Look with me back now in Job
17. Job 17. And look down here in verse 9, where it says, The righteous
also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall
be stronger and stronger. There's a saying, you know, that
people use, keep on keeping on. Well, that's what Job says the
righteous do. The righteous also shall hold
on his way. Here we have a certain class
of people to call the righteous. They became righteous not by
anything that they did. They became righteous because
of what God did. God declared them righteous.
He washed them in the blood of His Son, and He imputed the righteousness
of Christ to them. He made Christ to be their righteousness. Jehovah's again you, the Lord
is our righteousness. So when He talks about the righteous
here, He's not talking about people who have a righteousness
of their own, but the righteousness of Christ. And God gave them
a new nature that they want. They want to live godly in this
world. And so we have a certain class
of people and they're traveling in a certain way. They're going
a certain way. And that is they hold their way. They hold on His way. Hold on
His way. And you know the righteous here
are called strangers and pilgrims. That's what we're called. You
keep Job 11, or 17, excuse me, and look over here and psalm
with me. Let's look at a verse of Scripture here. We're called
strangers. You know, that's what they said
about all the saints in the Old Testament. These all died in
faith, having never received the promises. And they confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims here. because they saw him afar off,
and they just kept going towards him. But here in Psalm 39 and
verse 12, look what it says, talking about the righteous holding
on his way. We're strangers and pilgrims
here. Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear unto my cry. Hold not
thy peace at my tears, for I am a stranger with thee. You know
anybody more stranger to this world than God Almighty? They don't know God in this world.
God's a stranger in His own world. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He
come into this world, He made the world. The world was made
by Him, but yet the world didn't know Him. He was light in darkness,
and men loved the darkness rather than the light. And so you see, He was a stranger.
And they said, we're strangers with Him. and a sojourner. That
means we have no constant little dwelling place. And he says,
it's all my father's work. Everybody before us that was
believers and righteous was the same way. It was all the same
way. But here he says that righteous shall hold also his way. Young
converts, young believers, sometimes consider that they're afraid
of confessing Christ because they're afraid they won't hold
their way. They want to confess Christ.
Sometimes you're right on the verge of confessing Christ. Sometimes
you're right on the verge of saying, oh, preacher, I want
to confess Christ in believers' baptism. I would sure like to
let the folks know what the Lord's done for them. But they're afraid
that if they make that confession, stand up and say, yes, I'm going
to be identified with Christ, they won't hold their way. They're
afraid. But I do know this, the more
we know of the blessed truths of the gospel, the more comfort
and assurance we will have. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. You want faith? You want some
comfort and assurance? Hear the gospel. Hear the word. Read the word. Listen to the
word. Listen to it. And I know this. You see, we
need to be established in the truth. And if we're established
in the truth, we won't be tossed to and fro as children. And I've
got just two or three little things to say about this this
morning. First of all, says the righteous there in verse nine,
the righteous shall hold on his way. Now, you notice there, there's
no if, ands or buts in there. Maybe he will. We hope he will.
