The title of the message is Hold
Fast, or a warning against apostasy, of leaving the gospel for something
else. That's what apostasy is. It's
leaving the gospel. It's going back. for something that they think
is better, or something that one thinks is better, Christ
is not enough. That's saying that God is not
enough, because Jesus Christ is God. Now, after all that has
been said about Jesus Christ purging us from our sins, about having that high priest
over the house of God, I won't sacrifice, perfecting forever
them that are sanctified. The apostle says, let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without
wavering, for he is faithful to promise. The exhortation here
is to hold fast. That means to hold down, to have
a firm grip. Keep a firm grip on the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and don't loosen your grip for any
reason. Whatever trial comes along, and
God will send some hard trials. He can send us some severe trials.
And this is why the apostle is saying to these Hebrews here,
because they were under some severe persecution, and because
of it, Some were wanting to go back. They were wanting to go
back. And he's saying here, hold fast.
It's like hold the line. Don't let temptations and hardships
and trials and persecution cause you to loosen your grip on the
gospel. Embrace the gospel. Embrace the
gospel more strongly As you grow older, I can't tell you how important
that statement is. As you and I grow older, let's
embrace the gospel even more strongly than when we began.
I need Jesus Christ just as much today as I did when I first started. I need Him just as much, if not
more. Keep a firm grip on how God saves
sinners. You know, we can read it like
this. Let us hold fast the profession of our hope. You know, Paul tells
Timothy, in writing to Timothy, he writes, Jesus Christ, our
hope. Don't lose that. Don't lose that. You think, well, I would never
lose that. You'd be surprised. You'd be surprised. I have seen
people over the years leave that I never, never thought would
leave. It just shocked me. That's when the Lord said, Son,
one of you is going to betray me. And one by one said, Lord,
is it I? Embrace the gospel more strongly.
If persecution increases over the gospel, if it increases over
the gospel, embrace it more strongly. That's what Paul's telling them
here. I believe Paul wrote it, so when
I say Paul, I believe he's the one who wrote Hebrews. But how
are we to do this? Well, he says without wavering,
without wavering, without doubting, Wavering is dangerous. Be steadfast. Be solid in the gospel. Confident. As he says in verse 35, cash
not away therefore your confidence. Absolutely sure that Jesus Christ
is God. Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
Jesus Christ is everything I need. In Him we are complete. Don't
lose that confidence. Don't lose it. And it also means this, without
wavering means to be inclined or to lean forward. In this case, it means to lean
backwards. And a good example of that is
Israel going through the wilderness. Every time they got in trouble,
what did they want to do? Let's go back to Egypt. Why did
we leave Egypt? We need to go back to Egypt.
Back in Egypt we had the onions and the leaves and back in Egypt...
That's what he's saying right here. Don't lean backwards. Don't lean to going back. Don't
be inclined to leave. Don't be inclined to leave the
gospel. And our motive is this. He is
faithful that promise. God has given us his word. Come
to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you
rest. You believe that? He that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out. He that believeth on the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be saved. God is good for His Word. In
one scripture, I believe it's in the Psalms, it says that He
has magnified His Word above His name. Because He's only as good as
His Word. And God has given His Word. God's faithfulness is our
greatest motive to keep going forward. One time Moses was praying
about something there in the wilderness. And God said to Moses,
I'm gonna paraphrase, I'm gonna paraphrase. God said to Moses,
basically, Moses, be quiet, shut up, and go forward. I said go
forward, now go forward. And that's why he's telling us
here, just go forward. The scripture says, hath he said,
and shall he not do it? Has God given His word and shall
He not fulfill His word? You know He will. And here's
the means. He gives us the means that keeps
us from drawing back, that helps us to keep going forward. And
here's one of them in verse 24. And let us consider one another. This word consider
means it is a continual care of one another. It means to look
after carefully the spiritual welfare of one another. Look after one another. Look
after one another's welfare spiritually. Encourage one another. You see
a brother or sister starting to waver or starting to... I've seen it in myself. I've
seen it in myself. I've seen it in myself to grow
cold. I hate to say that, but to grow
cold. You start to find other things
to do or something else takes your... I've done that. I've
been there. And when you say that, encourage them. Encourage
them with the word. Encourage them with the gospel.
