Alright, go with me if you would
back to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Let's begin
reading in verse 14 again. It says, follow peace with all
men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking
diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God. Now, do
you see in the center margin for fail of it says, fall from
the grace of God. Looking diligently,
lest any man fall from the grace of God. The title of this message
is Falling from the Grace of God. Falling from the Grace of God.
I don't want any of us to do that. None of us. I'm going to go ahead and tell
us the good news of the gospel immediately. This is the good
news of the grace of God. If we are in Christ, He will
keep us from falling. Right? If we're in Christ, we
are kept by the power of God. outside of that we would fall
if he didn't keep us we would fall all right but what he has
to say right here is very important i want us to see the warning
that he gives from falling from the grace of god this is not
the only place in the scripture that he gives this warning and
i want us to look at this and learn from it verse 14 he said
follow peace with all men and holiness that is important all
right that is important that is important for a child of god
to do and i want to really stress that That is very important for
a child of God to do. Look with me if you would at
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. verse one says furthermore then
we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the lord jesus that as
you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please god
so you would abound more and more you see what he's beseeching
you've received of us how you ought to walk and please God
we beseech you to abound in that more and more verse 2 for you
know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus for this
is the will of God even your sanctification that you should
abstain from fornication these things are very clear to God's
people these are clear and that's clear enough isn't it he said
abstain you know you've been set apart you've been sanctified
god has set you apart and he said this is the will of god
he said abstain from fornication verse four that every one of
you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification
and honor being set apart in honor verse five not in the lust
of concupiscence which is another word for for lust, a deeper form
of lust, even as the Gentiles, which know not God, that no man
go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the
Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you
and testified. For God hath not called us to
uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth,
and that means rejects these commandments and rejects what's
being said right here, he despiseth not man, he's not despising me,
he's despising God, who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit. It is necessary for a believer
to not reject the commandments of God to him. It's necessary
that we know what commandments we've received of him. We've
been set apart. And it's necessary that we heed
them. Turn with me over to Ephesians
4. Ephesians 4 verse 17, this I
say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind.
The world walks in the vanity of their mind and we are the
world. And the exhortation to us is, let's be separate. Verse 18, having the understanding
darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
or filthy ways, to work all uncleanness with greediness, But you have
not so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard him and
have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put
off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind. And that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his
neighbor. For we're members one of another.
Be ye angry." Be angry at what? Sin. Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. If you're at odds, don't go to
bed on it. Make it right. Verse 27, neither
give place to the devil, let him that stole steal no more
but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which
is good that he may have to give to him that needeth let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is
good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the
hearers and grieve not the holy spirit of god he said all of
these wicked deeds Everything that the old man does, the old
man's natural ways grieves the Holy Spirit of God. And that's
terrible. That's terrible. You think about
when the Lord, Genesis 6, He looked on all the wickedness
of man. Every imagination of his heart
was only evil continually. It grieved the Lord that He even
made man. Well, all of these things, he
said, grieve the Holy Spirit of God. He went on to say in
verse 30, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Three more verses, chapter
five. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and
walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself
for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.
But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not once
be named among you as becometh saints." These things are not
becoming of saints. Not becoming of saints. Verse
8, he said, For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light
in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Walk as children of light. Believers
ought to act like believers. We ought to act like God's children. We are God's children. Children of the Light, and God
says we are to behave as children of light. Children of God. Alright,
Romans 6. Go over there. Romans 6 verse 15 says, What
then? Shall we sin because we are not
under the law but under grace? God forbid! God forbid! Know ye not that to whom you
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servant you are to
whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto
righteousness. Is the law sin? Is the law sin? Should we shun it? Pass a law. Should we run from it? Should we deny it? Just because
we're not under the law but under grace. He said, God forbid, God
forbid. Not only is God's law not our
enemy, if we are never awakened to the warning of God's law,
And if we never give any heed to the instruction of God's law,
if we ignore God's word to us as his children, we're leaving
the door wide open. We're leaving it wide open for
a root of bitterness, he called it, to creep in and spring up. And it will not only trouble
us, but it'll trouble everybody around us. All right, if we leave
that door wide open, we would be wise to find out what our
God's commandments are to us in his word and heed what they
say. We would be so wise. Heed what
they say. All right. With that being said,
here's the fact of the matter. Failing in that category, everything
we just read, do we have any problem with anything we just
read? No. But failing in that category,
everything it just commanded of us, is not falling from the
grace of God. failing in that category. Be
kind one to another. Forgive one another. Don't do
all those things. Act like God's child. You've
been made separate. Failing in that category, failing
in all of those things is not falling from the grace of God. One specific thing is falling
from the grace of God. All right, go back to our text
and we'll see what it is. Hebrews 12, verse 14 says, follow peace with all men and
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. If we do
not follow peace and holiness, we will never see the Lord. That
is so misunderstood by those who are trying to earn their
own salvation. That is so misunderstood. So
misunderstood. Those who are trying to progress
in being set apart, progress in sanctification, progress in
holiness, or those who are looking to their own good works for assurance. It is so misunderstood. This
is why. Peace does not come through the law. It will not ever come
through the law. If we follow the law, we will
never find peace. We'll never arrive at peace. We'll never find peace with God.
