Let's read verses twelve through
fourteen again. Hebrews three verses twelve through
fourteen. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. and departing from
the living God. But exhort one another daily. While it is called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. Messages like this are no real
pleasure in bringing, but they are certainly urgent and necessary. I believe the clearest evidence
given in scripture of Christ's certain and soon return. He is this thing called apostasy. I think you know what that means
it means. Turn away or all from the truth
from the faith. In second Thessalonians to the
apostle Paul said that day will come. There will not come except
there become be a falling away. first falling away. In first
Timothy four the apostle says. That. In the latter days the
spirit speaker expressly or that is very clearly that some shall
depart from the faith so. This is a clear evidence of the
certain return soon return of our Lord and not just a turning
away from the truth like the world. Does the world. We see a general. Worldwide. Rejection. Of the truth but that's
been going on from the beginning hasn't. But Scriptures is talking
about a departure by some who seem to believe and know the
truth. Now, this should make everyone in here, myself included,
sit up and pay attention. Verse 12 says, Take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. Now, none of us know. one another's hearts. And so
this is spoken to every one of us, beginning with this preacher.
As I've said so many times, I've seen much better preachers than
myself. Fall. Fall away. Take heed. Do you remember How I told us to remember this
word he'd the meaning of this word he'd. Two words. That you could derive from that
word he'd. Take heed. Here. And deed. That's exactly what James said
didn't it. Any man be a hearer of the word
only. And not a doer or the word isn't
put into deed. And he deceives himself. So he
says, take heed, hear this and do what's said. All right. He take heed, lest
there be in any of us an evil heart. Be doers, not hearers
only. Our Lord said it, if any man
be a If any man hear my words. Hear my sayings and do them not
he's like a man who's building his house on the same. A man
can build a house on the same we see that. In our day don't
build multi-million dollar houses on the same that look sure and
certain that more. Which houses fall first. So it
doesn't matter how good they look. It's the foundation they're
built on right. Christ said now if a man hear
my sayings and do them. How do you know a man is built
on the rock Christ Jesus he hears and he does she hears and she
does my disciples indeed he said if you keep my saying not just
believe it but do it all right. First fourteen now he says we
are made partakers of Christ. We don't fully realize what that
means to be a partaker of Christ. It hadn't entered into our...
I hadn't seen or heard. Paul came back from seeing what
those who were made partakers of Christ saw and hearing what
they heard and he said I can't tell you. It's so wonderful and
glorious what those who are partakers of Christ are hearing and seeing
and doing and join. He said a son lawful mother. You want to be a partaker of
Christ a partaker of the Saints in life. Do you enjoy a little
bit of what goes on here. Well if you do this is a foretaste. And we are made partakers, he
said, now. We are made partakers if, if, if. Now look back up at verse
six. And I didn't plan this, but this
was the subject of an article in the Bulletin a week or so
ago, wasn't it? Just hold fast to confidence
and rejoice in Verse six he starts this out this way. Christ the
son over his own house whose house are we. We just talked
about a house didn't we. We talked about Christ being
the son. How the Lord bears witness with
his own word and Christ if the son just recently talked about
the son setting some people free and him having the key of the
house. Keys to the house. It's amazing. And I didn't plan
it this way. I wasn't looking for verses that would go together.
But you don't have to look. They all go together. Verse 6,
Christ is the son over his own house. Whose house are we? I
want to be his house, don't you? Are you proud to be... Let me
just call on you, Nancy, first one I looked at. Are you proud
to be Mrs. Joe Parker? Well don't you want to be. Mrs. Say this Mrs. Jesus Christ. He's a fine man but. He doesn't compare. Do you Joe.
Oh my. Whose house are we. Well it's
an honor to be a member of the Parks family got a fine family.
