Hebrews chapter 10. Book of Hebrews. Chapter 10. I prepared this message on Thursday. As I almost always do. The Sunday morning message on
Thursday. Sunday evening's message on Friday. I prepared this message on Thursday, unaware of and not giving no
thought really to who would or would not be here. I have no
control over that at all. I have told you before that I
I do not prepare messages aimed at particular people. I have
done that, but God is my witness that I endeavor not to do that,
because invariably a message that I feel one particular or
two particular individuals need, they will not show up, or else
they won't hear it and somebody else will. The same holds true with everything
involving this thing of preaching, that the wind blows where it
lists it, and you don't know who a particular message is for.
I can only believe, though, of this I am certain, that you are
not here by accident, that you are here though the lot was cast
in your lap, that you were given a choice to be here or not, yet
the whole disposing thereof or the fact that you are here was
divinely ordained by the sovereign God before the planet was made. If I believe anything about a
sovereign God, that must be so. All things are ordered and sure. But I prepared this message with
a heavy heart with everyone in mind, myself included. A heavy heart because of all
the things that are going on around me. And with a burden for those of
you, I will admit this, that I believe this message is mostly
for God's people. I will admit that. A burden,
a real concern for you who profess to be God's people. And because of the threefold
reason for this message, number one, because of the shortness
of the time. We saw that in the morning hour. It's evident by
the events and characteristics of this time that the time is
short, brethren, the time is short. Number two, because of
the dangers that we are facing in these perilous times. It's
an increasingly wicked and hostile world, growing more and more
militant and against the things of God, against you if you are
about the things of God. of William Hodges, Gladys, and
so on. And I know this, that judgment
begins at the house of God, so we need every word. Our brother
prayed for the Holy Spirit, and we sung about it in articles
written about it. The Holy Spirit, our Lord said
concerning the giving of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit
will come when he's come. he will reprove the world of
sin, of righteousness and of judgment. So the presence of
the Holy Spirit not only comforts us in Christ and the gospel,
but it also warns us, strongly warns us. My earnest desire is to exhort
everyone here to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. to believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of your soul, before it's everlastingly
too late. And to steadfastness in that
faith, if you have made a profession, or you make that profession of
faith, my earnest desire is that you would maintain that steadfastness
of faith, which we must have, continue in right up to the end. They are to those who have not
yet closed with Christ. We have some young people in
here, maybe some older folks who have not yet closed with
Christ. What do I mean by closed with
Christ? That's an old Puritan statement,
you know. Have you closed with Christ?
Not accepted Jesus, but closed with Christ. Or in other words,
is your case Which was an open case, is it closed? Sealed. Have you come to some conclusion,
closing conclusion, as to your state and your relationship with
Jesus Christ? Have you? If not, I urge you
with every fiber of my being, with every ounce of sincerity
I can urge upon you, to call upon the name of the Lord while
he may be found. Today is a day of salvation. Today, if you will
hear his voice, harden not your heart. I urge you to ask, seek, knock,
call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I urge you to give diligence
to make your call in an election sure to those who have To those
who have some assurance that you know Christ, to those who
at least understand and claim to believe the gospel, I urge
you to steadfastness. I urge you to continue in these
things, because verse 23 here in our text, chapter 10, says,
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
But he is faithful, that promise. I urge you to hold fast. Hold fast. As I said, there are
some who make no profession of faith at all, either unsure of
what to believe or uninterested, whatever. But I warn you, that's
a dangerous place to be. Undecided, that's lukewarmness
of hearing that the Lord said, you're going to hear so many
times without hearing lukewarm, not hot or cold. He said, I'm
going to spew you out of my mouth. Tired of you. I urge you to give diligence,
to make your call in election cheer. Do not wait another day. Decide to escape. Close with
Christ. But some who do profess to believe
Christ, I tell you what, look over verses 19 through 22. Here's what it is to believe
Christ. Verse 19 says, having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ, Jesus Christ. It's a faithful saying. God sent
his Son down here to pay for the sins of old, rotten, wretched
sinners. And did he do it? He paid it off. Having entered
into the holiest of holies once and for all, he attained eternal
redemption for all those who come to God by him, all those
who just need him. I said, Lord, I believe. I held my unbelief. Lord, I do
believe. I need the blood of Christ saved. I've got good news
for you who do confess Christ. You can come boldly. Come to
the Holy God by a new and living way through the veil. You've
got a high priest, verse 21. You have a high priest over the
house of God. God always hears his prayer,
always accepts his sacrifice. He'll accept it until the day
he accepts you in person. That blood will be before the
Lord, John, as long as I need it. How long is that going to
be? So let's draw near with a true
heart and full assurance, a true heart, a believing heart, a sincere
heart. Draw near to Christ in thankfulness
and worship in full assurance of faith, believing that he is
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
And I urge you, those who do profess Christ as their Lord
and Master and King first and their Savior. Your righteousness,
he's your righteousness before a holy God, he's your substitute,
he's your sin offering, he's your great high priest, he's
your mediator, he's your intercessor. Is he all these things to you?
