All right, let's look back at
Hebrews chapter 6. The subject for this morning's
message is God-given faith and patience. God-given faith and
patience. And of course, the basis for
this message is the grand and glorious truth That salvation,
the salvation of sinners is of the Lord. That lesson that the
prophet Jonah learned is expressed in Jonah chapter two, I believe
it's verse nine. Salvation is of the Lord and
salvation and everything that's included in salvation is totally
100% a gift, a free gift from God. In the book of Hebrews chapter
six and verse seven, we see described in a metaphor, the metaphor of
rain coming down upon the earth, a description of true salvation,
specifically regarding the new birth, regeneration, and conversion
of sinners. It says, for the earth, which
drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth
herbs, meat for them, by whom it is dressed, and then the last
words, they're very important, receiveth blessing from God. And what this teaches us, that
salvation, in every aspect of it, eternally, in time, is the
blessing that comes from God. And it comes to his people through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians 1 and verse 3 says,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. And I have cited here Romans
8, 32. Let me just read it to you. He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
that is, all who believe, How shall he not with him, that is
with his son, also freely give us all things, all things pertaining
to life and godliness, as Peter wrote, all things in salvation. In other words, he's saying if
God gave his son, you know, we speak of John 3, 16. Mark dealt
with that last week. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. And the world there is
speaking of his people all over the world. Jew and Gentile, God's
chosen people. Not all without exception. Because
he's saying here, if God gave his son to us, then it's a done
deal that he's going to give us all things with him, freely. And that's going to be evidence
when he brings us to saving faith in Christ and the gospel rain
that comes off upon us. It's going to produce the fruit,
the herbs, meat for them by whom it is dressed. And these are
all freely given. There's not one blessing. Here's
what I'm saying. There's not one blessing of salvation that
we can look to ourselves and say, I earned that. There's not
one blessing of salvation that I can look to myself and say,
I deserve that one. You understand that? But I'll
take it even further than that. There's not one breath I take
that I can say I earned or deserved. It's all a gift from God to his
people. And so that's in contrast to
verse 8 which talks about those who sit under the gospel but
never come to the fruition of salvation. He says, but that
which bare thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto
cursing whose end is to be burned. And so he's talking about those
who claim to believe the gospel but then left it, apostatized
from it. I was listening to a preacher
on these verses a couple weeks ago, and he said in verse 6 there,
it says, if they shall fall away, that that word fall away there
is not the same as the word apostasy, which you find, for example,
in 2 Thessalonians 2. And he's right, but it means
the same thing. He's talking about people who
claim to believe the gospel, but then left it. John dealt
with them in 1 John chapter 2. He said they went out from us.
Had they been of us, they would have never left us, but they
left us, showing that they were never of us. What he's saying
here is what he writes here in verse 9. Look at verse 9, Hebrews
6. But beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though
we thus speak. In other words, if true salvation
comes to any who are under the preaching of the true The gospel
of God's grace, the gospel of Christ, the gospel wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed. If salvation comes to them, these
things that accompany salvation will be with it. And it's all
freely given. It's all of God's grace. Well,
now, what are those things that accompany salvation? Let me just
give them to you briefly. I dealt with them in one whole
message. I'm not going to re-preach that. But number one is faith
in Christ, whom we know by God's revelation. Believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ is a gift from God. Isn't that right? It's not
a product of man's inner goodness. or man's inner humility. It's not a product of any free
will choice as they say. He's not teaching here that on
earth there are some people that are good or have a spark of goodness
and they exercise that when they cooperate with God and then there
are others who don't have any goodness at all. The Bible says
there's none good, no not one. In God's sight, The Bible says
that by nature, the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God. We're all born that way, spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that doeth good, no not one. That's what
