Now, if you'll take your Bibles
and turn with me again to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. The title of the message this
evening is, The Apostate and the True Believer. The apostate
and the true believer. It is my heart's desire tonight
to comfort God's people. Whenever the message of apostasy
comes up in Scripture, we know this, that believers begin to
be troubled. And so then, in order for God
to comfort His people, He does give these manifests the difference
between the two. He goes to show us who the apostate
is, but for your comfort, believer, He also gives us the definition
of what a true believer is, so that we might have courage, so
that we might have comfort and strength. And so that is the
message tonight, the difference between the apostate and the
true believer. Now, in Hebrews chapter 10, And in verse 19, the Apostle
tells us that we as believers in Christ have boldness to enter
into the presence of God. And then in verse 22, the Apostle,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us three exhortations. Three exhortations to every believer. that we may exercise the graces
of God that are given to us through the perfect salvation of our
Lord Jesus. Now these exhortations that are
given are the means by which every believer may grow up, grow
up in the things of Christ. By these exhortations, believers
may be mature in the things of Christ and be more useful in
the service of Christ. Do you desire to be useful? Every
believer desires to be useful. These exhortations are the means
by which the graces of God are stirred up in the heart of every
believer. First, he says, let us draw near
to God, verse 22, with a true heart of full assurance. How? Of faith. This is the exercise
of faith, drawing near to God. through the Lord Jesus Christ. The second exhortation in verse
23 is to hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering. That believers are to continue
to steadfastly hold on in anticipation of Christ's coming. That's what
the word hope means. It is not a vain wish, but rather
it is a sure confidence You have confidence, believer, you have
an assurance of this, that God who promised cannot lie. You
who have fled to Christ for refuge, you have a hope. Now lay hold
on it. Grab a hold of it and don't let
go. Don't let go of that hope. No
matter what you see, no matter how you feel, no matter what
is going on around you, we may lay hold of that hope. Lay hold
of it. And the third exhortation is
found in verse 24. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works. Now this consideration
is that of love of the saints. That's what this is. It is the
exercise of love. Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded
us He did not request this of us. He did not ask this of us. He commanded this of us. And
His commandments are not grievous. Love one another. Love one another. As I have loved you. As I have
loved you. This love is a continual, perpetual,
and active love of the saints. And these graces, these graces,
sure are to be evidenced in our private worship. When we go into
our study, into our closet to pray, these graces are surely
evident there, aren't they? But if you're praying in private
and you're reading in private and you're studying only in private,
this does not provoke one another to love. It may stir you up,
but it doesn't stir anyone else up. Why? You're alone. It doesn't
do any good for anyone else. These things are evidenced in
private worship, but they are only seen and used for the edification
of the saints in public worship. And that's why the apostle says
in the very next verse, he says, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is. If we believe the gospel of Christ,
If we have hope of eternal life, and in our hearts have set our
affection on things above, if we truly love and consider the
brethren, the apostle is clear that we will not forsake the
assembling of ourselves together. Why? This is the manifestation
of love. This is the evidence of love,
is that we love Christ, we love His gospel. These things that
we hear are joyful to our ears. We desire again to hear of His
blood, His righteousness, His atonement, His redemption, His
justification. We desire to hear of what we
have in glory in heaven awaiting us. These things are our joy. They're not grievous to us to
worship together. And by this we edify one another. You have no idea how much you
edify me. You do. Just sitting there. You don't have to say anything.