Do you? Do you believe? Dost thou believe this? Do you
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? If you believe
that in your heart, you've truly seen Christ's glory, his person
and his work, and seen your need of him, hold fast to that, to
him. like old Jacob, determined with
old Jacob, Lord, I'm not going to let you go. I feel like quitting,
I'm tired of wrestling, Lord, but I'm just not going to let
you go until you bless me. Psalm 1715, John, says, I'll
behold his face in what? Righteousness, in the righteousness
of Christ. But I'll not be satisfied till
I awake with his likeness. I'm not going to be satisfied
till I see him face to face. And I'm not going to quit. I'm
not going to say, well, I'm as sure for heaven as if I'm already
there. No, I'm not there. Paul said that, didn't he, in
Philippians. I have not arrived yet. I haven't attained into
that. If that Paul said it, this peanut Paul better be saying
it. Old-fashioned prayer, that's
how you wrestle with God, like Jacob, you wrestle in prayer.
That's what he said, doesn't he? He said, Paul, pray without
ceasing. Why do you think he said that? Why do you think the
Lord said, pray without ceasing? Because we need him. Every hour,
the song says, every hour I need thee, oh, bless. So what do we need? We need him? What are we going to have to
do? We're going to have to keep calling, praying without ceasing, saying,
Lord, help me, Lord, help me. I'm falling! Lord, help me! I'll be like them that go down
into the pit. My feet will not slip if it had not been he. He says here in verse 23, he's
faithful. He's faithful to answer that
prayer request. He sure is, buddy. He has undertaken, he has taken
it upon himself to be the mediator. The Holy Spirit has taken it
upon himself to take your prayer and make it effectual. He hears
prayer. God hears prayer. I could give you, sit here and
stand here and give you account after account of how God hears
prayer. We have a hard time believing that sometimes, because it doesn't
happen immediately. He does hear prayer, because
we've got a mediator, because of the Holy Spirit. He hears
prayer. Keep praying, wrestling with him. Keep coming. To whom
coming? To Christ coming. Keep coming. You need him? Nancy, did you
need him yesterday? Well, you need him today. You better keep
coming. You were baptized one day, weren't you? Huh? Want to
do it again? I do. I'll confess him all over
again. Keep coming. Now, you don't need
to come here and be baptized. You need to be in Christ. You
need to keep coming to Christ, asking, seeking, knocking on
mercy's door. Mercy every minute. Well, his
mercy never fails. It's new every morning. We're
going to need it the minute we wake up in the morning until
the minute we go to sleep at all that night. But it's new
every morning. He's got buckets of mercy from
oceans. He's got an ocean full of mercy. And we've only drained
a drop. Just a drop. He's faithful, I
promise. He said, I'll no wise cast you
out. know why. But, Lord, you don't
know what I've done." You seem to forget what I've done, he
said. But, Lord, I'm a sinner. You seem to forget that I'm a
Savior sinner. But, Lord, I'm about ready to
quit. You seem to forget that I'll
never quit. I'll never fail you. No, never.
He's faithful. Huh? That's good news, isn't
it? Isn't that good news? Well, hold
fast to it. Have you got no other hope? Huh? It ain't a hope, I hope, I hope.
Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope. That's not the hope we have.
The Scripture calls it a good hope through grace, a sure hope,
an everlasting hope. What's the hope? Not a what,
it's a who. You see, we've got to hope. My
faith is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things
not seen, evidence of things not yet seen. Christ, I haven't
seen him with these eyes, but I've seen him with these eyes,
and he's just as real, more real if I'd seen him with these eyes.
