Hebrews chapter 3. Entitled this message, God's
Word for Today. God's Word for Today. Let's begin
our reading in verse 7. He says, Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, Today,
if you will hear His voice, Harden not your hearts as in the provocation
in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers
tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years, wherefore
I was grieved with that generation and said, They do always err
in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear
in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. But exhort one another daily
while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. While it is said today, if you
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. Now as we've studied in this
passage of scripture, Hebrews, remember the purpose of this
book, that there were many Jewish believers who were tempted to
go back under the old covenant. They were tempted to leave the
gospel of Christ, the grace of salvation by the grace of God
through faith in Christ and they were to return, tempted to return
back under the works of the law. Therefore, Paul sets forth in
this book the preeminence of Jesus Christ and His covenant
above the covenant of the law. And He did this by starting out
with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He expressed the deity
of the one they claim to believe. He is the express image of the
Father. That He is above the angels because
He is the creator of the angels. He is their sustainer. In chapter 2, He tells us that
we should give heed to these things. To what? His office. His office of prophet, of apostle
and His office of priest. That He came into this world
as a man and as a man He suffered. That He might be the captain
of their salvation. That He might make their salvation
perfect. He came in by suffering. The
only way He could suffer being God was to become a man. And
so in chapter 3 he says, take ye, consider this, wherefore
consider what I have said to you about him. Consider his office
of high apostle, that is he was sent of God to preach the gospel
and he is the high priest. He is the one not only to declare
the gospel but to actually say And then he uses Moses in verses
2 through verse 6. He uses Moses, they were highly
esteemed Moses. They highly esteemed Moses and
remember their temptation was to go back to Moses and the covenant. And he said, look Moses was faithful.
But you understand that Moses was nothing but a servant in
the house. Jesus Christ is the son of the
house, the heir of all things. He's greater than Moses. And
his covenant was greater than Moses. Moses' covenant was a
covenant of works that they could not fulfill. And Christ preached
a covenant of grace and mercy. But I want you to notice this.
Every time the apostle asserts something, Every time he testifies
of the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the salvation of Christ,
he always references the Word of God. He always goes back to the Word
of God. Look at chapter 1 and verse 8. He said, But unto the Son he
saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever. Thy scepter of righteousness
is thy scepter of thy kingdom. What is he doing? He's quoting
the word of God. He's quoting the word of God.
If you look in chapter 2 and verse 6, he says, But in a certain
place testifying, saying, What is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? See, he's
using scripture here. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Crown him with glory and honor. But who is that
scripture speaking of? It's speaking of Christ. So he
uses the word of God. Thus saith the Lord. What is the foundation of all
we practice and preach? What is the authority that I
have standing here telling you what God said? What is my authority? It is the Word of God. And therefore,
in our text, look at what he begins with. He says, wherefore.
Now, I want you to understand what he's doing. He's going to
issue a warning. Our text is kind of in parentheses. If you look in verse 7 to verse
11, that's a parenthetical statement. but he's using the scripture
to do something. Look, in verse 12, if you go,
wherefore, then go right to verse 12. Take heed, brethren, lest
there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing
from the living God. And what is he going to use as
a means by which to persuade them not to go back? He's going to use the Word of
God. Look what he says as the Holy Ghost sayeth. As the Holy
Ghost sayeth. And this is what I want us to
focus on in the first part of this message is the authority
of Scripture. The authority of what we preach
and practice and its source is the Word of God. Thus sayeth
the Holy Ghost. And we know this as salvations
of the Lord. And what do we mean by that?