Encourage them in love. Encourage one another. That's
why he's saying, that word, consider, it means in the Greek, continual
care of one another. To provoke, and this means in
the Greek, it means to incite. It means to stimulate. unto love and to good works.
It's like encouraging one another to go on, to come on. One of the greatest means for
us to use to keep going forward, the greatest means, other than
the preaching of the gospel, sitting here under the gospel
and reading God's Word, the second greatest means is one another. It's one another. We cannot get
together too much. I don't believe that. I don't
believe you can. The fellowship we had out at the farm and the
pig picking, that is so important to do that.
It is so important to get together like that and encourage one another
and just be with one another. It's the body of Christ. It's
the body of Christ. You are my real family. You're
my real family. I've got brothers and sisters
who are my family, and I love them. But not all of them believe
the gospel. Not all of them believe the gospel.
And one day, that relationship is going to be severed. That
fleshly relationship is going to be severed by death. But our relationship in Jesus
Christ will not. It will not be severed. It will
only grow and grow and grow. It'll never stop growing. It
won't. It will never stop growing. Love
to one another will never stop growing. Learning of God, now listen,
learning of God throughout eternity will never stop. We will never
exhaust the knowledge of God. Ever. Ever. and consider one another, look
after one another, encourage one another in the gospel. We
all have spiritual lows. And I think we have more often
than we do anything else. Because of this flesh, because
of sin. We have spiritual lows and we
need to help. I was trying to think today and
I was going to go and get to scripture, but I forgot. I got
something, something came along and took my mind off of it. But
the two men that helped Moses, remember when Israel was in a
battle, and there was two men, and I can't remember, my mind
is gone. It'll come back sooner or later.
But anyway, regardless of their names, one stood on one side
of Moses, one stood on the other side of Moses, and held his arms
up. And that's what he's saying to
do. The battle sometimes gets hot.
And when it's hot, especially it may be hotter on one of you
than it is on the others. And when it's hot, hold each
other's arms up. Be there. Be there. And here's another one. Now listen,
this is important. Not forsaking. Not forsaking. And that word means this. Let
down or abandon. Don't abandon the assembling
of ourselves together as a manner of some is. Some had quit. Some
had just quit the service, quit going to the service, the worship
service, quit sitting in the gospel. They quit. And they quit
because of persecution, because it just got to be too rough.
And they said, honey, I'm not going tonight. We're just staying
home. This is just more than we can take. You know, some of those people
now, you have to understand what they, they were excommunicated,
their homes were taken, their land was taken. You know, let me, let me, while
I'm thinking about it, here in verse 33, let me pick,
read something here, I'll find it here in a minute. Partly while
you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions,
and partly while you became companions of them that were so used, For
you had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the
spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you
have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. You know
what this is saying? I'm getting ahead, I'm getting
the next week's message. But that's alright, we may not be
here next week. But you had compassion of me and my bonds, and took
joyfully, you took, now listen, You took with joy and a great
attitude the losing of your property. Because you know, you know that
in heaven you have something that's everlasting. That's what
he's saying there in that verse. Their land was confiscated. Their
home was confiscated. And he's saying that you took
that joyfully. You didn't get mad at God. Why
did God do this? Why did God take this? You didn't
get mad at God. You took it joyfully because
you know that in heaven you have a more enduring substance. You know that. Boy, I read that today. I thought,
wow. Wow. They lost everything and they
took it joyfully. Well, I'm off my subject. Let's
go back to verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as a matter of some is, but exhorting one
another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
You know what the first sign, just about, just about, just
about every time, the first sign of apostasy, absence from the service. absence
from the service and they're not here again and not again.
Next thing you know, they're gone. That's the first step,
that is the first step of apostasy. When you quit sitting under the
gospel on purpose, I'm not talking about if you can't help it, but
I mean on purpose. Satan is very subtle. His method
is divide and conquer. His method is to find fault.
