speaking to you this morning
with some some fear and trepidation because uh... even after all
these years we come upon some things that are difficult i want to read to you the first
eight verses of chapter six of hebrews therefore leaving the
principles of the doctrines of christ let us go on unto perfection,
or maturity, grown-upness, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine
of baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection
of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, God permit. You see, but I said the first
eight verses, didn't I? For it is impossible. Now, mark
this. It doesn't say it's unlikely. He said, It is impossible for
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly
gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted
the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance. Impossible
to be restored. That's not backsliding. Well,
I won't start now. Seeing they crucify unto themselves
the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs
meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is
nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." Just like those
branches. By the way, for those of you
who aren't farmers, Joe, I'm not criticizing. When you purge a vine, you cut
all of the vines off except the two buds that join with the main
stalk. And then you're liable, depending
on the vigor of the vine, you might even take some of them.
But you can't carry any illustration, even the parables of the Bible,
on to the last degree. But that's what purging the vine
is, is to take out the extra wood. If you leave it on, will
it bear? Yeah, but they'll be little bitty
things. They won't be big fat ones. The early church was a mixed
multitude. I'm saying the church of the
apostles' day, of the day in which they lived, was a mixture.
With the conversion, with the regeneration and the conversion
of Cornelius, it became a mixed multitude. Part of the Jews were in that
multitude for one reason. And that was to bring believers
back under the bondage of the law. Now we talk about the law
of circumcision, certainly. But I'm also talking about the
ceremonial laws that Moses gave to the people, the law of sacrifice,
the laws concerning criminals, the laws concerning, well, an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, for instance. And Jesus
said, but I say unto you, if a man smite thee upon the right
cheek, turn to him the left. And we've made a joke out of
that. So it was the ceremonial laws
of Moses. And that time came to an end.
When our Lord arose, somebody said, when he was crucified?
No. When he arose, that was the approval of God upon the work
that he had done. and ascended unto the Father,
and was received by Him." This chapter is a parenthetical. It's
inserted into what was before it and what was after it. It
is not connected with this. That is, chapter 7 and chapter
8 and chapter 9 are not connected with this at all. The great controversy in that
early church, and I don't want to bore you with details, was
just this. It was necessary, or was it necessary? They preached that it was, but
the question was just this. Was it necessary for the believer
to follow the law? Any law. They picked circumcision
as the one that they would emphasize. Was it necessary for them to
follow any law for acceptance with God or for a walk in this
life that has the approval of God? You have to try to keep
the law even though you can't. They wanted to bring them back
under the bondage of the law and the answer was a resounding
no. No. And I tell you, I have mixed
feelings sometimes. You know this old judge that
tacked up the Ten Commandments in his, what, in the hall of
his court or in the courtroom? I don't have much sympathy for
him. Not really. Because the Ten Commandments,
though the basis for civil law in our country today, is not
the basis for civil law everywhere. Besides that, the Ten Commandments
have nothing at all to do with regeneration except as a schoolmaster. When you realize you can't do
it, and you're serious, you go somewhere else where you can,
and that's Christ. So, there are not many people
today that will accept just what I said just now. That ye are
not under any law. None. Oh, yeah, you better not
drive 80 miles an hour on the turnpike. That's civil law. I'm talking about God's law. And people say right now, well,
that's man's law, not God's. Well, I say you can't keep God's
law. You can keep man's law most of the time, but you can't keep
God's law at all. I hear that hunting season quite
a lot on the porch out there. They talk to me about being God's
law and man's law. There are not many people that
will accept the fact that the Ten Commandments have no basis
in receiving life or in living that life. They'll not accept
it. The law, insofar as the... What do you mean, Earl, the law?