We mean this, that the election of grace belongs to the work
of God the Father. All election belongs to God the
Father. All redemption belongs to God
the Son. And all the effectual call and
keeping of the saints belong to the Holy Spirit. Therefore,
we say salvation is completely the work of God. Completely the
work of God Scripture says these three bear record in heaven the
Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one We know
that how by the Word of God Ephesians and definitely see that just
what I've explained to you. Ephesians chapter 1 greatly explains
just what I said. The father is the electing father,
the son is the redeeming son, and the spirit is the effectual
caller and keeper of his people. And the scripture declares this,
because we were born dead in all spiritual things, born dead
to all righteousness, dead to all spiritual understanding,
we could in no way please the justice of God. We could by no
means of obedience to the law of God ever make ourselves acceptable. How do we know that? There is
none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The depravity of man is so vile,
so opposed to God that even when the son of God himself came down. You know, I often beat myself
up about this. I said, you know, maybe maybe
if there was somebody better at preaching. The Lord would
call more. I do. But I have to consider
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down from heaven and
there were only 120 in that upper room after his death. There were fewer than that. There
were none at the cross. They all left. There were 5,000
men besides women and children. And in one message, they all
left. Man's nature is totally set against
the mercy of God. He came down to make an atonement
and sacrifice for sins. And God even declared his satisfaction
by raising him from the dead. Paul said these things weren't
done in a corner. You realize that the crucifixion
of Christ, that this is known worldwide. The death, the burial
and the resurrection of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is known throughout
the world. So we make sure that there was
no way he made sure there was no way to mistake this man, Jesus
Christ, as being the Savior. There was no way to mistake.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit had given
us many infallible proofs. Many infallible truths. One man
counted, I'm sure that there are more than 365, 370 prophecies
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you realize he fulfilled every
single one of them? The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son. Thou shalt call his name Emmanuel. God with us. Many other. Why? Because all
scripture. Listen what Paul said to Timothy.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God. All scripture is God
breathed. And it's profitable for doctrine. Oh, how men hate that word. We
don't preach doctrine here. Oh, you don't preach teaching.
OK, great. What do you do? What it means, teaching, is not
a complicated word. The word of God is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, conviction of sin. Doesn't the word of God
convict us of sin? For correction, aren't we chastened
by this word? For instruction in righteousness,
how to have righteousness through the salvation that's in Christ,
and how that we should conduct ourselves in righteousness as
we live. Peter said this, knowing first
and all, no scripture is any private interpretation. So what
he's saying, thus saith the Holy Spirit, this thing that I'm giving
you is not an opinion. I don't give opinions. You don't
want my opinion. This scripture is of no private
interpretation. How many foolish idiots, when
you read a word, the word of God to them, they say, well that's
your interpretation. The scriptures are no private
interpretation. I don't get to make my own interpretation
and neither do you For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, not by their wisdom, not by their
superior intellect, but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. They were carried along. Therefore,
we may know when Paul says, thus saith the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, thus saith the Holy Ghost. We know this, it is infallible. The word that we preach is infallible. The scriptures are infallible
and without error. They are authored by God, the
Holy Spirit, who alone is able to reveal the secret things and
eternal purpose of God. He was holy man. Remember what he called us in verse of this chapter. He
said, holy brethren. You see, these men were made
holy the same way you are. By grace, through faith in Christ. These holy men of old, they penned
the Word of God not by their own will, nor was the Word of
God left to their interpretation. Matter of fact, a lot of these
men wrote, they don't even know the full extent of what they
wrote. They weren't given a full revelation of what they wrote. And so it's not by these men
that wrote them. No, these writers were moved. They were carried along by God
to write. Thus saith the Lord. And so the word that we have
before us, the word that the apostle uses as his grounds. For the deity of Christ, the
humanity of Christ, the offices of Christ, the success of Jesus
Christ, the victory of the new covenant, all stem from thus
saith the Lord. And so we know that what we read
in this book is infallible, being God breathed. Secondly, we know
that is that God has given us many infallible proofs. I'm not
saying this word's infallible and just say, OK, I'll leave
it there. No, God proved it. God has proven
over and over and over again that his word is infallible. These you realize this book,
consider this. No other book is ever like this
book. Forty different authors. Five thousand years of history
written here. Over three different continents
and three different languages. And yet it has one, it's one
in unity. It's one in message and it is
So powerful, this word is so effectual. That everyone who
has tried to destroy it has failed. Consider the men tried to put
this book out. Who've tried to stamp it out
of history, kings and emperors and nations. The scripture says
this, he says. Give my mind not working as it
should. Why do the heathen rage? Why
do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands
asunder and cast their cords from us. What's the response
of God? Well, gee, I'm worried. I don't know what I'm going to
do. These guys have set themselves against me. I'm just hoping maybe
that this might continue. You know what? If you'll just
help me out. I wonder if man will help me.
Let me get some help. No? Listen to what God says. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. I'm amazed. These 80 and 90 year
old men ruling our country, spitting in the face of God, they have
not many years, they've got days. They better count their life
in days, not years. And yet they still defy the living
God. You see the extent of depravity?
