So let's continue our study in
the book of Hebrews. I'm still in chapter 10, if you
would turn there with me, Hebrews chapter 10. Now in these verses
before us this morning, the apostle gives us some simple reminders. I need to be reminded. and I
need to be reminded simply. I was talking to Gene yesterday,
and I told him, I said, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed,
and I'm not. So I need it simple. And thank
God the gospel is simple. Lou, we talked about that. It's
so easy to understand, yet impossible to understand apart from a divine
revelation from God. But it's nothing hard to understand. We're saved by grace through
faith, and that grace and that faith is not of ourselves. Is
there something about that we don't understand? No. Salvation's
of the Lord. That's what it's saying. Both
are the gift of God, both grace and faith. It's not by works.
If it was, we would boast. It was by a work of righteousness
that Christ did for us, not by a work of righteousness we did
for ourselves. And we would most definitely
glory in ourselves if we ourselves did it. Believing and trusting
in Christ is not simply difficult. Believing and trusting in Christ
is impossible in this flesh in which we live. But God's elect
are given faith. It's a gift of God. And though
we'll struggle until we die, by God's mercy and grace, we'll
die in faith. We'll die believing. We'll die
looking to Him and Him alone. True believers will never quit.
They'll never stop believing. And it's a God who gets all the
glory and all the credit. In verse 35, Hebrews chapter
10, we see the first thing that's brought to our remembrance. We
are reminded to cast not away, therefore, our confidence. which
hath great recompense of reward." Do you have confidence in Christ?
Boy, there's no better place to have it. So it's a sure thing. In a day where there's no sure
things, Christ is a sure thing. A true believer will never cast
away their confidence because their confidence is not in themselves,
but in Christ who keeps them. You know, we talk about the mercy
and grace of God and saving us. What a great mercy it is that
He keeps us. kept by the power of God. And
the very one that keeps us is our great reward. He that hath
the Son hath life, that being everlasting life, that being
eternal life. John said, and this is the record
that God had given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. That's where it's at, nowhere else. And this is life eternal
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. That's salvation, knowing God,
knowing His Son. And in verse 36, we're reminded
of the second thing, and that's that we have need of patience. I chuckle because, boy, I've
got a need of patience. I am so impatient. Brother Montgomery
used to say we live in a microwave society. You remember that? We
want it right now. We want to put it in the box
and push two minutes and it'd be done. But that's not the way
it works. We are in need of patience. And
he says that after we have done the will of God, we might receive
the promise. And this speaks of the promise
of eternal life for those who continue in the faith of Christ. After all, it's those who endure
to the end that shall be saved. And thank goodness, those that
he loved in the world, he kept until the end. That's why we
endure to the end, we're kept by him who loved us and gave
himself for us. In Hebrews chapter three, verse
six, you don't have to turn back there, but Christ as a son over
his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Christ is
not a servant as Moses was, he's the son. He's the master and
He's the heir of all things. In whose house we are. You and
I are His house. We are Christ's house. We're
living stones built up into a spiritual house in whom Christ dwells by
faith and over whom He reigns. We hold fast this confidence. We rejoice in this blessed hope
until the end. And that's what true faith is.
It's enduring, it's believing, it's being kept by the power
of God and trusting in Him. Paul told the church at Colossae
that Christ will present us holy. Boy, I love this description.
Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. And then he says,
if. We continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not
moved away from the hope of the gospel, which we've heard and
which was preached to us. Now that word, if, there does
not make it dependent on us. People will be quick to say,
well, see, it says right there that if, we've got to do something. No, that word, if, is dependent
on Christ keeping us. And He's faithful, we're promised.
