All right, this morning my text
is found in Hebrews chapter 6, if you want to turn there. But
I want you to open up that passage again, Psalm 85 that Brother
Mark just read, because I'm going to use that to introduce this
message concerning things that accompany salvation in Hebrews
chapter 6, where Where we read about in verse 7, I dealt with
this last week. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain, Hebrews 6, 7, the earth which drinketh in the rain
cometh oft upon it, bringeth forth herbs, meat for them by
whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. Now that's
the essence there of what we see is the term salvation in
this passage. Speaking of the new birth, and
we'll talk about that, he says in verse eight, but that which
beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing
whose end is to be burned. And what the writer's talking
about there is those who sit under the gospel, but who never
have the blessing of salvation. That's a frightful thought, isn't
it? You know today there's not many who are sitting under the
preaching of the gospel. There are many who sit under
the preaching of a lie. We could talk about all the false
gospels that are prevalent and popular. Preachers standing up
telling people what they want to hear rather than what they
need to hear. We have the health and wealth
gospel. We have the conditional salvation gospel, but that's
another gospel. I think you're gonna preach on
that next week, the gospel or another gospel. There's only
one true gospel. And it's the gospel of Jesus
Christ. It's the gospel of God's sovereign
grace. God's saving sinners who deserve
nothing but death and hell. But saving sinners, whom he chose
before the foundation of the world, gave to Christ, sent Christ
into the world to die for their sins and establish the only righteousness
upon which God can be just to justify the ungodly. And when
he speaks here of the earth which drinketh in the rain and cometh
upon it, blessed of God, that's talking about God's people who
are brought to believe in Christ, brought to rest in him. And then
he tells them in verse nine, he says, but beloved, we are
persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation,
though we thus speak. And last week I gave you this
little outline. Salvation is a big word in the
scripture. It means to be chosen of God
in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's what election's
about. Election unto salvation. Salvation
is to be justified by God in Christ. What is it to be justified?
It means we're forgiven of all of our sins on a just ground. It means to be counted righteous
in the sight of God because of what Christ accomplished on the
cross of Calvary to secure the salvation for his people. I stand
before God righteous, not in my works, but in Christ. I'm washed in His blood. His
righteousness is accounted to me, imputed to me. God will not
impute sin to His people. That's what salvation is. I'll
show you that in just a moment. Salvation is to be redeemed by
His blood. Salvation is to be sanctified
by the Holy Spirit in the new birth. And that's what He's talking
about here. When he talks about the earth,
which drinketh in the rain and cometh, he's talking about the
water of God's word empowered by the Holy Spirit that feeds
a hungry soul, that quenches the thirst of a thirsty soul.
Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, blessed are
you that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you'll be
filled. Let me tell you, those who are blessed, that's what
he says here, they receive a blessing from God. It's not something
we earn or deserve, it's a gift of God's grace. It's a work of
His mercy towards sinners who are the least of all people,
most undeserving. And the only way your hunger
and thirst for righteousness is going to be fulfilled is by
looking to Christ, who's the author and finisher of our faith.
And we look nowhere else. We turn away from everything
else, even our religion. Even our false religion, we turn
away from that. God turns us away. Salvation
is to be preserved by God's power and grace. He won't let us go.
Why is it that once a sinner is saved, they're always saved,
if they're really saved? Because God won't let us go.
Christ intercedes for us in heaven. He's given us His Spirit to indwell
us and to keep our eyes focused on Him, looking unto Jesus. Salvation
is to be glorified by God and perfectly conformed to Christ.
Well, how can I know if God chose me? How can I know if God has
justified me? How can I know if Christ has
redeemed me? How can I know if the Holy Spirit
has sanctified me? How can I know I'm born again?
How can I know if I have spiritual life and I'm still not dead in
trespasses and sins? How can I know if God is right
now preserving me unto glory? And that's what the writer's
talking about here. But beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though
we thus speak. Now look at that Psalm 85, Mark
read. This is a good description of
the salvation of which is spoken of here. He says in verse seven,
look at these last verses, I'm not gonna go through this whole
thing, but he says, show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy
salvation. It's a gift, it's mercy. God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. And here's what the result of
it. Listen to verse eight. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak. Now there's one key. I wanna
hear what God says. And what God says is the last
word. I don't want to hear your opinions.