God, what is He doing with that? He shall have them in derision. Isn't that what he, that's what I see. I don't see,
I don't see them ruling anything. I see them running around like
ants. They don't know what they're
doing. They don't know where they're going. They don't know what has them
in derision. They shall all be destroyed,
but the word of God shall remain forever. Jesus said, Truly, the heavens
and the earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle shall
pass away. From the law till all be fulfilled. If anyone tried to speak a word
that God did not give them, what does he do with that? There are
a lot of false preachers, a lot of men who take this book, and
they use this book to enrich themselves, or to make themselves
feel better about themselves, or to help others feel better
about themselves. They misuse the Word of God.
What does God say about them? Well, they are in here, in Jeremiah 23, This is what God
says about false prophets who even claim to use his word, but
they don't say they're not sin of God. In verse 30 of chapter
23 of Jeremiah. He says this, Behold, I am against
the prophets that say it, the Lord that steal my words, every
one of them from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say he sayeth. Behold, I am against them that
prophesy false dreams. saith the Lord, and do tell them,
and cause my people to err by their lies, by their lightness.
Yet I have sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they
shall not profit this people at all. How do we know such false
prophets? Simply by this. This book has
one theme. It has one message. This is how
you know whether they're sin of God. This book speaks only
and always of Jesus Christ. His son. From cover to cover,
it only preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember what he
said when he rose from the dead? His disciples were discouraged,
they said. We don't know. We thought he
was the one. But he's dead. And he said, ought not Christ
to have suffered and entered into His glory? Don't you know
that? Don't you know that Christ should
suffer? That that's why He came into
the world? And then what did He use in order to tell them,
to prove what He had said? And beginning at Moses. all the
prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning Himself. Do you not see how God
has exalted His Son above every name? His Son. Jesus Christ is the
sole theme of this book. All that is necessary for salvation,
faith, and practice is found in the word of God. I enjoy commentaries. But the only true interpretation
of scripture is scripture itself. I like a good commentary that
tells me something and then shows me in the scriptures. You want
John Gill's commentaries are very good. He spends a lot of
time telling you, he'll tell you five things that it's not.
But then when he tells you what it is, he'll show you where it's
found. And if he doesn't show me where it's found, I really
don't have much use for it. The scripture, the Bible is its
own interpretation. And the only way we may know
God and come to faith in Christ is simply by hearing this word,
hearing what God says. That's what he's doing to these
Hebrews that are tempted to turn. He says, listen to the word of
God. Listen. Take heed and listen
to the word of God. This is what God sent preachers
for. To preach the word. That's what
he told that young pastor. Preach the word. Be instant,
in season, out of season. That means when it's popular
and when it's not. Preach the word. Be instant,
in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering. Now how do we reprove you? I'll
go watch your conduct and then come and point my finger at you
and start reproof. It's not how I reproof you. I
reproof you simply by preaching the gospel. Truly it is God that
reproofs you. I just preach. Reproof, rebuke. I'm not going
to run up there and rebuke you. Word of God does that all by
itself. When you preach Christ, When
you preach Christ, God's people are convicted. I don't love him like I should. I see his love for me. I see
his offering for me. I see his mercy toward me. And
I know this, I don't have enough love. I don't have enough faith. See, I'm already reproved, rebuked
by the word of God. and exhort. That's what he's
doing here. He's exhorting these people.
He's warning them. He's using the word of God, and
that's why God called preachers, because this is the means God
chose to save and comfort his people. Paul said, I came not
to baptize. Baptism is important in it. It's
an important ordinance. He said, but that's not my purpose.
I came out to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Why? Because we who believe it, we
know it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe
it. And in chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians,
it's for chapter 1, but in chapter 2, he says this, I know this,
that the word of God did not come to you in excellency of
speech. I came trembling. I know this, it came in power. and demonstration of the Holy
Spirit. We preach the Word of God, but
we understand the theme of the Word of God is Jesus Christ.
But only one that can make that effectual to you is the Spirit
of God. He understands the things of
God from eternity, and He's the one that reveals them to us.