the scripture says. So then if any sinner comes to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, As Christ is identified and distinguished
in this book, the Bible, in the gospel, as the Lord our righteousness,
as the savior of sinners, the redeemer, the one and only redeemer
of God's people, the one who is God in human flesh, God manifest
in the flesh, the one who saves his people from their sins. There's
no one for whom he died that will end up perishing. Because
His death is enough, it's a satisfaction to law and justice. Our sin,
charged to Him, demanded His death. His righteousness, charged
to us, demands our life. So that if any comes to believe
that, do you know what it is? It's a gift from God. It's the
power of God. It's the will of God. Ephesians
2.8, for by grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast,
for we are his workmanship. If you're a believer, you're
the work of God, not the work of yourself, not the work of
the preacher, not the work of the church, you're the work of
God. For we are his workmanship, and upon what basis did he create
this work? Created in Christ Jesus. Christ
said, I'll build my church. created in Christ Jesus unto,
not because of, but unto good works wherein God has ordained
that we should walk in them. So that's the first thing that
accompanies salvation. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Secondly, repentance of dead works and former idolatry. You
cannot turn to Christ without turning away from self. You cannot turn to Christ Come
to Christ loaded down with all your religious experiences and
works. You see, you've got that God-given
repentance. That's a gift from God. It comes
with faith. Paul wrote about it in Philippians
chapter three. Here's what I was, he said, in
my religion, in my best efforts. But when I saw the sinfulness
of my own best efforts, and saw the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ, I counted all but loss that I may win Christ
and be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith or
the faithfulness of Christ. So it's repentance from dead
work. What is a dead work? It's a work that brings death. Well, by works you cannot be
saved. Salvation is not by works. And
those who are trying to work their way into God's favor, work
their way into heaven, as it will, by their goodness, their
works, their efforts, their sincerity, those are dead works. There's
only one way to God, and that's through the righteousness of
another. That's Christ's righteousness imputed to us. And when we submit
to him, We turn away from everything else. It's all, you know, Paul
even said it was all dung that I may win Christ. Boy, that's
a strong word now, isn't it? But you see, compared to Christ,
who he is, and what he accomplished on Calvary, what are our works? Filthy rags, Isaiah said. Filthy
rags. Repentance. Repentance, you know,
most people think repentance is just feeling sorry for your
sins. Well, listen to me. We should all feel sorry for
our sins more than we do. It's called godly sorrow, Paul
wrote about in 2 Corinthians 7. But that's not repentance.
Repentance is a change of mind. It's a change of heart. It's
a change of direction. It's not just veering a little
bit off. It's turning around, going the other way. It's turning
away from self and looking to Christ. forsaking all else and
coming to Christ. But that accompanies salvation.
These who went back, these who left the gospel, they went back
into their Jewish legalism. That's what they did. Went back
under the works of the old covenant, which had been perverted by the
unbelieving Jews. Well, now, I never was under
that. You never were either, I don't think. But I was under
false religion. I was. I called it grace, but
it wasn't grace. I called it salvation, but it
wasn't salvation. And then when I heard the true
gospel, when I first heard it, I didn't like it. When I first
heard it, I hated it, in fact. But then God, as they say, the
old psalmist said, put a bridle in the wild ass's mouth and tamed
him. He raised me from the dead, out
of my spiritual deadness to spiritual life. And that rain that came
down upon the earth brought forth herbs, meat for them by whom
it's dressed. And that's faith and repentance.
Thirdly, I put this under this heading, service to God and to
his people motivated by grace, gratitude, and love. That's the
newness of spirit, serving God, worshiping God, serving his people,
fellowshipping with his people, coming together under the preaching
of the truth, staying together under that. As you see, it's
not our personalities, our personal likes and dislikes that bring
us together to serve one another in the gospel. It's the truth. It's the glory of God. We have
a mutual ground of salvation. We have a mutual goal. The glory
of God. What are we here for? We're here
to glorify God. People go out looking for a church.
And they've taken surveys about, what are you looking for? Well,
I'm looking for some place I can meet people and have a good time.