You don't have to do anything. My heart is thrilled. My heart
is thrilled. We as brethren, we edify one
another in the assembling of ourselves in the worship of God
through singing of hymns and prayers and especially preaching. Now, you notice that the center
of our worship is the preaching of the gospel. And this is not
on accident, this is on purpose because this is the design of
God. This is the design of true worship. Preaching the gospel is central
in the worship of God. Today, many have set preaching
aside. They've put entertainment, they've
put other things in the place of preaching. Most likely because
they don't have anything to preach. Now if anybody's heard me before,
I've got plenty to preach. I do, I've got plenty. The gospel
is plenteous. Our God is full of redemption,
full of grace, full of mercy, full of kindness. So high is
our God that I cannot attain to the understanding There's
many things that we have not yet learned fully about our God,
ourselves, our Lord. And so we do this through preaching. And listen, if we will not neglect
this ordinance of preaching, We don't neglect this because
this is the chosen means by which God saves sinners. That's why
we're here. We're here to support the ministry.
We're here to earnestly contend for the faith of the gospel that
was once delivered to the saints. We are not making things up.
We are not getting any other sources. We get our messages
from the Word of God that was delivered to the saints and now
is given to us. This is the message. And by this
message, Believers, by this message, God saves sinners. By the preaching of the gospel.
And listen, if we love the brethren, surely we would desire to see
those that have not yet come in, come in. I desire to see
them come in. I don't know. Brother J.D., I
had no idea that you would come in. I knew that somebody would
come in. I just didn't know it was you.
But it was you. And the Lord brought you in.
You not see the love of the brethren that God had used to sustain
the ministry those years so that he would bring you under the
sound of the gospel. And that's our hope for others.
I'm waiting, I'm hoping that God would send others to come
of his elect to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and believe and
provoke us to love. That's what I desire. I desire
to see all God's people come in. And if we love the brethren,
surely we want to see them come in. And how will they come in
except they hear the gospel? For it pleased God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that belief. Why do you preach? It
pleased God. Why do you preach now? It pleases
God. That by this means and no other. Don't be deceived. No other means. God has chosen this means. save his people and secondly
we do not neglect the worship of God because this is the means
by which we are edified comforted refreshed and grow up in the
things of God isn't this the means that God's chosen by which
you are fed comforted and edified go with me to Ephesians chapter
4 Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
8. Wherefore He saith, when He,
Christ, ascended up on high and led captivity captive. That's
our salvation, isn't it? He led captivity captive. The
captain of our salvation had made our salvation perfect. He
led it captive. That's good news for us. He saved
us. And listen what He did after
He ascended up on high. He gave gifts unto men. What gifts are these? Verse 11,
and He gave some apostles. Well, that's none of us. But
I'm glad He gave apostles, aren't you? Because that's how we have
the Word of God written to us, is through the apostles. Listen,
some prophets. I'm thankful for prophets. Thankful
He gave prophets so we might have this Word that we have here.
Some evangelists I'm thankful for evangelists and listen some
pastors and teachers That's the same person pastor teachers What
are they for? What are these gifts for that's
a gift to the church? What are they for? Look at this,
for the perfecting, for the maturing of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And how
long are we to do this till we all come in the unity of faith
and the knowledge of the Son of God? How long is this preaching
going to last? It's going to last until every
one of them are brought in. That's how long preaching is
going to last. Look, when God raises up men, He raises them
up, they serve their generation, and I tell you, they go to sleep,
they go to be with God, but don't be discouraged. God raises up
other men, and He'll keep doing that. There's not going to be
a void of preachers. God is always going to have a
man to preach His gospel, always, until He comes, until everyone
is brought in. Now pretty soon there's not going
to be a need for preachers anymore. Ain't that going to be a good
day? We don't need them. Why? Everybody's
going to be brought in. We'll all worship God together
in the fullness of His glory. Unto a perfect man, unto the
measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ. So why do we come
here? Why do we not neglect it? Because this is how the church
is brought in. This is how men are saved. This
is how God edifies you and builds you up. Now, you remember when the Lord
came back, after Peter had denied Him three times, He had manifest
Himself to Peter, and they were on the beach there and eating,
and He goes to Simon, and He said, Simon, do you love Me?