Lord blessed you there and so many other families here. Fine
family. I'd be honored to be a member
of your family. the Barry's and Anderson's and
so on and so forth. But boy, I'm a member of the
greatest family, the family, God's family, the house. Whose
house are we? If, now here's this word again. There's an old saying that says
big doors swing on little hinges. I just, just built the gate,
started little fencing around the place. and built a gate and
built it pretty heavy. Built it heavier than I intended
to, really. And the hinges I bought were rather small. But it's working right now. At any rate, big doors sometimes
swing on little hinges. Big door. Great trues. Eternal life hinges on this one
word. That's what he says here. We're
going to be partaker of Jesus Christ. We're going to be in
the house of Christ. We're going to be fellow citizens
with the saints in life. If. If. If we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Now, I don't want to confuse you here,
but this is not necessarily, and we shouldn't think of this
first of all as a condition on our part. He's stating a fact here. It's
what he's doing. He's stating a fact. He said, we're going to be a
partaker of Christ, we're his house, we're his people, if we're
found to be so in the end. You see that? If we hold fast
the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm under the end.
If we're still believing under the end, then we're a believer,
right? This is a statement of fact.
Like, if I would say, if the sun shines tomorrow, it's not
going to rain. It's just a fact, right? If I hold fast to the gospel
and don't leave, to the end, I'm going to be made partaker
of Christ. See that? That's a fact. If a man or woman
is still believing and rejoicing, and rejoicing in Christ in the
end, he or she is a child of God. And us continuing, us continuing, or holding fast He is completely dependent upon
Christ holding us back. I mean, it's completely we are
kept. Not by our own keeping. Right. We're kept, the scripture says,
Peter says, by the power of God through faith, though. Through
faith, ready to be revealed. kept. It's completely dependent. Us keeping or holding fast is
completely dependent on Christ holding us fast to the end. He said, I will never leave them. He said, I give unto them eternal
life and they'll never perish. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all and none shall pluck them out of his hand.
That means they're in his hand. And none shall pluck them out
of my hand. Two hands lay hold on the Father and the Son, were
kept by the power of God. The song, I love this song. I'll
never forget when I first heard it. I hold not the rock, but
the rock holds me. Ah boy. However, now this is the fact. If Christ
holds you, You're holding fast to Him. Now, that's just as certain. If Christ is holding on to you,
it's just as certain that you're going to keep holding on to Him.
Isn't that right? If He loves me, He's going to
keep me. If I love Him, I'm going to keep
holding on to Him. Right? Now, that's proof that
He's holding you. Because what apostasy is, is
Christ leaving a man alone, or a woman. Leaving them to themselves. That's what apostasy is. Letting
them do what they would do. And so whoever lets go is not
laid hold on. They've been left alone. Now
so as far as we are concerned now this is a condition. That
I hope that confusion. As far as we're concerned. This
is a condition laid on a we're going to be made a protector
if we if we hope to the end. A bird look right on he he he
go he keeps admonishing and exhorting us that. Then he tell us that
And they give us responsibility here look at verse eight hard
not your heart. Hard not your heart verse twelve
take he. Take he verse thirteen exhort
one another so. So we're responsible. OK look
back at verse six again and let's go down through here real. Real
quickly, all right? And then I want to give you several
marks that reveal someone is leaving. Look at verse 8 again,
or verse 6. It says, Whose house are we,
whose church, whose people are we, if we hold fast? Hold fast. The confidence. Hold fast. Lay firm. The word fast here
It means firm, fast. It's set fast. That's an old
country saying, you see. It's set fast, concrete's set
fast. Not quickly, but it's firm. It's firm. And so to hold fast
the confidence is to lay hold on what you don't want to lose,
what you don't intend to lose, what by God's grace you will
not let go of. And what is our confidence? Or
rather, who is our confidence? It's a person. You're not going
to hold on to a doctrine. A doctrine won't see you through
it. Trials are what reveals true fact. Trials are what reveals
true fact. And when a real severe and tough
trial comes along, it'll be known whether a person is holding on
to a doctrine or holding on to a person. It will be known right quick.
Right quick. A doctrine won't keep you. You'll
cuss God and leave. You'll say, I thought God was
sovereign. Well, how could he do that? That's
exactly it. Just questions will rise in your
mind. You'll doubt that doctrine. But if you know God is sovereign,
you'll say, well, though he slay me, I'll trust him. He knows
right. I don't understand it, but he's
God. I'm not supposed to understand.