He might. If he does a certain thing, he'll
hold on his way. He says, no, said the righteous,
also shall hold on his way. He must. There is no options
here. There's no ifs, ands, or buts,
or hopes, or nothing. It just says the righteous will
do this. He'll hold on his way. You see, beloved, we have been,
we are being, and we shall be saved. Paul says, you know, he
said, I trust Him who hath delivered me, who will deliver me, and
will yet deliver me. And he says, now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed? We have been saved, and we're
being saved by the grace of God. Now, look, I'm going to keep
this, and I want you to see in Matthew 24, just a moment. You
know, this is the thing about it. Salvation is not just an
instantaneous thing. Salvation is a continual, constant
work. We have been saved. God saved
us. We were saved by Christ as the Lamb slain for the foundation
of the world. We were saved when Christ died
on the cross. Our salvation, our sins were
put away there. And then we were saved when God
sent the gospel our way and caused our paths to cross with the gospel,
and we heard the gospel, and we believed the gospel with the
God-given faith that He gave us in Christ. And, beloved, we
are saved there in time, and we are being saved. How many
times have you been? Every day we're being saved,
every day. And one of these days, as the
girl sung this morning, We shall dwell on Zion's hill. All the
dark clouds will be lifted. All the sorrows and sighs will
stop. And we'll enter into glory. We'll
go home once and for all. Then our salvation then will
be complete. Be as old Martin said, Plum saved
then. But here in Matthew 24, look
what it says. I'll get there in a minute. Matthew 24, verse 11, look what
it says. And this is what we're talking
about, you know, about having to hold on our way, the righteous
holding his way. He said here in verse 11, and
many false prophets shall rise. Oh, my, false prophets are everywhere. They're everywhere. Everybody's
being discipled. Everybody's telling somebody
how to live. I looked in a song in a book
this morning, Amazing Grace, the old Amazing Grace, but they
added a chorus to it that says, how can such a grace be offered
to me? They put a chorus and said, how
should such grace be offered to me? Why would you want to
change amazing grace and make grace as an offer instead of
a gift? False prophets do that, and they'll
deceive many. But listen, and because iniquity
shall abound, all sin and lawlessness abounds. And because of that,
the love of many will just wax cold, it's just too hard. But
now listen to it, he that shall endure, endure what? False prophets, iniquity, and
the fact that we don't want our heart to grow love, but he that
shall endure unto the end the same, shall be saved. Shall be saved. Huh? Now behold,
beloved, we have been, we are being, we shall be. And the righteous
must hold on his way. Must do it. Because of the way
God represents him in his word. Do you know how God represents
us as believers? And as the righteous? He's compared
to a traveler. You know, there's two roads that
there is in this world as far as God's concerned. The straight
gate and the narrow way. And the broad way, the broad
gate, and the broad way. And beloved, we're on the straight
gate, we're on the narrow way. We're considered as travelers
here. And not only that, but we're
considered and pictured as a runner. Let us run with patience the
race that's set before us. Paul said, I run as one that's
going to receive the crown. And then we're considered, pictured
as boxers, as fighters in this world. Paul said, I'll fight,
but not as uncertainly. I'm not shadowboxing. This is
a real fight that we're in. And then we're called a soldier,
a warrior. Oh, the scripture says, fight
the good fight of pain. Endure hardness as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ. Put on the whole armor of God. Soldiers put on armor. and put
on armor, start with the helmet of salvation, the breastplate
of righteousness. Yeshua's job is the preparation
of the gospel of the peace. And then we're called disciples,
we're called scholars. And we're not set out to learn
anything. The scriptures tell us, you know,
as you have been taught by Jesus Christ, As the truth is in Jesus
Christ, that's who teaches you. Christ takes His responsibility
to teach us Himself. And then we're called builders.
Our Lord Jesus says, you know, two men began to build a house.
One built on a rock, the other built on a sand. The one who
built his house on a rock, the storms came, the winds blew,
the floods came, and his house stood. I mean, you know, when
you see how God describes his people in this world, he must,
the righteous must hold on his way. And then he says we're trees
bearing fruit. And here's the thing about trees
bearing fruit, the harvest, you know, the fruit ain't been harvested
yet. The fruit ain't been harvested
yet. And so the righteous must hold on his way because the way
God's word represents him, chose him to be. And let me tell you
this, he must hold on his way, the righteous must hold his way.
If you suppose that he didn't persevere, just suppose he didn't
persevere, suppose the righteous didn't hold his way, consider
what it'd be like if he did. Have you ever considered what
it'd be like if a man didn't hold on his way, the righteous
didn't hold his way? This is what it would amount
to. A man turning back from death, back to death from life. I'd
rather be dead instead of alive. It's going, you know, he was
in the light, and he said, I'm going to go back over here in this
darkness. He said, here I am a righteous, and I'm going to
go back to sin. Here I am, I have this great freedom in Christ,
free from the law, old advocate vision. I'm going to go back
over here and go to Satan, go back into bondage. It's like
Lazarus saying, you know, I don't enjoy this life. I believe I'll
just crawl back into the tomb and go back to that old stinking
corruption body. Do you imagine a righteous man
would do that? That's what would happen if he
didn't hold his way. That's why the righteous must
hold his way. And I'll tell you this, it's impossible, impossible
for anyone who doesn't persevere to enter into glory. One of the
most damnable doctrines that's ever, ever been presented in
this world is that once you make a profession, and you went to
an altar and you made your profession, that once saved, always saved,
no matter what kind of life you live after you've made that profession.