Our Lord said, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
And one of the church's greatest strength, you know what her greatest
one, her greatest strength is? Her solidarity in Jesus Christ. In Christ we are one. In Christ we stand together,
undivided. It doesn't matter what nationality,
If God has saved us, we stand undivided. Period. I don't care if you're a Republican
or Democrat. In Christ, we stand undivided. In Christ, we are one. In Christ,
we are one. God has placed a special blessing
on the gathering of his people in his name, where two or three
are gathered together in my name. There am I in the midst. Do we really believe that? Do you really think when Thursday
night rolls around, or Sunday rolls around, you say, honey,
we're going to go to church, the Lord is going to be there
tonight. The Lord said He promised to be there if two or three show
up in my name. He promised to be there. There's your reason for coming.
Not because it's Thursday night. The Lord said, I'll be there. The internet, tapes are good,
but they are not to replace our gathering together. There's just
a special blessing on this. Special blessing. It's so important
to spiritual growth. Don't ask God to increase your
faith. I should not ask God to increase
my faith if I rarely show up to hear the gospel. That's mockery,
my friends, that's mockery to God. Let me give you an example. Responsible
parents will not let their children skip school, will they? Say,
no, you're going to school. You're going to school today.
You're going to learn something today. How much more important
is being where the gospel is preached? How much more important
is that? Henry gave this example. I've
heard him give it several times. You've heard it, I know. I know
you've heard it. But you take a piece of coal out of the fire
and see how quickly it cools down. See how quickly the fire
goes out. It'll sit there hot. And then
it starts to smolder and the smoke starts to rise out of it.
And the next thing you know, it's cold. Cold. We open ourselves up to much
spiritual trouble when we absence the preaching of the gospel.
We absence ourselves from the preaching of the gospel. We open
ourselves up to spiritual problems, spiritual depression. So I'm just down, I just feel,
I'm just down. But one of the ways to get up
is to hear the gospel. For God, to ask God, enable me
to hear. And you come here to the service,
ask God to speak to you. Ask God to enable you to hear
his voice. To teach and instruct you. He's
your father, ask him. And don't just follow anyone,
for he says here, as the manner of some is. Some who profess to believe are
not to be followed. Not everyone who professes to
believe is worth following. Many will say, Lord, Lord, a
priest in your name. Well, I wouldn't follow that
crowd because he's getting ready to cast them out. Don't follow
just anyone. Not everyone that says, Lord,
Lord, knows the one they're talking about. Paul said, follow me as I follow
Christ. As I follow Christ. You see,
these Judaizers wanted to take them away from Christ. Now somebody,
I've been reading through Deuteronomy. I started that, I finished up
Leviticus last week, and I started through Deuteronomy. I try to
read a book in the Old Testament, just first thing in the morning
when I go to my study, I try just to read a book. and I have
to take three or four chapters a morning, and I was reading
in Deuteronomy yesterday, I believe it was, if a son or daughter
entices you to leave the gospel or to leave God, to go to another
place, to go to a place where, sit under another God, to worship
another God, you know what he said do to them? Kill them. If it's your son or daughter
If they entice you to go and worship another God, you are
to bring them before the assembly, and you are to throw the first
stone, and the assembly are to kill them. They're to kill them. Our God is a jealous God. That's
one of His names. He said, My name is Jealous.
It's Jealous. The danger the writer had been
dealing with is some are going back to Judaism and leaving the
gospel. They're going back. That'd be
like somebody, I was thinking of this today, it'd be like someone leaving Catholicism. They heard
the gospel preached. They have professed Christ. They
say, I believe that, I understand, I believe the gospel. And then
one day, They said, I don't. I'm going
to go back to Catholicism. I'm going back to Catholicism.
And because of persecution and trouble, some, some were leaving. They were leaving and they went
back to the temple. They went back to the sacrifices.
They went back to the law. They went back. But he says here,
but exhort one another. warn one another, remind one
another that all this is going to be dissolved. All this, everything we own is
going to be burnt up someday. All of it. And we need to remind each other
of this. You see someone going And it's easy to do. It's easy
to get. I was in business. I was in business at one time
for 25 years. I know how I can get a hold of
you. I know how you can get a hold of you. Henry sent me down one
time and talked to me about a little bit. I know how I can get a hold
of you. I was starting to find myself
going after it and starting to be absent. And God shut the doors on. I
thank God he did. I thank God he did. Exhort one another, warn one
another, remind one another all this is going to be dissolved.