I defined it before. I mean the Ten Commandments and
all of the ceremonial law. All of it. They were but shadows. That's right. Just shadows. The law, insofar as the believer
is concerned, remember that, insofar as the believer is concerned,
is dead. it was and it is now paul's telling
these jews in the epistle to the hebrews it's time that you
grew up well he tells them if i can see
it quickly uh... he tells them very clearly that
they uh... they are they they are uh...
just babes in christ that he's got to feed them with milk and
not with meat because they're unable to bear it. That's right. But he preaches to people the
truth of God. He feeds them the meat of the
word because they have their senses exercised that they are
able to distinguish between good and evil. Amen. Listen to what Paul says. You
know, I have to cite these scriptures here's the apostles position
Galatians 3.11 let's do Galatians 3.9 first Christ is become the
end or I got that wrong Christ is become of no effect unto you
Whosoever are justified by the law, ye are what? Fallen from grace. That's the
only way I know for you to fall from grace. Preachers get up
and preach about falling from grace. The only way I can know,
the scriptural way, is to try or to profess to be justified
by the law. Look what he said in chapter
3 and verse 11. chapter 5 and verse 4. He said, But no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God. It is evident,
for the just shall live how? By faith. Well, what was the
law for? The scripture answers that question
also. In 1 Timothy, the first chapter
and verses 9 through 13, Paul writes this, knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man. Well, I'm not righteous. If you're
in Christ, you're righteous. For He has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness. Everything that we need is in
Him. The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient. Now go ahead and take your plates.
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be anything else
that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God which he has committed unto my trust. That's
who the law is for. Now, if you're going to be justified
by the law, you're going to have to put yourself in that category.
Exactly. And it still won't work. That's
right. Now, you go around, and I may
repeat myself here this morning. You get acquainted with a lot
of people, and you have a lot of casual acquaintances. And all
of them have their own ideas about, quote, religion, unquote. And they're just quick to say,
here's what I believe. Here's the way I look at that.
Well, you look at that, John, differently than I do. You don't
see that like I do. Well, I read the words. And I'm going to tell you this.
If you give anybody these passages, or one of these passages, and
they disbelieve it, it doesn't matter if you give them fifty,
they're still going to disbelieve it. They're going to reject it. And that's the truth. Just as
short as I'm a foot tall. There is no saving power except
Jesus Christ. He is God manifest in the flesh. He's in the flesh now. And He was made to be sin for
us that we might be made what? The righteousness of God in Him. I'm a righteous man because of
Christ. and because of his death. If you're in Christ, if you've
laid hold of him by faith, you're a righteous man or a righteous
woman. And sin shall not have dominion over you, because you're
not under law, but under grace. Well, what does that mean, Earl?
That means the law can't condemn you. You can't be condemned by
something that you aren't under. I'm not under the law of Venezuela. They can't come over here and
condemn me because I'm not under their law. That's right. Or anywhere
for that matter. They can't do it. This is the
only way. This is the only way. And this
way cannot be changed. I said last week, or the week
before, I'm not sure, I was reminded, and I was reminded of it again
today. Old gospel song that says, when
I reached up and he reached down. That's not right. That's not
right. He reached down. He reached down. It is right. Did I quote you
this? I don't remember. The fact is
that He took us out of the miry clay. He took us out. He set our feet on the rock to
stay. He put a song in our hearts today. A song of praise. Hallelujah. That's the gospel. He did it. Now, Walton or I, either one, and
I'm speaking for Walton, you can tell him I did. If you don't
like it, you can tell me. We don't see it all, either one
of us. We don't see it all. First Corinthians 13.12. says,
for now we, all of us, Paul includes himself, see through a glass
darkly. It's like trying to look in the
back of my van through the rear windows. It's really seeing through the
glass darkly. But then face to face. When? When I see him. And I'm going
to see him face to face. Face to face shall I behold him,
far beyond the starry sky. That's going to be a reality.
He is coming again. Yes, sir. And I'm going to say
it. I've got to. It doesn't matter
how many people tell me that we're living in the kingdom of
God now. I have to reject it according
to the word of God. If Walter and I cannot base what
we preach on this word, it's a lie. It's a lie. And you can challenge anything
either one of us preach at any time with impunity, without fear
of anything, if it's not in the book. If it's not in the book. In fact, it's your obligation
to do that if it's not right. And you will not hear that anywhere
else, I don't think. We see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as
I am known. I'm going to know you like God
does. And you're going to know me the same way. And how is that,
Earl? It's in Christ. Amen. You know
what makes up the difference? Faith. The gift of faith makes
up the difference. You say, well, you're not where
you were going yet. Not yet. No, I'll get there maybe. And Paul repeats himself in 13.9 when he says, For we know in
part, and we preach in part, but when that which is perfect
is come, that which is in part shall be done away. Now I'm looking
forward to the coming of Christ. I'm looking forward to the rapture
of the church as the blessed hope of the church. Let others
preach what they will. We'll take it from what Paul
said, won't we? Yes, sir. We shall not all sleep. We'll
not all die. But we shall all be changed in
a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. The
dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up to meet him, the Lord, in the air. And so
shall we ever be with the Lord. Amen. Amen. Now, I'm going to
return with him. So are you. Yeah. If you're in
Christ. And don't let your mental glasses
become fogged when these fellas tell you that there is no kingdom
on this earth except the one we're in now. Will God help us? I agree, and Walter and I agree
on this, that there is a kingdom now, but it is a spiritual kingdom. Anybody with eyes can see that.