How could anyone of us have known what God did in eternity had
not the Spirit of God testified to us? He does this through the preaching
of the Gospel. And we know that this, that if
you have been called, if you have been called, you have heard
His Word. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith today, if you will hear his voice, you will hear his voice. You
that have heard his voice, you heard it, how? How have you heard
his voice? Through the preaching of the
word, the word of God. So behold, how the word of God
is relevant, for He says today. You got that? See how relevant
the Word of God even is right now? Thus saith the Spirit, today. These people were on the edge
of leaving, and He says, wait, listen to the Spirit of God,
today. It's imperative that you hear
what God says today. Today, if you will hear His voice. That word will doesn't have an
idea of your willingness to hear, but rather ability. If you can
hear His voice. If you have heard His voice,
truly. Today, if you can hear His voice,
listen. Listen to Him. Harden not your hearts. in the day of provocation in
the wilderness When Israel would not believe the promises of God
they came to the land of Canaan It says reference to that day.
They came to the land of Canaan and Caleb and Joshua came back
and said Let's go boys. We got this God said God said
he would give us the land and they heard But they did not believe If this is the inspired Word
of God by the Holy Spirit, the only revelation of grace by the
Spirit of God, that Jesus is the only God-man mediator, if
this is the revelation of God, that Jesus Christ by His blood
alone has atoned for our sins and made us acceptable with God, if the Word of God is true, that
we should then give up everything and hear Him. Obey Him. Obey Him. It's one thing to hear
this. Those Jews in that day, you listen
to me, they heard more than you. They heard God. God came down
on top of a mountain. They saw it. They saw God destroy
the Egyptians. They saw when those serpents
bit them, when they looked to that serpent on the pole, they
were healed. They experienced wonderful miracles. They saw wonderful things. They
heard the gospel that Moses preached to them. And yet what happened?
It was not mixed with obedience. It was not mixed with obedience
because there was no real faith. Many people acknowledge what
I've said about this book. But they do not believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. They confess with this. But there's no real. Affection
or faith in their hearts. And so Paul is the apostle is
saying, look, This is the word of God. Today, if you hear his
voice, don't hard your heart against it. And the spirit, listen to what
the spirit of God says today. The gospel is always a living and powerful gospel
for today. for today. We are, you who have
heard His voice, are you not still needing mercy? Do you not still need pardon? Do you not still need grace and
strength? We need this daily. I need to hear Him Today. Today. And when I hear him, may
God put this in my heart, not to harden my heart against. A lot of us try to store up God's
word for future things, because we take all the knowledge that
we have, we we we think that's a bulwark against future troubles. No. No. If we rely on past knowledge
of Christ and give it to give us comfort and nourishment, it
will be like that stored up manna. It will breed worms and stink. When I thought about this, I
thought about that time that one of the kings of of Judah,
he had made all these defense cities around Jerusalem. He had
built up these defenses. And he thought he was safe. You
know what God did? He destroyed all his defense
cities. They surrounded Jerusalem. And
next thing you know, that king is on his face. Where he should
have been to begin with, he was trusting in his defenses. A lot
of times we trust in our past knowledge, our past faith, our
past works in order to to defend ourselves against a present enemy. No, you need his word today. We need his word of grace today. The grace of God, those who boast
of their knowledge or glory in their past knowledge, past works
are much like a Pharisee. Remember that Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself. He said, God, I thank you that
I have done this. What was he talking about? Past
things. He's talking about his past works. He thought they would
make him acceptable with God. I'll tell you what, that Pharisee,
that publican, he heard God today. And remember what he did, he
fell on his face. He said, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Because if you ever hear God,
that's what you'll say. You'll hear him say, speak. We
need fresh supplies of grace to the heart. This is pleasing
to God and useful to man. We need daily constant comfort. And where does this comfort come
from? It comes from the word of God. It really comes from
the source of the word of God. It comes from Jesus Christ. That's
where our nourishment and strength come from. Why have you not turned
back? What what keeps us from these
things? It is God. It's his word. Paul likens the church to a body. Christ is the head and we are
his body. What could the body do without
the head? It would die. It needs daily
nourishment. Your arms wouldn't know anything
at all about reaching for food except your brain tell you. Why do you need this? And other
men don't. Well, your head is telling you,
you need this. Christ is directing you to this,
His Word. Christ said, I am the vine and
you are the branches. Our union with Christ is everything,
isn't it? Isn't it? How do you know you're
in union with Christ? Do you desire to know that? Often
times I fear. Often times I doubt my union
with Christ. How then may I know my union
with Christ? Except God declare it to me. Except I hear His voice, I'm
not going to be satisfied. So we don't rely on past knowledge
or past abilities. I thought of this, if you take
a tourniquet, put it around your arm, you got blood in there.