Help one another to set our minds on things above by talking about
things above. By talking about things above.
Not talking about the political landscape. Not talking about a lot of things.
And I'm not saying we can't talk about these things. But my soul,
it should not be our full conversation. I remember a man, Gerald Kuhn. It was at 13th Street. Known
him for years. Man believed the gospel. I couldn't
be in that man's presence. He had a car lot. He owned a
car lot. I wouldn't be in his presence five, ten minutes and
we were sitting there and it was He took off talking about
the gospel. About ten minutes with him. I
can guarantee you every time where our conversation was going
to go. Every time. Never failed. Never failed. Help one another to set our minds
on things above. Talk often of Christ. And so
much the more as you see the day approaching. It's approaching. Our fervence, over the gospel
ought to grow as we get closer to the end. We ought to get a
little more excited as we grow closer to the end, shouldn't
we? Our redemption is nearer than
when we believe, the scripture says. The day of our departing
is nearer than when we were born. I am 63 years closer than when
I began. I'm 63 years closer to going
home than when I started. Now that the writer has looked
at the means against apostasy, he now turns to perseverance
in the faith and the consequence of leaving. He says here in verse 26, for
if we sin willfully, and that means with full knowledge, Like
Adam did. You know, when Adam sinned, you
see, it says Eve was deceived. When Adam sinned, he sinned with
full knowledge. He knew exactly what he was doing.
If we sin willfully after that, we have received the knowledge
of the truth. There remains no more sacrifice for sins. Now
I know this, all our sins have some degree of willfulness in
them. Right? They all do. They all do. But
that's not what he's talking about. Because John said, if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. But here willfully has to do
with willfully, with full knowledge, rejecting the gospel. Rejecting Jesus Christ as the
only way to God. Rejecting as the only way to
God. The people who left here that
Paul is speaking of, they were not atheists. They were still
religious. They just went back to... They
just left Christ. And if we leave Christ, He will
profit us nothing. It can't be Christ and the law,
Christ and the... No, it's Christ and Christ alone.
And here's the consequences. And, you know, choices have consequences. If we sin willfully, and here
the apostle is, boy, does he tender in his writing, if we,
he puts himself in there. He doesn't say if you leave,
he says if we. He puts himself right there with
us. If we sin willfully, there remains no more sacrifice
for sin. Christ is the only Savior. He's
the only Savior. His blood is the only blood that
puts away sin. His sacrifice of Himself is the
only sacrifice that satisfied justice. No other sacrifice did
that. We've seen that in Hebrews. They
couldn't take away sin. If we leave Christ as He has
set forth in the Scriptures, there's no more sacrifice for
sin. Where are you going to go? Where are you going to go? There's
no place to go. You want to talk about loss,
you're really lost. You're really lost. If you confess to believe
the gospel, then turn around and leave it, you're really lost. Jesus Christ is the only savior.
He's the only sacrifice. He's the only way to God. He's
the only high priest. He's the only mediator. He's
the only substitute. Where are you going to go? And if one leaves him, here's
the consequence. But a certain, I underline that
certain. It's coming. A certain fearful
looking for judgment and fiery, fiery indignation. We shall devour
the adversary. You have set yourself up as an
adversary of God. You are now in league with Satan. and that the adversary of the
brethren. And he gives an example here
as to God's punishment, God's fiery indignation. He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Now listen, if they despise the types, how much worse is it to
despise the real? And notice he says here, without
mercy, without mercy, no one while living on this earth has
ever been dealt with without mercy. But in hell, in the second
death, in the lake of fire, there is no mercy, not even a hint
of mercy. There will be a time And that's in God's time. If
a person leaves the gospel, it doesn't mean the next morning
God's going to bring them into judgment. It may go 10 years,
15, 20, it may go 30 years. But there will be judgment without
mercy. And I thought about our Lord
hanging on Calvary's tree, dying as our substitute, now
listen, without mercy. God dealt with Jesus Christ in
my place, in your place, if you believe the gospel, without mercy. Why? Because everyone whom the
Lord saved at one time despised him. And he died without mercy. And I'm going to close. Here
are some of the reasons he gives in verse 29 for such punishment. Of how much sore punishment.
