Chapter 6. And our text will be found in
verse 11. Let's read verse 10. For God is not unrighteous to
forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward
His name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.
And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that you be not
slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. full assurance of hope. That's the title of the message
this morning, full assurance of hope. I will ask you, what
believer in Christ does not desire full assurance of confidence? Confidence that they know they
belong to Christ, that they know they are His. Do you desire to
know? Do you desire to know that you
have hope, a confidence, rock-solid assurance of your salvation? The apostle states this after
he has described for these Jewish believers an apostate. An apostate. In the beginning
of this chapter, the Apostle describes the characteristics
of one who is an apostate, one who is a professor of faith and
not a possessor of Christ. He describes one who seemed to
be a partaker of the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, but
is proven to be only a pretender. by his falling away. These apostates
that the apostle describes are not men who are saved and then
lost. We know that this is the doctrine
of false religion. that men can be saved and lost,
even because they believe that salvation is based on the works
of a man. And if a man earned his salvation
by works, then surely he can lose it. That's their doctrine. That's not the doctrine of Scripture.
We know our Lord Jesus said this. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me, that of all he hath given me, I should lose
nothing. Nothing. But raise it up again
at the last day. So we know that an apostate is
one who seems to have the characteristics of a believer, but in truth is
not born of God, is not a true believer. An apostate is one
like Judas. Judas is the poster boy for apostates. Judas Iscariot was one of the
disciples of Christ. He preached the gospel of Christ. He did miracles. He witnessed
of Christ and heard the Word directly from Christ and professed
to believe it. Even because he was not born
again, he was only an outward professor. He was not born again
of the Spirit of God and proved to be an apostate by his betrayal
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But let me ask you, was Christ
surprised by this? Is Christ surprised by apostates? We are. There's no doubt about
that. I've seen many come in and fall away, and I have been
surprised every time. I never get it right. I never
get it right. And so, but the Lord Jesus Christ
was not surprised. You remember in John 13 He said
this after He had washed the disciples' feet, Judas being
one of them. He said, You are clean every wit, but not all. Speaking of Judas. For Jesus
knew who should betray Him. You remember in John 6, after
the Lord had preached the gospel to them, how that salvation is
by the grace of God and not the merit of man. He said, No man
can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him. We
read the words that except you eat his flesh and drink his blood
you shall have no part with him What is that that is to believe
he said these words are spiritual and there were many of those
disciples that followed him for a long time, but after they heard
that They said this is hard saying Salvations of God? This is a
hard saying. And they followed Him no more.
Was Jesus surprised at that? He said, no. The scriptures are
clear. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who believed not and who should betray Him. See, Jesus knew. He knew. And I tell you, He knows
now. He knows who are His and who
are not. Now concerning this, when you
hear of an apostate believer, does that not cause you anxiety? When the disciples heard that
there was one in their midst that was going to betray Christ,
what did they all say? Lord, is it I? They didn't know. They were scared. They became
afraid. And I tell you, every time this
message of an apostate is preached, you know who are fearful? God's
people. God's people are fearful. Usually the apostates are never
fearful. They don't have any, nah, that's not talking to me.
I got this. God's people become fearful.
But remember, child of God, that there will always be tares among
the wheat. There will always be goats among
the sheep. The tares and the goats will
always be among God's church, but there will come a time when
they shall be separated. When they shall be separated.
For only the wheat shall be gathered into the barns of glory, and
only the sheep will have these words said to them, Come, you
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
before the foundation of the world. And I tell you, in time
God will burn all of the tares in eternal fires of vengeance.
And all of the goats shall hear these words, Depart from me,
you cursed. You that work iniquity, I never
knew you. Now this morning, I'm going to
ask you a very sobering question. Who are you? Are you the tares or the wheat? Are you the sheep or the goats? Are you such as Judas only a
pretender? Is your faith real or is it false? Is there any greater matter that
should require your attention this morning? Is there anything
out there that should cause you to be distracted from this thing
regarding your immortal soul? Listen to the words of Jesus.