I don't want to hear my opinion. I want to hear the Word of God.
If God says it's this way, you know what? It's this way. If
God says He loved Jacob and hated Esau, you know what? God loved
Jacob and hated Esau. If God said that He chose a people
before the foundation of the world and gave them to Him, that's
the way it is. You say, well, I don't like that. The fact that you don't like
it just shows that you're still spiritually dead. Because if
God hadn't chosen some, none of us would be saved. We'd all,
the whole kit and caboodle would end up damned. Isn't that right?
One preacher put it this way. He said, it's like this. He said,
if God had come down here and gathered the whole human race
among themselves and left us to ourselves and asked us the
question, how many of you will choose me? We'd all turn thumbs
down on God. That's the way it is. So if I'm
willing to hear what the Lord says, remember what it said in
the opening, give the more earnest heed to what the things that
the Holy Spirit is saying here in the Word of God. That means
to listen. That doesn't mean just to hear
physically. It means to believe it. It means to obey it. So he
says, I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will
speak peace unto his people and to his saints. God will speak peace. Now you
know what? Satan speaks peace too. But his peace speaking is all
a sham. Think about it. You know what
the title of Satan's first message was? Thou shalt not surely die. In other words, everything's
okay. Peace, peace. As Jeremiah talked about Satan's
false prophets, peace, peace, when there was no peace. But when God speaks peace, it's
real peace. And he speaks peace to his people.
Now, who are his people? Well, that's his chosen people,
redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified by the righteousness
of Christ, brought to faith in Christ, He speaks peace to his
saints. What's a saint? Well, that's
somebody everybody's got together and voted on and made them a
super Christian. No. If you're a believer, if
you're a sinner saved by grace, you're a saint. That means you've
been set apart, sanctified. That's what that means. Set apart
by God for his grace and blessing in Christ. So he says, but let
them not turn again to folly. Now over in Hebrews, he talks
about repentance of dead works. And he's talking about those
who claim to believe the gospel, but they turn back again to folly,
the folly of the old covenant law, the folly of false religion. What you were in before you heard
and believed the gospel. That's folly. Isn't that right? Is that too hard? Well, preacher,
I wish you wouldn't say these things. Well, that's what God
says. He says in verse nine, he says, surely his salvation
is nigh or near to them that fear him. Fear him means to worship
him, means to honor him. It means to respect him and that
glory may dwell in our land. And then these last verses show
the ground of it all. Look at verse 10, mercy and truth
are met together. How's mercy and truth met together?
In Christ, the mercy seat. He says, righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. How can God speak peace to me
when I deserve nothing but death and hell? Because righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. How'd that happen? In Christ.
In Christ, doesn't the Bible say in Colossians chapter one
that he made peace by the blood of his cross. It's peace based
upon righteousness established. It's peace based upon a just
ground. It's not me just getting religion
and making my peace with God. That's what I used to think. That's folly. He goes on, verse 11, truth shall
spring out of the earth. That's talking about the humanity
of Christ. He is the truth. Righteousness
shall look down from heaven. That speaks of his deity. This
is the God man. Verse 12, yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase.
If God gives it, if God purposes it, if God desires it, if God
wants it, it's a done deal. It's not, well, God wants to
save you if you'll let him. That's not the God of this book,
folks. Hear what the Lord God speaks. And then verse 13, righteousness
shall go before him. That's the issue. The gospel
is the revelation of the righteousness of God. It goes before Him. Before
you can claim that God loves you, before you can claim that
there's peace between you and God, this issue of righteousness
has to be settled. It goes before Him. Think about that. People aren't
hearing much about that today, are they? They're hearing like, how to
be a better person. We need to be better people,
don't we? I'm not just making fun of that.