And He said, Lord, you know I love you. Feed My sheep. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
Me more than these? Yes, Lord, I love you. Feed my
sheep." Simon, do you love me? Do you love Him? Do you love
me? And Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time,
Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things,
thou knowest I love thee. Jesus said what? Feed my sheep. What are preachers for? How do
preachers manifest their love to Christ? Do you love me? Feed my sheep. How do you know
I love the Lord? I feed you. That's a manifestation
of my love to him, is feeding you. I feed you. The greatest display of love
for Christ that any preacher can have is to be faithful, faithful
to feed the sheep of God. The manifestation of the love
of the sheep then is what? To be fed. Do you like this food? If you like this food, you'll
be here to eat. Isn't that right? That's right. How do you manifest your love
for Him? Is it not by being fed? My love
is manifest by feeding. Your love is manifest by being
fed. The Apostle Paul in the book
of Acts, he said to those preachers, take heed to yourselves and to
the flock, and to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers to do what? To feed the church of God which
he purchased with his own blood. What are we doing? We're feeding.
We're feeding. Eat. Eat what? Christ. Christ. Christ. He's the bread of life. He is
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to God but by Him. Feed on His blood. Feed on His
righteousness. Feed on His person, on His work,
on His redemption. Feed on Him. And thirdly, we
come because we desire to be comforted. Isn't that right?
You want comfort? I tell you what, if you don't
need comfort now, just wait a minute. You'll need it. You'll need it.
This world is full of trouble. Full of trouble. Therefore God
says to his preachers, what? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Friends, I'm not here to beat
the sheep. I don't want to do that. They're not my sheep. I'm just
an overseer. I don't own the sheep. I just
feed the sheep. I don't drive the sheep. And
I'm not trying to drive you. I don't do that. What am I to do? Speak comfortably
to you. What words of comfort do I give
you? Here it is. Your warfare is accomplished. It's over. The battle is done. Christ hath won. It's over. Her warfare is accomplished,
her iniquity, you listen to this, is pardoned. Not shall be pardoned, not might
be pardoned, you listen, you tell my people this, their iniquity
is pardoned. Done. Pardoned. Well, how can this be? For she
hath received of the Lord's hand Double. For all her sins. Imagine if
you had a traffic violation and you come in and somebody paid
double for your traffic violation. There's no way they're coming
back on you. You listen to this. There is no way your sin is coming
back on you. Why? Christ has paid it. And you should find a lot of
comfort in that. Not one of your sins will ever
come back to haunt you before the eyes of God. Why? Christ paid it. This is
the reason we meet together. See the care and provision that
God has made for the saints. See then the blessing of this
means of grace and love that God has provided, that we should
not neglect it. But let us who love Christ, hope
in Christ, believe on Christ, forsake all so that we should
be refreshed. We should be encouraged. We should
be comforted by the gospel. Let us be faithful then to attend
and support the ministry in love for the saints, in love for Christ,
for the encouragement of those who are already brought in, and
for the ones who shall be soon brought in. So that's what the
Apostle is telling us by these exhortations. Now, the warning.