I can't believe these eyes all the time. I sure can. Some of
the things I'm seeing, did I see that? You can believe these eyes. You can believe this. You can
believe this. Turn over to Hebrews 6 with me. Hold fast. Hebrews 6 talks about
some people who don't. Turn with me, please. Everyone
who has a Bible, please turn. Hebrews 6, young people, turn. Although we are exhorted to steadfastness
because We're responsible. Why does the Lord, if he's sovereign,
Deborah, why does he tell us to do all these things? We're
responsible. We're going to see tonight how
he is. I wish I could just tear off into that message right now. How God is sovereign, yet he
makes us responsible, and he makes us responsible, and they
work together marvelously. They're not enemies. They don't
need to be reconciled. God marvelously works these things together,
and you're going to see the miracle of that. And we're exhorted to
steadfastness because we're responsible. Yet you're going to find out
in the end that it didn't have anything to do with you. It didn't have anything to do with
your steadfastness. It altogether had everything
to do with his steadfastness. You're going to find that out.
It all was due to his covenant. Oh, I like that word. I just
like the sound of that word. If you study it, you'll like
it, too. Well, look at Hebrews 6. Hebrews
6, verse 13 through 20 says this. God made promise to Abraham because
he could swear by no greater. He swore by himself. blessing, I will bless you. Multiply
and I will multiply thee." So after Abraham had patiently endured,
he obtained the promise. Why did he obtain the promise?
Because he was faithful? Well, not ultimately, indirectly,
but directly it was due to God's covenant, because God swore. It wasn't on a stack of Bibles.
It hadn't been written yet, Joe. He swore it on himself. So after verse 16, men swear
by the greater. Men barely swear by God. They
swear to God, they say. And they make an oath. Do you
swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the
truth, so help you God? I do. They swear, make an oath, and
they say to them it's an end of everything. Well, it's not.
They'll lie. They'll lie through their teeth.
All men are liars, and God is not. He never had and never will. Look at verse 17, "...wherefore
God, wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs
of promise the immutability of this counsel, the unchangeableness
of that eternal counsel is ordered in all things, and sure before
the world begins, confirmed it by an oath." By two immutable things, unchangeable
things, it's impossible for God to lie, impossible for God to
lie. That we might have a what? A
hope, a hope, a hope? A maybe? Well, it might be a
sure, a strong consolation. "...who have fled for refuge
to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Who's the hope? What's
the hope? Christ, set before us, who's gone within the veil.
Which hope we have is an anchor. Your ship tossing? Throw out
the anchor of faith on the rock of Christ Jesus. It ain't going
nowhere. You ain't going nowhere! Throw out the anchor. What is
it? It's the heart of faith. Lord,
help. Save me, I'll perish! That's the anchor. Throw it on
the rock of Christ Jesus. Sure, steadfast, unmovable, which
entered into the veil. two things, two immutable things. His word, God said, I spoke it. If you come to Christ, you'll
never perish. I like that. I wish I could get
a hold of that. God said, you sinner, oh, the
worst sort, you come to Christ. Oh, hey, I think, I'm not sure
about how I want to come. Come, I'll bless you, I'll save
you from now on. I swear on it. You have my name
on it, my word on it. You have my word." Well, I think I'll do it. What about you? Huh? I think
I'll do it. See, I know I'll do it. I ain't going to wait a minute. God would say, come to Christ,
don't move a muscle. It's not coming down here. It's
not coming up there. Once you've come to Him, you
will go up there and you will come down here. Boy, hold fast now, verse 23,
he's faithful, he's faithful. And verse 24, "...let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works," let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and good works, "...not forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some
is." but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see
the day approaching." That's the title of this message,
as you see the day approaching. And we saw clearly this morning,
clearly. Didn't we see clearly? Did you
see it with me? How clear it is that Christ is even at the
door, the scripture says. He said that himself. When you
see all these things, learn the parable of the fig tree, he said.
