All right, let's open our Bibles
again to Hebrews chapter 6. The title of the message this
morning, things that accompany salvation. These things we're
going to look at this morning always accompany salvation. Wherever
salvation is, these things must be. They're inseparable from
salvation. Now, the first thing that accompanies
salvation is what we saw in the previous verses. We looked at
it, the eternality. of it. It's impossible for a
believer to lose their salvation in Christ, and it's impossible
for anyone to be saved any other way other than Christ. And the
writer gives us an example of that in verse 7. He says, 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. He uses the illustration here
of crops In the spring, the farmer goes out and he plants seed in
well-prepared ground. And then he patiently waits.
If there's going to be an increase, God's going to give it, isn't
he? God's going to send the right amount of sunshine and the right
amount of rain to produce a harvest, and that farmer's going to gladly
receive the blessing. That ground is blessed. The other
ground might not be blessed. Maybe there was no rain. Maybe
there was too much sunshine or too much rain or whatever, and
nothing grew. But this ground receives a blessing
because God blessed that ground and caused a harvest to grow. And the picture is spiritual. God has an elect people and God's
going to see to their salvation. God's going to bless them. He's
going to see to it. God's going to send them a preacher,
sowing the word of God, preaching the word. And then that preacher
is going to patiently wait. If there's going to be an increase,
God's going to give it. God's going to prepare the hearts
of people to receive the seed, that Word of God. And He's going
to give the right amount of light, the right amount of sunshine.
He's going to reveal Christ the light to them. God's going to
send the exact right amount of water, the right amount of water.
Christ, the water of life. And when God does that, that
person is blessed. God's going to cause spiritual
life to spring up. We receive that blessing with
joy, don't we? That person is blessed. because
God sent the blessing. And that salvation, that life
that's been given is completely dependent upon God. It's dependent
upon the sinner in no way whatsoever. It's all dependent upon God.
And God is going to receive that harvest of souls, the souls of
his people saved by his grace. He's going to receive them with
joy. Those people who God saved now,
if they save themselves, they're going to weather and die on the
vine. But if God saved them, They're not going to wither and
die on the vine. They cannot perish. And the other thing,
the opposite is true, too. It's impossible to be saved any
other way. There's no other way to be saved
other than in the Lord Jesus Christ, God blessing us in Christ. Look at verse 8. But that which
bare thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose
end is to be burned. Now here's another field that's
full of thorns and briars. It's rejected. The only thing
it's fit for is to be burned. Well, what's the difference?
God didn't bless that field. There's no hope of salvation
where God doesn't remove the curse of sin. That's what the
thorns and briars represent. If God doesn't remove the curse
of the ground, it's thorns and briars. Well, if God does not
remove that curse, if he doesn't remove the thorns and briars,
there's no way for us to remove the curse of sin. If God doesn't
remove it, there's no hope of salvation. Now, I know people
be religious. And they may even, for a time,
give mental agreement to the gospel. But they cannot be saved
just by mental agreement. It's impossible to be saved without
union with Christ. It's impossible to be saved without
His blood removing the curse of sin. It's impossible to be
saved unless we're given faith in Christ. Because it's impossible
to be saved by what we do. Everything we do just produces
more thorns and briars, more curse, of sin. Those are dead
works and the only thing they're fit for is to be burned. That's very sobering, isn't it?
That's very sobering. And none of us want to be under
the curse of the law. We don't want to be a thorn or
a briar. We want to be blessed of God. Every person in this
room wants to be blessed of God. Well, you know, the writer here
to the Hebrews tells us we can know if we've been saved or not.
We can know if God saved us or not by the things which accompany
salvation. See what he says in verse nine,
but beloved, we're persuaded better things of you and things
that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. And he says, we're
persuaded of better things than you, of you than thorns and thistles.
We're persuaded something better for you than an unbeliever has
been left in their sin and their rebellion. Now, he said, we're
persuaded better things of you. We're persuaded God saved you.