They are very wise. What doth it profit a man to
gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul? Are those not sobering words? Are those not words of great
wisdom? Is there anything that would
cause us to not look and see? The apostle tells the saints
at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 13, he says, examine yourselves. Examine yourselves. Whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates? I tell you, if Christ is not
in you, you have no hope. You have no confidence or assurance. There is no confidence or assurance
except Christ be in you. Now you should examine yourselves.
What good is it going to be to examine our brother? What is
that? Scott, it would do me no good
to examine you. I cannot see into your heart.
I cannot know. I cannot tell you. By examination
of you, whether you be reprobate or not. Therefore, examine yourself.
I should spend my time examining me, examining my own soul to
see if I'm in the faith. This is why the lost and carnal
man enjoys the noise of entertainment. This is why men immerse themselves
in the business of their work. so that they are not left alone
in silence to consider their own souls. Men don't want to be left alone
with their own conscience. They desire the noise of entertainment,
the amusement of the world. Men by nature are easily dazzled
by shining trinkets of this world, and consumed by the pleasures
and desires of the flesh, so as not to distract them from
the truth concerning the condition of their immortal souls before
God." Spurgeon said this, and I thought
it worth... I've said it to my son. Amusement
is the murder of thought. Let it sink in. Amusement is
the murder of serious thought. Be still a moment. Be still and
hear the word of God. Listen. He that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. It's that simple. It's that simple. Do you have the Son of God? Have you believed on the Son
of God alone? Do you have a true and experimental
knowledge of Jesus Christ? Do you know Him? Whom to know
is life eternal. Do you know Him? I didn't ask
if you knew about Him. I'm sure I can go among you all
and ask questions about Jesus that every one of you could answer
very simply about factual information. I'm not asking do you know factual
information, I'm asking do you know Him personally? Personally. Is Christ in you? Do you know? Do you believe on
Christ Jesus alone? How can you believe on Him in
whom you have not heard? The Jesus of modern religion
is founded on foolish sentimental feelings of the imaginations
of lost and blinded men. The Jesus of today is nothing
like the Christ of Scripture Christ of today is effeminate
and weak. He hopes to save some people,
but he has no power unless man gives it to him. He's offered
himself a sacrifice to redeem sinners, all sinners of all sins,
if they'll make it effectual by their free will. Friends,
that is not Christ. Do not be deceived by them, by
their words and their sleight of hand. The payment of this false Christ
is useless and will provide you with no hope. In this Christ there is no hope,
there is no assurance, and there is no salvation. I read an article
this week that says God is not in the business of hiding His
gospel. What a fool would think such a thing. The scriptures
are clear that Christ said, Thank you, Father, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babes. In John 12, 40, it says, He blinded
their eyes and hardened their hearts. lest they should see
or understand, and He should heal them. God blinded their
eyes. God hardened their hearts. Listen to me. Today I am going
to proclaim to you the true Christ. And if you have Him, then I tell
you, you have full assurance of hope. Listen. Christ, I proclaim to you, whom
to know and believe is life eternal and full assurance of hope, He
is the Son of God. Hast thou believed on Jesus Christ
the Son of God? And He alone was given an elect
people by the Father, a people eternally loved of the Father,
chosen to be sons of God, chosen to be holy vessels. These elect
were given to the Son of God from all eternity, and in Him
they had all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And it was purposed, predestinated
of God, that all of His elect should be saved by this one Savior,
even Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the only Savior of
sinners. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. There is no hope in any
other Christ but the Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ of Scripture,
the One whom the Father gave His elect. This is the only hope. Therefore at the appointed time
I tell you the Son of God came down from heaven and took upon
him the nature of man in the womb of the virgin. I proclaim
to you that he being found in fashion as a man humbled himself
and became obedient unto death. He became a servant of God. He became the lowest of men. I know that we are not very high
or noble people in this room. We don't have royal blood flowing
through our veins. We're not exceedingly wealthy. We don't have any here that have
great amounts of wealth. We're considered pretty low on
the spectrum of humanity, aren't we? We're considered pretty low,
pretty humble people. Now, I've got to ask you, would
you take the lower place? Think of the worst and lowest
men you can think of, the meanest, the smallest, the most insignificant of places. And I tell you, we would cringe
to take that place. I don't want to go any lower
than I am. I'm pretty low, but man, I don't want to go any lower.