He's going to keep us to the end, preserving us, causing us
to persevere in the faith. And it's not our faith that saves
us. You know, I hear a lot of talk about men's faith today,
and it nowhere resembles the faith that scripture described,
but it's the faith of Christ that saves us, not our faith
in Christ. My faith is in His faith. Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, Galatians 2.16. It's the faith of Christ
that justifies us. His faithfulness to us, not our
faithfulness to him. Now God's people will be faithful
to him, but that's not what saves them. To be found in him, found
in Christ, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness,
which is of God by faith. Philippians 3, 9. Verse 37, it
says, for a little while, and he that shall come will come
and will not tarry. What great hope and comfort that
gives a child of God. Doesn't that give you comfort
and hope? Yet for a little while, we continue to tarry for our
complete deliverance from sin and this body of death. It's
what Paul called it. That's what it is. And the suffering
that sin has brought us is going to soon be over. Soon be over. I was talking to my son Matthew
the other day. He saw his grandmother who over
the holidays, she's 94 years old. And he said she just kept
talking about how fast this life has gone by. Cynthia, you have
a grandmother in her 90s and they'll be the first to tell
you this life has flown by like a vapor. I think about how fast
the last 10 years have gone by and how fast the next 10 are
But what a great hope and comfort we have as we continue to tarry,
because our complete deliverance will be here before you know
it. And it'll be then that we'll receive those sinless and glorified
bodies, because the word promises that when we see Him, we'll be
like Him and we shall see Him as He is, perfect and glorified,
and we'll be just like Him. That's what God promised in Romans
8. Those that He foreknew, He predestinated. And those that He predestinated,
He called. And those He called, He justified. And those that
He justified, He's what? He's gonna glorify. That's what
we're waiting on. And then it's in verse 38 that
we're given the third thing that we must be reminded of. And that
is now the just, those made just by Christ shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now being raised in a free
will Baptist church, I often heard debates and arguments over
the doctrine of eternal security. You know what eternal security
is? It's a teaching that once saved, always saved. Once grace,
always grace. I know folks that claim to love
one another that used to get in some pretty heated arguments
and debates. Can a man once saved be lost? Can one whom Christ died for
draw back? Can a born again sinner draw
back into perdition? Can they fall under condemnation
and eternal judgment? That's what perdition means.
And I think the apostle John answered that question as clearly
as it's ever been answered. And by the way, the answer is
no, absolutely not. Not if the sovereign Lord of
heaven and earth saves you, you cannot fall back, draw back,
or slide back. Can't do it. In 1 John 2, verse
19, John wrote, they went out from us, but they were not of
us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us, but they went out that it might be made manifest that
they were not of us at all." Those who draw back into perdition
never had true God-given faith. That's what God says. That's
what God's apostles said. They were never saved. They never
had faith. And as we'll see in the next
chapter of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, every believing child of
God will die in faith. If you're one of his, you're
gonna die in faith. You're gonna die believing God.
Brother Mayhem once said there are three main reasons men and
women believe that they can fall away and be lost once they are
saved. And the first reason is they
don't know the scriptures. Just don't. The average individual,
a man on the street or a man in the pew, even most men in
the pulpit, do not know the scriptures. And I don't say that with any
arrogance, like, oh, well, I do, or any of that. It's just the
truth. I heard men preach for years that did not know the scriptures. I didn't know the scriptures
either, so I didn't know. But now I think back on the things
they said and the things that they taught, and it's just so
obvious. The second reason men and women think such things is
they don't know anything about the sovereignty and the power
of God. Men have preached God so low that men have no respect
for it. He's a little old man. He wants
to save and he can. He's willing to save, but you
won't let him. And men don't have a respect for God. They
don't see that he's God almighty. Oh, they'll call him that, but
that's what he is. He's the almighty God. He does
what he wills in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay his hand or say in him, what
doest thou? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? God can do anything and God can do everything. And I
rejoice in that. That's my heavenly father. And
then the third thing is this. Most people don't know much about
what salvation actually is. Now listen to John chapter five,
verse 24. Our Lord here said, verily, verily,
or truly, truly, or as we would say today, you better listen
to me telling you the truth. He that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me, this is Christ speaking, hath everlasting
life. He's got everlasting life. And
he shall not come unto condemnation. He shall not, but is passed from
death into life. He or she that hears the gospel,
he or she that believes the gospel has everlasting life right now. Not when they die, not when they
get to heaven. You don't get to heaven and go
through the pearly gates if there is such a thing, and they hand
you a certificate that says, okay, now you're saved. They
shall not come into condemnation. They shall not. They can't slide
back. They can't fall back. They can't
backslide into condemnation. They've already passed from death
into life. In John chapter 10, the Lord
said, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me,
I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. That's
what eternal life is. Paul said, nothing can separate
us from the love of God, neither death nor life, tribulation,
persecution, peril, sword, distress, nothing. Nothing can separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Don't leave
that out. That's where God's love is, nowhere
else. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? What are you going to charge
one with for whom God has washed clean by his own blood? What
are you gonna charge him with? It's God that justifies. It's
God that makes clean. It's God that saves. Who is he
that condemneth? How are you gonna condemn one
whom Christ has died for and put their sin away? You're not. It's Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen. Risen because that means God
has accepted his sacrifice. That means that death in the
grave has no dominion over him. He's raised, he's at the right
hand of God and so are we if we're in him. Paul said in Romans
chapter 8 verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. There's no judgment, no condemnation,
that's what God says. And the scriptures also say,
he that hath begun a good work in you shall perfect it, shall
perform it, shall complete it in the day of Jesus Christ. Man,
we've got such hope, we've got such confidence, don't lose that
confidence. It's not in you, it's in him,
right? In Ecclesiastes, it says, what
God hath done, nothing can be put to it. So, I don't know why
men try to add to it. That's what a lot of these Hebrew
believers were doing. Well, we believe that Christ
died for our sins according to the scripture, but, but, you
know who buts? Goats, not sheep, goats. Is a man eternally secure? Well,
it all depends on who saved him. If the Pope saved him, he's not
eternally secure. If the preacher saved him, no.