The warning comes next. Look at this in verse 26. For if we sin willfully after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for
the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. A warning. This he begins now
to describe those who neglect the worship God these are what
we call apostates apostates the Apostle having given ample warning
throughout the entire book this now this is the fourth time that
we have mentioned this in our study about apostasy in this
book the Apostle is not shy concerning this matter of apostasy in this
book he is very clear throughout the book Concerning falling away
concerning letting these things slip. I'll just read these to
you Hebrews 2 and verse 1 he said therefore we are to give
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard Lest at any
time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast and every transgression disobedience received a just
recompensive reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great? salvation What is that? That's apostasy. That's someone
who has let these things slip, who have let these things go,
who have heard these things, professed to believe these things,
and yet were found unbelieving. Hebrews 3 and verse 12 it says
take heed brethren lest we be There be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God in chapter
4 and verse 11 Let us therefore labor to enter into his rest
lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief You know that illustration that
the Apostle there gives in that portion of Scripture was the
Jews how they had all escaped Egypt under the Passover blood. How they all went into the Red
Sea together. But you know this, not all of
them went over to the land of Canaan. Why? Unbelief. And I tell you, there are many
people who profess to believe, but eventually they go away into
apostasy. They go away not believing. They
have let these things they once professed go. And this is manifest, you know,
in Hebrews chapter 6, especially Hebrews chapter 6, when the Apostle
speaks of these who have tasted. He said, For it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the good
word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they fall
away. Renew them again to repentance
seeing they crucify themselves the Son of God afresh and put
him to an open shame By these warnings we see that all who
seem to begin in the faith Who seem to receive the knowledge
of the truth and taste of spiritual gifts taste of the good word
of God? But they fall away They let these
things slip. They leave the faith and abandon
the worship of God, the love of the saints and forsake the
means of God's grace. These are apostates. This is what the world today
calls lazy Christians. Well, he's just he's just carnal
Christian. No, he's most likely apostate. A man who leaves this gospel,
a man who can do without this gospel is an apostate. A careless attitude, I like this
quote, a careless attitude toward the means of grace, a poor appetite
for the Word of God, a preference for the things of the world over
the things of God are apostates. This is what is meant by if they
sin willfully They willfully neglect they willfully leave
not talking about somebody in a hospital bed can't get up I'm
not talking about there's a person there people that happen to all
the time there you have paraplegics You have people that cannot come
the thief on the cross. I guarantee you he wanted to
come but he couldn't He would have come Just enable. I'm talking about people who
are willing, capable, but will not come. They are openly in
rebellion of this. They leave the worship of God.
They openly forsake the means of grace. But obedience to the gospel involves
a joyful submission. to the Word of God. Do you not
have a joyful submission? Now, this is a difference, isn't
it? It's a difference between an apostate and a true believer.
Believers have a joyful Delight to hear the things of God we
want to I know many times this old flesh gets in the way And
we despise it and we wish we could throw it off. We don't
want that We want Christ and we're hindered in many ways,
but I know this it is our hearts desire to hear it It's our hearts
desire to worship God We want to worship in our heart, our
mind, and with our body to worship God through faith in Christ and
use every means of grace God has given us to worship Him. But to abandon the gospel willfully
for the pleasures of the world, for your family, for friends,
for jobs, or for another gospel, is only a manifestation of apostasy. See, a man, if he leaves the
worship of God, that's only manifesting what had already taken place
in his heart. Believe me, he left a long time
before he left the building. A man leaves, he left a long
time before that. Now, these apostates, you listen,
they are not ones who, for the most part, just reject
the truth. There are a whole bunch of people in this world
that don't believe the gospel. They hear it, they don't believe
it. But these apostates, they're different. You see, they're the
ones that actually receive the Word. These people actually hear
the truth and profess to believe it. These accept the gospel as
truth. Yea, they profess to be Christians
and followers of Christ. They are baptized. They eat the
Lord's Supper with us. They spoke of their love and
faith in Christ. But for some reason, some circumstance,
whatever it is, they have become indifferent to the salvation
in Christ they once confessed that burned in their hearts.
The sins and cares of this life cause them to forsake the worship
of God. Their self-righteousness that
they once professed to be dung, they, like dogs, return to their
vomit. I tell you, I know of a man who
was my friend. We were very, very close in the
Scriptures. We loved to speak of Christ together. And I tell you, that man has
since left the gospel and has moved what he claims into a higher
realm. Now he's Greek or Russian Orthodox. Nothing but vain and empty ceremony. You listen to me very carefully.