But consider the condescension of Christ, who was above all,
who is God over all, and He condescended to the lowest of men. For what? To do for His elect what they
could not do for themselves. He humbled himself to fulfill
all righteousness for them. All righteousness. Seeing the
elect were sinners even as all sons of Adam. God purposed that
Christ should come in the flesh to perform all their obedience
that they could not. In Isaiah 42 it speaks of the
servant of God, Behold my servant, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. That servant that was promised,
he said, He shall not fail nor be discouraged. What was his
mission? What was the mission of the servant
of God, the Son of God? It's found in Isaiah 42 verse
21. It says the Lord is well pleased
for His righteousness. Listen, He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. This is His mission. This was
the mission of Christ, to magnify. What is it to magnify? Very simple. It is to zoom in, isn't it? Zoom
in, like with a microscope. You see, that's what Christ did.
He zoomed in and magnified the law and honored it completely. Men like to hold the law at a
distance. They hold the law, they put it over there on the
wall, and they stand back, and that's too close. I'll stand
back a little bit further. Yeah, looks like I can do that.
There's only ten of them, right? I got it. No problem. You see,
he views the law at a distance. I remember we used to have to
unfold maps. You know, we don't have the GPS
and things, but We used to unfold maps, and I used to, when we
were traveling long distance, I'd get a little piece of paper
on a little margin and with the little miles and say, well, that
about an inch is about five miles or so, and I would map it out,
and I'd look, and I'd hold that map out, and I'd go, man, that
don't look very far. That don't look very far. Why? It's zoomed
out. But if we were to zoom in on
it, it's going to take a long time to get that two inches. See, men hold the law at a distance,
and it looks like they can do it. But I tell you, Christ knew
that the law was much more than outward obedience. It was inward
motives and thoughts. And Jesus Christ, magnifying
the law, honored it in every thought, in every word, in every
action, in every deed. What did He do that for? Himself? No. He could not add any righteousness
to himself. He was God. What did he do it for? He did
it for his elect. He honored the law as a representative
man. This is what the gospel is about.
It is about representation. As Adam was to the whole race,
Even so was Christ to all his elect. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. And then down in the The last part of that, it says,
Therefore, by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men
to condemnation. By the offense of who? One. One
offense. Judgment came. Death came upon
all men. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification. You
see, it's by representation. The gospel is about a representative. Friends, sin had reigned in all
of the elect as we were born dead in sins, but grace has superabounded
through righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteousness
of Jesus Christ. I tell you that Jesus Christ
did not make righteousness possible. That's no gospel. There's no
assurance in that. There's no hope in that. Jesus
Christ did not make righteousness possible. He actually accomplished
righteousness. He did it. He did it. Righteousness accomplished. Jesus actually obtained eternal
righteousness for all of his elect. Jesus had not only obtained
righteousness, but he also honored the law. He not only magnified
the law in his obedience to God, but he also honored the law by
satisfying justice. Satisfying justice. The Lord Jesus Christ has honored
the law by his substitutionary death. That is, Jesus actually satisfied
the justice of God for the sins of his people. Listen very carefully. The offense
of the law demands death. I know many people think light
of God's law. They call them little sins or
have truths. But God says this in His Word
by the mouth of His prophet. He said, God cometh, the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment. Judgment. Judgment upon all. To convince, that is to punish,
all that are ungodly. If you have broken the law of
God, I tell you this, you are ungodly. You are ungodly. Anyone who has broken the law
of God is ungodly. And God says He will come and
punish the ungodly for all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed. and of all their hard speeches. Those of you who mock God and
His Christ, you mock God and His Christ,
I tell you God will mock you in the day of your calamity. If any desire to see the vengeance
of God, don't try to imagine hell. You won't make it. You
won't be able to do it. The only instance of true hell