Suppose ye shall be thought worthy first You have trodden underfoot
the Son of God. You stepped on Him. You walked
on Him. You counted Him nothing better
than a stepping stone, a stool to put your feet on. You counted the blood of the
covenant, which in Acts is called the blood of God. And they knew
what the blood meant. They knew what the blood was
all about. You counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he
was sanctified, or claimed to be sanctified. You know, if I
claim that God has saved me, I'm claiming at the same time
that I am sanctified through the blood of Christ. They understood
that. They understood that. And he
says, you're counting that now an unholy thing. You're counting
the blood of the Son of God as no better than the blood of Judas.
or any other human being. You're saying his blood's no
better than the blood of bulls and goats, which could not take
away sin. And you done despite to the Spirit
of grace, you insulted the Holy Spirit, you called him a liar. But remember this, remember this, He says in verse 30, for we know
him that has said, vengeance belongeth unto me. Now that does
not mean, that does not mean that God, God is of a vengeful
spirit. That doesn't mean like you and
I, when we get vengeance, it's like getting even. It's like
I'm gonna get even with you, oh boy. No, here's what vengeance
means here. It means this, the meeting out
of full justice belong to God. That means there's coming a time
when God is going to meet out the full justice you deserve
for leaving and for trodden underfoot the Son of God, counting the
blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and doing despite to the
Spirit of grace. There's coming a time when you
have got to meet God's judgment over this, full judgment. without
mercy. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. It says over in Hebrews
12 29, our God is a consuming fire. God hasn't changed. I said this
in a message at a Bible conference not long ago. The gospel didn't
make God a kinder, gentler God. Outside of Jesus Christ, you're
about to deal, a person is about to deal with a God who's a consuming
fire and who will bring judgment without mercy. Mercy is in Christ. Outside of Christ, there will
be no mercy. It's much better to fall upon
his mercy in Christ. Much better. Now let me close.
Can a believer fall away into apostasy? This is a sober, sober
warning, isn't it? Well, that doesn't apply to me. Let's never presume upon the
grace of God, the mercy of God. I believe God has saved me. I
believe He has. I believe he saved some of you,
I don't know. I believe he has. But I'm not
going to assume and just assume that. I'm not going to just assume
that. You know, Paul said, I've not arrived. He said, I follow
after that I may apprehend that which I'm apprehended of. In
one place, Paul said, I keep my body under subjection, lest
while I preach Christ, I myself be a castaway. That's Paul saying
that. Can a believer fall away into
apostasy? The short answer is no. No. The Lord Jesus Christ will not
lose one sheep. He'll not lose one sheep. However,
there will always be tares among the wheat, and they are so close,
they are so close, that the Lord says, you leave them alone. Because
you pluck up the wrong ones. Right? They're so close that
only He can identify the difference. Only He can tell the difference. There'll always be goats among
the sheep. Always be. But here's the message. Here's the message. Hold fast
the profession. Hold fast the hope that you have
in Jesus Christ. Hold fast the profession of Christ. Use the means God has provided
and don't turn back. No matter how hard it gets. You
know, we've lived in this country. We've had religious freedom for
a long time, haven't we? Don't ever think that can't be
taken away. Don't. Right now, it just seems
like Satan is so subtle. It's just eroding, eroding and
eroding. Now you can stand and you talk
about Sodom and Gomorrah. You talk about homosexuality
being wrong, it'll get you for hate crime. Satan is so subtle. You don't see Satan in all that. It's just a little here and a
little there. But use the means God has provided. Don't turn back. He said those
who turn back shall perish. But we're not of them, he said.
We are not of them that turn back. We are them who bleed for
the saving of the soul. The word of God is full of promises
and warnings, and we need them both. We need them both. OK, Billy.