If you want to turn in your Bibles
to the book of Hebrews chapter 6, Ramel, you don't have to apologize
if you want to expound anything in the book of Hebrews. What does it say in the Proverbs?
In the multitude of counselors there's safety. God has blessed
us. The Lord has published the word
and many there were that proclaimed it. That's a great blessing to
us. What if there was just one person
out there? We would think, oh, look at that fool standing over
there by himself. That's the way it was in the
Old Testament times, just one prophet, one prophet telling
men and women that they were under the wrath of God and had
no hope except in Christ. Now I have to preface this introduction
here with a few words to you. The book of Hebrews was written
by the apostle sent by Jesus Christ to believing sinners,
believing sinners. So if you're here today and you
don't yet believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, what I'm about
to say has application to you. But realize that the way God
works, and he has taught this to us in his word, that the beginning
of wisdom the very beginning, there's no wisdom without this,
is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord comes by
God's grace into our hearts when we realize we stand before God
as sinners. Guilty, shameful, and filthy,
and deserving God's wrath because God is God and holy and sovereign. And that fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom, and the second step of which is that God shows us
that he is sovereign, that he can do with us as it pleases
him, and he will do with us as it pleases him. And so we're
at his mercy. We are entirely at the mercy
of God. We're in his hand to do with us as pleases him. And
he will do right. We won't have anything to say
that God was unfair. And in that posture, in our hearts,
being convinced of this before God, and this is true of all
believers, we've been brought to this. In that realization
that we have sinned against God and that God is sovereign, we
stand helpless. And helpless in the hand of the
one God who will do right, who only speaks truth, he doesn't
lie, he's faithful to his word. And there we stand, guilty and
helpless in the hand of our creator and our judge. And then the Lord
reveals Himself to us in the saving work of His Son, His eternal
purpose in Christ. And then we stand before God
without fear, not that we have no respect, but without that
fear of His justice falling on us because we look to Christ.
God has taught that to us. And so the book of Hebrews, though
it's written to believers, it really is written to all of us,
warning all of us, whether we are yet believers or whether
we are just now believers or whether we've been trusting Christ
for a long time. It's written to all of us. We
have to remember that God teaches us about ourselves by teaching
us about himself in Scripture. But in this text of scripture
we're about to read in Hebrews chapter six, it's going to be
talking about those who have been warned of departing from
Christ. There's only one savior, there's
only one way to come to God. And we must come to God. But
we can't come to him directly. We have to come through the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have to come to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, all that the Father
has given me given him to save, all of them shall come to me."
So we come to Christ. And in coming to Christ, we're
coming to the one and the only way, the only way by which God
in truth can save sinners and does save sinners and give life
to us, spiritual life and eternal life. It's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We may wonder, who is Jesus Christ? And that's a very good question.
Because there's a lot of people who talk about Jesus. I believe
in Jesus. But if you ask them which Jesus,
they might have a hard time describing the Jesus they say they believe.
So we have to know who he is. And we see who he is. when we
see what He's done according to the eternal will of God to
save His people from their sins and do it by Himself. So we trust
Him only because He only can save. He only would save. If you offended me like we have
offended God, I wouldn't save you at all. But God is great
in mercy. David, the king, said when he
was faced with three choices, do you want to be afflicted or
chased by your enemies? Do you want to receive this great
plague? Which of these three different
things? I can't remember the third one. And David said this
amazing thing. It shows the heart of a child
of God. Let me fall into the hands of God, for the Lord is
merciful and gracious. But he had no confidence that
man would have any mercy. Don't let me fall into the hands
of man, he said. So I say all that just by way
of preface to now what is going to be an introduction to this
text of Scripture. And I want to read to you a place
in Scripture as the introduction. If you look at 1 Peter 1, if
you want to turn there with me, I want to read this to you. And
I encourage you to get the bulletin and read it if you can. It has an excellent article in
there. I copied it, wrote it down from
a sermon that Darwin Pruitt preached just recently. And I hope you
find it a blessing. I found it a great blessing.
And it's suitable for children, too, so it would be good to read
it to your kids, or let them read it. But in 1 Peter chapter
1, the Lord tells us something that is very applicable to what
we're about to learn in Hebrews chapter 6. Listen to these words.
He opens it up, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was sent
by Jesus Christ. His words were the words God
gave to him, Jesus Christ gave to him to preach. He was the
messenger sent by Christ with all the authority of Jesus Christ.