But how long will your arm last without new supply of blood? So it is with the word of God,
we are in constant need of thus sayeth the Lord, I need to know
and hear his voice. And I only hear that through
the preaching of this word. Paul says in Timothy, about being
a good preacher, he says, if thou put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ. Nourished up in the word of faith
and of good doctrine wherein thou hast attained, but refused
profane and old babblings and old wives' tales, and those that exercise themselves, in the things of this world.
Now, so then behold the authority
of our message is thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Spirit.
It says this, that Jesus Christ is God, that He was made man,
that He suffered death so that He might redeem us to God. He
is the Apostle of God. He is the High Priest of God. Now you've heard that, when should
you believe that? Today. Today. Today if you hear his voice. You're endowed with power to
believe, you should believe. This is the reason believers
come to hear the preaching of the gospel is that we might hear
the shepherd's voice. I desire to hear his voice. Constant. Please, never come
desiring to hear the voice of a man. We are just vessels. That's all we are. We are vessels
by which the Word of God is conveyed to you. May God let you hear
His voice. Only His voice can calm the storms. Only His voice can relieve me
of fear, anxiety, and distress. Only His voice can give me strength
and wisdom. Scripture says that He is a very
present help in trouble. He's a very present help today. Today. Today He speaks And all
who hear Him believe Him. Now ever since every
sinner dead in sin, lost and condemned to die under the condemnation
of God, listen to this, hear me, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. not looking forward to, not looking
back to yesterday, not looking forward to tomorrow. Now is the
time of salvation. Now if you hear His voice, harden
not your heart as in the provocation. Take heed that you harden not
your heart. Hear Him. Stop looking to yourself. Stop looking for some some outward
sign. Stop looking for some inward
feeling. Look to him. Believe him. Trust him. When? Right now. Today. Holy Spirit
says today, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your
heart. Isn't this what the Word of God
clearly testifies, that if you believe today, He will save you
today? John 3 and verse 36, it says,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. Thirdly, the Spirit says today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation.
The provocation was a time of Israel when they would have crossed
over, but they would not believe. He said, When your fathers tempted
me, and proved me, and saw my works forty years, wherefore
I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err
in their heart. They have not known my ways.
So I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.
Therefore, because the Holy Spirit said, hear him, believe him,
he says, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. Harden not
your heart. What is it to harden your heart?
Simply this, to not believe. I will not have this man to rule
over me. I will not believe on Jesus Christ. What is it to not believe? It
is to trust your own flesh. It is to trust your own works.
It is to trust your own strength and your own righteousness instead
of hearing what God said about His Son. How many today profess to believe
on Christ who seem to run well? They seem to rejoice in the Gospel
but soon they drift away They don't have any more need
of hearing the word of God. They say, well, I'll hear it
tomorrow. I'll hear it at a more convenient
time. I've just got too much going
on. You know, yeah, I made my profession, but you know what?
Since then, man, this world's come in and I've had family and
jobs and I know There was a lady in Texas. She and her husband
could not have kids, and they were the most faithful people
in the world. You know what happened when God
gave them children? I said, Oh, man, I got to get my kids this,
my kids homework, my kids, this, my kids, that my kid. By and
by. Where'd they go? They did no longer need to hear
the Word of God. They left. You who profess faith in Christ,
will you harden your hearts against the Spirit of God who says today,
hear His voice? He tells us is later in Hebrews,
he says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the
manner of some is. He was guarding. He was telling
them this is what we do in order to guard against leaving. Hear
the word of God. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you. Well, Pastor, you know, I'm not
that's not talking to me, I would never. Really? Really? How many times have you
said that word, never, and sure enough, that's what you did?
I don't need, you don't need to
bring me under some kind of legalistic bondage of coming to hear the
gospel. No, I'm not. I'm telling you
to take heed because God is telling you to take heed. lest there be in any of us a
heart of unbelief in departing. How many of those in John's church,
the Apostle John, who was a pastor of that church, how many of those
that left at the very beginning supposed that they would be leaving?