But we're going to keep warning you of this danger of apostasy,
this danger of turning from Christ. We're going to keep warning you
of the danger of missing Christ, but we're persuaded better things
of you than these thorns and thistles, these unbelievers.
All right. Now, why? Why is he persuaded
of better things for these believers? Well, it's because of the things
which accompany salvation. But what are those? What are
these things that accompany salvation? Let me give you a number of them. I didn't really number them because
there's a lot. We'll just go through them as
they come up in God's word. We already saw this is something
that accompanies salvation, eternal salvation. We're persuaded that
this is something that accompanies salvation, the eternality of
it. Well, I'm persuaded good things
for those that God saved. They can't perish because their
salvation is eternal. I'm persuaded of good things
because of this which accompanies salvation, the eternality of
it. Then there's God's purpose of
redemption. That's where it began. There
is no salvation without God's purpose of salvation. It always
accompanies salvation because that's where it began. Everything
else comes from this. Well, I'm persuaded of better
things for believers, for those who believe Christ, because of
God's purpose of their redemption. God's purpose can't fail, can
it? What can ever stop God's will? What can ever stop God's
purpose? Nothing. The purpose of God,
what God has purposed to do in the future, in time as we see
it, is just as sure as the act of God. God sees it as something
that's already done. Well, then anybody God purposed
to save can't lose their salvation, can they? I'm persuaded of better
things for them. Then there's God's election.
God's electing love always accompanies salvation. It's not possible
for a dead sinner to be saved any other way than in God's electing
love. Look at Romans chapter nine. I am persuaded of better things
for those who believe Christ because of God's electing love.
Romans 9 verse 11. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau, Have I hated? Now God set his electing love
upon Jacob. Jacob's life went through many
twists and turns, didn't it? It went through many ups and
downs, but where did it end? At the end of his life, he said,
God shepherded me all the days of my life. When he died, he
died in faith. That's what we read in scripture.
Well, I'm persuaded that all of God's elect are going to be
saved just as surely as Jacob was. because of God's electing
love, it always accompanies salvation. I'll tell you something else
closely tied to this, this thing of God's electing love that always
accompanies salvation. It's God's sovereign mercy. That's why sinners are saved,
because God chose to show mercy. That always accompanies salvation.
There can't be any salvation for a guilty sinner apart from
sovereign mercy, can there? Romans 9 verse 15. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. God's mercy for his people guarantees
for them something better than damnation. God's sovereign mercy guarantees
the forgiveness of their sin, propitiation for their sin. God's
sovereign mercy guarantees they're put into the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'm persuaded of better things for them. Anybody who's an object
of God's mercy, aren't you? And here's another one. Predestination.
I am persuaded of better things for believers because God predestinated
an end for them. He predestinated them to be made
just like his son. Romans eight verse 28, back one
page. And we know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
were they called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son. He predestinated an end for them,
made just like his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Now what should we then say to
these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? That's
a mighty good end, isn't it? Whoever it is God predestinated
to be made just like His Son is already glorified, seated
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I'm persuaded of better
things for them than burning thorns and thistles. They're
in Christ. God's predestinated them to be
made just like His Son. What could be better than that?
Then I'm persuaded of better things for believers because
of redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 9 verse 12 says,
Christ didn't offer the blood of goats and calves. When he
offered a sacrifice for sins, he didn't offer the blood of
animals, but by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained, obtained eternal redemption for us. This
matter of redemption has already been obtained by Christ for His
people, then I'm persuaded of better things for them. It's
already obtained. They can't lose it. It cannot
fail. It's all redemption has already
been obtained. Your redemption, lift up your
heads. Redemption draws my life. Why is redemption coming to God's
people? Christ already obtained it. Oh, I'm persuaded of better
things for them. They're redeemed. And then I'm
persuaded of better things for believers. Because the Lord Jesus
Christ is everything we need. He is our salvation. Christ is
our salvation. You know why Christ accompanies
salvation? Because he is salvation. Wherever
he is, that's salvation. Well, if we have Christ, I'm
persuaded of good things. If we have Christ, we can never
perish. We have everything. because of
who Christ is. He is our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He's our redemption. He's our
sanctification. He's the one who saves us. He's
the one who keeps us saved. He's the one who glorifies us.