All of his authority and all of his message. So Peter, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Strangers
because believers are so generous in this world. We're strangers
in this world. And strangers because in the Old Testament,
the nation of Israel lived as strangers in the land, in the
wilderness. And God promised them the land
of Canaan, which they looked for, that land of promise. So
we're strangers in life, in this world, until we reach glory.
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Let me break that down for you.
We were not God's people because we were born to Abraham. We're
not God's people because we did something. We're God's people
because God chose us. Elect means it was God's choice,
the choice of God. And sanctification of the Spirit
means that the Spirit of God has called us out with a life-giving
call, giving us faith in Christ, which is what's spoken of next,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Because
when we look to Christ in faith, our hearts, our conscience is
sprinkled by the effectiveness of his blood for us in heaven. And so we're washed with the
washing of regeneration. And so he says, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ to you, to you elect,
to you purchased by Christ, to you given the Spirit of God to
know it, grace unto you and peace be multiplied, not just a little. but the overflowing multiplication
of grace and peace from God by Jesus Christ. He's not going
to withhold anything from His people for whom He gave His Son.
Verse three, and here the praise just springs forth from the apostle
sent by Christ, by the Spirit of God, speaking God's truth
to his people. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. We're raised from the dead spiritually. And we're raised from the dead
in God's condemning justice because we were under the sentence of
eternal death because of our sin against God and our sin in
Adam. And yet by the substitutionary
work of Jesus Christ, he bore the sins of his people, answered
God for those sins in fulfillment of his justice, and then fulfilled
his righteousness in his obedience in doing so, his submission of
his will to the will of God to save his people. That is the
work that Christ did and because of that, God justified him and
with him justified his people and therefore raised him from
the dead. Death had no more power over
him or his people because of his answer to God for our sins
and his fulfillment of our righteousness and his obedience. Therefore,
God raised him from the dead and that's why his resurrection
is so essential to the gospel. It's His total victory over our
sins and the consequences of them, our physical and eternal
death in His death, the death of substitution, and therefore
we have a living, a lively hope by Jesus Christ, by His resurrection.
And then in verse four he says, we were raised, we were born
of God, which is a resurrection in itself, a creation by God,
a new birth, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled.
We're now the heirs of God, the inheritors of God. heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and our inheritance cannot be
corruptible. Undefiled there is no unholiness
in it, and it fadeth not away, and it is reserved in heaven
for you." This parallels the Old Testament, where the nation
of Israel came out of Egypt, went through the wilderness,
and entered into Canaan. So we We are saved, redeemed
by the blood of Jesus Christ from sin and Satan, and bondage
to the law and the curse of God, and brought through in the wilderness
of our lives to the promise of eternal life in Christ. It's
reserved in heaven for us. We're not of a physical nation.
That's not why God saves us. It's a spiritual nation, a holy
nation, chosen of God, precious, and redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ. And they're forgiven all these
things as heirs, sons of God, by the redeeming work of Christ.
We don't walk in a wilderness of sand and rocks. living on
physical manna falling from heaven. We live in this world by faith,
looking to Christ, taking of Christ in our hearts by faith
and living upon his work for us. Notice in verse five now,
these whom God has chosen, whom God has saved by Christ and given
his spirit, we are kept, we're preserved. We're kept by the
power of God. Kept from falling, from falling
away, from denying Christ in our hearts. Kept by the power
of God through faith, because that's all we have. We don't
have a tangible tabernacle. We don't have a law. We don't
have priests and animal sacrifices. We can't see anything. except
God's word, and faith sees the truth as if we could see it with
physical eyes by the eyes of faith. We're persuaded of it,
and so we confess it. He says, kept by the power of
God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time,
wherein you greatly, you greatly rejoice, though And here's the
point, now for a season if need be, if need be because it pleases
God, this is the way it works in our lives. If need be, you
are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the trial of
your faith, that's what temptations are meant to do, to try our faith,
to try it, to prove it. and to refine it and to mature
it, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, because that faith looks to Christ, and
God finds precious everything that acknowledges and admires
and worships his Son. He gives it to us, his Spirit
in us, giving us faith in Christ, and He, giving us that faith,
He finds that, He esteems that faith as very precious, and we
do too. This is the way we know our salvation.
This is the way we know our God and Savior. This is the way we
endure trials. This is the way we overcome.