We know that Satan is not bound today. We know that. And Christ said, I will come
again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may
be also. Now to preach anything else is
to deny what the book says. Now that's just all there is
to it. I can't help it. And he won't
do it. He won't do it. But if Lord should
do it, I'd have to say so. I'd have to. If I would do it,
Walter is under obligation, or you are. Now, we know in part because
we're still sinners, and our minds are clouded. You remember the old song, suffer
a sinner whose heart overflows to tell of the Savior that which
he knows, Once more to tell it would I embrace I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. We used to sing this. Only a
sinner saved by grace. I don't know how many of the
people that sang that line believed it. I'm convinced that you do. This is the story To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. That's all. That's all. Anything other is adding to. We don't get anything right when
we begin to insert our own thoughts. We have to follow the book, nor
can we build a doctrine on one or two isolated passages of scripture,
which some people do. I believe this is correct now.
He'll correct me if it isn't. Mack, you were told that these
people in Romans 6 were backslidden believers, weren't you? And the same way with Hebrews
10. All right, let's look at... So we don't get anything right
when we begin to look through the eyes of men. We must have
a thus saith the Lord. And our Lord said, I give unto
them, who? Believers, eternal life and they
shall never perish. John 10, 28, it's right there.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, for my Father
that giveth them me is greater than all. And no man shall pluck
them out of my Father's hand. Let the JWs come in swarms, or
the Muslims come, or whatever. It can't happen. Eternal life belongs to the believer. and God gave it to him by the
Spirit of God and through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He
has life. Now, anything to the contrary,
notwithstanding, is not true. They come along here and tell
me that this is backslidden believers. Like one preacher said, I believe
the blessed doctrine of backsliding and practice it. I'm sure he
did. Everything else is the wisdom
of this world, and it's in vain. You don't like, or some don't
like, not you, some don't like the doctrine of total depravity.
They don't like that at all. They would rather hear something
else than the base degeneration of mankind. and the fact that
there is none good, that includes me and you. No, not one. We have each and every one of
us gone out of the way, we have turned everyone into his own
way, and the Lord hath laid upon him, Christ, the iniquity of
us all. He did it. So if you don't like the doctrine
of total depravity, you ought to read John, I'm sorry, Romans,
the third chapter. That'll give you the scene. If
you've got a little time, you can read 1, 2, and 3, because
1, 2 are important also. But that'll give you the picture
of what man is. Some don't like unconditional
election. Or they don't like that at all.
You mean to tell me that if I don't even try, I can be saved? I'm telling you, you better not
try if you want to be. That's what I'm telling you.
The election of God is unconditional. It depends on nothing that the
sinner is, was, or ever shall be. It's saved by grace. Sola gratia. Grace only. Solely grace. You can read Romans 9, and I'll
let it go with that. If you can read Romans 9, you'll
see it there. Unconditional election. Now, here's one that's that tough.
There are hundreds and thousands upon thousands of people that
will not see the doctrine of a limited atonement. They say,
well, Earl, I can agree with you until you come down to that
place where you say that the atonement of Christ is limited
just to the elect. Well, of course it is. Of course
it is. That the father giveth me shall
come unto me and I can add this no one else No one else Now Christ
said that Now in order to deny that I have to call him a liar
or somebody puffs up and says well You don't see it like I
do What? Can you read? Of course you can. I don't mean
you folks here. They just won't hear of it. You should
read Ephesians 1 along with Romans 9 again and read John 6 and John
10. That'll tell you. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them. It doesn't say anything about
them knowing him. I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand." Now that's what it says. You can see it, and
you can read it. Okay, they say, well, they're
going to object. If they object to that, they're
going to object to irresistible grace too. When God determines
to save a man, I agree with Scott Richardson, when God determines
and elects to save a man or a woman, he'll do it if he has to kill
you. Now he's done it, and I can show
you that in the scripture of the Corinthian church. They were a bunch of really outrageous
people. And Paul said, because you're
like this, many are sick among you. He was talking to believers.