You may stay in church six months. You may stay in church a year.
You may stay in a year or two, three. But eventually, you go
back. You go back to the Word. You
go back like I just talked about. And you live like that for year
after year after year. But you know, the preachers told
you that you got saved back there, so once you're saved, you're
always saved. And that's one of the most, and you know how
many people, I believe that, that goes out into eternity saying
that, that preachers will get up and tell about somebody that
they haven't been, they made the profession when they was
18, 19, 15, at 20, and then it comes time for them to die, and
they ain't been in the sound of the preaching or nothing for
years, and they get them up there and say, oh, they're in glory,
because I remember when they got saved. Their mama told me
they made a profession. We're talking about the righteous
holding on his way, not just somebody saying they accepted
Jesus. We're talking about righteous
people. And that's why it's impossible for those who do not persevere
to enter into glory. You know, heaven is for the spirits
of just men made perfect. Just men made perfect. And it's
foolish to suppose someone who isn't even going in that direction
to arrive there. That's why, you know, I heard
Scott Richardson preach on this one time, Jeffrey. He fought
at the end of the night, and he won. He said, God, if you'd
let me have the victory, he said, the first thing I see, I'll offer
him this sacrifice. And he came home, and there is
his daughter and some young ladies dancing and singing and rejoicing
in his father's victory. And the first thing he saw was
his daughter. And he says, the first one I
see, that's who I'm going to give you. I'm going to give her
to you, give them to you." And oh my, he said, oh daughter,
daughter, daughter, what have I done? But he said this, I have
opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot go back. It's going
to cost me my daughter, but I cannot go back. It's going to cost me
the love of my heart, but I can't go back. It's going to cost me
the love of my life, but I can't go back. I've opened my mouth
before the Lord, and I can't go back. When you open your mouth
to the Lord, that's what I'm talking about, when you open
your mouth to the Lord and say, yes, Lord, I'm yours once, twice,
and forever, you can't go back. Oh, darling, listen, oh, sweetheart,
I love you so much, but I opened my mouth, I can't go back. You
can't go back. Oh, the Scriptures are plain about
professors and supposed believers who do not hold on to their way.
The Lord said he's like a man putting his hand to the plow
and looking back all the time. He's got his hand to the plow,
but he's looking back. The Scripture says that these all died in faith,
but that they didn't look back. They might have had an opportunity
to return, but they didn't look back. They didn't want to go
back. They didn't want an opportunity
to go back. And oh, beloved, that's why our Lord Jesus Christ
says, you're the salt of the earth, but the salt has lost
its saltiness. What do you do with it? You throw
it on the ground and you walk on it. And remember Lot's wife? God
said, well, you mean this grace don't even look back? Well, her
body left Sodom, but her heart was there. And when she turned
around and looked back, turned to a pillar of salt. Uh-huh.
And that's why the Scripture said, as the Proverbs says, the
dog returned to its vomit, and the sow to her waller in the
mire, in the mud. And, beloved, it's impossible.
Listen to me. That's what we're talking about,
the righteous old man on his way. Listen. It's impossible. If a man has
ever tasted, once been enlightened and tasted of the heavenly That
if he shall fall away, it's impossible to renew him to repentance again. It's impossible to renew him.
If a fellow walks away from the gospel, walks away from Christ,
walks away from a profession, he said, you know, it's impossible
to renew him to life again, because what they would have to do, Christ
would have to be crucified afresh to save him. And there ain't
no more sacrifice for sin. Lift my hand to God and I'll
vote my man. I can't go back. And you look at the seven churches
in Revelation 2 and 3. The promises were given to him
that overcoming, overcoming. It's not who begins the fight.