If he saved himself, he's definitely not. But if God saved him, he
most certainly is. Why? Because Christ is a surety.
It's God that justifies it. It was Christ who died for him.
He's eternally and forever saved. And it's the power of God that's
our security. Now unto him that is able to
keep us from falling and to present us holy and blamable and reprovable
and glorified in his presence." He's able, not we're able. God is able. He's able to save
to the uttermost those who come to God by him, by Christ. In Romans 4 verse 21, Paul said,
being fully persuaded that what he, God had promised, he was
able to perform. He's able to save. He's willing
to save all who are in Christ. And our salvation is not resting
in our power. We have no power, but in God's
power. The wages of sin is not paid
by us, is it? No, it's paid by Christ. He paid
it in full. Most people don't understand
what salvation is. Salvation is not a mental acceptance
of religious facts. Salvation is not a mental acceptance
of those religious facts. Salvation is not believing a
doctrine. It's not joining a church. Salvation is a new birth. Salvation
is a heart experience. Salvation is receiving a new
nature. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. People say repent and believe.
Well, repentance is not something we did 20 years ago right before
we got baptized. The child of God is still repenting. Repentance is not a one-time
thing, not a one-time sorrow. Repentance is a broken heart
and a contrite spirit. I've repented, I am repenting,
and I will repent because I still live in this body of sin. There's
a war going on within my members. Faith is not an isolated decision. I'll never forget when my grandmother
died. She was not a church-going person.
I never heard her mention the name of Christ. I loved her,
but that's not the issue. The issue is, did God love her?
Did God know her? When she died, the preacher talked
about a decision she made some 60 years before when she walked
down an aisle and said a sinner's prayer. That's honest truth.
True faith is a state of grace. It's a commitment to Christ.
Believers come to Christ and they keep on coming to Christ.
Have you come to Christ? Yes. And I'm gonna come again
today and I'm gonna come again tomorrow. Believers keep on believing
in Christ. The scriptures say to whom coming,
not to whom I've already come or to whom I'm gonna come, to
whom coming. By God's grace, I'm still coming.
By God's mercy, I'm still repenting. By God's mercy and grace, I'm
still believing. 1 Corinthians 1 says, to those
who are being saved, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God.
Am I saved? Yes, but I'm still being saved.
The grace of God is not a weak offer or invitation. It's not
a plea with the sinner. As a young religious man, I used
to sing that song loud, sung it for years, but it's not true.
Christ is not standing on the portals of heaven, waiting, watching,
and pleading with sinners to come home. Won't you just come
home? Won't you just come home? Pleading, pleading, won't you
please? Won't you please? No, sir. If Christ died for me,
he's sitting on the throat of God and he's pleading my case
before God, but he's not pleading with me to do anything. He's
pleading my case, and my cause is my eternal advocate with the
Father. Satan has desired to sift me
as wheat, just like he did with Peter, and you too. But Christ
has prayed that our faith fail us not. We're being sifted every
day. We're being sifted. But Christ
has prayed that our faith fail us not. That's what Paul's talking
about here. He's able to save to the uttermost
those that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to
make intercession for those that He died for. It's called preservation. Some call it perseverance. We
persevere because God has preserved us. Perseverance is not apart
from faith. Perseverance is in and by and
through faith in Christ and the faith of Christ. Now, let me
show you that. You can let your place go in
Hebrews. Turn over a few pages to 1 Peter 1, and I need to hurry. But this is so important and
so good, so good. 1 Peter 1, look at verse 5. Peter's speaking of God's chosen,
believing people. He says of them, who are kept
by the power of God. Now that's preservation. Kept
by the power of God. Being preserved. God saves, God
keeps. Now watch the next two words.