Shall not the judge of the earth do right? Yes. And he's my father. And he said all things work together
for my good and according to his purpose. And I don't know
what his, his ways are above me, but he's my God and he promised
it'll work out. You know, when my daughter was
a, to hold fast to something, to hold firm, when my daughter
was a toddler, A little toddler, I remember carrying her in my
arms or holding her hand as we'd walk through a mall or something.
And I'm just certain there were times when I just squeezed the
life out of her little hand. I just know it. Why? I did not want to lose sight
of her for a moment. And it doesn't end. You see my
love for her hasn't ended. Just yesterday we were somewhere
and she was with some girls and we were all expected to meet
in one area and she didn't show up. And daddy went looking. Right? And if she gets and she'll
understand this herself someday she gets thirty-six. And she's
somewhere and she doesn't come and she's expected to be daddy
will go looking if he has to. Why? I love her. You see. And this is what I was talking
about the other day the difference between doctrine and And a person, whatever you love,
is what you don't want to let go of. Or who? Who? You hold fast. Confidence. A believer's confidence is Christ. Christ is our confidence, isn't
it? Huh? When you first come as a
sinner, you came to Christ, didn't you? You didn't come to a doctor.
You don't come to a knowledge of the doctrines of grace. You
can't hug up to a knowledge of the doctrines of grace, can you?
Like old Maurice would say, you don't come to a knowledge of
the doctrines of grace. I'm getting more and more sick
of hearing that. You come to Christ. To whom come it? Not
to what? To whom come it? You come to
Christ and hug up to him and he hugs you. And says under your
soul that you're that he's your salvation that he's your God
that he's your savior he's your lord and master and you're here. And you you. You hug up to him
our confidence is cry that's how you come that's who you come
to in the beginning and that's who you come to from there on
out. Person. a person. As to hold fast, look
at it, read it, verse six again. So Christ is our confidence.
But look what, notice what it says here, if we hold fast the
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. Christ is our hope. Our hope is built on no one less
than Jesus Christ, his blood and righteousness. He's our hope,
he's our confidence. says we hold fast to him and
the rejoicing. If we hold fast, now this is
vital, this is probably what the rest of this message will pertain to. We're going to be made partakers
of cry. We are the house of cry. We are
the people of cry. We are true believers in cry
on cry. If we hold fast the rejoicing
of the hope for the. The rejoicing of the hope rejoicing
in Christ. In other words, if a man or woman
continues to the end, they're going to be rejoicing
to the end. In what? The thing they began
rejoicing in, in the beginning. And what was it that causes,
what is it that causes a sinner to rejoice, the first thing?
The gospel of Christ. And we are truly his people. Now, our Lord gave the illustration
of the sower of the word and he said some fell on stony ground
and it sprang up and they received it. You remember what he said?
With joy. And I've heard, I've seen people
hear the gospel and this gospel is different. When you hear the
gospel and you've never heard it before, I mean, it stands
out. Different than everything you've ever heard. The power
of it, the glory of it, the beauty of it, the person, the worker,
it's different. It's altogether different. And
I've heard people and seen people just absolutely be thrilled by
the gospel, say, this is great, and just get plum excited. I've seen them fizzle out, too. They weren't a true believer
then, were they? Because this here says if a person is a true
partaker of Christ, truly of the house of God, then they'll
rejoice in the beginning, and they'll keep on rejoicing from
that day forward. And they'll never lose that.
This is what Paul said in Philippians 3, didn't he? That this is the
true circumcision. They worship God in spirit, and
they what? Rejoice in Christ Jesus. Rejoice. Paul said, and he must
not, couldn't have contained himself as he is, rejoice. And
again, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. But you
really, you don't have to tell a believer that. When he hears
that joyful sound, he knows the joyful sound, it's a joy to him.
And he or she rejoices. And they'll continue to rejoice
until the end. This is what he's saying here.