Or I'm looking for a place that'll keep my kids busy and out of
drugs. Well, I like to, I wanna keep kids busy and out of drugs
too. But that's not what the church is for. The church is
a hospital for sinners. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. And that's my story. We're here
to glorify God. We're here because of love of
the truth. And that's our love to one another
that holds us together and we serve God. We know, the Bible
says, we know we've passed from death unto life because we love
the brethren. And he that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Now think about that. This is worship of God. Serving
God. Seeking to obey God. Not in order
to be saved, but because we already are. Not in order to earn our
rewards in heaven. Christ is our reward. What could
we earn from God? Nothing we do measures up. But
if it redounds to His glory, if it exalts Christ, if it promotes
the salvation of sinners, we have a motive that has been implanted
within our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit. It's the motive
of grace. We're not mercenaries, in other
words. We're not forced slaves, but we're willing, loving, bond
slaves of Christ. So we serve out of grace and
gratitude and love. Paul said the love of Christ
constrains us, motivates us, and that accompanies salvation.
But here's the fourth thing. It's not easy, is it? It's a
struggle. It's a warfare. That accompanies
salvation too. The moment that God brings us
to a saving knowledge of Christ, we begin a warfare that we had
never engaged in before. It's called the warfare of the
flesh against the spirit. Now before salvation, before
we come to Christ, we can have struggles in our lives. We can
have natural conscience struggles. We can have guilt feelings, we
can have societal struggles, even religious struggles, but
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit is different. It's
described over in Romans 7. Let me just show you this. Romans
7, I cited this last time, but look at it again in verse 4,
Romans 7. Paul writes, verse four, wherefore
my brethren, you also are become dead to the law. Now what does
that mean? That means the law cannot condemn
me. The law cannot charge me with
my sin. Why? Because my sins are charged
to Christ. He died for them. There's no
condemnation to them which are in Christ. And that's what he
says, we become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Not by
our works, not even by our decision. We become dead to the law by
the body of Christ, that you should be married to another,
united to Christ, even him who's raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God. Not that we should earn
our salvation or earn our keep, but that we should just bear
fruit. We don't produce fruit. We just bear it. Christ is the
vine. We're the branches. And he says
in verse five, for when we were in the flesh, the motions or
passions of sins which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. And I've often said that works
in one of two ways in the natural man. There are some who are just
out and out rebels who are determined to fulfill their selfish desires
and break the law. They don't care. Just immoral
people, we might say. Criminals. Well, they're certainly
bringing forth fruit unto death, aren't they? But the main way
that this shows forth is passion, sinful passions, that's whereby
the law is false religion. People trying to work their way
into God's favor. Do you know that's a sinful passion?
That's a sinful desire because it dishonors God. It denies Christ
and His blood and His righteousness. It exalts the sinner. It's a
work of unbelief. It's like a sinner like Cain,
I don't believe God, I'm gonna bring my works and that ought
to count for something. That ought to get me something. It's a denial, it's pride. But
it's fruit unto death. But look at verse six. But now
we're delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
held, that we should serve, look at it, in newness of spirit.
and not in oldness of the letter. The oldness of the letter is
legalism, self-righteousness, mercenary acts for earned reward. But newness of the spirit is
the service of a willing, loving bond slave. And that's when the
warfare of the flesh and the spirit begins. Because I'll tell
you, we're in a fight, aren't we? The flesh that remains, sinfulness
within our flesh that remains, full of pride, self-promoting,
and we have to fight it. And we don't fight it in our
own power because that's a battle that's going to be lost, isn't
it? We fight it in the power of God, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. knowing that he's overcome. He's
overcome the flesh and he's won the victory. Who are our enemies? The world. Well, Christ said,
in the world you'll have trouble, but be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. Did you notice what he said there?
He said, be of good cheer because you're the best people on earth.
No, he didn't say that. Be of good cheer because I know
you're gonna try harder. Should we try harder? Yes. That's
not what he said. Be of good cheer for I, Christ,
has overcome the world. Who's our enemy? The devil. The
devil will charge and throw his arrows of accusation. How do
we turn him back? Well, let's get a cross and wave
it out there or let's get some holy water and splash it on.