Many are sick among you, and many are dead because of this. God just whipped him out of there. Irresistible grace ought to be
dropped out of your preaching earl. Don't preach that. Well, then there are those who
still believe that you can lose your salvation. You can be a child of God at
breakfast, and you can be lost by suppertime. Is that it? Let me tell you something. Man
looketh upon the outward appearance, God looketh upon the heart. And
you can appear to be to everybody else just exactly what you ought
to be and be filthy before God. Well, how can I be clean? Reception
and confession. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. You see, we believe the book.
Oh, I got a minute or so left. I'll get to these fellas. I'll
have to wait to get to 10, I guess. Now, so Paul is laying it right
before them. Now, I'm going to say it again.
These passages will have no effect upon some, because they're not
able to accept it. And if they don't believe this
little handful of verses, all of the hundreds that are there
won't convince them of any at all. Well, that's discouraging. Well, no. God is doing His work. Now, we go back to Hebrews 6,
4, and 6 just for a few minutes. Who are these people that Paul
talks about? These people who we find in Romans,
I'm sorry, in Hebrews, the sixth chapter. verses one
through eight actually I only gave you two because I knew that's
how far I'd get. Now Paul says I want to leave
the first principles of the doctrines of Christ. That's what I want
to do. Well aren't they important? Sure
they are. You have to know them to go anywhere. Now he said not laying, let us go on to perfection,
not laying the foundation of repentance from dead works. I'm
not going to preach any repentance to you people. All you've lived is dead works.
They were in sacrifices daily, even then, when he wrote this
epistle, they were still sacrificing in the temple. And he said, that
is dead works. and believe you me that set their
teeth on edge. They didn't like that. Of dead
works, I'm not going to preach about dead works. I'm not going
to preach a faith toward God. I'm not going to talk about the
doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of resurrection
of the dead and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit. Now he says this, for it is impossible,
mark the word, it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew
them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify unto themselves
afresh, the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. Is that a description of believers?
That's the first thing you've got to answer. No, you don't
have to answer it. I do. They knew some things about the
gospel. These people did. They had been under the sound
of the gospel and they had been joined to a gospel church. They knew about these things that Paul mentioned.
They knew about faith toward God. They knew about baptism. They knew about laying on of
hands, and I won't stop and explain that, and of the resurrection
of the dead and of eternal judgment. They knew these things. It's
going to be harder in Hebrews 10. I'll tell you that right
now. These people knew these things. They'd been connected
with it. And yet Paul says to them, very clearly, that if they shall
fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing that
they crucify the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. Well, Earl, can't I run back
into church next Sunday and rededicate? No. No, you can't do that. Esau found no repentance, though
he sought it with tears. Amen. That's right. Because God
said, Jacob's the man. Yeah. That's right. Well, that's not fair. Go on
and read Romans 9 again. That's the third time you ought
to read it. These people knew some things. Paul is not again laying the
foundation from dead works. He's going on. They were once enlightened. They
heard the truth and they saw the truth. They agreed that that
was true. We've had people in this small
place in that position. They've heard the truth. They've
agreed that it's true. But I wonder. You see, there's
only one way that I can attest to what I believe, and that is
my fellowship with, and my union with, my fellowship with God's
people, and my union with Christ. That's the only way. That's the only way. And my support
of the gospel. It's the only way I can, you
know, it doesn't do any good for me to say what I say. Because
the old saying is, what you do speaks aloud, it can't hear what
you say. And I guess that's true of all
of us at times. All right, they were once enlightened.
I can go, I've told you this before, my time is up, I've told
you I can go out to the mall and I can wander around in there
and come up, John, I can come up to 30 people, 40, if I want
to spend that much time, or whatever number, and say to them, are
you a Christian? You know what they're going to
answer? Yes. Do you believe the Bible? Yes.