is to look at the cross. You want to see hell? Then you
have to look at the cross. This is where God pictures the
full measure of his vengeance. When Jesus Christ was made sin
for His people, He bore their guilt in His own
body on the tree. He bore their guilt. When I say
Christ was made sin, that did not mean that the Holy Son of
God desired to do sin. Or that He was tempted to sin
on the cross? No! He despised the shame. He despised the sin. And yet
He bore all of the guilt of our sins by the imputation of God. God imputed our sins to Him. And He bore them upon the tree. Our sins were made His own. And the scripture says he bore
them in his own body. And it was then by his one offering
for sin that he forever, listen, forever, forever, forever put
away the sins of his people. You know, I had not yet committed
one sin. I had not yet been born. And yet all of my sin was put
on him. And he bore it away before I
ever knew it. He bore away the sins of his
people on the tree, satisfying the justice of God. So then we
may say that the modern Christ is a hoax. The modern Christ
is a hoax. For His blood that is said to
have redeemed all men of all time, His blood actually redeems
no one. Oh no. For if Jesus died and
shed His blood for all men without exception, listen, there is no
hell. If Jesus Christ died for all
men without exception, there is no hell. Because the scripture says, He
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He has put away
by the sacrifice of Himself forever the sins of His people. But we
know there is a hell. We know there is a hell and there
are men in it. And I tell you, all that are
in it, He did not redeem. For had He redeemed them, they
would not be there. People will object and say, well,
they're there because of unbelief. Was unbelief a sin? You bet it
is. And if Christ died for it, why
are they there? I tell you, listen to me, God
cannot demand twice payment. God cannot demand of my Savior
my sin and then demand it of me. That's unjust. God is just. He cannot demand twice payment. And where in the scripture does
faith pay for sin? People say, well, you know, he
died for all sin of all men, but you just got to believe.
Well, where does faith pay for unbelief? Faith doesn't pay for
unbelief. Only blood pays. Without the
shedding of blood is no remission of sins. Friends, Jesus, I'm
telling you, has, according to scripture, accomplished salvation. This is the one I'm pointing
you to. I'm pointing you to a successful Savior, one who has actually
accomplished righteousness and satisfied justice. And because He has done this,
God has raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to the throne
of God where He rules over all things. Now what do you suppose Christ
is doing on the throne this morning? You suppose He's just sitting
back, relaxing, letting everything just kind of go? No. He's moving
all things after the counsel of His own will. He's doing exactly
what He determined before to be done. He is doing the will
of God. And what is that? It is to save
His people. That's the will of God. He's in eternity in heaven ruling
over all things to save His people, to glorify God by it. This is
the same thing He said in the garden in John 17, Father, the
hour has come. Glorify Thy Son. For what purpose? That the Son may glorify Thee.
You see what the Son is doing? He's doing all things to glorify
the Father. And He says, As Thou hast given
Him power over all flesh, Let me ask you this. You think you
control you? You think you control you? You don't control anything. You have no control over anything. Control is an illusion, my friends. There is one who has control,
and it is Jesus Christ the righteous. Now, you can kick at it all you
want to. You can spit at it. Don't bother. Don't bother. It's futile. He rules over all
things. And you know what He's doing?
He is going, He is going to save His people from their sins. That's what He's going to do.
He's moving all things in heaven and earth and hell for one reason,
to save His people and that's it. That's what He's doing. He's
going to save His people. And I'll tell you, He'll use
you. He'll use you, and if He discards
you, He has the right to do with you as He pleases. That's it. He may use you for
one purpose and discard you. I tell you, He can do it. You don't have control of you,
He does. And this is the reason He's given
all power, that in order that He should give eternal life. What is He doing? He's giving
eternal life. To who? As many as thou hast
given Him. That's it. That's it. There is a number. There's a number of elect people.
that God has chosen from eternity. It was for those people alone
that Christ obtained righteousness. It was only for those people
Christ died and rose again from the dead. And it is only those
people who He will call and save. As many as thou hast given me.