No. What is it they said in Revelation
12? They turned him back, they turned
him away by the blood of the Lamb. We plead the blood of Christ. We plead his righteousness. It
doesn't matter how much the devil charges me, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? The world may condemn me, but
who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen. And then the flesh. Who's our
greatest enemy? Me. I'm my greatest enemy. You, you're your greatest enemy.
How are we gonna overcome it? Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord. That's the victory. And then
the last thing. And I believe this covers the
whole Christian life, I do. The last thing is perseverance
in the faith because of God's preserving grace. That accompanies
salvation. If God save you, you'll always
be saved. Why? Because you'll do your part
and never give up and never doubt. Is that what it is? If that's
the case, we're all goners. No, because God won't let us
go. He who begun the good work in us, God, He'll complete it
to the end. Now all of this, look back at
our text, Hebrews 6. All of this is described in Hebrews
6, 10 through 12. Listen to it. For God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. Now work and
labor of love is not works aimed at earning salvation. It's a
work of labor and love. It's a work in labor because
we are loved by God and because by his grace we love him. Serving
him out of love. Thank you, Lord. You know, gratitude
to God is more than just looking up in the sky and saying, thank
you, Lord. Gratitude to God is serving him out of love, worshiping
him, seeking to be conformed to Christ, fighting the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. There it is. And he says, in
labor of love, which you have showed toward his name, in that
you have ministered or served the saints and do minister. And
we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope until the end. And what is the ground
of that insurance? That's God's oath and God's promise. In other words, that's the ground.
And then verse 12, that you should not be slothful, lazy, but followers
of them who through faith and patience. Now there's your two
words that covers the whole thing. God-given faith and God-given
patience inherit the promises. But we know what God-given faith
is. It's living our lives by the
grace of God, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. It's a total dependence upon
Christ. for righteousness, for eternal
life and glory, for everything. That's what faith is. Well, what
about this patience? Well, now this patience, when
you think of the word patience in most contexts concerning the
life of a believer, don't think of it like, well, that means
you're content to wait in the waiting room of the doctor, because
that's not what it's talking about. I go to the doctor and
sometimes I have to wait there 30, 40 minutes. It makes me angry.
But that's not what he's talking about. Should I be more patient
that way? Yes, I should. But that's not what he's talking
about. And men, it's not talking about waiting on your wife to
get ready or anything like that. Should you be more patient? Yes,
me too. Think of patience this way. It's
endurance. You know in the Psalms when he
said, wait on the Lord, how do we wait on the Lord? We endure
by God-given faith, waiting on God. And that's what he's talking
about. But you notice how he puts it
here, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor
of love. What does that tell us? It tells us that the justice
of God extends to our works. Not that, in other words, God
justly takes notice of a believer's work and labor of love which
you have showed toward his name in that you've ministered to
the saints and do minister. Now, is this teaching works for
salvation? No. You know, God would be unjust
to receive us based on our works. Did you know that? Why? because
our works do not equal the righteousness that God requires to glorify
him. Where are you gonna find the
righteousness that God requires to glorify him? There's only
one place, in Christ. If you're a believer, you can
say that you love God. But can you yet say that you
love God perfectly without any taint or contamination of self-love? No. So how does God accept my
love and receive my love and take notice of my love? Only
through Christ, my mediator, my high priest. That's the only
way. And it's not that Christ makes
up where mine falls short, it's all Him. I stand before God washed in
the blood of Christ, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
So is this teaching salvation for works? No. Is it teaching
works for righteousness? No. Is it teaching works for
rewards in heaven? No. If this were the case, God
could not be just in taking notice of them, because none of them
equal the righteousness of the law, which can only be found
in Christ. But God can and does justly take notice of them and
accept them as the fruit of His grace, His goodness, His power,
the fruit of Christ's righteousness imputed to us by His grace as
they are washed clean in the blood of Christ. The scripture
says in 1 Peter chapter 2 that all of our sacrifices are acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ. What are our sacrifices? Our
worship. Our praise. Our obedience. None of that saves
us. Only God, by His grace through
Christ. So salvation is not by works, but by grace. Our only
righteousness before God is the merit of Christ's righteousness
imputed to us. And our works are never meritorious,
nor can they earn rewards for us in heaven, but God takes notice
of them. Here's why. Number one, because
they're His work. They're the power of His grace.