Oh, if we have Christ, I'm persuaded of better things because he is
everything that we need. Then I'm persuaded of better
things for those who believe Christ because of the resurrection
of Christ. You know, the resurrection of
Christ always accompanies the gospel. You can't preach the
gospel without preaching the resurrection of Christ, because
if Christ died, he didn't rise again. We got no good news, but
he did rise again. He was delivered for our offenses. He was delivered for the offenses,
for the sin of his people, but he rose again for their justification. He rose again as the eternal
proof he justified his people. He made every one of them without
sin because he put their sin away by his death. Now, if Christ
rose from the dead, sin of his people is gone. Then those people
must rise from the dead too. And not just physically, although
that's true, one day they will all rise from the ground. Christ
returns and they'll be physically resurrected. But I tell you what's
gonna happen first, they'll be spiritually resurrected. Spiritually
resurrected. I'm persuaded of better things
for believers because of the new birth. The new birth, the
spiritual resurrection, always accompanies salvation. There's
no salvation without the new birth. There's got to be the
birth of a new, righteous, sinless nature because God cannot accept
this fleshly one. So God's got to cause a new one
to be born. That's why our Lord told Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you
must be born again. You must be. Now, this is not
something that you can make happen. I mean, you can't go back into
your mother's womb and be born the first time, just like you
couldn't make yourself be born from your mother's womb the first
time. This is not a fleshly birth. This is a new birth, a new birth.
It's a spiritual birth. And God, the Holy Spirit moves.
When will he move? We don't know. Can we direct
him and make him? No. The wind blows where it listed.
So does the Spirit. In sovereign mercy, sovereign
power. You might hear the gospel many,
many, many times. One day you can hear. One day. It's not just you give mental
assent to that. One day you hear the gospel, you hear Christ preached,
and your heart is thrilled. You just latch on to Him. He
is all my hope. This is my salvation. What's
different than all the other thousands of times you heard
the gospel? The Holy Spirit came in power
and he caused you to be born again. It's that new man born
of God who believes God, who loves God. That new man must
live. He cannot perish because Christ
already died for him. They can never die because Christ
is the resurrection. You're the resurrection. We're
so tied to this flesh and this earth and this material world. The resurrection is not an event
we're looking for. Now, I know there's a resurrection
day when the dead will be called out of the graves, those whose
bodies have been dusted. I mean, they're not all to...
I mean, it's one thing to think of a person who's been buried
in a coffin and there are all their bones and they still got
the shape of a body or whatever, you know, because they're going
to be resurrected. Well, there are people that died and their
bodies, animals ate them and their bodies are scattered all
over the four corners of the globe. They're going to be raised
too. What a thing to see, what a day. But the resurrection that
we look for, the resurrection that we cling to is not a day.
All of the gospel, if you just think of any point of the gospel,
always think of it as a person. Christ is our wisdom. Don't think
of wisdom as, you know, this great understanding that we have
and, you know, knowledge that grows. Our wisdom as a person,
Christ has made our wisdom. If I have Christ, I've got wisdom.
I see, oh, he's how God saves sinners. It's so obvious. Christ
is our righteousness. Righteousness is not just a legal
standing before God. Christ is our righteousness.
We're righteous in him. Sanctification. You're a holy. That's so hard to understand
if you see Christ. He is our redemption. How's the
redemption price paid? It's all in Him. This perfect,
sinless sacrifice. The same thing is true of the
resurrection. The resurrection we're looking for is not at the
end. It's a person. What'd our Lord tell Martha?