After you see all these things, know it's near. He's at the door. That day. Scriptures call it
the great and dreadful day. To a believer it's going to be
Great, day in the morning. I used to say that. You used
to say that? Great, day in the morning. That's
what we're going to say the day he comes. That morning. When
the day spring shall arise from on high. The sun shall arise. Great day in the morning. but it's a great and dreadful
day. Some people say, it's going to
be dreadful, the most dreadful day that the Lord's returned. This is
the reason the preacher ought to be more zealous and more fervent
and more and more urgent with every single message. The day
of the Lord draws nigh, nearer every day. Now is your salvation,
Roberta, nearer than when you first believed. It's nearer,
and the older you people are. Some of you got a foot in the
grave and the other one on a banana peel. You're a breath away from
meeting the Lord God. I envy you. I mean that. I envy you. Virgie,
you ought to be the most envied lady in this church. You're the
oldest. If things go naturally and you
go before the rest of us, we ought to be in me and you more
than anybody in here. I really hope I don't live 80-something
years, but I wish I was 80-something right now. And to preach your history, you
ought to be more and more urgent with every single message, like
Noah. What do you reckon Noah, a hundred years went by? God's going to send a flood,
buddy. I'm building this ark. He said to build this ark. You
better get in, buddy. It's not interesting." Oh, man, they just don't believe.
Joe, Joe, Joe! A hundred and nineteen years
ago by. Anybody! A hundred and twenty years. It's done. He's standing by the
stone. The door's open. Family, come on. Got all the
animals? Tom? No? Zach? Preacher ought to be more and
more fervent with every message. So much the more, as you see
the day approaching. Are you more fervent and zealous
right now for Christ than you were five years ago? You ought
to be! He's nearer now. You older folks,
you ought to be more concerned and more taken up with Christ
than the things of this world you were two days ago. Right? Not vice versa. Don't plan for the rocking chair.
Plan for Provide for yourselves bags, not IRAs, but bags which
wax not old," the Scripture said. So much the more as you see the
day approaching, why will you die? Here's the language of Scripture,
why will you die? Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. And you know, if we're laborers
together, the Scripture talks about believers being laborers
together with Him. What do you do when you labor
together? You're all in this thing together, you know that?
I'm just preaching. That's all I'm doing. We're in
this thing together. Well, he says, provoke one another. I'm
up here publicly right now provoking you. You see what I'm doing? See what
we're doing? Why are you here this morning? You being here
provokes everybody else to be here. And I'm up here standing
here provoking you to be here. I hope I'm not provoking you
in a way that you quit coming here. But I'm provoking you to
love. Love who? Love what? Christ! Set not your affection on things
below, set them on things above, where Christ sits at the right
hand of God. I'm provoking you, John Charles. I'm trying to provoke
you, buddy. You don't need Bill punching
you in the nose to do it. Listen up now. You're fifty-some
years old. You know Christ? Well, find out. And everybody, and me included,
right? He's coming. Provoke one another with a love
to Christ, love for one another. Look, you need one another. We
need each other. You know it? You ain't got a
friend in the world. They say, I ain't got a friend
in the world. I don't either. I've got a friend
that's not of the world, though. I've got about 40 of them here
this morning. I've got a lot more than that. I've got them
in all cities here and there, a remnant. I've got friends.
I've got a friend that sticks closer than a brother. I've got
a friend in the world. A friend in the world is the
enemy of grace, the enemy of your soul. It will drag you down
with it. I don't want to see you go. Like Bunyan Pilgrim,
you know, he's going out of the city. His family was saying,
don't go, and his neighbor, don't go, where are you going, you
fool? That's ridiculous. Nobody goes there. What did he
do? Put his ears, his fingers in his ears, so he couldn't hear
their railings, and he was hollering the whole time, laugh, laugh,
eternal laugh! That's what he was doing. I don't
want to hear what you're saying. Cry, cry! Right? Provoke one another to love.
Good work. What's good work? God's works. Healing has anything
to do with God is good. Right? It's good work. It must
be about the things of God. The good works. Oh, sure, feeding
the poor and all that is good work, but the poor you have with
you always. You ain't going to have this gospel all the time. Time's going to come. It's going
to be a famine. It's going to be a famine. Not
a famine of bread. No, it's going to be prosperity.
In that way, it's going to be the famine of the hearing of
the gospel. We're in it. You can't find this bread everywhere.
It's hard to find. Find it, buy it, don't sell it
for nothing. That's what he goes on to say
in verse 25, and you provoke one another Not to forsake the assembling
of ourselves together. Do you see the context here?