This is the way we will enter glory. We It says in Galatians
5, verse 5, we hope. How does it say it? I'm not getting it right here.
Let me read this to you. Galatians 5, verse 5. He says,
for we through the Spirit, not through our own energies or our
own goodness, we through the Spirit wait, we wait for the
hope of righteousness, which is our eternal inheritance with
Christ by faith. Righteousness is Christ, is given
to us by grace. The reward of His righteousness
is our eternal life and eternal glory. So that the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. That's the introduction
here to Hebrews chapter 6. Now go back, if you would, to
Hebrews chapter 6. The writer to the Hebrews has
given a very scary warning, saying in verse 6 that if those who
have been blessed with the gospel ministry, but it has only gone
superficially deep, a shallow depth in them, that their faith
is not saving, but outward. and in some way superficial. He says, if they shall fall away,
these who to whom they don't have a saving faith, if they
shall fall away, it's gonna be impossible to renew them to repentance
because they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
him to an open shame. They deny that the Lord Jesus
Christ is their salvation. They think that somehow they
have to, that he has to be crucified again in order for them to be
saved because they've denied him. Verse seven. Now here, I
want to read this to you. Let's read this from verse seven
through verse 12 today. For the earth, and now he's drawing
an analogy here. See if you can get the analogy.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain, that cometh oft
upon it, and bringeth forth herbs, vegetables, meat, or suitable,
for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
So the earth that receives God's rain, continuously brought forth
by God upon the earth, that earth which brings forth the fruit
of the labor of that farmer who works in the earth. And that
fruit is a blessing to that farmer. That earth, receiving that constant
rain and bringing forth good fruit, it says, receives blessing
from God. God blesses what he does. God blesses what he does, he
brought forth the fruit. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians
3, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. And
the physical analogy given here is rain falling continuously
on the earth, and the result of that is bringing forth a crop
that's beneficial to us. That's God's doing, and therefore
God blesses that earth, that ground. Remember last week's
sermon on the four different grounds, comparing them to the
work of God and the sowing of the gospel. So here, what the
writer to the Hebrews is saying is that we, whether we are believers
or unbelievers, the gospel comes to us like rain falling from
heaven. And there is a ground, like this
first here in verse seven, and that ground is called earth here
in verse seven, but it's really the hearts of those who hear
the gospel. And when the gospel comes to
us continually, it produces something. If we're the Lord's people, if
God has saved us by his grace, bringing us to Christ, causing
us to cry out to him and ascribe all blessings to him, then what
is that? That's God's work. That's God's
work in us, directing us to the fruitfulness of the blessings
he's poured out upon us in the gospel because they point us
to Christ, directing us always and ever to him. And the heart
of a believer looks to Christ, though he in himself is a sinner,
and he comes to God on bended knee in his heart, coming through
the blood of Jesus and worshipping God for Christ's sake." Constantly
pouring out his thanksgiving and praise that he would save
such a wretch. for the Lord Jesus' sake, alone,
that He would clothe me, not leave me naked, but clothe me,
and not just clothe me to hide my sins, but clothe me to make
me perfect before God in His obedience and His righteousness,
attributing to me, ascribing, crediting me with the very obedience
of Christ in His submission to the will of God in His own death.
for our sins. That's love. That's obedience.
That's given to us as our perfect righteousness. That's the gospel. And that message comes upon the
hearts of believers, not just once, but continually. Now, in
verse 8. But that which beareth thorns
and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end
is to be burned. The opposite is also true. There's
only two kinds of grounds here. In the parable last week, we
looked at there were four different grounds. Here, only two. Because
you can divide up last week's parable into only two. It's just
different kinds on this described in verse eight, the thorny ground
here. In other words, it doesn't bear
anything profitable. It just brings forth the fruit
of a cursed earth. Just like our hearts, by natural,
is what? It's fallen, it's dead in sins,
and all of the outward application of God's word does nothing until
the Spirit of God takes it and plants it deep into our hearts
and shows us Christ as He's my all. Now that word of God that
comes continually on this second ground, it doesn't bring forth
fruit that's profitable, it brings forth a cursed fruit. weeds and
thorns. Just like the earth in the days
of Genesis, God said it's going to bring forth thorns and it's
going to be cursed. The ground was cursed for Adam's
sake. And so our hearts are under the curse. And they can't bring
forth good fruit to God. They cannot. God has to make
it happen. Now, he says, but that ground
is near or nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. So these two are set side by
side. Do you see that? Now this is done because he had
just warned them that if you depart from Christ, then what
happens? It's impossible to turn them
to repentance. It's impossible because by the
will of God, he refuses to give repentance to that man or that
woman who deliberately, having heard the gospel, turns in denial
of it Willful and knowingly not ignorantly like the Apostle Paul
when he was a Pharisee and he persecuted the Church of God
but knowingly having heard the gospel and receiving it initially
as good and Then saying no, it's bad I would rather take refuge
in the law of Moses and my own personal obedience in the outward
shadowy Offerings to God then taking my refuge in the obedience
of Christ and his one sacrifice that perfected his people forever.