That man is apostate. He has left willfully neglecting
the truth. And you heard what the apostle
says, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. These people forsaking the worship
of God, consider it no big deal. You find someone who professes
to believe, claims he's a Calvinist, and he forsakes the worship of
God, ask him about it. Oh, well, you know, it's all
right. No big deal. There is those foolish virgins
who fell asleep having no oil in their lamps. Now I tell you this, even the wise virgins do fall
asleep. I know that. But the difference
is that the wise have the oil. The others don't. They have the
Holy Spirit and the others do not. Believers do sin, our hearts
do become indifferent, our affections grow cold, and our faith and
love grow weak. But I tell you, God does not
leave us in such a place. You remember the Shulamite bride?
As he knocked at the door of her heart and she refused to
get up and let him in. Can anyone identify with that?
Every believer here can identify with that. We know what that
is like, but yet what does He do for us? He puts His hand to
the hole of our hearts and the smell of His scent comes into
us. The Spirit of God stirs within
us and we cannot have anything but Him. This is what happens
to true believers. Yes, they may fall off. Yes,
they may for a time be indifferent, but God doesn't leave them there.
Didn't leave Lot, did He? No. And He won't leave us if
we're true believers. A true believer may fall a thousand
times a day, but I'll tell you this, he always comes back. Why? We got nowhere else to go. And we got no place else we want
to go. I got to have Him. I got to have Him. I can't do
without Him. Can't. And these fools, they
go away and never return, all the while thinking that all is
well with them. To forsake the gospel is no small
infraction, but Paul puts it like this. Look back at your
text. Paul puts it like this. in verse
27, of how much sore punishment suppose
ye he thought worthy who hath trodden under the foot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the
Spirit of grace." What is it to turn away from the worship
of God? You listen. It is to stamp your foot in the
face of Jesus Christ. It is to trod underfoot the Son
of God and count the blood of the covenant as nothing, worth
nothing. That's what it is to leave the
worship of Christ, to leave Christ. The gospel I preach to you is
not to be trusted and then thrown away. Men are never to trifle with
the word of grace. The gospel we preach is ever
relevant, ever vital, and always urgent. For God has sent His
Word, set His Word above His name, and all who despise His
Word, you listen, blaspheme the Holy Ghost. They have done despite to the
Spirit of grace. That is nothing less than blaspheming
the Holy Ghost. To turn from Christ back to the
world or to turn from Christ to another gospel is to count the blood of Christ
ineffectual. It is to count the Spirit of
God as incapable of sustaining or
keeping His people. These apostates, you know, our
Lord said they are in the seed, the parable of the sower. He
said these two, those that fell on stony ground and those who
fell on thorny ground, those are apostates. Those are apostates
who receive the Word, but yet because of the sun and difficulty
of troubles and trials in the flesh, they don't last, but wither
away, they are offended. Strong persecution comes, and
they wither away. Let me ask this, are you offended?
Are you offended? Does this offend you, that Christ
demands your obedience? No, I tell you, He is worthy
of our obedience. He is worthy of our praise. Worthy
of our love. And we gladly give it. We gladly
give it. And some are like those that
fell on those thorny grounds. They still have a semblance of
religion, but there's no evidence. They're an apple tree with no
apples. They're a stalk of corn with no ears. They're fruitless. How many people still associate
themselves with this assembly and yet have no evidence of love
for this gospel? I tell you, the thorns of this
world hath come and choked the word out of them." The cares
of this life have taken precedence, and you listen, they're just
as much an apostate as anybody else that has left the gospel,
left Christ. Therefore, Paul concludes, there
remaineth no more offering for sin. You see, there is no other
gospel. There's only one gospel because
there's only one Christ. And to leave the one gospel is
to leave the one Christ. Now I tell you, surely those
are better who have never heard the name of Christ at all than
to have refused to believe on Christ after they heard it. But
worse than that is someone who said they believe someone who
received this word and then abandoned the hottest part of hail as reserved
for apostates so what then is the difference
between them in a true believer and the lord gives this to us
first of all the apostle by the holy spirit is moved to encourage
true saints to endure in the faith look at your text again
He says this in verse 32. He says, "...but call
to remembrance the former days, in which after you were illuminated,
you endured the great fight of affliction, partly while you
were made a gazing stock, both with reproaches and afflictions,
and partly while you were become companions of them that were
so used." For you had compassions of me in my bonds, and took joyfully
the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in
heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore
your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward." Now the apostle tells us about
these apostates, but he tells those who are true believers.