As the manner of some is. You don't have to be in a church
house to commune with Christ. You know, I'm all the time exhorting
you to come here. Why? So you can hear my little
sermon I prepared. Well, you know, sure, I work
long and hard on some of these messages and I do take it a little
bit personally, but that's not chief and foremost in my mind
at all. I get real concerned when the child's away from the
table. This is the children's bread
and you go without eating very long, you're going to die. You're
going to wither away, you're going to become undernourished,
you're going to anemic, subject to all manner of diseases and
sicknesses? It's just like a father with
a child says, Son, eat! Not it, don't play. Eat! Right?
That's what this thing's all about. I ain't playing church
here. I don't care if we have five, as long as there are five
that are—that's all we got. If that's all we've got, that's
all we've got. When we've got forty to forty-five
or whatever who profess to know and love Christ, I want them
all here. I want them all here. I want to do without a one. Do
you? When you've got four or five
kids, you know, and you serve a big meal of just what they
need, it's going to be good for them. They need it. find out where the boys went
ahead. You don't have to be in the church
house. Let me reiterate this. You don't have to be in the church
house to commune with Christ, but listen to me. Christ has
always promised to be where two or three people are. Do you feel
like you're without Christ at times? I know a place where he
meets every time. It's a sure thing. Huh? I don't have faith, I feel so
weak, I feel so this, I feel so that, I'm up and down all
the time. I know where you can find a rock to sit on, to stand
on, at least for an hour, and find some peace, some hope, that
you might walk out into this shifting sands of the world and
you'd come back to the rock real fast. Tell you what, put your
anchor in it. Venture out as you will, but
keep coming back to the rock. Rock solid. I know a place where he always
meets, where two or three are gathered. Didn't he say that?
Two or three. I'll be there. Well, I will be
too. Because I need him. I need him. He's always assembled with a
multitude, too. You study the life of Christ,
you'll never find him over in the corner with John. Huh? Did you? At least two, Jeanette,
at least two or three. Huh? He went up to the Mount
of Transfiguration, he took three with him. Didn't he? He didn't
go, he said, Peter, you're, you're one of the select few. Peter,
you're head and shoulders above the rest. You come, come on.
He took James and John also, two or three, the mouth of two
or three witnesses, the thing will be established. This thing
is established. We establish it over and over
again. I want to be here, I want to be established. You want to
be established? Like Peter said, perfected, grounded,
settled, established. I'm tired of being up and down.
I want to be established. This is where you come to be
established. The Spirit of God blesses mightily. in the midst
of the Church. He always has, always will. All
he blesses individually. I've been blessed, like I said,
sitting down there in that study the other day, I thought, I'm
Enoch, I'm walking on out of here. I thought if I get to preach
it or not, I've been blessed. Here I go. The Spirit does bless,
but I've never, I'm blessed, I'm being blessed right now,
by the thoughts of all that were studied. Because we're in this
thing together. I see some heads nodding. You're
being blessed, too. That's my joy, my consolation
in this thing. We're being blessed together.
The Spirit mildly moves in the midst of the church, clobbering
tons of fire. He fires up a preacher, fires
up your heart. Your heart's burning within you
at times upon hearing the gospel. And the Holy Spirit does that.
He doesn't make them in bed to do all that foolishness, you
know, so you can see how much the Spirit he's got. He takes
the things of Christ and shows them to you. He opens the Word
to you and says, There it is! Makes it clear to you. There
it is! I need an answer. There it is! That's what the
Spirit of God does. Click. Click. Keeps clicking. Click. Oh, I see. Now I see. until you're transported. You
can't hold any more. That's what Christ said. Many
things I had to say unto you, but you're not able to receive
them now. But you'll receive them by measure, he said. If the Lord opened up my heart
and my mouth and just gave me scriptural recall and just gave
you a message to hear that just absolutely you wouldn't be able
to live the rest of the week. You'll get a word and see. I
wouldn't either. I'd never be able to preach again. I think,
well, I've preached. Everything else is anticlimactic. So I stumble. I might say, sure,
that's wrong, or something. I'll make some gaffe. I'll make
a fool out of myself. I'll open my mouth and put my
foot in it, one time in the course of the message. So I won't be puffed up, you
know, with pride. But I know this, the Spirit of
God blesses mightily in the midst of the Church. He always has,
he always will, in the midst of the Church. And the preaching
of the gospel is a family get-together around the table. I've already
said that. It's the family getting around the table together. It's
the Lord's table. That's what the preaching of
the gospel is. It's a foretaste of heaven, people. Why do we gather together? Why
did the Lord make us a congregating people? Why did he call us sheep?