That's the heart of a reprobate person. They deny Christ and
turn from him and they never return. And that's the ground
that brings forth thorns. They hear the gospel continually
and it doesn't produce fruit because God is not in it. I want
to take you to a verse in Colossians chapter 2 and see this, in Colossians
2, that this is all God's doing. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
12 reads this way He says In whom wait a minute, I'm sorry
Yeah, this Colossians no Philippians, what am I saying not Colossians
Philippians Philippians 2 Philippians 2 No, that's not it either. Hold on I'll find it I Wow. It's in, it's gotta be, 2, yeah, 2, Philippians 2, 12 and
13, yeah. This is it. I don't know, I was
looking in the wrong place. Yes. Philippians chapter 2, verse
12. The apostle tells to all believers, to the church, he
says, my beloved, because we're loved not only of the apostle,
but more especially, we're loved of God. My beloved, as you have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, not just for eye service,
but now much more in my absence. Now, in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God
which worketh in you, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. So the ground that brings forth
good fruit, whose work is it? It is God who is at work in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. It's God's work.
And so it says so in Ephesians 2, verse 10, we are his workmanship.
We are the objects of God's work. So in Hebrews 6, verse 7, when
it says, the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon
it and bringeth forth herbs, meet for them by whom it is dressed,
receiveth blessing from God, God blesses his own work. Just like when he created the
world, he looked on everything that he had made and he said,
it's very good. God blessed it. And therefore
he set aside that seventh day and he sanctified it because
God finished all his work. And that day was representing
the fact that God finished His work and blessed His work. God
blesses His work. God blesses us. We are the objects
of His saving grace, His keeping power, and His refining faith. The trials of our life are meant
to refine our faith to direct us to Christ and to Him more
perfectly. to give him more credit than
we had before in our heart. And this constant clinging to
Christ and coming to Christ is the work of God in us. And so
that blessing that God blesses the earth, he gives again more
blessing where he gives grace. God gives grace and he gives
more grace. To those to whom it is given,
more will be given. But in verse eight, to those
to whom it is not given, will be taken away even that which
they think they have. This is God in his work of we
can ruin ourselves, but we can't save ourselves. We can ruin ourselves
and bring forth thorns, but we can't bring forth fruit. God
has to do that. And that fruit is faith. Like
1 Peter that we just read said, we have this precious faith.
And these trials are now meant to do that for us, to increase
it. It seems to me, I've said all
this kind of in an introductory way, because I want to make this
statement, and maybe this will shock you as you think about
it. But it seems to me that as I read the Word of God, in my
own reading, and in my own experience in my life, that in the life
of a believer, there's something more difficult than anything
else. Something that's the most difficult thing for a believer
to do. And I'm pausing for a minute to let you spin in your mind
to find that what you think is the most difficult. But the Word
of God teaches this to us, I believe. It is this, that most difficult
of things. And see if your heart doesn't
resonate with this. It is continuing with patience
in the faith of Christ. Continuing with patience in the
faith of Christ. It's running the long race of
grace in our life. It's living our life in every
trial, throughout our life of faith, looking for the hope of
eternal life with full assurance, and laboring for Christ with
diligence, trusting him as my all, and seeking him, growing
in him, and all this in light of the everyday routine of life. It's because it's the everyday
routines of life that seem to make us think, my life is vain. Have I really accomplished anything
worthwhile? Don't you think that? The mundane
events and duties of our life leave us wondering if there's
anything more that we ought to be doing than hearing the same
gospel and doing the same things in trusting Christ. going to
work, coming home, raising our children, whatever it is. Shouldn't we be growing more?