And like I've been trying to say, a love, a love for the truth
is different than a knowledge of the truth. A love for Christ
is different than a knowledge of Christ. Listen to these texts
again. Listen, you all heard these texts. We can quote them later. Romans
8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that know that doctrines are great. What does he say, Joe? To them
that love God. Have you ever thought about that? All things work together for
good to them that love God. That passage over in 1 Corinthians,
I just quoted a while ago, 1 Corinthians 2, he said, I have seen nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
God has prepared for them. What? Love him. Scripture definitely makes
a difference that. Between. Knowledge. And action. Set your action. On things above where Christ
is a person affection. I want you to turn to Revelation
3. Revelation 3. I think I'm getting way ahead
of myself. I am. Turn there and mark it and then
turn back. Sorry. This just suggested that passage
to me, but I want to read it at another point. You see, if
you've grown cold and indifferent to the gospel, the hearing of
the gospel, and what is the gospel? It's the story of Christ, what
it is. If you grow cold and indifferent
and unmoved by the hearing of the gospel, and if you ever loved
it, you've left your first love, haven't you? You've lost that
love. Our brother read from Psalm 51
and I. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation now let. Take heed he said take heed now
listen. Listen. You think about this. The surest evidence that a man
is dead and saying that a man is long sure seven is that a
woman is long the. Is there indifferent to the gospel.
And there are. You brought people in here. And
they've sat and heard the gospel that caused you to absolutely
rejoice. And you've just you've wanted to look at them so bad
and think and hope they're rejoicing too. But they go away unmoved. Indifferent. Why? They're dead. Right? Isn't that the surest
evidence that a person is dead and lost? They're unmoved by
the gospel? Well, listen. And take heed,
brethren. Wouldn't that be the surest evidence
that a person is dying and dead if they are unmoved and indifferent
to the hearing of the gospel? What's the first evidence of
life when God moves? When God moves on a dead sinner,
the first evidence of life is to God. Their ears are pricked. They hear the gospel. Their heart
is broken. They receive the gospel. They
are moved by the gospel. They're not indifferent to it.
They heard. They have ears and they've heard
the gospel. That's proof. That's the first
evidence that life has begun. Told you a story about a daughter,
you know, some of you saw your children being born and she, I spoke to her and she, I was
holding her in my arms and she was crying and I began to speak
to her and she quit her crying. The first evidence of life is
an interest and a joy and a rejoicing upon hearing the gospel, so wouldn't
the first sign of apostasy be No more joy upon hearing the
gospel. Wouldn't it? If the gospel is called words
of life, didn't Christ say, my words are spirit and life. He said the word of God is quick.
It's alive. And it's not up to this preacher
to make it alive. I don't have anything to do with
it. I know that from experience, because there's times when I
wanted to just absolutely jump a pew, and there's people sitting
there unmoved. And then there have been times
when I felt like dead as a hammer, that I failed miserably, and
the people wanted to jump a pew. So see, it's not in me at all.
It's not in the eloquence or the liberty, so to speak, or
the enthusiasm of the preacher. It's in this Word. This Word
is the power. It's His Word. It's all according
to Him. Who is life? Taking this word
of life and making it alive to you. So if the gospel, if the word
is words of life and it doesn't enliven me, then I'm dead. If the gospel, which is designed,
which God uses to break the heart, doesn't cause the heart something
to happen in the heart, then that heart's dead. And that's what Paul's going
to talk about here. The heart, because that is the
issue of life. Look at verse 7 and 8. Today,
if you'll hear his voice today. If you'll hear hard, not verse
a hard, not your heart, as in a provocation, a day of temptation
and wilderness. Harden, not not. I'm not going
to go into this because. There's so many ways a person
can harden their heart that he went on down here to say that
hardened verse 13 through the deceitfulness of sin. The deceitfulness
of riches, hardens, deceitfulness of sin, and on and on. I'm going
to talk about it. Verse 9. When your father, he
said, your father tempted me and proved me. They proved me.
Or in other words, he proved himself to them. Or whatever
they did proved him. Right? No matter where they went.