Through faith. And that's perseverance. Quickly
turn back to the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. I got to show
you this. Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah 32, look at this, verse
40. Here in verse 40, Jeremiah 32,
God says, and I'll make an everlasting covenant with them. How long
of a covenant? Everlasting. That I will not
turn away from them to do them good. Now that's preservation.
God says, I will not turn away from them. I won't desert them.
You remember what our Lord said? He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. Never. That's preservation. And again, verse 40, and I'll
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts. Now look at this, and they shall
not depart from me. That's perseverance. Can't have
one without the other. We can't persevere if God hadn't
preserved us and we won't. Our Lord says, I'm never going
to leave them and they're never gonna leave me. Perseverance,
preservation, all the same, being kept. by the power of God. And
when our Lord said, I've already quoted it once in John chapter
10, I know my sheep, they follow me. I lay down my life for the
sheep, another shepherd they will not follow. That's preservation. I know my sheep, I give them
eternal life and they'll never perish. They follow me, another
shepherd they will not follow, another voice they will not listen
to. God's gonna keep his sheep. God's gonna save his sheep. Isn't
that what he said in John chapter six? All that my father giveth
me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. God's people will be made willing
in the day of his power and the beauty of holiness. And the reason
folks don't believe in the teaching of eternal security is because
they hadn't been told the truth about God, about his power. They're ignorant of the scriptures.
I'm sorry, it's just so. They don't know what salvation
really is. Salvation begins with God. Boy,
that's the first thing that folks need to learn. It doesn't begin
with you. Salvation is of the Lord. It
doesn't begin with the sinner. It begins with God. He chose
us. We didn't choose Him. That's what the Lord said in
John 15, 16. You've not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained
you. Matter of fact, foreordained
you. For you ever done any good or evil that the purpose of God,
according to election, might stand. That you should go forth
and bring fruit and that your fruit should remain. kept that
whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give
it to you." Christ chose us, Christ ordained us, that's why
we bring forth and that's why our fruit remains. Paul said,
God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation. So it began
with God. He first loved us, that's where
it starts. We love him because he first
loved us. So let's don't talk about how
much we love Jesus without saying how much he loved us first. The
scriptures plainly state here in His love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us. We love Him because He first
loved us. That's where it starts. It starts
with God. God purposed it. God provided
it. God chose us. God loved us. God quickened us. He made us alive. You have He
quickened, made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.
The Son quickeneth whom He will. When we were ungodly, Christ
died for us. When we were sinners, Christ
died for us. It all starts with God. I wish God would reveal
that to folks. Whom He foreknew, He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. Whom He predestinated,
He called. Whom He called, He justified.
Whom He justified, He glorified. Sounds to me like salvation is
of the Lord. In John 1 11, we're told, as
many as received him, now see, there it is, preacher, they have
to receive him. To them gave he the power, the privilege,
the right to become the sons of God, even to them which believe
on his name. Now there's no period there,
and if you look at it, look at it sometime, no period there,
there's a semicolon, which means the sentence isn't over. And
the very next verse says, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born
of God. Those that believe on his name
were born of God, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, but
of God. James says, of his own will beget he us through the
word of truth. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. He gave us repentance. It's the
goodness of God that leads us to repentance. He gave us faith,
for by grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves,
it's a gift of God. We are His workmanship. We're
not our own, it's He that has made us and not we ourselves.
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined
in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. How did this matter of salvation
and faith in Christ get turned around? I know how. Lying, harling
preachers. Paul said, it was God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. It was
God who's pleased to reveal His Son in me. And it's God that
keeps us. It begins with God, it ends with
God. He that hath begun a good work in you shall perfect it.
We've already looked at that. Who began this work in you? God
did, God did. And that's our security and it's
eternal. That's preservation, that's confidence,
that's a good foundation. And I'll tell you when men have
stopped arguing about it, when they come to see who does the
saving, is that what you believe? Our text says, now the just shall
live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him. And then the last verse of the
chapter says, but we are not of them who draw back. We're
not of them that draw back into perdition, but of them that believe. to the saving of the soul. Best
news I ever heard. May God be pleased to make it
so for His glory, our good, and for Christ's sake.