Shouldn't we be growing more than merely the knowledge of
Jesus Christ and our salvation by him? Shouldn't our lives be
more eventful? Doesn't a true believer have
great conquests to bolster their confidence? Are the trials that
I experience simply the result of my sin? Surely a child of
God, we think, is more able than I am to have and maintain an
upbeat view of life. Wouldn't a true believer rise
above the thoughts and motives that I have and do a better job
than I do? I'm quick to judge others. Why?
I take provocation against myself personally with an intemperate
response. Why? I can't seem to rise above
my own pride. I can't seem to rise against
my lack of motivation in this life of faith. Aren't these everyday
things like a dripping faucet tempting us to consider faith
in Christ to be really not much? We're prone to discouragement,
and the life of faith is a long walk, a lifelong walk, a race
in which I grow weary. I look to Christ, but my gaze
grows dim. I want him, but my desires wane. I wait for him, but my expectations
cool. I learn of him, but I've constantly
tried as if to prove whether I have indeed found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. And I find myself asking if I
have found grace in thy sight. I want to know, I want to look,
I want to look to Christ and I want to find that he is my
all and truly all that I have is in the Lord Jesus. But the
course of life is long and I grow weary in the way. And thus, I
believe the greatest trial that we face in life is the trial
of living by faith in Christ over the long distance of our
life without anything to hold to, but the bare word, the naked
word of God concerning Christ and his saving grace. As all
of our confidence and all of our expectation, the gospel must be the every
answer. to our every question and be
the comfort in our every trial, especially the trial of the absence
of evidences, the absence of the sense of enlightenment, the sense of calm, the sense
of joy. We find those absences, don't
we? And we wonder, and it begins to try us, doesn't it? Isn't that the greatest concern
we have? Has the Lord called me? Has He saved me? Is He with
me? Does He hear me? Now, I want
you to listen to those questions and let me answer those things.
Has the Lord called me? Has He saved me? Is He with me? Does He hear me? Note two things
about these things we must continually remember. By God's grace, we
must find the answer to all these questions about me, that it's
not about me. It's not about me and it's not
found in me. The message from God and the
answer from God in all of life is the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That's the first big issue right
there. If we could just get that and
get a hold of that, then this long trial of faith would not
seem so long. And the second part is this,
it's not me that's my focus, it's not about me, it's about
him. We're taught by God's grace to
look away from all that we are, to find all that God is, and
find all that we have from God in Christ. And yet this experience
that brings these questions to our mind, that causes us to think
this way, is always recurring, isn't it? Don't you find the
same struggles? It's like someone told me when
I was a teenager, I think, you never fail the test, God just
keeps giving it to you. There's some truth in that. But
the second thing we must know besides this first and all important
thing is to find our all in Christ. The second thing we must know
well is this, and this is where we have a tendency to really
fall off the rails. Since it is not about me, but
it is about Christ and Him crucified, here's the second thing. We must
give ourselves to serve Him and to serve His people because that's
the way we serve Him. For His glory, not our own. So
our problem is two-fold. We are self-absorbed in our confidence,
our presumptuous confidence, and we're self-absorbed in our
labors for ourselves and our thoughts of ourselves. Do people
like me? Who cares? What does God think? What does he think of Christ?
That's the issue. Stop thinking about yourself. Start thinking
about others for Christ's sake and for His glory. Doing those
two things will solve all the problems in this long race. Looking to Christ, finding my
all in Him, and giving myself to Him for His glory by serving
His people in the gospel. Isn't that it? So grace teaches
us to be absorbed with Christ, with his work in our salvation,
and with his purpose to glorify himself in our salvation and
in the salvation of his people through the gospel. Therefore,
we ought to give ourselves Give of ourselves and give ourselves
for the sake of others. Husbands, here you go, love your
wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's
the same thing, isn't it? Here in this, we see Christ's
gift of himself out of love for his people. And here in this,
we see what we ought to do is to love our wives. Not just our
wives, but one another in the church, his body. He gave himself
for the church. How much more then ought we to
think of who, Who is it that Christ gave himself for? The
church. What then should we do? Jesus said, if you've done this,
even giving a cup of water to the least of these my brethren,
you've done it to me. Make it your life's aim to help
your wife know Jesus Christ. That's your aim, husbands. When
provoked, maybe justly, or maybe unjustly, when provoked, pray,
and then take it. don't reflect it, and then respond
in temperance and in measure and patience with a view not
to your reputation to be right, but to instruct your wife in
Christ's love by referring her to his humility and compassion
and patience to those who provoked him. You see, that's the way
the gospel works in us. It causes us to consider what
the Lord Jesus did. Listen to these words from scripture.