It's not the fellow that proclaims war. It's not the person who
makes the first step. But the Lord said to him that
overcoming, overcoming. And I'll tell you, we've all
known We've all known those who seem to be shining lights for
a while. I thought of that this morning of so many people I've
known, I mean preachers even, preachers that I've preached
with, traveled with, people I've been in their homes, have been
in mine. We've all known those who seem to be shining lights
for a while. And we had such hope for them. But they went out from us. For
if they had been of us, they no doubt would have continued
with us. But what a horrible thing to have professed, professed,
and then fall away." Fall away. You know, it says they made shipwreck
of the faith. You think of a shipwreck. All
the stuff that comes off of a ship when it wrecks. You know, if
it's one of these here Cruise ships, you know, got all
these people, all the food, and all the clothing, and all the
baggage, and all the people, and all the dishes, and all the
utensils. When a person makes shipwreck
of the faith, first thing you see is his faith laying up there. Empty. Empty faith. You look at his righteousness.
It wasn't real. It's an old, ragged, sorry garment
laying up there. His shoes that he said he had
on for preparation for the gospel of the peace, they're old ragged
tennis shoes laying up there, not fit to anybody to wear. Grace that he professed to believe,
just empty. No, no new creature in there.
Love that he professed to have, don't even exist. Just all out
there and all over the all over the seashore. Oh, my. The righteous, the righteous,
the righteous must hold on his way. Must. You know, if a fellow's
climbing a ladder, if he falls from the first run, that's bad.
But if he gets nearly to the top and falls, that's really
bad. God, keep us, keep us, keep us
from falling. The righteous shall hold on his
way. He must. He must, if you consider
the nature of the case and just suppose he didn't. And let me
tell you, the righteous must hold on his way, even though
it's difficult. It's extremely difficult. People keep talking about a seven-year
tribulation. People, there's going to be this
great seven-year tribulation. The Apostle Paul said it's through
much, Acts 14.22, it's through much tribulation that we enter
the kingdom of God. Much tribulation. Much tribulation. Paul, he says there once, he
said, I have the sentence of death in myself. This is it for
me. That's what Job said here. He
said, oh, what did he say there? I wait for the grave. I've made
my bed in darkness. God's brought darkness all around
me. Corruption. I said, you know what I said
about corruption? Corruption, you're my daddy. Word, you're
my sister. He had this sentence of death
in himself. He knew that his body was there.
He knew that God had turned out the light on him and put him
in this awful situation. But he said, he, the righteous,
for the holy's sake, he said, well, listen, I'm ready. The
grave's right here at me. But I'm still holding my way.
The righteous way needs my body, but I'm going to hold my way
until it gets it. That's what he says, the righteous will.
And now, Lord Jesus Christ said, in this world, in this world,
you shall have tribulation. But he says, just cheer up about
it. He said, I've already overcome
the world for you. That is the way of the righteous,
not the way of the world. And the way itself, the way that
God calls, says, the righteous shall hold on his way. You know,
the way itself makes it difficult. Sometimes the road's very, very
rough. Mary and I was on vacation a
couple of years ago, and we went over a hundred miles out of our
way just to keep from going over one road, because the road's
too scary. Oh, they told us this, now if
you're afraid of heights and you don't want to go over that
road, you know it sits thousands and thousands of feet down both
sides, no guardrail for miles and miles. I said, I'm just talking
about it, my head starts going. But this one thing, no matter
how rough the road is in this business of being the righteous,
You've got to travel it, and you will travel it. There ain't
no bypass on this. There ain't nowhere around it.
You can't go a hundred miles out of your way on this one.
You know, the road's sometimes very rough. I know that it's
this health and wealth gospel that men preach. You know, they
say, well, if you'll send me so much money, if you'll attend
our church, You have enough faith, you know, you'll never be sick.
You have enough faith, you know, and you put it, you know, you
want a new Cadillac, just put the picture up there and claim
it. Name it and claim it. Name it and claim it. But often
times it's uphill. It's uphill. Oh my, how many
times have we, it seems like our whole, how many days it seems
like our professions, our Christian life as us believers has been
uphill. Sometimes we have to cross the
rivers. Sometimes it's a desert place that's so dry, and so dusty,
and so lifeless, and you look around, and there ain't no life
nowhere. It's dry, it's hot, and you get
no water. It seems like you're never going
to get through this desert. And then all of a sudden it's
a howling wilderness. Wild, howling wilderness. But
God said, He says, when you go through the waters, I'll be with
you. When you pass through the rivers,
they'll not overthrow you. When you go through the fire,
it'll not burn you. Why? Because I redeemed you. You are mine. And you know how long the road
is? As long as you live. As long
as you live in this world. That's how long it is. No exits? Lord, we've got to find an exit.
There ain't no exits. There's no place to get off.
And I'll tell you, this road is contrary to fallen nature.
You know what? Fallen nature, it has to see.
It has to see. That's one of the things that
men, especially educated people, and they say all the time, they
say, how can you believe a God you cannot see? How can you not? But it's contrary
to fallen nature. We walk by faith. We don't walk
by sight. If we walk by sight, oh my goodness,
it scares to death. If we walk by sight and some
of the things that's going to happen, if we'd have saw beforehand
the things that was going to befall us, lives that was going
to be given, children that's going to break a heart, lives
that we'd be working up, the health issues that we would have,
the things that happened to our children and our grandchildren
and our husbands and our wives, if we would have foreseen it
ahead of time, you know what we'd have done? We would have
closed our eyes and said, oh Lord, I can't stand it. Oh no,
we walk by faith, we don't walk by sight. If we could see what
was happening, there wouldn't be no faith involved in it. What's
going to happen tomorrow? Faith away to see. And oh, that's why it says, we
are them who do not draw back unto perdition, but believe,
believe to the saving of the soul. And oh, God dwells in our
hearts, and that's why we're going to persevere and keep on
keeping on. And you know what it means to
hold on? It means this. To hold with strength. To hold on to trustfully. To hold on, even bite down with
your teeth. He said, I'm not going to let
go. I'm not going to let go. I'm not going to let go. I've
got to keep going on. Like Jacob said, I will not let
you go. I will not let you go. If you
can't run, walk. If you get to where you can't
walk, crawl. on your hands and knees. And
then if you get to where you can't even crawl, just be real
still. Just be real still. The salvation
of the Lord, it will come. It will come. It will come. Dear, dear brother
of mine, Just recently, his son had an overdose. Here. The fellow that was with him
called 911 and then left. They got there, no pulse, no
breath. But that shocked him with pattern,
got him back to life. Brought him back to life. And
at one time, you couldn't have convinced him. I thought, sure,
this boy knows the Lord. Him and his wife and his kids,
big nice house. I remember him building a fence
around his house to keep his dogs in. But his daddy and his mother,
the righteous, hold on their way. Just hold on their way. They just keep on keeping on.
And if God lets them live ten years, and I see them ten years
from now, they'll still be holding their way. They say, it's the
Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good. That's why it's called the righteous
holding on His way. He had to hold on His way. He
had to hold on His way. Went for years and never even
heard from his daughter. Looked for her everywhere. Couldn't
find her. You think this is what we're
talking about? It's not an easy way. It's not
an easy way. It's not an easy way to sin.
With folks sick, weak, tired, laying awake at night over your
children, your grandchildren. It's not easy. It's not easy
when you see brothers and sisters that you love dearly, and see
them go through things that you can't do nothing for them, but
just pray for them, and do like Job's comforter, just sit there
and keep your mouth shut. What else can you do? Oh, but I tell you what, just
be real still. Just be real still. Just the
other day, I told somebody I'd call. And I didn't call him that
day because I was too down myself. Do you ever get that way where
you just get so down you don't want to talk to nobody? Don't
want to be around anybody? You just want to be by yourself. Now, whether I had a reason to
be down or not, that's another story. But I was. And I tell you, when you get
like that, just be real still. God's salvation will come. Next
day, I was feeling good again. You know, the Lord came. The
Lord came. And the way is difficult. This
way is difficult. The righteous hold on his way
because of this flesh. We have this old fallen nature
to begin with. You know, our nature. And every
one of us have a different temperament. Everybody in this building has
a different temperament. Some are melancholy, some have a very
diffident nature, some have a despondent nature, some have a very upbeat
nature. But we all have different natures,
different temperaments, different constitutions. And then we have
sin within, all this sin that we have within us. And then the
sin that's without us, all around us. And we do like Paul did. We cry out, you know, he said,
O wretched man, who shall deliver me from this body of death? This
awful nature is like us carrying around a dead body on our back.
And sometimes it gets so heavy and so rotten and so stinking
and so corrupt that we feel like we just can't bear it another
minute. And we cry out, O God, O Lord, have mercy for me. Who shall deliver me? This old
wretched man. And I tell you, it's difficult,
not only because of the road, not only because of the flesh,
but because of the world. All this world has so much to
offer. And sometimes I, myself, I drink
too much of it. Spend too much time maybe in
it. But I know where everything is so commercial, just bombarded
with all this stuff. You need this, you need that,
and this is the best, or you got to have that. If you don't
see this, and bombarded with celebrity, and people as popular
and famous, and got to have this, got to have that. And then they're
so materialistic. If I could just get that one
new thing, you know, we just... If we all had a yard sale, that's
why you have them. Want to get rid of what? Stuff
that you bought, don't need any more. Thought you just couldn't
do without it, now you... Huh? But it's like old Vanity
Fair in Bunyan Field of Progress, old Vanity Fair. When here's
Christian and faithful and steadfast, Mr. Steadfast were going through
Vanity Fair on their way to that celestial city. Everywhere they
went, it was, buy, buy, buy this product, buy that product. Oh,
this is the prettiest thing. And they had them all bangled
up and bought it. This old festivicist, Billy Bob
Bangle and Billy Goat. I mean, they was really something. Boy, old Christian and faithful
and steadfast, they going through this place. And they was just
bombarded, bombarded. And, oh my, you have these jobs
in this world and you get bombarded, but when they went through Vanity
Fair, old Mr. Standfast, he come up on this
woman, her name was Madame Bubble. Madame Bubble. Oh, she was, she
was beautiful. But she's just a bubble. No substance. She said to Mr. Standfast, she
said, would you like to have this body? And if you hit my body, you can
hit my purse even. What's in it? So you say, you're
welcome to my bed. And he was as poor as an outlet
bunion said. He was weary and he was sleepy,
but he fell to his knees. And when he fell to his knees,
he got up and had a bubble of mustard. She's gone. She's gone. Gone. You know, Samson put his head
in Delilah's lap one time too many. And let me tell you this, the
most difficult of all is the devil. He's either a roaring
lion or an angel of light. He'll come and tell us, you know,
he said, there's really no heaven. There won't be no hell. God's
too loving to punish sin. No. God's too good to let you
go through this. How could this possibly be the
best thing for me? How could this pain, how could
this anguish, how could this worry, how could this suffering,
how could this possibly be the best thing, how could this be
working out for my good? That's why the apostle says,
put on the whole armor of God. Put on all that you may be able
to withstand. the fiery darts of the wicked.
And, oh, beloved, it's guaranteed, listen to me, and I'll be through,
it's guaranteed that the righteous shall hold on his way. And let
me give you why I know they will. It's guaranteed. This book says
it's guaranteed. The Scriptures promise, he which
hath begun a good work in you, what's going to happen? He shall
perform it. He started the work. He'll perform
the work until Jesus Christ, the day of the Christ appearing.
He says this, he said, All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and him that cometh to me I shall in no wise cast out.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
and I shall raise them up in the last day. I'm not losing
one of them. He says, the sheep. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. He said, they're my sheep, and
I know my sheep, and I'm known of mine, and I give unto them
eternal life. They shall never perish, and
no man, no man. He said, what about yourself?
No man. Are you a man? No man shall separate to pluck
them out of my hand. And I'm persuaded, Paul said.