We will never find peace within ourselves because the law will
continually say to us, the work is not finished yet. That's what
it'll say. This is what you must do today.
This is what you must do. Okay. You did that today. You
got to do it tomorrow, which we didn't do it today. But the
law will never say enough is enough. We'll never find peace.
True peace is only found in one place, in Christ. Following peace is following
Christ. He is our peace. Verse 14 says,
and holiness. Holiness does not come through
the law. People are trying to obey the
law because they think it's going to make them more holy. Holiness does not come through
the law. We can't keep the law. So all the law can bring to us
is judgment and punishment. That's all it'll bring. True
holiness is only found in one place, in Christ. Following holiness is following
Christ. He's our holiness. Without peace
in the blood of Christ, and holiness in the righteousness of Christ
will never see the Lord. Without His peace and His holiness,
we'll never see the Lord. That's what he said in verse
15. Follow peace and holiness. How?
Verse 15, looking diligently. That's how looking diligently,
looking to Christ, totally, completely looking to Christ. He went on
to say in verse 15, lest any man fail of or fall from the
grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble
you and thereby many be defiled. This is what falling from the
grace of God is. This is what will defile a person.
Clinging to something other than Christ. Clinging to something
other than Christ. I cannot tell you how vital good
works are to the life of a believer. It was very important to me to
establish first this is what he has to say to us. We are his
children. This is how we ought to be. We
ought to strive for these things. We shouldn't condemn them we
ought to strive for them they're so important i believe in and
i preach good works but only as a response to a finished salvation
only only as a thank you for the blood that saves that's the
only way i preach good works and that's the only way we believe
good works The minute that we make those good works the object
of our hope, the minute that we look at those good works for
assurance, the minute that we start looking for peace and holiness
through what we see in this flesh, we have fallen from grace. That's what it is to fall from
grace. All right, turn with me over
to Galatians 5. Galatians 5 verse 1 says, Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Meaning,
if you become circumcised in order to become saved. If you
believe that that circumcision is going to clench your salvation,
Christ will profit you nothing. Verse three, for I testify again
to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. If you're going to trust in one
law, this is what he's saying. If we're going to trust in one
law, and if we're going to perform one law, we have to trust in
and perform all the laws, every single one of them. Verse 4, Christ is become of
no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. If you believe that you're justified
by the good works of the law, If you believe you're justified
because of what you see in yourself, I'm unjustified because I just
don't like what I'm seeing. I just don't think I'm going
to make it. I don't think I'm going to be saved. Oh, yeah, I'm pretty
proud of myself. I think I'm doing pretty good
right now. If that's the deciding factor. The end of verse four
says. You are fallen from grace. Fallen from grace. Verse 5, for
we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith, by looking to Christ, just by looking to Christ. Verse
6, for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. That's
a relief, isn't it? That's a relief. We see all these
commandments. This is how you ought to be.
This is how you ought to be. That's right. But every time I look
right here, I don't see me doing it. And thank God, grace says. Look there. Look there, throw
down all of your works before God and trust the works of Christ
alone. You do that, you'll never fall
from grace. Never. Never. Stop trying to
do to please God. Rest in the fact that it's done,
and you'll never fall from grace. Just plead Christ. Just plead
Christ. You'll never fall from grace.