Martha, I am the resurrection. Whoever believes in me shall
never die. You believe this? Oh, yea, Lord, I believe. You
believe it's God giving you life? Because a new man can't believe
anything else, can he? Christ is our resurrection. And if you
have Him, oh, I'm persuaded of better things than death for
you. I'm persuaded of life because He is the resurrection. You believe
Him, you can never die. Then I'm persuaded of better
things for believers because Christ dwells in His people.
Union with Christ, Christ dwelling in the hearts of His people always
accompanies salvation. When was the Apostle Paul saved?
What did he say? He said it was when the Lord
revealed Christ in me. Not just to me, but in me. Salvation is union with Christ. The believer dwells in Christ,
and Christ dwells in them. He dwells in our heart by faith. You have union with Christ. You
can never perish, can you? Because Christ can't perish.
Well, I'm persuaded of better things than this burning of thorns
and thistles for you. If Christ dwells in you, That's
salvation. Then I persuaded better things
for believers because God has given them an inheritance. And
Peter said this inheritance is not, you know, you hear these
preachers, they're all talking about how you can get wealthy
and get more of this stuff in this world. Peter told us that's
not the inheritance that God's people have. It's a spiritual
inheritance. It's something that is incorruptible.
It's undefiled. It fadeth not away. It's reserved
where? In heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. If Christ is your inheritance,
reserved in heaven for you, I'm persuaded of better things for
you, because you have everything. God's given you everything that
He has. He's given you His Son. If Christ
is your inheritance, oh, I'm persuaded of good things for
you. And then I'm persuaded of better things for believers,
for those who truly believe the gospel. Because men didn't reveal
the gospel to you. God did. And I pray every day that the
Lord make me a good preacher. That he make me a good pastor.
That the Lord teach me to preach. Put his spirit on me and enable
me to preach in the power of the spirit. But if I convince you to believe
on Christ, somebody else can convince you to do something
else. If the only thing, if I just by my powers of persuasion get
you to do something, that's not salvation. Now, if you believe
the gospel, you believe Christ, you heard the gospel from a man,
didn't you? You're going to have to hear
the gospel from a man if you're going to believe Christ. But
you didn't hear from a man, you heard God, didn't you? Let me
show you that Matthew chapter 16. If you're saved, it's because
God taught you the gospel. Our Lord told the Pharisees that
he said, everybody who's taught of God comes to Christ. That's why they come because
God taught them and they come to Christ and they'll never leave
him. Look here at Matthew chapter 16 verse 13. When Jesus came to the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, well, some
say thou art John the Baptist. Some, Elias, and others, Jeremiah,
are one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, now this
is the question, but whom say ye that I am? It doesn't matter
what everybody else says about Christ. Who do you say he is? Who is he to you in your heart?
Simon Peter answered and said, See, Peter had wisdom because
he saw Christ. He said, well, that's an easy
one. I had a teacher in high school tell me one time, he said,
Frank, every test is easy if you know the answers. Well, this
one's neat. Peter says it's an easy one.
He said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And
our Lord said in answer and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood had not revealed that to thee,
but my father, which is in heaven. Peter, you know that's true. That's your heart's desire. That's
your heart's confession, because God's taught you the gospel.
God taught you who Christ is. God's revealed Christ to you
and in you. Peter said, we believe, we know
this. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And later
on, when Peter had a chance to leave, the Lord said, will you
also go away? I'm not holding here against
your will. He said, Lord, to whom shall we go? We're not going
to leave you. You have the words of life. We believe and we're
sure thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And God
teaches everyone he saves just that. He teaches them Christ
and that teaching of who Christ is and that utter dependence
on Christ that you cannot leave him. That always accompanies
salvation from a supernatural teaching of God. And then I'm persuaded of better
things for believers because God's given you faith in Christ.