Now I'll ask you, are you in that number? I don't know how
many that is. Don't ask me how many, I don't
know. That's why I told you at the beginning, don't sit around
and look at your brother. Don't look around at your friends.
Examine yourselves. Examine yourselves to see if
you be in the faith. For you know yourselves that
if Christ is in you, except you be reprobate, if you have not
Christ, you are none of His." That's what the Apostle said
in Romans 8. If you have not the Spirit of
Christ, you are none of His. Jesus rules all things for the
salvation of His people. How will He give this salvation?
He has chosen a means, listen to me very carefully, He has
chosen a means that is despised by the world, preaching, preaching. I'm not going to try to quote
it. It slipped in my mind, like most things. In 1 Corinthians
1, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Did you hear that? Is preaching
to you foolish? It's because you're perishing. perishing. I didn't write it. God put that there. You who preaching
is foolishness, you're perishing. But unto us who are saved, it
is the power of God. Preaching? Yes. It is the power
of God. This is it. This is how God chooses
to save sinners. Despise it if you will. We don't. I don't. Obviously. You don't
who believe. It's the power of God unto salvation.
This is how God by the Holy Spirit gives a new heart, a new life,
a new spirit. Do you need to be saved? Are you a sinner in need? And
I tell you, you should be here at every opportunity. This is
the means God chose. This is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believe. How can you believe on Him in
whom you have not heard? And how shall you hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This is how God gives a new heart.
Man's heart is cold. Man's heart is indifferent. Man's
heart is dead. Man's heart is a stone. Until
when? Until God removes the stone and
gives you a heart of affection. A heart of love for the gospel.
Do you believe on Christ? Do you have a love for Him? Do
you have an affection for Him? This is not natural. It's supernatural. This is what it is to be born
again. It is to be quickened from the dead. I know many people,
their problem is that they've always been alive. They've always
been saved. Well, friends, that's just too
long. If you've always been saved, that's just too long. If you've
never been dead, I tell you this, you've never been given life. You must be born again. This
is something I can't do for you. Something I can point you to.
I can point you to Christ, but I can't give you life, and I
can't give you faith. That's something only He can
give you. If your faith is just a product of yourself, it's no
faith at all. There's no full assurance of
hope in our faith, is there? No. Why? Because my faith is
up and my faith is down. My faith is non-existent at times. I tell you, it's so weak and
feeble. I don't trust my faith. I trust the object of my faith,
Jesus Christ the righteous. Are you born of the Spirit of
God? What is it to believe? What is
it to be born again? I'll give you this illustration
and I'll close. I heard this. I don't normally watch it, but
a pastor friend of mine told me about it. He said that he
was watching the world championship poker on television. And these guys are real good
at hiding their cards and expressions. And then the guy that thinks
he has the best hand at the end, How do you know that he thinks
he has the best hand? He pushes all of the chips in
the middle, and he says, I'm all in. I'm all in. Listen to me. To believe on Christ
is to be all in. I don't understand a lot of things. Oftentimes I'm very confused
as to what God is doing in my circumstance. But I tell you this, I come time
and time again to the same place the Apostle said, Lord, we know
that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. To whom
else are we going to go? Where else am I going to go?
I'm all in. If you are all in, listen to
me. God is not unrighteous to forget your work or labor of
love. What is your work and labor of
love? It's what Christ has done for
us. That's my work. That's my labor
of love. And God's not unrighteous to
forget it. Is that not full assurance of
hope that Christ is my all and nothing else matters? In that, I can have hope. Believer
in that, you can have hope. And if that's not your hope, I fear for you. May God bless this to your hearts.