Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Now the
message today will be taken from Hebrews chapter 10. And my text
will mainly be verses 38 and 39, the last two verses of that
chapter, which reads this. Now the just shall live by faith. And that's the title of the message.
The just live by faith. They live by faith, the justified.
But he says, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. In other words, this would be
something that would be displeasing to the Apostle Paul. And verse
39 says, but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now, the
apostle here, or the writer of Hebrews, we'll say that some
people don't believe that the apostle Paul was the human instrument
who wrote the book of Hebrews. I do, but I normally say the
writer of Hebrews because so many people disagree with that.
But you know, it doesn't matter because God is the writer of
this book. This is authored by God. This
is the word of God. And that's all we really need
to know. But anyway, the writer of Hebrews is showing a contrast
between those who claim to be saved, claim to believe the gospel,
but then left it. They drew back unto perdition.
Perdition there is damnation. And what he's saying is that
if you're truly justified, That is, if you're saved by the grace
of God, if you're truly justified, not guilty, that's what justified
means, not guilty. It means that you're righteous
before God. A person who is justified before
God is justified, that is made right with God because of what
Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross of Calvary. Christ,
when he died on that cross, he died for the sins of his people
charged to him. He paid their debt and put their
sins away. And he established a righteousness
in his obedience unto death that is imputed, charged, accounted
to them, and they stand before God justified. They cannot be
charged with sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again. He is even at the right hand
of God, ever living to make intercession for us, for his people. So he
says if you're truly justified, you live by faith. In other words,
your life is continually looking to and resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ for all salvation. That's what God has brought you
to. You see, faith is a gift of God given by God through Christ
in the power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. So that if
you're justified before God based on the righteousness of Christ
freely imputed, then in time God the Holy Spirit brings you
under the preaching of the gospel and he makes that gospel the
power of God unto salvation to bring you to faith. And that
incidentally shows us faith is not the cause of the new birth.
The new birth is the cause of faith. Read John 1, 11 through
13 and John chapter three and other passages that we could
talk about. So the justified, those who are washed in the blood
of Christ, clothed in his righteousness. And you see, that's the only
way we can be justified because we fell in Adam. We're sinners,
we're born dead in trespasses and sins, we're ruined. And by
nature, we have no righteousness. By nature, by works, we cannot
make a righteousness. And in our nature, we don't want
righteousness God's way. We want it our own way. That's
why there's so many religions in the world, even some which
call themselves Christian, that basically boil down to salvation
by works. It's either by the works or the
will of men. Bible says that we're ruined by the fall, born
dead in trespasses and sins. And that means we don't have
what it takes to be saved and we don't want what God has until
God makes us willing in the day of His power to receive Him.
That's Holy Spirit conviction. So by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works lest any man should boast. That's what the scripture teaches.
Now those who are justified, They live by faith, God-given
faith. Faith is not natural to man,
it's given by God in the new birth. How do you know you have
faith? Because you look to Christ, you
rest in Christ, you believe in Christ, you trust Him, you follow
Him. You see, all by the grace of
God. But, he says, if any man draw back. Now, there are some
who claim to be saved. There are some who claim to be
believers. to believe the gospel, but they
draw back. Now, what is that drawing back?
Well, as I've said before, this is one of a series of messages
concerning this subject of the eternal security of the saved,
the eternal security of the believer. And what I'm doing is I'm taking
passages of Scripture to conclude this. This is the last one. where
people use these scriptures to try to prove that a person can
be saved and then lose that salvation, and this is one of them. And
let's go back into the passage here in Hebrews 10. I'll show
you where most people get this. You know, what he's talking about
in Hebrews 10 is such a glorious subject concerning the completeness,
the power of the finished work of Jesus Christ, not only to
ensure the salvation, the whole salvation of all his people,
but it actually demands it. The death of Christ, you see,
when it comes to salvation, salvation is a matter of God's electing,
redeeming, regenerating grace. And it has to be or nobody will
be saved. God chose a people to save before
the foundation of the world and gave them to Christ. And somebody
says, well, I don't like that. That doesn't seem fair. Well,
you need to go read Romans chapter nine and you'll see yourself
there as one of the objectors because Paul anticipates that.
You see, God does what God does and that's right. And it has
nothing to do with anything in us, of us, or foreseen by us. It's totally God's sovereign
grace. Christ said it in Matthew 11,
for so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. But you see, that's
not the realm we live in in our minds. We live in this world,
and all we know is what's been revealed. And what the Bible
tells you to do and tells me to do is to seek the Lord and
you'll find Him. Some people say, well, if I believed
in election, that means I may want to be saved and God won't
let me because I'm not one of the elect. That's foolishness. First of all, you're not God.
And you're not to play God. You see, if you think like that,
you're trying to play God. Only God knows these things.
And an election does not teach that people will want to be saved,
but God won't let them. The Bible says, whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I can tell you
that without embarrassment, without hesitation. But here's what you
need to know. Here's what I need to know. What
does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? It doesn't
mean just to say Lord. or even call out of my need.