I hope I'm better than I used to be, but I'm not any more righteous
than I always was in Christ. I still need forgiveness from
all my sins just as much as when I was a rebel. And if God were
to give me what I deserve today, it would be death and hell. I
don't deserve this. See, I'm the recipient of the
blessings of God. It's a gift. Things that are
freely given. You see, that's what the natural
man doesn't want, the things that are freely given. He wants
to interject himself, his works, his goodness, his will in there
some way. And that's folly. So he says
in verse 13, and shall set us in the way of his steps. He's
going to preserve us. He's going to keep us. Now with
that in mind, go back to Hebrews 6. Well, what are these things
that accompany salvation? Well, he says in verse 10, of
Hebrews 6, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor
of love. What's he talking about? Okay,
hold on. Which you have showed toward his name. Here's the motivation
for this work and labor is love, not law. Okay? The goal of this work is not
self-aggrandization, not self-increasing, But it's towards His name. It's
for the glory of God. I want you to know that if you
see me doing anything that you call good, it's all of God. It's all of His grace. He gets
the glory. God forbid that I should glory
both, save in the cross. In that you have ministered to
His saints, that's fellowship and service to the people of
God, and do minister. And he says in verse 11, and
we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope until the end, that is together, diligently,
by the grace of God, looking to Christ, resting in Him, believing
in Him. Here's what we're here to do
this morning. We're here to worship God in the name of Jesus Christ.
We're not here to brag about each other. We're here to serve
each other in worship, in corporate worship. And then he says in
verse 12, that you be not slothful, that means lazy, but followers
of them who through faith, that is looking to Christ now, believing
in him, and patience, that's endurance, inherit the promises. All the promises of God, do you
know what it is? It's not a wage, it's an inheritance. It's what it is. And it's incorruptible. And it's reserved in heaven for
God's people. Because Christ did it all. He
met every condition. He fulfilled all stipulations.
He met every requirement. That's right. All for his people.
And we just inherit it. By the death of the testator.
Whose death? Christ's death. Now what are these things that
accompany salvation? Let me just give these to you
briefly. I could preach a message on each one by himself. But listen,
all right? Number one, faith in Christ whom
we know by God's revelation. That's number one. Faith in Christ
whom we know by God's word. In 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and
verse five it says, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.
Now that doesn't mean you examine yourself to see how much faith
is in you. I'm afraid if we did that a whole
lot, we'd come out with the disciples whom the Lord looked at them
and said, oh ye of little faith. What is faith? Well, first of
all, it's knowledge. Turn to John chapter six. Look at John chapter 6 and look at verse 44. It says in verse 44 of John 6,
no man can come to me. Now that word can there is the
word, the Greek word that indicates ability. It's the same word that
is used for power in Romans 1 16. The gospel is the power of God,
and what he's saying, no man has the power, all right, to
come to me. Why is that? Because we're born
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. We don't have spiritual
life. God gives life from the dead. That's why Christ said you must
be born again or you cannot see or know or enter the kingdom
of heaven. We must be given new hearts. What is the heart? It's
the mind, the affections, the will. And so we must be given
new hearts. We must be given new life. We
must be born again. And that's by the will of God.
It doesn't come by the will of man. God does change our wills when
his will is enacted in our lives. But no man can come to me, Christ
said, except the Father which has sent me draw him. Like a
dragnet. That's what this is like. Somebody
said, well, does God bring us against our will? No, God changes
our will. He draws us with cords of love,
changing our will. He makes us willing in the day
of his power. And this faith is a conviction.
that comes from a knowledge that God teaches us, reveals to us,
and he may use a pitiful clay pot like us preachers, but it's
God who does the work, isn't it? Draw him and I will raise
him up at the last day. He's gonna be preserved. And
look at verse 45. Now here's how God draws his
people. He says, it's written in the
prophets, they shall all be taught of God, the master teacher. I was a teacher in middle school
for eight years. There were some kids I just could
not teach. It wasn't because they were stupid.