Because sheep have to get together. And there's going to be one great
and mighty get-together, one big congregation in heaven. With hearts united as one, minds, the more the merrier. And that's
what this is all about. Congregation, the foretaste of
heaven. And people, I exhort you so much
the more as you see the day approaching, not to forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. You see that? You see this? That's
what this is all about. People can play church all they
want, and some people do, and maybe some people do in here.
I hope not. But I hope you're coming to where
you believe Christ is to be found, his gospels to be heard. He said
he'd meet with his people, where he could get some help, where
he could establish, and where the Holy Spirit promised to bless
and get around the table together. Let's eat. All right? Let's eat. Serve it up, Preacher. I've got
an appetite. There she is. Here's a morsel.
Serve up the green beans first. Now, here comes the taters, and
here comes the meats. Are you ready, got your dentures
in, got your spiritual incisors? So much the more as you see the
day approaching. All right, verse 26, he says,
If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins. Most sin is willful. Now, you
think You think this means, just looking at that, if you take
that one word, how many times have, how many times, Stan, how
many times have you thought of that verse right there and it's
come to your heart and it's pricked your heart and just convicted
you terribly? Huh? How many times, buddy, when
you've done something and you willfully did it now, you didn't
resist it, you did it. You will to do it, and you did
it, and yet scripture comes to mind. How many times? If we sin
willfully, there may be no more sacrifice to sin. People, there's
not one sin you ever commit, hardly. There's a few presumptuous
sins, but most every sin you commit is willful. But I commit
as willful. Keep it in context. All right? Let's keep it in context here.
The context is, he says, don't forsake the assembly of yourselves
together. hold fast to the profession of
your faith, let us consider one another to provoke unto love,
not forsaking the assemblage of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. For if we sin willfully," sin,
what's he talking about? He's talking about what he just
talked about. Unbelief, neglecting all of this, forsaking
the assembly of yourself, apostasy. The subject is apostasy. Are you with me?" Or whatever
head to nod that's with me. Boy, that sounded Arminian to
me. Edit that! Now our every head's
bowed. Raise your hand. That's awful. I told you it happened, didn't
I? I told you I'd open my mouth and put my foot in. Quit laughing,
Rick. In the context, if you're with
me, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, turn back to Hebrews
6. Here is the context. The turning
away from what you profess to believe and love. The subject
is apostasy. Hebrews 6. Maybe you have trouble
with this passage of scripture. I've got to hurry. Hebrews 6,
verses 4 through 6. He says, It is impossible for
those who are once enlightened. Now, does that mean spiritual
enlightenment? I mean, does that mean absolute,
the regenerating light, the light that Paul experienced when he
was on the road that changed him in a moment, that he died
and he rose to walk in newness? No. No, that's not the eternal
light of spiritual or Holy Spirit illumination that really lightens
a man to understand who God is and know who Christ is and see
himself. That's salvation. But this is the light which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world, some amount of discernment.
Everybody's got an intellect. Everybody's got a mind. Everybody's
read Hebrews 6, just about, who called himself. And they've been
enlightened to some degree to see, hey, there is a God, there
is a Jesus, there is a gospel. There's some words like this,
OK? some amount of understanding.
And they have tasted, go on, have tasted of the heavenly gift.
What's the heavenly gift? It's the gospel, it's the Bible,
it's the things of God, it's the thoughts of salvation and
eternal life. Tasted it. Doesn't say now that
they have eaten it, does it? It doesn't say now that they've
taken a roll and eaten it, like Ezekiel, was it Ezekiel? Isaiah,
I forget which, took the roll and ate it and digested it and
went down in there and it bore fruit. It wasn't a planted word
down inside. He tasted it. That's good. Have
you ever tasted, done a taste test of anything? I do it. I'm going to do it this
afternoon. I'm going to have to. I'm the official roast taster
of Men in Mayhem. You know that? Whenever she picks,
I taste it, make sure it's OK. You do the same thing. Taste
it. That ain't eating, and that doesn't
suffice, does it? That won't do my body a bit of
good. That won't nourish my body, will it? Neither will just tasting
of the gospel nourish your soul. You've got to eat it. You understand
that? They tasted the heavenly gift,
and were not made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Now, he's not talking here about
what Christ said in John 14, 15, and 16, giving the Holy Spirit
and never taking him. Didn't he say he'll never take
him away? You can resist him, but you never can take him away.