Those who call upon his name do call out of their need, but
what do you need? You see, calling upon the name
of the Lord is coming to the Lord as a sinner who has no other
hope because I fell in Adam and coming to God and begging for
mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ. God can be just to justify
me in what way? Only by the blood and the righteousness
of Christ. If you call upon the name of
the Lord based on your works or based upon any inherent goodness
you see in yourself, you're not truly calling upon the name of
the Lord. You see, like I said, total depravity. We don't have
righteousness, we can't work righteousness, and we don't want
it God's way. But now, if you do want it God's
way, you know what's happened? God has made you willing in the
day of his power. You call upon the name of the
Lord. You seek the Lord. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. That's what the scripture says.
But there are a lot of people who claim to believe in Christ
who really don't believe. Now, it may be that their believing
is not based upon the truth. You see, calling upon the name
of the Lord means calling upon Him as He's identified and distinguished
in the Word. There are people who claim to
believe in Christ, but they, for example, do not believe that
He is God. And they are some of the most
sincere, dedicated, hardworking people that you'll ever meet.
But my friend, their faith is false because it's not the Christ
of the Bible. It's another Jesus. It's another
gospel. There are people who claim to
believe that Christ has made salvation possible if you'll
just do your part. My friend, their faith is false
because it's not of the Bible. Calling upon the name of the
Lord is calling upon Him as He's distinguished in the Word. Now,
there are also people who believe the right doctrine, but they
don't really believe and trust Christ. They haven't repented
of their dead works. And they are always in danger
of falling away, drawing back. But what the writer of Hebrews
is teaching here, what God is teaching us here is that, listen,
if God chose you and Christ died for you, you will come to faith,
you will endure to the end. And so he issues forth exhortations
here. We who are saved are to determine
in our minds that we'll continually look to Christ knowing that the
only way we'll really continue looking to Him is as God, by
His grace, preserves us. Why do the saints of God persevere,
endure? It's because they're preserved
by God. Over in the book of Philippians,
when he talks about it in Philippians 2, and he says, work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in
you to do His good pleasure. And so what he says here to the
Hebrew believers is continuing the faith. Now, one of the things
that the context shows us is that the book of Hebrews is written
to believers who were under severe persecution from unbelieving
Jews. And because of that persecution,
many of them left the gospel. We talked about that last week,
how they fell away from their profession. Some of them began
to forsake the public worship services of true believers. And that's why he says in verse
25, this is Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another
and so much the more as you see the day approaching. In other
words, don't forsake the public worship Public worship for true believers
is vital. It's part of our confession to
the world that we believe in Christ, that we love him and
his word, and that we love his people. You know, there are a
lot of people who claim to be Christian and say, well, I don't
have to go to church. Well, you better read the Bible.
Now, you don't have to go to a church where the gospel is
not preached. You go to church where the gospel's preached.
If there's no gospel church in your area, then you come on the
internet or you get DVDs and CDs, you watch programs like
this. And so that's why I like to invite people to our church
services at Eager Avenue Grace Church. We have a Bible study
at 10 o'clock and then a main worship service at 11 o'clock. And there are many people who
watch us on live streaming during those services. That's the Eager
Avenue Grace Church. Reign of Grace is an outreach
ministry of our church. But if you're a true believer,
you need to publicly worship with true believers. That's part
of our confession to the world that we are believers. So he
said, don't forsake that. And then verse 26 of Hebrews
10, he says, for if we sin willfully, after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries. If we sin willfully. I had a
lady tell me one time, based on her interpretation of this
verse, she said, well, Christians may sin, but they won't sin willfully. And I told her, I said, now,
listen, that's foolishness. What is a Christian? A Christian
is a sinner saved by the grace of God. And sure, we who are
Christians, we should fight sin. We're at war with sin. We're
not to give in to sin. We're not to give in to temptation,
but we still sin. And sometimes, and we sin willfully. We sin willfully. What's he talking
about here? What's the context tells us?
He's talking about willfully rejecting Christ. Those who claim
to believe the gospel, who were at one time attending these public
worship services, testifying to the world that they're believers
and that they're in one, in fellowship with other believers, now they
willfully, in a decided action of their mind, they willfully
turn against it willfully sin after they had received the knowledge
of the truth. Receiving the knowledge of the
truth means mentally. They had a mental acknowledgement
of the truth. They didn't have true heart faith.
They hadn't been brought to repentance of dead works and idolatry. but
they willfully rejected it now. And all they can look for is
a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall
devour the adversaries. And then he goes back to Moses.
Hebrews 10, 28. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Here the Hebrew children
were under the law of Moses and they had that law read to them.
They heard it. And they said, we'll abide by
it. They gave mental agreement to
it. But then those who despised it later, who broke that law,
and you know, there were laws under that old covenant that
demanded capital punishment. And he says that law condemned
them under two or three witnesses. And he says in verse 29, listen
to this. He says, of how much sorer, how
much greater the punishment Suppose ye shall he be thought worthy
who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and have done despite, despot rather, unto the Spirit of grace. How much greater is the punishment
of rejecting Christ than it was of rejecting the law of Moses?
