you. And then you call to remembrance
in closing that you are what you are by the grace of God.
That you don't have anything to glory in save the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Psalm 9414 for the Lord. will not cast off his people,
neither will he forsake his inheritance. Call to remembrance the former
days when after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of
affliction, not only from without, but from within. And you're still
enduring it right now. I know that. But take heart. By the grace of God, just a few
more rising suns. It won't be long. It won't be
long. This life is almost over. I'm
telling you, it's almost over. And in that day, we're going
to know as we're known. And we're going to see Him as
He is. He's going to change us. He's going to make a new body.
A body that's going to endure forever. And we'll be with Him. By the grace of God, for Christ's
sake, Amen.