It was just because they didn't want to learn. Well, that's the way all of us
are by nature. That's why God has to teach us,
and when God does the teaching, it gets through. He never fails. He never grants the knowledge
where it doesn't reach the new heart. And here's what they learn. Now listen. Here's what he teaches. Every man therefore that hath
what? Heard. Heard what? The gospel. That shows us who
God is in His glory and majesty, sovereignty, justice, as well
as His mercy and grace and love. That shows us who we are, sinners
who deserve nothing but death and hell, who cannot make ourselves
righteous before God. Not by our best efforts. None
righteous, no not one. None good, no not one. and who
tells us of Christ, the God-man, who came and did it all for his
people on that cross, putting our sins away, dying for our
sins, buried and raised again the third day because righteousness
was established, and in him, in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. Therefore that
hath heard and learned of the Father, How do you learn of the
Father? He shows us how God can be both
a righteous judge and judge our sins in the person of Christ
on the cross, and then a loving Father. He must be both. He's
both a just God and a Savior. If you don't know God as a just
God and a Savior, you know what you're worshiping? An idol. Isn't
that right? If you're ignorant of that righteousness
which enables God to be just and justifier, you're an idolater. And he says, everyone therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. That's faith. It's being convinced
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. It's knowing the
Father and the Son. Christ said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. First John 5.20, the Son of God
hath come and given us an understanding that we might know him that is
true. as opposed to him that is false. Before I knew and believed this
gospel, what was I? I was in religion. I was in a
seminary. I was worshiping an idol, folks. That's what accompanies
salvation. That brings me to number two,
repentance of dead works and former idolatry. Turn to Romans
7. Look at Romans 7. Now he had
already talked about being brought to Christ in the new birth. He
said we have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which
we were delivered to, we were made free from sin and became
the servants of righteousness. What is it to be free from sin?
It's free from condemnation. What is it to be a servant of
righteousness? It's to be a servant of Christ in whom we find all
righteousness. But look at Romans 7 and verse
4. He says, wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the
law. That means the law cannot charge
you, the law cannot condemn you. Now, how did I become dead to
the law? By the body of Christ. That's the death of Christ. That's
how I become dead to the law. I didn't become dead to the law
by my decision, or by my will, or by my choice. I became dead
to the law by the body of Christ. In order that, you should be
married to another, united to Christ as a husband is united
to his wife. Even him who's raised from the
dead, that indicates the righteous robe, the wedding garment, his
righteousness imputed, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. That's the service. And he says in verse five, now
look at verse five, for when we were in the flesh, now what
is it to be in the flesh? Here it's talking about being
unregenerate, an unbeliever. Whether you were in religion
or whether you were just an out and out pervert revolutionary,
I don't know. The motions or the passions of
sins which were by the law. I've often said that usually
in the natural man, the passions of sins which were by the law
works in one of two ways. It may work in a person who is
just an out and out outlaw. The prisons are full of them.
But it mainly works in people who are religious trying to establish
their own righteousness before God. You say, well, how do you
get that? Look, who's the human instrument
writing this book? Paul the Apostle. What was he
like when he was in the flesh? Oh, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews.
A Pharisee is touching the law. Religious. That's what it is. You see, religion without truth,
religion without Christ, religion without grace, what is it? It's
the passions of sin, which is by the law. You remember those
who stood before Christ in Matthew 7, said, Lord, Lord, haven't
we preached in your name? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Haven't we cast out demons? He said, I never knew you. Depart
from me, you that work what? Iniquity. What he's telling them
is, look, all your religious efforts, they do not measure
up to what God requires. What does God require? Perfect
righteousness. Well, how can I measure up that?
You can't. But I know one who can and did. He's the son of
God incarnate. Now look to him. Cling to him. Rest in him. Plead his merits. Plead his blood. Plead his righteousness. Well, he says, when we were in
the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law did work
in our members to bring forth fruit, but what kind? Fruit unto
death. That's all it was, fruit unto
death, because it deserves death. Anything less than the perfect
righteousness of Christ deserves death. Did you know that? God's
gonna judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
and that he hath given assurance unto all men and that he raised
him from the dead. Acts 17 31. And you know what
he said before that? He said, now you repent. Repent,
change your mind. Well, only God can change the
mind. Repentance is like faith. They're both the gifts of God,
aren't they? And he says in verse six, but now we're delivered
from the law. That being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit. That's that love that Paul talks
about in Hebrews 6, and not in oldness of the letter. In other
words, we're not legalists now. We're not trying to earn our
keep, or earn our way, or earn our rewards. We're the people
of grace. We're the people upon whom God
has blessed in his mercy. Faith in Christ, repentance of
dead works, Paul mentioned that over in Hebrews 6 in verse 1.
He talked about the doctrine of repentance of dead works.
Well, here's the third thing. What accompanies salvation? Service
to God and his people motivated by grace, gratitude, and love.
Ephesians 2.8 says, for by grace are you saved through faith that
none of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. All of salvation is by grace.