John says they went out from us because they were not of us. If they were of us, they would
have no doubt continued with us. And so we are to encourage one
another. Encourage one another. Look at
verse 13. Exhort one another daily while
it is called today. Lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. Lest any of you be hardened to
be removed from the gospel of God's grace over to a gospel
of works. I've seen it. I've seen some of the men I thought
were the strongest in the faith turn out to be liars and apostates. And so what do we do? We encourage
one another by assembling together. Listen to me, you don't know
how much you encourage me to continue preaching and believing. And I know that it's the same
way with you. We encourage one another. When does God tell us to do that
today? Today. Those say it the Lord today,
if you will not, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart
as in the provocation. And here it is, the comfort.
I remember, I mean, give you this illustration one times and.
The Lord saved me right before I believe right before I went
in the military and When I went in the military, there was no
place to go. There was no place to worship.
So I just went along with the crowd. I didn't go to hear God's
word. I didn't try to seek out a place
to worship. I just followed everybody else.
And I got to Dothan, Alabama, Fort Rucker, Alabama, and there
was a lady in our congregation. You said there's a church there
in Dothan. There's a gospel. church there,
go and listen to them. It was a good drive. You know,
I went to listen. And I go once every other week,
maybe once a month. And I remember them. Talking to me about that, he
said, Do you really believe? You really have you really heard
his voice? And I said, Well, yeah, well,
you sure don't love to come and hear the gospel. And I'll tell
you what that at first that I was angry. I tell you what, that
rebuke was not something of them. It was God speaking to me. And I look back at that and I
think that is the most blessed day. One of the most blessed
days of my life. I heard his voice. Not them. We hear his voice and notice
what the result of hearing his voice. Verse 14, for we are made
partakers of Christ. We are made one with Christ. This is the word of the Spirit
of God. You who believe and heard his voice are in union with Christ. Is that not refreshing? You know
what that means? That means that my salvation
is absolutely 1000% If I'm in Christ because this
in order to kick me out of it, they have to kick him out of
it This is why Christ was so adamant
he says of all that the father giveth me I should lose nothing And so when you heard this, you
heard the gospel of his election. You heard the gospel of his redeeming
grace. You heard the gospel of his effectual
call, and you heard his voice. You believe you were made partakers
of the divine nature, are paid partakers of Christ. You are
in union with Christ. Now, notice this. If we hold the beginning of our
conversation steadfast to the end. Have you truly believed? This is a question every believer
constantly is asking himself. I believe the whole book of John,
if you want to read sweet words in the book of the epistle, of John. He says that you may
know. In that important. I want to know. Am I here or
am I not? Have you heard His voice and
repented and believed on Him? Have you heard of your wickedness
and inability? Have you heard His voice and
fled to Him? Here is the evidence then of
one who has faith. Whosoever believeth on the Son
hath life. That little ETH, you know what
that importance of that word is. You that have believed. You
that believe and you that shall believe. In other words, faith
is a constant present thing. Let me ask you this, you that
doubt, do you believe now? What if all of your faith and
all of your religion from this moment behind you was false? What does it matter if you believe
now? What good is the hope of a future
faith? Well, I'll just believe later.
I don't get salvation today. You hear his voice. Believe. On the son of God. Trust. in Him, and you will be saved. And I know this, that none of
those that God chose in Christ's regime, this is not contingency. Paul's not making your salvation
contingent on your continuance. He's showing you the evidence
of true faith. The evidence of true faith is
this. It continues to believe. It continually desires to hear
the voice of the son of God. It does not harden its heart. In that it goes away and back
under the old covenant. That's what he's telling these
Jewish believers here. He's saying, look, If you go
back, all that shows us is that you are never a believer at all.
That's what it shows. But if you hear his voice, and
you continue in the faith, listen, you are made partakers of Christ. All that Christ has is yours.
His blood, yours. His righteousness, yours. Listen, even his glory, he will
give to his people. And that's something. I'm so thankful for Christ to
make God, by his grace, cause you to hear. And believe. Now. Today. Let's stand, be dismissed in
prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy. Speak to the hearts of your people. I pray that there be any heart
of unbelief in us, Father. That you would, Father, give
us such faith and grace that you would soften our hearts,
cause us to receive again Christ, constantly believing in him,
trusting, waiting, hoping, only in Christ. I ask you to do it
in his name. Amen.