Or what they did, they proved him, his faithfulness, who he
is, his power, no matter how much they sinned. Psalm 107,
oh, I love that passage. He said, oh, four or five times,
he says, they just sinned miserably. And he reached down and picked
them up again. See, their sin even proved him. Wherever they went proved him.
that he was with them by his power. Read on. They proved me,
they saw my work forty years. Can a man hear the gospel for
forty years and fall away? You better believe it. I've seen
it happen. So you see the verdict's out
on every one of us. There's nobody in here who's
heard this gospel forty years. He went on to say in chapter
four, he said, that gospel is preached as well unto them as
unto us. You know, we talk of a man being
gospel-hardened or a woman being gospel-hardened. What does that
mean? Now, this applies more to us,
gospel-hardened That's when a man or woman hears
the gospel over and over and over and over until it's like
a droning sound in their ears until they no longer hear it. I mean, the gospel hasn't changed.
It's just as glorious and just as marvelous and it's still saving
people, still changing people. The gospel hasn't changed a bit.
And people hear it be gospel hardens keep hearing it keep
hearing it keep hearing it until they don't hear it. Hard. Heard it all before. And not
that I've looked in the face of people have heard it for nearly
for forty years and I've seen that it's it's the saddest look
you'll ever see. Except in the end, in that day, when the looks will be on their
faces then, to have sat under the gospel for so many years,
before whose eyes Christ had been so evidently, gloriously,
powerfully set forth, and to miss Christ. That's unthinkable,
isn't it? Well the word you see. Word is
called the water of life. Water you see the heart is the
heart of the heart this is the this is the receiver of the word.
This is the receptacle of the word. Thy word have I hid in
my heart. God plants the word, the incorruptible
seed in the heart, in the affection, in the man, in the belly, in
the bowels. That's the innermost, the heart. Out of the heart are the issues
of life and the issue of whether or not there is life. And water. The word of God is called the
water of life. What does water do to plowed
up ground? prepared ground. Oh, it keeps
on softening it, doesn't it? Keeps on softening it until it's
just, it just, the ground just keeps on soaking it up. You can
just keep on pouring water to it. The better the ground is,
the more water you can keep pouring to it. What does it do to hard pan?
You got some hard pan around, don't you, Henry? Oh, my, it just rolls off, doesn't
it? Oh, a little bit might soak in,
but it dries up quickly, and you'll see no signs at all that
water has even been there, just very shortly. No signs at all
that that ground had had anything touch it. Right back the way
it was. Forty years. How long have we
heard the gospel? Let me ask you this. When is
the last time has it been that you heard it again? Like it was
the first time. You know that. You've seen that
commercial, hadn't you? I think it's cornflakes are advertised.
Taste them again for the first time. Well, that that's a good
That's a good thing to think about. When's the last time the
gospel, you've heard the gospel like it's the first time you
ever heard it? That'd be a good sign that life's
not gone, wouldn't it? The gospel's called the news. Isn't it called news? One of the things I enjoy on
Sunday is get that Sunday paper, regardless of all the trash that's
in it. But I still enjoy it. And it
makes me, regardless of the fact that it makes me mad, I just
want to tear it up. But still, one of the things
that I enjoy is to get that paper down, and I just go through it
from cover to cover. I read it, the news. It's the
only time I do it on Sunday. But the gospel is called news. So what does that mean? It's
called good news. That means it's new to you. As cold waters took... Am I thirsty
right now? I am. Thank you, John. Thank you, John. Being by hunger and thirst after
righteousness tonight. Good news. As cold waters to
a thirsting soul, so is good news from a far country. Good news. His mercies are new
every morning. You'd drag in here on Sunday
morning, And you end up feeling rotten and wretched and sinful,
just as sinful as you've ever been or worse. And the gospel
comes. Does it come to you like, good
news? Like it's the first time you
heard it? Like you've gotten plum lost again? And then you
hear that joyful sound and it causes joy. You were down and
dirty and despairing. And then the gospel comes, and
you no longer despair, you're in full of joy, and you walk
out of here with a spring in your step, you come dragging
in, you come bouncing out, there must be still some life there. That's a good sign, isn't it?