God's given you the gift of faith in Christ. I'm just persuaded
of good things for a person who quits trying to earn their own
righteousness before God. I'm persuaded of good things
for a person that just quits trying to make God happy with
them and just quits all that. Rest in Christ. And they rest
in Christ with complete confidence that God will accept them. They
rest in Christ with complete confidence, God's pleased with
me in Christ. Because Christ is all it takes
to save me. I don't have to add one thing
to it. That's what saving faith is. Really and truly, saving
faith is no more complicated than that. I believe. I don't have to add one thing
to who Christ is and what he's done. I just rest in Him. That's
saving faith. If somebody believes Christ like
that, I'm persuaded of good things for them. I'm persuaded of glory
for them. But someone who's still trying
to earn their own righteousness under the law, they're still
trying to keep the law and trying to make God happy with them.
I know I can't keep all the law, but I'm just going to keep part
of it. Scripture tells us if you try to keep one part of the
law to make God happy with you, you got to keep it all. You got
to keep it all. Someone who's still trying to
make God happy with them by keeping the law, even just one or two.
They're under the curse of the law. That's what scripture says.
They're still under the curse of the law. And their only end
is thorn and thistle. That's their only end. But anybody
who believes Christ, rest in him, they're justified. And their
only end, the only possible end for that person is glory. I now
look at Galatians chapter five. Galatians five. I am persuaded of better things
for believers because of the fruit of the spirit, the fruit
of the spirit. And you know here, this is the
fruit of the spirit. It's not your fruit. It's the fruit of
the spirit, the believer bear. I'm persuaded of better things
because of this fruit. This fruit of the spirit always
accompanies salvation. Always. Where this fruit is not,
there is no salvation. But anytime God saves somebody,
this fruit will always be there. Now I know some people, some
believers, there are more fruitful than others. But this fruit is
in every believer to one degree or another. It's just like a
tree. I don't know anything about trees,
but I do know this. A tree that never bears an apple
is not an apple tree. I know that. Well, somebody that
never bears the fruit of the spirit doesn't have the spirit.
God hadn't saved him. Where the fruit of the spirit
is, there's life. Where there's life, there's fruit
of the spirit. Here's the first one, Galatians 5, verse 22, but
the fruit of the spirit is love. Now believers, love. It's their
nature. God's given them a new nature.
They love God because God first loved us. And this fruit is inseparable
from salvation. Where there's no love, there's
no salvation because God sheds abroad his love in the hearts
of his people. Well, of course they love. Of
course you love God. God saved you. And believers
love one another. They love God and they love one
another. They love people. Not only do they love God's people,
they love people. You know, you all come in here
and go back to that back door and put an offering in that box
every week. There's lots of reasons I reckon
that you do that, but it's just to support this ministry because
you care about people. You pay for a radio program to
put the gospel out on the radio because we care about people.
We want people to hear the gospel, come to know Christ. We care
about this ministry, about one another, and you give to do that
because you love. And you cannot separate love
for the brethren from salvation. Somebody that doesn't love the
brethren is not saved. If a man say he loves God and
hates his brother, he's a liar, John said. Our Lord said, by
this shall all men know you're my disciples, that you have love
one to another. Where there is life, there is
this fruit of the Spirit, love. Then Paul says joy. Believers
have joy in Christ, joy in the Holy Ghost. And look back at
Romans chapter five. This joy is not acting silly
and. It's like acting silly all the
time, it could be just because you got better drugs than somebody
else. I mean, you know, this joy that the believer has has
a solid foundation, a solid reason for joy. Even when our brother
Joe. in the midst of it. Oh, you and
I can't. I was going to ask, can you imagine?
No, we can't. We can't imagine being where Job was. But even
in the midst of that, he had joy, confidence in Christ. And here's why. Romans 5 verse
11. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom we've now received the atonement. The believer's
joy has to do with the atonement. has to do with the blood of Christ
covering our sin and putting it away. Christ has reconciled
his people to God through his sacrifice, through his obedience,
and we can never be separated from him again. Now that enables
us to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, even when
you're in the midst of a crushing trial. It's joy unspeakable. Somebody doesn't know Christ
can't understand, but you do, don't you? That's heart language.