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. He died for the ungodly when
they were without strength. And for scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet perventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Husbands, love your wives
even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. It's
not about you, it's not about me, it's about him. It's about
his salvation of his people whom he loved and gave himself to
save and wash them from their sins and clothe them in his righteousness. Point your wives, and I use wives
first of all because we do this as husbands and fathers to our
wives, to our children, and to others in the body of Christ.
1 Peter 2 verse 23 says, who when he was reviled, reviled
not again, when he suffered, he threatened not. He committed
himself to him that judges righteously, who his own self bear our sins. He bore our sins against God
in his own body on the tree that we, by his death, being dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
That's 1 Peter 2, 23 and 24. And so we are taught by the Spirit
of God to turn from our self-righteousness to find Christ to be our all
and to come to God by Him and to love Him by giving ourselves
for His people that He might be glorified in their eyes, to
direct them away from us. John the Baptist said, He must
increase, I must decrease. And my joy is found when I see
the bride and the bridegroom together. When the bridegroom
hears his voice and they come to him, that's my great joy.
The apostle Paul said the same thing to the Thessalonians. He
says, what is our joy and our glory? Is it not you in the presence
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? And so John Newton wrote about
this continuing in faith and the trial that it causes us in
this life. Listen to this hymn that he wrote.
I ask the Lord that I might grow in faith and love and every grace
that I might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly
his face. T'was he who taught me thus to
pray and he, I trust, has answered prayer. But it has been in such
a way as almost drove me to despair. I hope that in some favored hour,
at once, he would answer my request, and by his love's constraining
power, subdue my sins, and give me rest. Instead of this, He
made me feel the hidden evils of my heart and let the angry
powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yea, more, with
his own hand he seemed intent to aggravate my woe. He crossed
all the fair designs I schemed and blasted my gourds and laid
me low. Lord, why is this? I trembling
cried. Wilt thou pursue thy worm to
death? "'Tis in this way,' the Lord replied, "'I answer prayer
for grace and faith. "'These inward trials I employ
from self and pride "'to set thee free and break thy schemes
of earthly joy "'that thou mayest find thy all in me.'" This is
a man who understood the grace of God. He's the one who wrote
the song, Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. And you can hear it here in this
psalm too. And so we see here when the gospel comes to us over
and over again, it brings forth the fruit God has intended to
bring forth by it. Now I want to take you to another
place in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10, because I think this is an
excellent commentary, really an expansion, a repetition, in
other words, of the same theme that's spoken of in Hebrews chapter
6. And it helps, I think, to understand Hebrews chapter 6,
so we can compare the two. Look at Hebrews chapter 10, and
beginning with verse 32. The apostle is addressing the
same people that he addressed in chapter 6, only now when he's
addressing them in chapter 10 and verse 32. After going on,
having passed chapter 6, going on to all that God permitted
him to go on to, unfolding the fulfillment of the new covenant
in Christ's blood and contrasting that with a vain hope of man's
works religion under the law and the shadows of a priesthood
and sacrifices that did nobody any good. except to the outward
cleansing of the flesh, ceremonially, it didn't please God. But here,
in chapter 10, in verse 32, we have another, after this fulfillment
has been laid out, another warning, and is followed by this exhortation
we're about to read here. It's a warning given, in the
verses that preceded, of turning from and leaving Christ, and
the fellowship of believers in that gathered body of Christ,
And we have this exhortation here, starting at verse 32, to
what? Patience of faith. Listen. Be
called to remembrance the former days. Now it's been a long time
since they believed. And they're suffering the afflictions.
And they're held up by their fellow countrymen, the Jews and
the Gentiles also, as fools. and made a spectacle of them.