The law of Moses could only take their physical life. But rejecting
the gospel, my friend, that's eternal death. That's eternal
damnation. How much sore. And what it is,
those who claim to believe the gospel, but then who reject it,
they're trotting underfoot the Son of God. counting the blood
of the covenant wherewith Christ was sanctified." The blood of
the covenant is what set Christ apart as the Savior of His people,
as the Redeemer, as the Lord our righteousness. In other words,
those who reject it willfully, and that's what men and women
do, they're claiming that Christ, the Son of God, died in vain. that his death meant nothing.
His righteousness, whereby we're justified. His righteousness
imputed, which is the ground of a sinner's salvation. They're
saying that righteousness means nothing. How much sore. And he says in verse 30, he says,
for we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me.
I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall
judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Do you realize that the
only hope that we as sinners have when we come to judgment
before God and being received and accepted and blessed is the
Lord Jesus Christ and His blood and righteousness. That those
who stand before God without Christ, evidenced by their unbelief,
will be looked upon by God as those who trod underfoot the
Son of God and counted His blood, His righteousness, as nothing. as an unholy thing. The only
ones who can stand before God and be accepted are those who
stand in Christ, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness. And Paul says in verse 35, look
at Hebrews 10 and verse 35, he says, cast not away therefore
your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. You see,
the confidence that a believer has is not confidence in himself. It's confidence in Christ. Paul
said in Hebrews 7, he is able, Christ is able to save them to
the uttermost that come unto the Father by him, come unto
God by him. He's able. He said, I know whom
I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. What have I committed
unto Christ? My whole salvation. Now, many
would say that, but not really believe it. And that's why he's
saying, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great
recompense of reward. There is reward for the people
of God. I mentioned last week, there
are people who believe in that when you get to heaven, you will
be rewarded with rewards based upon your service and obedience.
That's not what the Bible teaches. The word rewards plural is not
even found in the Bible in connection with the believers blessings
in heaven. The word reward, like this one,
is here singular, and it's the reward of grace, which Christ
earned for us, which every believer has. The reward of life, the
reward of glory, the reward of righteousness. This is the reward
of grace. If the reward is of debt, it's
not of grace. But see, this is all grace. Cast
not away, therefore, your confidence. My confidence. is in Christ. God forbid that I should glory,
have confidence, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are the circumcision, that means to be born again, circumcision
of the heart, which worship God in spirit and rest or as we are
the circumcision which worship God in spirit and we glory in
Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we have confidence in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. He says in verse
36 of Hebrews 10, for you have need of patience, endurance,
that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the
promise, the promise of salvation and glory by his grace in Christ.
For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and
will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith.
Those who are justified, those who are truly saved live by continually
looking to Christ. Oh, they may get sidetracked,
But he says, but if any man draw back, my soul shall not have
pleasure in him, but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. In other words, we're not of
those who willfully sin after we've received the knowledge
of the truth. We're still sinners, but we don't reject Christ. We
don't totally forsake him. He says, we are of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. You see this drawing back
unto perdition. is the evidence that a person
never truly believed the gospel. Just like John said in 1 John
2, 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For
if they had been of us, they would have no doubt remained
with us. But if any man draw back, now
the just, the justified, Those who are washed clean from all
their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. Those who stand in His
righteousness imputed before God. I stand before God in a
righteousness that Christ worked out totally by Himself for me
as my surety and my substitute. And as a result, those who have
been born again, they live by faith. They've been brought to
faith in Christ. They've been brought to repentance.
We said it last week, God's not willing that any of them should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's the people
of God. That's the true sheep who hear
his voice and follow him. That's the ones who he holds
in his hand and none can pluck them out of his father's hand.
He and his father is one. Those are the ones in which God
has begun a good work and he'll finish it to the end. Those are
the ones who are kept by the power of God. We're kept, the
scripture says, by the power of God. We're preserved. And
as a result of that, they persevere, they continue, they believe to
the saving of the soul. And that's the evidence of the
grace of God in their salvation. The just shall live, not die. They shall live by faith, by
looking to, resting in Jesus, the author and the finisher of
their faith. And that's what the scripture
teaches as it goes on down here in Hebrews 11, Hebrews 12. It
talks about the hall of faith. It talks about those who are
hindered with doubts and fears. That's believers. But he says,
here's how you run the race of grace, looking unto Jesus, the
author and the finisher of our faith. That's what it means,
the just shall live by faith. They will not draw back unto
damnation. They can never be lost. This
is the eternal security of the saved. Secure by the grace of
God, based on the glorious person and finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is their salvation in the beginning, in its continuation,
and even unto final glory? Who shall separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ? Who can condemn us? Who shall
lay any charge to God's love? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but walk after the Spirit. To walk after the Spirit is to
live by faith. It's to live your life, not as
a perfect person in yourself, because you're not, I'm not,
but perfect in Christ and looking to Him. Hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.