You understand this exactly as joy unspeakable and full of glory. Christ has put my sin away, reconciled
me to God. Then the next one Peter mentions
here or Paul mentions is peace, peace. Believers have peace,
peace with God because Christ made peace for us by the blood
of his cross. Now, if the war's over, There's
peace, peace. And we can be persuaded of better
things than damnation if there's peace with God, can't we? Peace.
The long suffering. Believers are not yet what we
shall be, are we? We do not yet have full possession
of everything God promised for us, do we? But we believe that
it's coming. Why do we believe it's coming?
Because we believe God. And we're content to wait on
God to bring it to pass. We're long-suffering. We'll just
wait on God. He'll fulfill His promise. We're
long-suffering with one another. Because we can sympathize, can't
we? God's long-suffering with us.
We can be long-suffering with one another. Then gentleness. And that word means usefulness.
There's kindness. There's gentleness there, the
way we use gentleness, but the word here that Paul uses means
usefulness. And that brings me back to my
text, Hebrews chapter six, usefulness. Everything I've mentioned so
far are the things which accompany salvation. If all of these things
are not there, and it's not just, well, some of them are there
and some of them are not. If all of these things are not there,
there's no salvation. These are the things that always
accompany salvation. They bring salvation. They're
the automatic result of salvation in the heart. But the writer
to the Hebrews is not exactly talking about all these things
I've mentioned so far. He's talking specifically about
the outward evidences of salvation that are seen in believers. These
are good works, labors of love that a believer does because
they've got a nature that can't do anything else. Now, I saw
a story about this person that had a pet lion, kept it in their
house, a pet lion. And the lion was there for a
long time. And the person fed the lion.
The person rolled around and hugged on the lion and looked
like the lion put its little paw, big paws, you know, around
him. It looked like they had this loving relationship. And
one day, the lion bit the head off the guy. No surprise, was
it? Because the lion's got the nature
of a lion. that just bites the heads off
stuff. That's what a lion does. Well, believer has the nature
of a believer that cannot do these things. And the first one
is a labor of love, a labor of love, always accompanying salvation. Verse 10, Hebrews 6. For God's
unrighteous to forget your work and your labor of love, which
you have showed toward his name in that you have ministered to
the saints and do minister. Now, the first thing here, the
writer says that God's not unrighteous to forget your work of love. Now, what's he talking about
though? Your work. Well, this is not good works that believers
do, although they do, but this says work singular, doesn't it?
Look at John chapter six. I'll show you exactly what he's
talking about. This work is the work of faith in Christ, which
God puts in his people. John 6 verse 28. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom he has sinned. Now that's the work of God. It
says God has put this work. He's put faith in the hearts
of his people. They do labor of love. See, first comes this
work. First comes faith. And then this
labor of love comes out of it. It's motivated by love for God.
It's not because you're trying to get something from God. God's
already given you everything. If you believe Christ, God's
already given you everything. This labor is a labor of love. You love God and you want to
serve him. And this love works in everyone,
God says. everyone. Now, is that's a real
mysterious labor of love? And what is that mysterious?
So we don't know what it means exactly. No, the writer here
tells us exactly what it is. This labor of love is ministering
to the saints. It's ministering to the needs
of people. Now that certainly is in big
events. When someone has a death in the
family or disaster of some sort strikes, Y'all just come running
to the aid of one another. I'm so thankful for that. Recently, we had this situation. Some of the ladies were getting
food together, and one of our young ladies had to work the
next day. Janice said, don't worry about
it. She got to work. And she said, no. No, no, no. I can bring
something. I can do something. That thrilled
my soul to hear that. That's a labor of love. I'm going
to do what I can to help. That's a labor of love. But you
know, it goes beyond those things too. You know, you don't have
to wait for somebody who's got a death in the family and they're
just at their lowest possible time to do something for them.
It's everyday things that we can do for one another. Send
somebody a card. Call them on the telephone. Don't
text them. Call them. Call them and tell
them, I'm thinking about you. I care about you. I love you.