Sure do. Because I read some time ago,
I had it over at Mabscot, and I've lost it, where in West Virginia,
this was out of the Charleston Gazette, where in West Virginia,
97% of the people profess to be Christians and Bible believers. I said, that didn't leave preachers
much to work on, did it? 3% of the whole population, all
the rest of them believed. Well, we know that isn't true.
Because profession has become a synonym for faith. Profession
means the same thing as faith in Christ. And it won't wash. It won't wash. Well, let me try to finish a
couple more here. You've tasted of the heavenly gift. What's
the heavenly gift? The Holy Spirit. You've tasted. He said to the woman, whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give them. He didn't say whoever
tastes it, drink it. Unabelle used to follow me around
it. Should I tell this? Okay, I will. I'm depending on
my inner voice. Used to follow me around at homecomings.
I'd reach, you know, and she'd say, you don't want that. So I pass it by. And that's just
the way it was. Some I tasted, but I didn't eat. And if you've been born spiritually,
you've got a spiritual appetite and you recognize the gospel. Now these were once enlightened.
They were convinced of the truth of it. They wanted, now I'm walking
a fine line here, they wanted to be a part of the fellowship. They actually wanted to do that.
They tasted of the good word of God. And you know the Bible
has its effect, even among sinners. Well, you say they can't receive
it if they're not God's family. I'm not talking about election
now. I'm talking about what we experience in life. They tasted of it. They're like the psalmist who
said, thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy word,
capital W, became the joy and the rejoicing of my soul." See,
it doesn't go that far with these people. They had seen the powers of the world
to come. I think that's true. I wonder, I don't know whether
I can turn to it or not. We're not going to sing it. I
just wanted to call your attention to something that you know already. Well, I'll just look it up. We sing often, and the only reason
I say this is I want everybody to see the words rather than
just hear the tune. Oh, I was right there and missed
it by one page. The old hymn that we sing so
often, I will arise and go to Jesus.
Do you remember? Come you weary, heavy laden,
bruised and mangled by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you'll never come at all. And when these wounded and mangled
and battered, yes, even dead creatures come before God in repentance
and true faith, they become new creatures in Christ. I have to
stop there. And they have then seen, not experienced, but seen
or tasted of the power of the world to come. They can see what
it does. I remember one man from almost my boyhood, and that was
a fellow by the name of Bill Truitt. He led a dance band in Peoria,
Illinois, and he came to a meeting in which the gospel was preached,
and in those meetings, invitations were given. You know what I'm
saying? We're all used to that. Invitations were given. And in
the back of the room, here comes a fellow over the pews. He didn't
even go to the aisle. He'd come over the backs of the
pews just pushing people out of his way. And he got to the
front, and he said, I wouldn't have had time to get out. Well, now, we said, that's silly. Not to him, it wasn't. Not to
him. Well, that's emotions, yeah?
Yeah, that's emotion. And I see people get all kinds
of emotional at basketball games and football games. I see them
cry when they lose. Grown men. Not girls, not little boys, but
grown men cry when they lose a football game. Nobody says, well, that's emotion.
No. You know what men do? They reach out and get them another
bud something. And they say, did you notice
so-and-so, he was even crying about that. Nothing about it being silly. I'm saying seriousness. We need
to get serious. I'll finish. And it's so important
that we And I said it last Sunday and it's been on my mind continually
and I'm included in this with you. It's so hard to stay focused. And by staying focused I mean
seeing Christ in the midst of our daily lives with all of the
kids and the demands that are made and all of the trouble we
hear and the phone rings and you pick it up and say hello
and you don't know what's going to come over the other end of
it. It's constant. And you can't outlive it because
I'm living proof of that. You can't outlive it. It'll continue. You say, well, when you get the
kids raised, it'll be better. Forget that. Just forget it altogether. Well,
if I could just see my grandchildren, forget that. Why is that? Because you never
lose your love and you never lose your sensibilities. And when somebody that belongs
to you or is part of you is in trouble, you're in trouble. That's
all there is to it. And you act on it. And that's
the way it should be. In as much as you're able. That's
the way it should be. Our father, we're grateful this
morning again, though disjointed and sometimes stopped too soon.
We pray that your word might strengthen our hearts and that
we might become focused on that word and on the person of Christ. For we pray it in his name, amen.