All of it's conditioned on Christ. All of it's secured by Him. But
what did He say in Ephesians 2.10? We are what? His workmanship. That means if
we're sinners saved by grace, we're not self-made. We don't
have anything to be proud of that we did. We are His workmanship. How did
He work us? How did He create us? Created
in Christ Jesus. That is, Christ is the one in
whom we were created. From the very beginning, He was
set up to be our surety upon whom our sins were imputed. And
He agreed that all the promises that God made to His chosen people
were in Christ. Amen. came to this earth under
that debt and became incarnate and identified with his people
in our humanness, yet he was without sin. And what did he do? He kept the
law perfectly. You didn't do that and you still
don't. And I don't do it and I still don't. And he went to
the cross. He obeyed unto death, and he
suffered, he bled, and he died. To do what? To glorify his father
in the salvation of his people. And so we're created in Christ
Jesus unto, not because of, but unto good works. which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them." That's that service.
Over in Hebrews 6, that's that labor of love. God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love, which you've showed
toward His name. It's for His glory. You know it's by His power.
Paul wrote that in Galatians chapter 2. Let me just read this
to you, Galatians 2. Listen to the language of Scripture,
because the language of Scripture is a whole lot better than the
language of men. He says in verse 19, this is
Galatians 2.19, he says, for I through the law am dead to
the law that I might live unto God. That's that service I'm
talking about. It has to do with worship. It has to do with love
and obedience. Not motivated by law, not motivated
by earned rewards, not motivated by fear of hell, We're not mercenaries. We're willing, loving, bond servants.
And he said that I might live unto God. Verse 20, I'm crucified
with Christ. Listen to this. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I. This life that I'm living, it's
not of me. I'm not the source of it. I'm
not even the power of it. It's all Christ. Because if it
weren't all of him, I wouldn't be living it. You say, well, are you just talking
about human morality? Oh, much more than that. Oh,
yes, we ought to be moral. Don't get me wrong. We ought
to be the most moral people on earth. But it goes higher than
human morality. He says, Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, that is in this human body, I live by the faith
of the Son of God. I believe that's the right way
to put it. The translators got it right. The faithfulness of
the Son of God. His faithfulness to save me,
to keep me, and to bring me to glory. Christ and the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me. And I don't frustrate
the grace of God. If righteousness come by the
law, by what I do, then Christ died in vain. The fourth thing that accompanies
salvation. Warfare of the spirit against
the flesh. There's a struggle. Are you in
a struggle? Every daggone day. The spirit of God which indwells
us and inspires us to love God perfectly and love our neighbor
as ourselves. The spirit of God who inspires
us with our spirits, the life he's given us, to do the things
which honor God and please God and not ourselves, and then there's
the flesh, and it's a war. And you didn't have this before
God brought you to salvation. You may have had struggles with
conscience and society and all that, but you didn't have the
warfare of the flesh and the spirit. That accompanies salvation. Paul wrote about it in Romans
7, 14 through 25. The things that I want to do,
I cannot do. The things I don't want to do,
that's what I do. He said, I want to be good in
God's standard of goodness, which is perfection. But he said, I
don't even know how to do that. And I've got sin within me that
keeps me from going the full measure of perfection. He says, I'm a wretch. Oh, wretched
man that I am, who deliver me from this body of death. But
he's got peace now. He's got hope. He's got faith
in Christ. I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. What does this struggle do for
you and me? It shows us that the only perfection that we have
is Christ. And our only hope is to believe
in and serve him. And then fourthly, perseverance
in the faith because of preservation. That's what he talks about here
in Hebrews 6. Those who claim to believe the
gospel and then who forsake it, apostatize, as we said last couple
weeks, they never believed it. But you know what accompanies
salvation? Well, Paul said, this 2 Timothy 1, 12, I know whom
I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day. Now, what have
I committed unto Christ? My whole salvation, my whole
eternal well-being, my justification, my sanctification, my glorification,
it's committed to him. And you know what? It cannot
fail unless he fails. But he's not going to fail. He'll
never fail. He keeps us unto the end. He
says, no one shall pluck them out of my father's hand, his
sheep. And he and his father are one. Blessed be the name
of God, our Savior. our Heavenly Father.