He says, but. I like those words in Scripture.
But, but, remember, are you afraid of apostasy? When believers hear this, they
are often fearful about themselves becoming apostates. Remember
when the Lord was going to be betrayed his disciples, he said,
one of you shall betray me. What is he saying? One of you
shall be apostate. And what did they say? Is it
me? Is it me? When you hear this, do you not
say, is it me? Will I go away? Why do you say that? Because
you know what you're capable of. You know your sin nature.
You know that you are prone to wander, prone to leave the God
I love. We know this. So what then is
the remedy? What is this that we may know
that we are not? Remember what great things thy
God has done for thee. Remember what great things. Call to mind what God has done
for you. Focus on what Christ has given
to you. I like this. Go over to Psalm chapter 77 look at what
look at the Apostle Paul here in this psalm with me In psalm 77 David's having trouble ace of
his having trouble here And he says I cried in the Lord with
my voice even unto the God unto God my God with my voice and
he gave ear unto me in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord
and My sore ran in the night and ceased not, my soul refused
to be comforted." Listen, I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Anybody have that? Anybody got
that? I'm in trouble. I cried unto
the Lord. Does this not make you fearful
about apostasy, seeing there is no hope for them? It causes
fear in our hearts and we become troubled. Look at verse 10. And
he said, This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years
of thy right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works
of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. You see, he remembered. That's
what we should do is remember, believer, what God has done for
us. Has God caused you to believe
on Him? Have you believed on Christ?
Were you quickened by the Holy Spirit so as that you should
have faith in Christ? This is no mere accident. This is no random thing. This
is no common thing of man. This is the power of God that
you believe. Remember that, that your faith
is the evidence of your life, of your conversion. Do you believe? Have you believed? Have you seen
what God has done for you? Remember that. Take heart in
that. Remember how that we suffered
for the gospel. Let us meditate then on the works
of God and His doings. Let us go then to the sanctuary
of God and remember. And know this, he that hath begun
a good work in you shall perform it. Until when? Until the day of
Jesus Christ. This gives the true believer
comfort And it causes us to be moved to endure. It causes us to endure. Will our God fail? Do you realize what would have
to happen in order for you not to be saved? You who believe? Christ would have to come down
off His throne. And that just ain't going to
happen. Our faith is a gift of God. It's by the power of God. Believer,
remember then your reward. He said that in our text. He said it in Verse 35 cast not away therefore
your confidence as you remember these things don't cast away
your confidence which hath recompense of reward Peter said this blessed
be the God father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a living hope by
the resurrection of Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible
undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who
are kept You know why you won't go away, believer? You're kept
by the power of God. Kept by the power of God unto
salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. What's the
difference between apostate and a true believer? If apostate
goes away, the believer cannot and will not ever go away. There's
a difference. You who believe, our confidence
is never in ourselves, but always in our God. We will never go away because
God will never let us go away. Is that comforting? Is that comforting? It is! He will never let you
go. That's good, because I don't
want to go. I don't want to go. He says, that's good, because
I'm not letting you go. We desire the same thing. Our
Lord Jesus said this about us. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. I give unto them eternal
life, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand. For the Father which gave them
Me is greater than all, and no man shall pluck them out of His
hand. Do you believe on Christ? Then let me encourage you, believe
on Christ. Do you trust in Christ? Let me
encourage you, trust in Christ. Do you love Christ? Let me encourage
you, love Christ. Love one another. By this we
are manifest to be true believers in Christ. Because we will never
go away. Never. Now, God give you comfort. May God comfort you. I pray you will. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer.