Chapter 6, down in verse 9, where I'm going
to get my subject and deal with the whole chapter. Paul here is talking to these
dear saints, and he says this, But, beloved, we are persuaded
that the things of you, and things that accompany salvation, Though
everything we've said up to this point shows that some don't.
That's what he's saying. We want to talk about things
that accompany salvation. There's some things that when
a man is saved by the grace of God, chosen by God, sovereign
mercy done something for him, there's things that accompany
that salvation, fruits of that salvation, evidence of that salvation. And that's why the apostle says
we are persuaded better things of you. things that accompany
salvation. He has a strong confidence in
these people, and as he's writing to them, he calls them beloved.
You see, what he was persuaded was, what was it that he was
persuaded of? That these folks possess things
that accompany salvation. And in this place, he's describing
two classes of people, and he's making this distinction between
the true people of God and just those who have a profession.
Those who have a profession. And why does he make the difference?
Why does he make this distinction between those who just make a
profession and those who are true believers? Those who have
things that accompany salvation. Why does he do that? Because
he knows that salvation is of the Lord. And because it is God's
work, it's God's work, that there are certain things that accompany
this salvation. That's why he says, being confident
of this one thing. that he which hath begun a good
work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ."
So wherever God does a work, there's things that go along
with that salvation, that accompany that salvation. You know, calling
accompanies it. You know whether you've been
called of God or not. Sanctification accompanies it,
being set apart. Have you been set apart? Has
God called you out of the world? Have you been born again as God
gave you a new heart? Has He gave you a new nature?
Has He gave you a mind of Christ? Has He quickened you and brought
you from death to life? Has He brought you to repentance
where you mourn and grieve over sin? Not only the sins that you
did commit, but the sins that you are. These are the things
of faith. Did He give you faith? Yes, faith
that makes you look to Christ and Christ alone. And that's
why Paul says, beloved, we're persuaded by the things of you
and things that accompany salvation. Because, beloved, he was persuaded
because God does the work. God does the work. And because
it was God's work. Now, you keep Hebrews 6 and look
at Ephesians 2 with me just a moment. I'll show you what I'm talking
about. Ephesians chapter 2, in verse 8. We quote this all the
time, but let's just look at it today. Ephesians 2.8. You
see, it was God's work. And because it's God's work,
it has to last. It has to bring forth fruit.
There has to be a difference between just religion and, you
know, from just religion and a profession, what God does.
He says in Ephesians 2.8, For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that faith is not of yourself,
and the grace is not of yourselves. This is the gift of God. It's
not of works. A man did not earn his salvation. He didn't merit his salvation.
Because if he did, he would boast about it. Now watch this. For we are His workmanship. Whose
workmanship? God's workmanship. God done a
work. We are His workmanship created. Created. Only God can create. We can take things that's already
made and make something out of it. But we can't create nothing. We can make things, but we can't
create them. For we are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. Now watch this. Unto good works
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Now you reckon God made a mistake? That don't mean what it says. Look back over here with me in
Hebrews 6. Let's look at, first of all, Paul's talking about
two classes of people here. Two classes of people. God's
people and apostates, people that fall away. He says in verse
1, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, or
the doctrine of Christ, let's go on unto perfection. Let's
go on unto maturity. Let's grow up. You know, that's
the reason he says back in verse 13 and 14 of chapter 5, he says,
for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
and he's a vain. If you don't know the scriptures,
if you don't know the things of Christ, the strong meat belongs
to them that are of a full age. Those that are grown perfect,
that's what it says in the margin, even those who by reason of use,
have their senses exercised to discern between good and evil.
So Paul says, we'll leave the principles of the word of beginning
of Christ as going unto perfection. And then he goes down here in
verse 3 and says this, We'll do this if God permit. Now God's
people goes on unto perfection. Let us go on. He says us. He
identifies himself with them. This will we do if God permit. So that's the people. They're
people of God. They're going to grow. They're
going to come to maturity. They're going to come to a full
age. And they're going to go on unto this maturity, this growing. And then Paul identifies himself
with them and said, us and we. And then look at the apostates.
He said, it is impossible for those who were once enlightened.
There's lots of people that get enlightened. They sit and they
hear the same gospel and their minds get open and they see some
things and they understand some things. And then they tasted
of the heavenly gift. They heard about Christ. And
they says, boy, that sounds good. I like the taste of that. I think
that's wonderful. I think that's great. Then they're
made partakers of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost Himself comes
and starts teaching them some things and enlighten them some
things. And they learn some things. And they taste into the Word
of God. They look at the Word of God and say, yes, that's what
it says. And they have some influence about the powers of the world
to come. I want to go to heaven. I want to go to be with Christ.
That's what they say. But now watch what happens. If
they shall fall away, they turn around and go away. They leave
the Lord Jesus Christ. They leave the things that they
have been blessed to understand. It's impossible, impossible to
renew them again, to repent. It's impossible. If a man quits
Christ, Christ, that's what he says here, He says, For if they
have tasted, if they shall fall away, it is impossible to renew
them again to repentance, seeing they crucified to themselves
the Son of God afresh. Christ would have to be crucified
again, and that would put him to an open shame, because there
was only one sacrifice for sins, one person who put away sin once
in the end of the world by himself. And he hath perfected forever
them that is sanctified, and were complete in Christ. And
so people use this here to show that people backslide. And, beloved,
there's no such thing as backsliding. If anybody's backslidden, it's
us. Everybody else is lost. You know, that revivals again. You see, so he's talking here
about two classes of people. There are people. who comes so
close. Our Lord Jesus told that lawyer,
he says, you're not far from the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
came by night. The rich young ruler said, good
master, what must I do? And the Lord Jesus told him,
he said, all these things I've kept from my youth up. So there's
people, beloved, that get right to the edge, get right up to
the door, get right up to the place where they're about ready
to embrace Christ, and then they turn around and walk away and
leave. And if they do that, they turn
away from the only hope there is, the only salvation there
is, the only sacrifice there is. There ain't nothing you can
do for them. That's what Paul means. John
says, you know, there is a sin that's unto death. This is the
sin that you seal your fates, you walk away from Christ. And
then he says, and he shows us here, not only to show you what
I'm talking about, that he's showing two different classes
of people. He illustrates it by using two different pieces
of ground, of earth. He says, look here in verse 7.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that come oft upon
it, and bringeth forth herbs, bringeth forth food, meet for
them by whom it is dressed, every sees blessing from God. But what's
this? But that which bareth thorns
and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end
is to be burned." Now what is he talking about here? One of
these pieces of ground is a fruitful ground. Verse 7 is fruitful ground. It brings forth herbs. It brings
forth food. It brings forth, it receives
the blessing from God. And then there's the unfruitful
ground. That which bear thorns and briars, that's rejected.
And it says, whose end is to be burned. That means it's devoted
to destruction. Now here we go. We've got these
two different pieces of ground. One of them is real, real fruitful. Men get something good out of
it. Over here is another piece of ground. It ain't fit for nothing
but to be destroyed and to be burned. It ain't fit for nothing.
You can't get nothing out of it. And that's what our Lord
Jesus is talking about. See, these people and ground
have the same privileges. They have the same message. They
have the same message. Paul said, but they're unskillful
in the work. And he says, and they have the
same message. And this ground received the
same rain, because it says, for the earth was drank in the rain
that come loft upon it. That ground that had the briars
and thorns, it got the same rain that the good ground got. One clasp fell away, one piece
of ground is cursed. Why didn't these go on unto perfection? Why didn't the ground bring forth
fruit by whom it was dressed? Why did it bring forth thorns
and briars? Now listen to me. I want you
to listen to me. This is serious business. This
is serious business. This is serious business. That's
why, you know, we get the gospel and we know the gospel. And I
care for men's souls. I care for every single soul
that comes in this building. If they come one time, if they
come one time, when Henry Mahan lost his son in Vietnam back
in 1969, He says that he looked back and he said, what was the
last message I preached to my son before he left? What was the last message my
son heard? Did I preach the gospel to him? Did I preach the truth to him?
And so you see, beloved, I'm interested in your soul. I'm interested in your relationship
with God. Every single one of them, I'm
interested in mine. And you see what I'm saying is the gospel,
the gospel when it comes, the word, the gospel puts us on trial. It puts every one of us on trial.
Every time the gospel is preached, life and death. You know, Christ,
when Christ is preached, He's a saver of life unto life to
them that believe. He's a saver of death unto death
to them who do not believe. When I hear Christ preached,
when Paul preached last Sunday morning, the meaning of life,
and when he preached last Saturday night on the Great Supper, and
when he preached on the blessing last Friday night, I mean, beloved,
I was, I was scared, I was blessed. I rejoice. That was life to me.
That was a sweet savor to me. Is Christ a sweet savor to you?
Does He bring life to you when it's preached to you, when it
comes to you? Does it quicken your mind, quicken
your thoughts, quicken your soul, feed you, water you? Or does it mean nothing? Does it have no fragrance to
it? And I tell you, every time the Gospels preach there's salvation
being wrought, and judgment being pronounced every single time.
That's why Paul says, you know, even now the Antichrist is coming.
And they went out with us, but they were not of us. For no doubt,
if they were of us, they would have continued with us, but they
went out from us to make manifest they were not of us. So those
are people. And it's like the sword. When
the Scriptures tell that, you know, a sower went out to sow
seed. He said, when he sowed the good seed, and he said, the
good seed is the word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ said, the
good seed is the word of God. He said, some fell by the wayside,
some fell among thorns, some fell among stony ground, and
some fell on good ground. And the good ground brought forth
fruit. The rest of them were cursed.
Is that not right? And so then, that's why Paul
says there in verse 9 here, But Beloved, Beloved, he loved these
people. But Beloved, we're persuaded
better things of you. You're not curse ground. You're not going to fall away.
We're not, you're not going to walk away from Christ. We're
persuading better things of you and things that accompany salvation,
though we're telling you and speaking about good ground, bad
ground, saved people and lost people, those who just have a
profession and those who really know Christ. He said that's what
he's talking about. Well, let's talk about some things.
And I'll tell you, I believe we can see them right here and
where we're looking. Some things that accompany salvation. things
that accompany salvation. In verse 10, look what he says.
And that accompany means joined to, inseparable from. And he
says, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor
of love. Now watch this, which you show
toward his name, in that you've ministered to
the saints. Remember when our Lord Jesus Christ said, if you
give a cup of cold water to a disciple in my name, you'll receive a
reward. Just a cup of cold water in his
name. And that's what he's saying here. What you did, you did in
my name, and for my name's sake. And so he says it's a work and
labor of love. What is this work he's talking
about? I believe it's a work of faith, because look what he
says down here in verse 12. that you be not slothful, but
followers of them through faith." Faith. I believe it's the work
of faith. And he knew these folks had faith.
Romans 14.23 says this, Anything that's not of faith is of sin. Anything that's not of faith
is of sin. And so it's a work of faith. Without faith, it's
impossible to please Him. He knew these folks out there.
He knew that God gave it to him. He's their followers of those
who threw faith. And how do you know, let me ask
you this, how do we know we have faith? The first thing about
faith is this. Faith, the first thing it does is it denies itself.
It comes to Christ empty-handed. It comes to Christ with nothing.
It comes faith, true faith, where it's brought in the heart by
God's blessed grace. It comes to Christ, it comes
to God without nothing to commend itself to God. If you have real
faith, and the first moment that faith is born in your heart,
you understand right then and there, if I come to God, I've
got to come into heaven. I ain't got nothing. I'm nothing
but a sinner from the top of my head to the sole of my feet.
I'm nothing but a sinner inside my soul to the outside of my
skin. My head, my thoughts, everything
about me is sin. And if I come to God, He'll have
to accept me for somebody besides me. And that's what faith does.
It denies itself. And there's some, you look through
the scriptures, there's some who didn't. Judas worked with
the Lord Jesus Christ for three years and preached and worked
miracles and sold him for 30 pieces of silver. Simon Magus. Oh, he was a great man. He heard
Peter preach. He said, Oh, I believe that.
I believe that. Went down and read all his books.
Then he saw Peter start laying his hands on people, and people
receiving the Holy Ghost, and that's what Paul's talking about,
the laying on of hands. He says, you know, and they received
the Holy Ghost, and he says, put it in his pocket and got
some money. He said, here, here, how much
did it cost me to get that? Peter said, your money's going
to perish with you. You thought the gift of God could
be bought and paid for? Huh? And oh, beloved, what about Demas? Paul said he had forsaken us.
Why did he do that? He loved this present evil world. He loved to write what's going
on in this world right now. And I'll tell you another thing
about faith. Faith looks to Christ alone for its righteousness and
of acceptance. Never does look anyplace else.
Never does. And then there's called a labor
of love. There's called a labor of love. Oh, let me ask you something
this morning. What's your motive for being
here this morning? Are you here because you're afraid
God would punish you if you didn't come? Did you come because you
said God's going to reward you abundantly for being here? Are you here because you love
Christ, you love the gospel, and you love the Lord's people?
You're here because, yes, I want to be here. Nobody, oh, oh, God,
I've got to go to church today. Good grief, I don't know. Boy,
I don't much... No, no, no, no. Everybody that's
here that knows Christ is here because they want to be here.
That's what he said. It's a labor of love. Faith working
by love. Look, now, you keep this and
look with me over in 1 Thessalonians for just a moment. Back over
just a couple of books till you're right. You know, it's a... And why do you rejoice in the
gospel? Why do you enjoy the Lord's people? And you know why
you have any love at all? It's because we love Him because
He first loved us. Paul says, you know, we can speak
with the voice and tongues of men and angels and have not love.
We're just a tinkling cymbal in the sound of grass. And look
what he said here in 1 Thessalonians 1.3. Remembering that we pray for
you and give thanks to God, remembering without ceasing your work of
faith, and your labor of love, and your patience of hope in
our Lord Jesus Christ. And look what it says, in the
sight of God our Father. And ain't that what he said over
here, God is not unrighteous to forget? God sees everything
we do. ever motive everything about
us. And so it's a labor of love. And then look back over here
again. That work and labor of love, that faith and love, that
accompanies salvation. And then the promise of God.
Look what he says down here in verse 13. When God made promise
to Abraham, because he could swear him no greater, he swore
by himself. saying, Surely blessing I will
bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. Now here is talking
about God made a promise to Abraham, and they promised Abraham a seed,
and that seed is the Lord Jesus Christ, and that Abraham would
be the father of the faithful, of those who believe. The scriptures
tells us that we walk in the footsteps of that faith of our
father Abraham. and that he was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, did not stagger through unbelief, but
he believed the promise. Do you believe the promise of
God? Do you believe the promise of God, of Jesus Christ coming
into this world? That promise that God made to
Abraham is the same promise He made to us. Because, and I'll
show you that, for He says down here in verse 17, look what He
says, Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of the promise, we inherited this promise. Where'd we get it from? Got it
from God. Promise of what? Of the Savior,
that we'd be the children of God, that we'd be the sons of
Abraham. Oh, beloved, listen. I wish I could go over to Israel. And if I did not meet a Christian,
if I did not meet a believer, I would not never meet a son
of Abraham until he becomes a believer. Now, ain't that right? That's what our Lord, you know,
He said, they said, we'd be the sons, we'd be the children of
Abraham. He said, if you were the children of Abraham, and
every one of them was firstly descendants of Abraham, Abraham's
our father. He said, if you were the children
of Abraham, you know what you'd do? You'd do what Abraham did.
You'd believe me. He said, Abraham, believe me,
look to my day, saw and rejoiced in it. What do you mean? You're
not even 50 years old yet. And you say, Abraham saw your
day? Yeah, Abraham saw me. And now
we see the same one that Abraham saw. How do we see the same way
Abraham did by promise? By faith. God made a promise
to Abraham, and God gave us that same promise through Abraham,
through Christ, and now we love and we believe that promise.
And guess what God says? In verse 18, that by two immutable
things it's impossible for God to lie. Did God throw us a curveball? No! God cannot lie. It's impossible for Him to lie.
And He made a promise to us with what it says, willing more abundantly
to show to the heirs of promise. What's this? The immutable counsel,
the immutable purpose of His will. Now, He wants us heirs,
us heirs, to see. that his will, that his counsel
can never be changed, will never change. His promise will never
be taken away. The salvation will never be lost
because he swore by himself. And when somebody makes an oath,
look what it says there in verse 16, Men severely swear by the greater.
You say, I'll swear on my mama's grave. I'll swear on the Bible.
I'll swear on my child's life. And they say, boy, let me go
swear like that by something greater than themselves. When
you hear that oath, that's a confirmation, and it is all construct. And
when God made a promise, and he swore by himself, subject
closed. Subject closed. Over and done
with. Don't ever have to bring up subject
again. God didn't have to swear by Himself, but He wanted us
to know that there's no way in this world that His will, His
purpose, His promise, His salvation that He gives His people, works
in His people, will never, never fail. That's what he said. I promise
you, and I'll swear to it, Abraham, you're going to be a father of
many nations. You have more seed than can be counted. And he says,
when he saw them in glory, there was a number that no man could
number, 10,000 times 10,000. And that's the promise. And guess what? Everybody that's
got that promise, they'll go right there and sit down beside
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's right. Oh my, that's the
end of the subject. And all this oath that he made,
he made that he would give us Christ. That Christ would be
our refuge. Christ would be our forerunner.
That Christ would be our salvation. That Christ would be our prophet.
Christ would be our king. Christ would be our priest. Christ
would be everything to us. And oh, beloved, he's kept his
promise, ain't he? Kept his promise. And then, beloved,
look what he says, and because of God's work, and because of
these things that accompany salvation, this promise accompanies it.
And oh, beloved, the promises of God are without repentance.
Oh, listen, God's not an Indian giver, as we used to say. And
because of God's work, we'll be diligent. Look what he says
here in verse 11 with me. And, oh beloved, we desire, we
desire that every one of you do show the same diligence. What
diligence? Keep on laboring, keep on believing,
keep on living for God's name and showing faith in God's name,
loving the saints of God and ministering to God's people.
And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope unto the end. Oh my, full assurance? Full assurance? Why, God can't
lie. And we have these promises in
Christ, and God's done this work in us. Why, when do we have a
full assurance of hope unto the end? And that's why He says,
you know, but He says that you be not slothful. Don't be slothful. Don't be slothful. I'm slothful
about a lot of things. I tell you, I've got witnesses
to tell you how slothful I am about things. I ain't gonna lie about it. If it won't keep till tomorrow,
ain't no sense worrying about it. What's gonna be put on my
tombstone, I've heard it. It'll keep till tomorrow. I am
very slothful about some things. And it runs in the family. It
runs in the family. Be not slothful. Some things
we can be slothful about. Some things you can be slothful
about. But, boy, just don't be slothful here. Don't you be slothful. But be followers of them through
faith. Who, through faith and patience,
inherit the promises? Who was those? Abel did. Anything worse than Hebrews? Enoch did. Abraham did. Jacob did. Isaac did. Noah did. Isaiah did. You go on and on
and on. Go down through the...Jephthah
did. David did. Moses did. And go on, they said,
these people, through faith and impatience, just kept on keeping
on. Abraham went out not knowing
where he was going. But oh, listen to what he says,
what happened to him there. In verse 15, after God sent out
a short blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
bless thee. And so after he had patiently endured, what happened? You receive the promise. Just wait. It's coming. Just wait. It's coming. Just
wait. It's coming. I was listening
to a message yesterday afternoon. Brother Henry was preaching Ralph
Barnard's funeral, and he had some things that had Barnard
speaking through a tape. before he started his funeral,
and the last thing Brother Barnard said, and he was praying, he
says, Lord, that I'll enter into glory and I'll see you face to
face, that I'll be able to have the union and communion and fellowship
with you that I've longed for all these years. And then Henry
picked it up from right there. picked up and started preaching.
And that's what, see, he patiently, faithfully endured, and he received
the promise. Huh? Oh. Just, we're just going, you know
what? You know how you get someplace? One foot down, front down. And
when you can't walk, stand. And when you can't stand, sit
down. And when you can't sit down,
repose your soul in Christ and just wait. God will get you back
up and get you started again. You just wait. He'll do it. He
cannot lie. He cannot lie. And he said, I'll
swear to that. And then I'll make you this promise. And then I'll make you the promise
I swore. That's the two immutable things that he done. And then
look what happened. And hope. Hope. He said, the
hope is set before you. Go back over here in verse 18,
that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for
God to lie, that we might have a strong consolation. Oh, ain't
it consoling to you? Don't you have a consolation
when you hear what you have in Christ, and the future that you
have, and the hope that you have, and what we're going to inherit
someday, where we're going to be someday. Ain't that great,
great consolation to you, especially for those that went on before
you, and how you long to be with them and see them and be, oh
my. And that's what he said here. Oh my. And then, who has fled
for refuge to lay hold, watch this, upon the hope set before
us. The hope set before us. The hope. God made, gave us this hope.
And He says in the hope here set before us, this means a firm
conviction, a wonderful expectation that we'll receive it. And look
what this hope is. This hope, He says in verse 19,
is the anchor of our soul. That's the anchor of our soul.
That's the anchor of our soul. And I mean, you know what? It
anchors for us to hold something down. Anchor that thing. Anchor it. And God says that
Christ, this promise that we have in Christ, this salvation
that we have in Christ, this hope that we have, that anchors
our souls. It sets us down. David said like
this, he had to pick my feet up out of my reclaim. Set up
on a rock. Set my feet on a rock. And what
else did he say? He established my going. I mean, the anchor of your soul. And oh, not only that, but he
says this. It's the anchor of the soul and
it's sure. It's sure. I mean, it's sure. I mean, it's sure. There ain't many things that
are sure in this world. Death and taxes, that's for sure.
But I tell you, this is sure. This anchor, this salvation is
sure. What makes it sure? The foundation
of God's stand is sure. The Lord knows them that are
His. And then it says it's steadfast. You know what that means? You
ain't going to get tossed here. You ain't going to get tossed
there. You ain't going to go this way. We're not going to
get tossed around with every wind and doctor. Ever wind that
comes along gonna tow us way over here, and then bring us
way over here, and take us way back yon way and this way? No,
no! Christ's gonna hold us. The shepherd's responsible for
the sheep. Oh my. And the reason it's sure
and it's steadfast, look why. In verse 20, where the forerunner,
you know what a forerunner is? It's for us entered. Even Jesus
made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. John
the Baptist was the forerunner. And he says, there's one coming
after me. Are you the Christ? No. Are you that prophet? No. I'm just a voice crying in
the wilderness, but there's one coming after me. Who's shoot
at you? I'm not worthy of that mercy.
He said, when he comes, when he comes, he's before me and
he's preferred before me. He'll tell you all things. And
so you see, beloved, this anchor is not on this earth. It's in
Christ, and Christ is behind the veil. Can't move it. We can't get to
it to even do anything about it. The devil can't get to it. He can't do anything about it.
Say, well, my flesh can't move it. No, your flesh can't do it
either. If it could, it would have done it a long time ago.
Ain't that right? And then let me close with this
right here. It says there in verse 18, who
hath fled, who hath fled for refuge to lay hold upon the serpent. Now here's another thing that
accompanies salvation. We fled to this refuge. We fled
to it. Why did we flee to this? Because
we had a need. We were helpless. That accompanies
salvation. You never get any better. You
always have this need. You always know you're helpless
without Christ. And this need, this helplessness,
lead to this refuge, hiding in this refuge. You see, a refuge
is a hiding place. Look with me in Isaiah 32. Let
me show you that. Isaiah 32. Just look at this
together. Isaiah 32. A refuge is a hiding
place. It's a place to get in. It's
a place to get in when things are tough, when things are after
you. with storms are coming, when the sun's beating down.
Let's go sit under that shade tree. Let's get in out of this
sun. There's a great storm coming. Let's get down in the cellar.
Let's get in this refuge." And, oh, beloved, the avenger of blood
was on our trail. And he says, I'm going to kill you. I'm going
to destroy you. I'm going to get you for what
you've done." And God gave the children of Israel six cities
of refuge. He said, you get in that refuge
and the vengeance of blood can't get you. Well, beloved, God's
justice was hot on our trail. Sin was hot on our trail. Law
was against us. Flesh was against us. The devil
was against us. And God, when He brought us to
the place where we had nothing else to do, we fled. Fled. Went just as hard as we
could go to get in this refuge. And, beloved, I tell you what,
once you get in there, you say, I ain't coming out. Come on out
of there. I ain't coming out. I ain't never going to get you. Nope. I ain't coming out. I ain't
coming out of this refuge. I ain't going to do it. Well,
you know you're strong now. I ain't going to do it. You're
wise now. I ain't going to do it. You've been a believer for
a long time. You've come out of there now
for just a little while. I ain't coming out. I'll tell
you, I ain't coming out. The door's shut. I'm in the ark. And I ain't coming out. I'm in
one window. I'm looking at Him, Jesus Christ.
And I ain't coming out. Well, just peek out. I ain't
even peeking out. I'm going to walk out there.
I didn't even go peek out. But look what he said here in
Isaiah 32. In verse 1. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And watch this. And a man shall be as a hiding
place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, and as rivers
of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land. Oh, beloved, Paul was persuaded
of these people. Why was he persuaded that they
was God's people? Because salvation is the work
of God from start to finish, from Alpha to Omega, from this
earth all the way to glory. It's God that has saved us. And
he says, there may be people that will fall away, put to Christ
through an open chain. There may be a piece of ground
over here that's fit for cursing, but you're not that way. We're
going to run to perfection. God's blessing this ground, bringing
forth fruit. And you've got the things that
are coming. You've got faith. You've got love. You've got the
promise, and you've embraced the promise. And you've got a
refuge. You've got a God that cannot
lie. You've got a refuge. You've got an anchor of the soul,
sure and steadfast. So, I know, I know you're God's
people. That's what Paul's saying. We're
persuaded of it. Convinced of it. And you're beloved. Our Father, in the gracious holy
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us to
meet you this morning. Thank you for the truth as it
is in our Lord Jesus. Oh Lord, this salvation, this
great, glorious salvation, and the things that accompany it,
the things that accompany it, we bless you and pray that you
would open hearts, open understandings, and let no one, let no one ever
turn from Christ in this place. Oh God in grace, let no one ever
forsake the Lord Jesus, never put Him to an open shame. Never
go out and say, I once was a believer. I once went to church. I once
confessed faith. May someone in this building
never ever be brought to that place. We ask this in Christ's
holy name. Amen. Amen.