They're the fruit of His power, the fruit of His grace. I've
already showed you that in Ephesians 2, where His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Secondly, because they're motivated
by grace, love, and gratitude. That honors Him. And thirdly,
because they're aimed toward His glory. Listen to what it
says now. In Hebrews 6 verse 10, for God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown
toward his name. Many people quote Matthew chapter
five and verse 16 as a motivation to what they call good works.
And you know what that says in Matthew 5, 16, let your light
so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. Well, first of all, people think
that the good works are the light. It's not so. Our good works are
not our light. Let your light shine before men.
What is the light? It's Christ, the gospel, the
gospel light. And so when they see those good
works, it takes the light of the gospel to show them. Because
they do what? They glorify your Father which
is in heaven. What are the works of a believer
aimed at doing? Drawing attention to himself?
No, drawing attention to God. Showing the glory of God. I'll
never forget one time a man came to a friend of mine who's a believer. And he was talking to me and
my friend at the same time and he looked at my friend and he
said, well I know you're saved because I know, I've seen you give to
charity. You know what my friend said? He said, that doesn't mean I'm
saved. I'm not saved because I give to charity. I'm saved
because of God's free sovereign grace in Christ to a poor sinner
who can do nothing to recommend himself to God. Now there's Matthew
5.16. Let your light shine before men.
Do we want to have our outward acts and our character and our
conduct hinder our witness? No. But we want people to know
that we are not saved. We are not made righteous. We
are not certain for heaven based on our works. Nothing we do can
save us or keep us. We want the glory to go to God.
We want the attention to go to Christ, not to ourselves. And so they're aimed toward his
glory, to honor his name, to be living examples of his power,
his goodness, his grace, and not our own. And then fourthly,
because they reflect his love to his people as we serve one
another. The love of brethren. There's
a lot we could say about it. Somebody said, one time said,
that doesn't mean we're gonna like our brethren, but we do
love them. Well, that doesn't mean we're
not gonna have conflicts, we're not gonna have things that hinder
us, but it does mean this. It does mean that we are together
under the truth of God's grace. We are. Now that should filter
down into the least acts of charity. If a brother's in need, needs
help, needs food, needs clothing, the scripture says that. But
the main thing here is that it keeps us together under the preaching
of the truth. That's what it is. And so look
at verse 12. Or verse 11, he said, we desire
that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope unto thee. We've got the same hope. We're
to be diligent in that hope. Our hope is Christ. He's going
to describe it in detail in these last verses, and I'll get to
them next week. God made a promise, and it cannot
change. And God has engaged Himself,
His oath, He swore by Himself. You know what that means? That
means God's reputation is on the line to save and to preserve
His people. In other words, if God determined
and desired to save any sinner who ended up not being saved,
God would lose His glory. His reputation would be shot. But that's not going to happen. That cannot happen. Why? Because
of those two immutable things. His oath and His promise. And
so that's our hope. Our hope is the hope of righteousness.
God cannot charge our sins to us if we're in Christ. Washed
in His blood. Clothed in His righteousness.
The only thing God can charge to us is the righteousness of
His Son. That's my hope. And so he says that you be not
slothful, verse 12, but followers of them who through faith and
endurance inherit the promise. Notice there that the promise
that God gives to his people is an inheritance. That's something
we don't earn. That's something we don't deserve. Peter said it's an inheritance
incorruptible that never fades away. We can't do anything to
corrupt it. And we cannot make it fade away.
Why? Because it's all in Christ, the
Lord our righteousness. And that's what we're to endure
in. That's what that patience is about. We keep on by the grace
of God because he preserves us. And that's God-given faith and
patience.