Alright, then after you do that, obey the commandments that He's
given us for love's sake. As a thank you, All right, go
back with me to Hebrews 12. Verse 14 says, follow peace with
all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord,
looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest
any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many
be defiled. lest there be any fornicator
or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. For you know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears." We know that story of Jacob and Esau, and Esau wanted
something else, didn't he? He wanted something else. He
wanted something other than the birthright blessing. And that's
what the flesh wants. Something other than the birthright
blessing. Something other than the gift
of Christ. This flesh wants to lay hold
of something else. Is that not amazing? Here's Christ. Here's the glory of God. Here's
the Son of God. Here's the perfect payment. Here
is unsearchable riches. And what does the flesh want
to do? I'll take something else. That's falling from the grace
of God. That's what Esau wanted. And
he got it. He got what he wanted in that
very second. He lost it all. He just lost it all. The grace
of God cries, keep looking to Christ. Keep looking to Christ,
keep trusting Christ. Verse 18 says, for you are not
come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with
fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the
sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that
heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them
any more. For they could not endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake." That's Mount Sinai. When Moses went up on
Mount Sinai and he came down and the mountain, the whole mountain
was on fire, burned with fire and the thunderings and the trumpets
and the people were so afraid to hear God's voice. They said,
please don't let him talk directly with us anymore. Let's go through
a mediator. Let him talk to you, Moses, and
then you deal with us. And the sight was so terrible,
Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. And didn't our Lord
say, my soul is heavy. Sorrow even unto death. That mount of the law, that demand,
the demands of the law, the strictness of the law, the justice of the
law, the punishment of the law. He said, in the grace of God,
you are not come to that law. You're not come to that law.
In the grace of God, Christ came to that law as our mediator.
You, it says in verse 22, but you are come unto Mount Zion
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels. I was thinking about these verses
as I was studying them, thinking I want to come back and look
at them more deeply. And maybe the Lord will allow
us to do that. But you think about what we're come to in Mount
Zion. We're coming to the city of the
living God. Heavenly Jerusalem, an innumerable
company of angels. To the general assembly, all
of God's saints gathered together. the church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect. Everybody's there.
He is made perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. He said, you're not come to the
law, you're come to grace. You have not been called to the
works of the flesh. You've been called to grace.
What that means is holiness is not found in the flesh. It's
found in Christ. That purity is not found in the
flesh. It's found in Christ. Only in
Christ. And it's important that we believers
have a heart for our Lord. Very important. It's vital that
we have a love and a respect for His Word to us. And it's important that we have
a desire, a true desire to listen to Him and obey Him. But if we
look at ourselves and say, and this is amazing, if we look at
ourselves and say, do I look saved? Do I look saved? If we do that,
we've fallen from grace. He said, look to Christ and ask
that question again. Look at Christ and ask that question
one more time. Verse 24, look to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling.
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Look to Christ
who hung on that cross. Look to him as he's hanging there
on that cross to mediate that transaction between God and sinners. You look to the bloody sacrifice
of God and then ask that question one more time. Do I look saved? He said the blood of Abel's lamb
couldn't answer that for him. Abel did what the law said. He
brought a lamb, but that blood couldn't answer. But the blood
of God's lamb cries for us. It cries for Abel. In me you
do. In me you do. In the grace of
my blood, the gift of my blood, you are spotless. saved. Stay right there. That's what
grace says. Stay right there. If we are kept
by the power of God, if he keeps us from falling, we will be kept
by his spirit and his word saying to us, stay right there. Follow peace with all men and
holiness. Let's try to obey the good and
loving commandments of our God and let's never take our eyes
off the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never. This line summarizes
that. We sing the song, He is all my
righteousness. I stand in Him complete and worship
Him. That summarizes every bit of
it. He's all my righteousness. I don't worship Him to try to
earn a righteousness. He is all my righteousness. I
don't obey these commandments to try to finish what He started. I stand in Him complete and worship
Him. May the Lord enable us to do
that. Let's obey Him, look to Him, and never fall from grace. Keep our eyes on Him. Alright,
let's all stand together. Turn with me, if you would, to
2.05.