He said, I'll not leave you comfortless. I'll give you the Holy Spirit,
and you'll never take him away. not the regenerating, saving
Holy Spirit of God, but participants. The word is partaking or participating
in, in and around the things of the Holy Spirit. That's where
we are right now. We're all partaking. Everybody
in here, including the children, are partaking of this message.
You're hearing it. Are you hearing it? Now, you did not actually, it
was not actually imparted down into your being. You did not
actually partake of it by faith if it did not go down in there
and bear fruit. But if it just went in one ear
and went out to others, that was good, and you go off. You
were made a participant in these things, but you didn't partake.
Verse 5, and there's a word again, I've tasted the good word of
God. You've heard the word preached to empower. and the powers of
the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance, seeing they crucify unto themselves the Son
of God afresh, and put him to open shame." Nothing brings more
reproach upon Christ and the gospel than someone to profess
it, someone to confess it, make a profession of it, appear to
be a believer of it, and then to finally turn out to be an
apostate. Nothing brings more approach
upon Christ. That isn't real after all, is
it? Huh? That's what the world will say.
That's what everybody will say. I thought you were a Christian.
I thought you believed Christ. Ain't nothing to it anyway, is
it? Huh? I tried to tell you, didn't I? Ain't nothing to it,
Jesus Christ, Dad. Didn't do you any good, did it?
Does that mean it's not real? No, but it means you're not real. Listen to this. David, you remember
David prayed in Psalm 51, take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
You remember that? That's a true prayer and confession
and hope and earnest plea of a child of God. Sammy, he won't. If the Holy Spirit is given,
he'll not take him away. But the child of God at times
grieves him and resists him, the Scripture says, by various
things, and to the point where they feel
like he's gone. And I'm gone. Right? And then they're made to cry
out. If the Holy Spirit wasn't there, John, they wouldn't cry
this out. If the Holy Spirit wasn't there, they wouldn't be
bothered by it, Joe. But since he's still there, but
he's hidden his face and you can't see it, you cry out with
David in Psalm 51, Right? That's the work of the
Holy Spirit, to make you continually cry out, Don't leave! If you
ain't got him in the first place, he can leave, and you not know
it, and not care. See? You know, second baptism of the
Holy Spirit, that's a bunch of hogwash, poo. It's a prayer where
you say, Clap, trap, whatever that is, whatever clap, trap
is. But the Spirit of the Holy The
child of God says it, every true believer fears the removal of
God's presence and his power and his blessings. David prayed
that. Now listen, this is written by
a man who has been in the ministry forty-five years. He is pastor
of a very large congregation who has literally seen thousands
of people who make professions of faith. This is worth listening
to. And he says, this is what I see
in people when they begin to give evidence that they are apostates. These are the things that I see
begin to drift into people. You better listen to this. I
better listen to this. A man who has seen many people
leave. What makes us think we won't? Here are the things that begin
to accompany falling away. Number one, when
we begin to experience no blessing or benefit from reading or the
preaching of God's Word, when the Word of God ceases to convict
us, rebuke us, burn in our heart, cause us to rejoice in Christ,
God is not speaking to me. and I'm not hearing him. Number
two, we are in trouble when we feel satisfied with our spiritual
progress. And because we've attained to
some knowledge, we're satisfied. We become authorities instead
of learners. We have arrived and our humble
spirit is in creed alone, not in experience. In other words,
we're satisfied with a mere head knowledge. ever learning, but
never coming to the knowledge. 3. When we can be absent from
the fellowship of believers and worship of the Lord without feeling
any great loss in an empty heart. When a man can be warmed by his
own fire, he is either dead or dying. We begin to be critics. Here's another thing that manifests
itself. We begin to be critics and find
faults with others. See, that way we can justify
our own falling away. We say, oh, he's a hypocrite.
Do you know what he did? It doesn't matter. What matters
is what you're doing right now. The Spirit of God leads a man
to feel that he is less than the least, the chief of sinners.