He says, but call to remembrance the former days in the which,
after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of affliction,
partly whilst you became, I'm sorry, partly whilst you were
made a gazing stalk. You get the picture of these
people back in the 1600s in America where they would put in the stocks
their hands and their head and this thing and the people would
walk by and laugh at them and children would probably throw
mud on their face and people would spit on them. Look at,
just a gazing stock. partly whilst you were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, because the
unbelieving Jews and unbelieving Gentiles would mock them, and
they suffered because they trusted Christ, they suffered physically,
they lost their goods, many ways. So they suffered both by reproaches
and afflictions, and partly whilst you became companions of them
that were so used. Here's the Apostle Paul, as it
were, out in the open courtyard, of the community in old times
America being mocked and spit upon in the stocks and here comes
a sinner trusting Christ and stands by him. He stands there
and he comforts him, brings him water and food and he stands
with him to comfort him, to strengthen him. So they became companions
of them that were so used. Verse 34, for you had companion,
I'm sorry, compassion of me in my bonds, and you took joyfully
the spoiling of your goods. It didn't matter to you that
you lost your property for Christ's sake, knowing in yourselves that
you have in heaven a better and enduring substance. And notice
this, what he says here in verse 35, cast not away therefore your
confidence. Now the word confidence here
is the same word that's translated boldly in Hebrews 10, 19, where
he says, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. That's what the word here, open
confidence. We don't come to God in servile
fear. In shyness, we come boldly, but
how? Not because of what we find in
ourselves, not because we think, well, we're gonna presume on
God's goodness towards us. No, we come boldly by his word
because he receives sinners for Christ's sake, and that's the
only way anyone can come to God, through Christ. So we come boldly,
openly, confidently in prayer, in our own assurance,
in our own confession, courageously, coming to God, because he receives
Christ and receives us in him. That's the only way we can come,
and that's God-given faith. So he says, don't cast that away.
Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great
recompense or reward. There is a reward for faith. Faith itself is a gift of God.
God rewards his own work. And faith looks to Christ, and
God rewards Christ's work. So there is a reward for faith,
but it's not from ourselves. It's from what God has promised.
Notice, he says in verse 36, for you have need of patience,
that after you have done the will of God, you might receive
what? The promise. It's in believing
that we live this life. And in living this life, it's
not easy, it's difficult. Living this life by faith is
the most difficult and challenging thing of all. We first heard
of God's wrath against us for our sins. We then heard of the
sovereignty of God. And we trembled knowing we were
in the hands of a God, a just God, who could save us or damn
us as it pleases Him. And then we saw Christ and we
were given this confidence in Christ, not in ourselves but
in Him, the God who has raised Him from the dead. He says, so
after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
God promised it. And Abraham, after living his
life, looking to God who promised, looking to him who was able,
the one who calls those things which be not as though they were
and raises the dead, then he received the inheritance. For
yet a little while, verse 37, and he that shall come will come.
Christ is coming, and he will not tarry. Now, here he draws
it to a very strong pointed conclusion. The just shall live by faith,
but if any man, do what? Draw back. My soul shall have
no pleasure in him. Like the ground, the gospel comes
on it. I mean, the rain comes upon it
over and over, and it brings forth thorns and cursed of God. Those who hear the word continually,
the gospel of Christ, those who believe are blessed of God. Those
who don't, his soul will have no pleasure in them. And then
notice this comforting word from the apostle. But we are not of
them who draw back unto perdition. but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. Isn't that what Peter said? In
these last days, I mean, in these times right now, you've received
our salvation, you've heard it, it's been revealed to you, you've
laid hold on it. And yet for the time being, you are in heaviness
through manifold temptations that the trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold that perishes might be
found unto the praise and glory and honor of Jesus Christ. And
we're gonna have to continue this next time, let's pray. Lord,
we pray that we would be given this grace, this precious faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that just those righteous in the eyes
of God because of Christ's work are those who live by faith.
We are not righteous because we believe, but our faith in
the Lord Jesus is the result of his righteousness given to
us in that life-giving operation of your spirit when you raised
us from the dead in our spirit and caused us to look to Christ
and see our life in him He himself came to live in us. He himself
is our life and we trust him. Thank you for this grace, this
salvation so rich and free and so complete. and so accomplished
by God that nothing in it can fail. All will be recovered.
Nothing shall be lost. Every event, everything in our
life will be used to bring glory to our Savior and our own good
and our salvation. Help us to look to Him now. Help
us to look to Him ever and live this life though it seem to us
in all that we observe in it, to not have anything to do with
Christ. Help us, Lord, to lay hold on
Him at all times, every day, every moment, in our heart, run
out to Him, and to give you glory and honor and praise, even now.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.