How's it going? If something needs to be done,
don't wait to be asked. Just do it. Just do it. If you
sense a need, just fill it. Because faith without works is
dead. Someone that says, I got faith,
but they don't do this labor of love, it's not real saving
faith. Remember one of the first things
we saw that accompanied salvation was God's election, wasn't it?
When Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, he told them,
I know you're elect of God. It's not because he saw their
names written in the Lamb's book of life. It was because he saw
how they follow the Lord and they love the brethren. That's
how he knew their election of God. Because where election is,
there's salvation. Where there's this labor of love,
there's salvation too. It goes hand in hand. It comes
from God's electing love to us. When Paul wrote to Philemon,
he told Philemon, I know you're beloved of God. I know that.
And Philemon, I know you got faith and love toward God. How
did Paul know that? Because he saw Philemon's labor
of love. He said, you've often refreshed
the brethren. You've often showed hospitality.
Philemon opened his wallet and he opened his home to people
because God had opened his heart. Wherever God has opened the heart,
They're this labor of love. See, the way we show our love
to God is by doing everything we can do to help His people. I can't see God. I can't touch
God. I can't touch His body. His body are the people who believe
Him. When you do that, especially
for these people you see sitting around you, do whatever it is
that you can do for them. God won't forget your labor of
love because God put it in you. He put it in you both the will
and to do of his good pleasure. God's not going to forget his
work for you and in you. He's not going to forget he put
faith in you. God gave you the will and he gave you the ability
to help your brethren. Well, you just do it and trust
the Lord to bless you. All right, here's the last thing.
This always accompanies salvation. It's hope to the end. Verse 11. And we desire that every one
of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
unto the end, that you be not slothful, but followers of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Now, believers
never quit. They just don't quit. They do
not quit hoping in God. And this hope I've told you so
many times is an expectation. Mike and I were just talking
about this. It's not presumption to expect salvation. by God's
grace. It's not presumption. As a matter
of fact, it's sinful not to expect it because God promised it. God's people are assured of it. This expectation always accompanies
salvation. Now, it'll ebb and flow. Sometimes
our hope and our faith is not as strong as it is at other times.
But believers don't quit. Oh, it gets weak sometimes. It
gets mighty weak where I can't see it, you can't either. It's
there. They won't quit hoping to the
end. Nobody who God saves ever quits. They never do. They never
start trusting in their own works. Nobody that God saves ever quits
trusting Christ because they think they need something other
than Christ alone. They'll never do it. Now they may be like in
our lesson this morning. They may be an erring brother
for a while, but God saved them. They'll come back. They'll turn.
They'll come back. God will bring them back. God
keeps His people diligent. The word He used, diligent, is
eager. God's people are eager. I love preaching here. This is
my favorite place to preach. Because you're eager. You're
eager to hear of Christ. You're eager to seek Christ and
hear more of Him because you need Him. It's easy to preach
to people who are eager to hear of Christ because He's their
only hope. And I just need constant reassurance
of who he is. To my natural mind, it seems
too good to be true that Almighty God could love somebody like
me and send his son to die for me. Tell me from God's Word one
more time, Hilary. I'm eager to hear that. Are you?
God's people are eager. I need to hear Christ again. That road won't always be easy.
It certainly won't be short. That's why it requires this diligence.
This long suffering is hoping to the end. But believers will
inherit everything God has promised for them. Everything. They just
won't quit. They won't quit. They patiently
wait for God to keep his word because they believe God. And
they won't be disappointed. They won't be disappointed. That
hope is going to end up one way. I'm persuaded of better things
for somebody that hopes to the end. That hopes can end one way.
Go away with Christ. That's the only way it can end.
Let's bow together in prayer. Father, we thank you for your
word. We thank you for the blessed reassurance of salvation in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that you'd grant
faith to each heart here this morning, that you'd cause us
to leave here rejoicing in and hoping in Christ, hoping to the
end. Father, we pray that you bless
your word to your glory, the hearts of your people. It's in
the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For his glory,
we pray and give thanks.