I'm persuaded. Go through the things that Paul
said. Get your concordance. Go through the things Paul said
about being persuaded. He said, I'm persuaded that neither life nor death nor
principalities nor powers of things present, things to come,
angels, principalities, powers shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing will. Nothing will. And they all listened. If the righteous didn't hold
on his way, the eternal purpose of God would be defeated. Just
forget about from whom he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate. Then he did predestinate, he
also called. Then he called, he also justified. Then he justified, he also...
Then he called, he also justified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who in the world is going to be against
us? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God? And I'll read
it to you another night in Jeremiah, where it says there, it says,
God said, I will not depart from them to do them good. This is
a new covenant I'm going to make with you. I will not depart from
them to do them good. And then he said, I'll put my
fear in their hearts, and they shall never depart from me. Never do it. And oh, here's another
reason to guarantee why the righteous shall hold on His word. The work
of our Lord Jesus Christ guarantees that the righteous shall hold
on His way. We sung up to Jesus' precious blood that washed away
our sin. You know, if Christ's death would
be in vain if He died for us and we didn't hold on the way.
Huh? We're married to Him? We're bone
of His bone, flesh of His flesh, members of His body. And because
we're guaranteed we'll keep on keeping on and righteous and
hold on His way because of the Holy Spirit's work in us. Huh? The Holy Spirit regenerated us,
gave us new hearts, gave us new spirits, gave us new minds, made
us new creatures in Christ, and not only that, but the Spirit
just said He sealed us sealed us under the day of redemption.
And look in Revelations 22, and I'm done. And perseverance is not guaranteed
to everybody. Perseverance is not guaranteed
to everybody. And when we talk about perseverance,
that's what perseverance is. It doesn't mean once you've saved
all. It means perseverance. It means you keep on keeping
on. And look what he says. It's not guaranteed to everybody.
But look what he said here in verse 11, Matthew 22, 11. He
that's unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let
him be filthy still. Now watch this. And he that's
righteous, let him be righteous still. that's the way we'll be
throughout all eternity. There's no damn thing gonna change
us. And then look what he says, and
behold, I come quickly. I'm coming, I'm coming like that,
and my reward's with me. And oh, here's his reward, to
give every man according as his work shall be. Now listen to
me, what work are we trusting in? Whose work shall it be? It's the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, I'll tell you, beloved, in this righteous, holy
man's way, more is needed than just a profession. More is needed
than just a system of doctrine. More is needed than just affection
for the preacher. More is needed than just a religious
hat going to church. The righteous. The righteous. Where is that righteousness at?
How do you get that righteousness? That righteousness sits at the
right hand of God right now. Well, how do I get Him? Since
I don't have none, how do I get Him? You go to Him right where
He's at. Make it come to thee for dress. to the fountain fly. Save me, Jesus, else I die."
And, oh, beloved, there ain't but one righteousness. Go to
Christ and get it. It's His righteousness. And you'll
hold on your way. You'll hold on your way. Look
how many, some of you all have been holding on your way all
the time. Why have you done that in light
of all that's happened to you? How come you've done that? How
come you've done that? Because you're different from
somebody else? Stronger than somebody else? Wiser than somebody
else? Because of what Christ did. That's
why we're guaranteed. He did the work. Our Father,
oh, blessed, blessed Savior, How we bless you and praise you
and thank you for your goodness. Oh, how gracious, how kind. Lord,
you keep us when it's impossible for us to keep ourselves. You
keep us when we're lifeless. You keep us when we're worldly. You keep us when we give in to
the flesh. You keep us through our unbelief. Oh, Father. But Lord, there's
the righteous, and they'll hold on their way, because it's Your
way, and Your righteousness, and You'll keep us in the way.
And we bless You for that. In Christ's name, Amen. Turn
in your hymn book, 268. 268. Stand with me on this. This is
appropriate, I believe. And at the end of the hymn, you're
at liberty to go, unless you want to make that profession. Say, you know, I'm a righteous,
and I'm going to hold my way. I'm going to do like Jeff. I'm going to lift my hand to
God, and I ain't going to go back. Oh