But when the Spirit of God is not present, we become judges
and fault-finders. Number five, this spirit of apostasy
is creeping over someone when our souls are not vexed by sin
within us. And the conversation of men about
us, of the world, when we can feel comfortable in the presence
of those who never knew our God, good friends, when we can conform
to the ways of natural men, the trend of materialism in the world,
the light of God is very dim and is about to be extinguished
completely. the world is in that he is God.
And lastly, when our thoughts become self-centered, and the
general love of self is what we looked at this morning, when
our thoughts become self-centered and general welfare and well-being
and joy of others is of no great concern to us, we are not moved
by the Spirit of God. And for those who do forsake
disassembling, back in chapter 10, those who do willfully sin
and reject forsake assembling of themselves together, there
is no more sacrifice for sin. It seems to indicate that when
you leave Christ in the gospel, you're not going to find the
gospel anywhere. Right? Well, he's preaching the
gospel there. There's the gospel there. Well,
you know, I've got a better job offer. You're not going to find it.
There's no more sacrifice. They're not preaching the sacrifice
of sin. You're not going to find it. Where would you go anyway? Where would we go? Where would
I go? I think about that all the time. Where would I go if
I left this, the gospel and what I need so desperately, the people
I need? Where would I go? Back to my
old cronies? Oh, God forbid. God forbid that I should go back
to those nuts. I was a king nut. Where would I go for peace and
comfort when trials and afflictions, when things, when my conscience
convicts, where am I going to go then? There remains no more
sacrifice. Where am I going to appeal for
some help? When I get off on a limb, Margaret, and out in
the ditch again, and I leave the gospel Then where am I going
to go for some help? I have no place to turn. Then, drown it and drink or something,
you know. That's what the disciples said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Back to the world? There ain't
no satisfaction there. I tried that. Young Solomon tried
it. He's not there. Drank it to its
fullest. Just left me thirsty. Back to
religion? You want to go back to that,
John David? Joe Parks, you want to go on back down to the first
whatever church of the Sanhedrin? Huh? There's a door. To whom shall we go? Huh? Where
are we going to go? As long as the man is preaching
the words of life, I'm happy, I'm satisfied, that's where I
want to be. And he says, so much the more
as you see the day approaching. Verse twenty-seven says, There
be a fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversary. He that despised Moses' law died
under two or three witnesses. How much sore punishment, suppose
ye, shall you be thought worthy? Who trod underfoot the Son of
God, counted the blood of the Covenant, or the gospel of the
Covenant, wherewith he was sanctified. and unholy thing and despise
the spirit of grace. I don't need that stuff. I'm
not interested. I don't need that. What you're saying, and
we saw this last week, unbelief, what unbelief says is this. Unbelief says, Jesus Christ might
as well not come, as far as I'm concerned. There's a group of
people meeting down there. They're worshiping God. They're
preparing for the meeting of Christ. Christ said he'll be
right there. Christ said he'll be right there in the midst of
those two or three people who are worshiping And those who
stay away, who willfully neglect it, who forsake the assembly
of themselves together, who willfully sin, there's no more sacrifice.
They're not hearing the sacrifice, they're hearing something, I
don't know what, out there in the world, not hearing about
the sacrifice. And what they're saying, deep down in their heart,
is that, I could care less if Jesus Christ came down here or
not. Died, gospel, I'm not interested. Do you see the seriousness of
that? God says, not interested? Not interested in my son? Henry, there's no reason, there's
no wonder, the Lord's very indignation, the Scripture says. All right? Rick, we ought to be on the front
row, shouldn't we, buddy? On the front row, on the edge
of our seats, say, boy, I don't want to miss that. This is the
Lord, the Lord's speaking, and I sure don't want to miss it.
Right? That's the way we ought to be
about the things of God. I'm glad it's by grace. Aren't
you? I'm glad there's blood. And even
though there's times when I don't feel this all-consuming desire
and fire, the Lord's Holy Spirit hasn't been taken from me, and
I cry out, Lord, take him not away from me. And he sends him
back convicting me, convincing me of sin, of my need of righteousness
and of judgment beginning at the house of God, and I come
back again. I say, tell it to me one more time. Maybe this
time I'll hear it. I'm all ears. One more time. There may not be another. Is that right? Today, the gospel
has been preached. Harden not your hearts, as in
the day of provocation, and exhort one another. so much more as
you see that day approaching. We don't want to go without you.
We love you. But if we do, we won't miss you. Right? We won't miss you. We miss you now. We miss you
now. All right, stand with me.