Well, if it's not, if this doesn't happen, At some point in time and continue,
he said, the rejoicing under the in a person. Now, turn to
you got revelation three. I've got to turn to revelation
three. Let me give you several marks. I'm not going to tell you how
many, because you'll be counting them. But several marks of signs
of apostasy. Seven marks for evidence is that
a person is leaving the gospel. Number one. And buddy, I tell you, if there
was a time to take note, this would be it. Number one, these
aren't mine. These are from a man who's seen
hundreds of people leave the gospel. Number one, number one
first sign of If someone's leaving, the gospel is, they begin to
experience, and this is what we've been talking about, they
begin to experience no real joy or benefit or blessing from the
preaching or reading of God's Word. They experience no real
joy, no benefit, no blessing from the preaching or the reading
of God's Word. Look at Revelation 3. Now, every believer goes through
times where he is cold. Times when the gospel does not
have an effect on where they're cold. But they don't stay cold. And they get hot again. But it's one or the other. Not
in between. This is what our Lord says here.
Look at verses 14 through 16. Under the angel of the church
of the Laodiceans write, these things saith it, Amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know
thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would, God speaking
as a man, I could wish that you were cold or hot. You know there's
hope for a man or a woman who goes, who's cold. They can be
warmed. And we all go through it. When
you get cold, you know When you're cold, you know, Henry,
the older I get, the less I like cold. Are you that way? I bet you everybody in here would
agree with that. The less I seem to be able to
tolerate cold. And the point I'm trying to make
is, when you're really cold, you know it. Sometimes it's hard to get warm,
isn't it? My hands, you may have noticed, you know, I shake your
hand. My hands are cold on Sunday morning.
My feet are too. Get cold feet when it comes to
preaching. all circulation. You would too. You try it sometimes
and see if the circulation doesn't totally leave your body. You've
got to stand up here. But when you're cold, sometimes
you just, no matter what, you can't get warm. But the fact
is you know it. You know you're cold. When a
person is cold to the hearing of the gospel, a true believer
is cold. They're miserable. They feel
they're cold. They feel their They feel it,
and they cry out, Lord, warm me. I'm cold. I'm miserable. And then when you get hot, oh,
you're enthusiastic then. Everybody knows you're hot. Some
of you better not look in certain directions. Some of you are really,
it's really obvious, I know, when you're cold. Looking at,
trying your best to look like you're listening. But man, you
look just like a zombie. You ever see those old monster
movies, those zombies? That's what you look like. But
then there's times, cold, cold to the hearing of the God. But
then there's times when one glance will tell me, or anybody else
sitting around you, they're on fire. That word, that fire has
touched their heart. They're enthusiastic. They're
actively apart. They're responsive, but lukewarm. No change. Just kind of drift on in. Or out. Drift on out. Unconcerned. Uninvolved. God says. You know. Every time my wife has been telling
me something like her Bible lesson and she's so enthusiastic about
it in my mind was elsewhere you know and I wouldn't and I wasn't
as enthusiastic. And she, I know she gets aggravated
at me, you know, and I'm the same way, vice versa. And, but
you know, God doesn't like indifference to the preaching of his son. I mean, this is God's son. He
said, I'm well pleased. This is my son. And he tells
the preacher, now you go down and you stand on the mountaintops
on where you stand and you say it loudly, you declare my son
loudly for all the year. And the angels say, surely, surely
these sinners who need this son so badly are going to just just
rejoice upon hearing this, but they're indifferent. What's the
big deal? God absolutely is just enthralled
with his son. And yet sinners are indifferent. Why, he says. It's a far more serious than
we take it. There's another thing. So number
one, we begin to experience no real joy or blessing or benefit. Upon hearing or reading or preaching
or the preaching of the word number two. A person is going
to leave when they are no longer teachable. When they no longer are childlike
toward hearing the word. We know it all. And this is the
danger with doctrine to you know. I've been corresponding with
some fellows out in California and Illinois and other places
I get literature and anytime I see something written by someone
that's true, that's got the truth, the doctrine in it anyway, I
try to get a hold of them. I want to make their acquaintance.
I want to see if this, hey, this might be the church. And what I'm running into is
these intellectual reform people who are just as absolutely, well, in no life at all. They've got
the doctrine now. I mean, they are, they've got
the doctrine. You would agree with every point
they make until they get on the law a little bit, until they
get on church discipline a little bit, a whole lot. But when they
talk about the doctrine now, everybody in here, that's right,
that's true, and you get a little excited when you read. Testing 1, 2, 3, 4 Testing 1,
2, 3 you.