Well, turn back with me in your
Bibles to the book of Hebrews and the third chapter, Hebrews
chapter 3. We looked at the first six verses
last week. It was about the house that Christ
built. Christ, who is God, built the
house. and therefore more honour than Moses who was just a faithful
servant in all his house. But Christ built the house as
a son over his own house, as the inheritor of all things,
whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing
of the hope firm to the end. Let me remind you, as I keep
wanting to do in these days, the purpose of God is not for
a lovely world here and now, and everything being good, and
us doing all that we can to make it a better place. The purpose
of God is as it always has been, which is the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God. If you look back at verse five
of chapter two of Hebrews, It says, therefore, unto the angels
he put not in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
It's that world to come, whereof we speak, that is the kingdom
of God. That is the eternal purpose of
the kingdom of God. And he hasn't purpose to put
it in subjection to angels, but his purpose to put it in subjection
to what he calls in verse 16 of chapter 2, the seed, not of
Adam, but of Abraham, the seed of Abraham in eternal union with
God in Christ. How do we know God, the unknowable
God, in Christ? The seed of Abraham in eternal
union with Christ is what it is the purpose of God to subject
his kingdom to the rule of in the future. It's the people who
have the same God-given faith as Abraham. The people that the
scripture calls various things. It calls this people who will
rule with Christ, it calls those people his church. Don't think
of a building, don't think of an ancient building with stained
glass windows. Think of a body of people. Don't think of a body
of people who just mention the name of Christ, but a body of
people who truly believe the gospel that is revealed in this
book by God the Holy Spirit to his people. It's the body of
Christ of which he is the head. It's the elect of God. Oh, I
don't like that doctrine. Well, that means you're probably
not a member of his church unless you examine it and come to belief
of that. It's the elect of God, a multitude
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. They're people
that though he is our master, you call me Lord for so I am,
said Jesus to his disciples. But he also said, you're my brethren.
You're my brethren. You're my brothers and sisters.
He calls his people his children, the children whom God has given
him. It says even there, verse 14
of chapter two, the children are partakers of flesh and blood.
So he had to become as the children in flesh and blood. The church
of God, the people of God is the temple of the living God.
The people of God, the church of God, the body of Christ is
the bride of Christ, and he the bridegroom. And as we saw in
those first few verses of chapter 3, it's the house that God in
Christ built. It's the house that he built.
Living stones, as Ephesians chapter 2, towards the end of it says.
This is God's eternal purpose. Not this fallen sinful world
being improved, it's his kingdom. What did Jesus come preaching?
What are the opening words recorded of Jesus's ministry in the Gospel
of Mark? Jesus came preaching, repent
for the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is near. Repent for the kingdom of God
is coming. That's what Jesus came preaching.
If you are in eternal union with Christ, and how is that evidenced? How do we know that? It's evidenced
simply by your belief. of God's gospel truth. You believe
the gospel of God. Not the gospel made up by religion.
Not the gospel distorted by the sinful purposes of man. You believe
the truth of God's gospel. And then you are amongst that
number called, in chapter 2 verse 16, the seed of Abraham. The
seed of Abraham? The children of Abraham! Why
am I mixing all these metaphors? Because the scripture does. The
children of Abraham. Why are we the children? Isn't
that the Jews in the land of Israel? Aren't they the children
of Abraham? No! The Bible's quite clear.
Those who believe what Abraham believed are the children of
Abraham. If we believe what Abraham believed,
it's not by genetic descent that we're the children of Abraham,
it's by the faith of God's elect. The faith of God's elect, Titus
1 verse 1, the faith of God's elect. You share his faith, Abraham's
faith, concerning redemption from sin, that's what he believed.
That's what he believed. He believed that the seed of
the woman would come. And how would the seed of the
woman come? God told him, he'll come via your descendants, Abraham. By your seed. But I haven't got
any children. He'll come by your descendants. But I'm an old man. He'll come
by your descendants, Abraham. And he believed God. And it came
to pass. The Lord Jesus Christ came. Read
the genealogies. The start of Matthew's gospel,
and then I think it's Luke, is it chapter three or four? Around
there. This world, as that old song used to say, do you know,
more and more, we're finding that things that we used to sing
in Arminian days, although the culture of the Arminian gospel
was very, very faulty, but lots of the little songs were full
of rich gospel truth. This world is not my home. I'm
just a passing through. I'm on my way to Zion. Onward to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful
Zion. Marching upward to Zion, the
beautiful city of God. We live in this world. We breathe
its air. We consume its resources. We
eat its food. We appreciate the beauty of God's
creation. But we don't love it if we're
the children of God. What did John say to his hearers? John in his epistle, not his
gospel, in his first epistle, he said, little children, love
not the world, nor the things that are in the world, for the
world's passing away. Love not the world. We don't
love it. With Abraham, we look for a city. As it says in Hebrews
11 verse 10, we look for a city which has foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. We're crucified with Christ. When he died, we died in him,
and we're risen with him. So look what Colossians chapter
3 says. It says, if ye then be risen
with Christ, seek Not the things of this world, but those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Why? For ye are dead, as far
as this life is concerned. You're dead because of sin. You're dead and your life is
hid with God. With Christ in God. You know,
in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, Paul says, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I'm thinking
and I'm breathing and doing all those other things. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for
me. You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, listen, this is the hope,
then shall you also appear with him in glory. What a glorious
hope we have. Here we have no continuing city,
but we seek one to come. We're adopted children. We're
adopted children of the kingdom of God. Romans chapter 8 and
verse 15. You have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, adopted into the
family of God. The spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, we're not servants. Heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs
with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him, that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. This is a place
of suffering, isn't it, in this world? Joint heirs with Christ. He is appointed heir of all things,
Hebrews 1 verse 2. Now, does this describe you in
your experience of belief in the Son of God? If it does, you
have assurance that whenever the time comes for you to leave
this life, as we all surely must, just like that thief on the cross,
you will pass straight into the eternal rest, rest, rest of the
paradise of God. Jesus said to him, this day,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, this day you shall be with me
in paradise. You will close your eyes in death,
that felon on the cross next to him, that repentant felon,
you will close your eyes in death and you will awake with Christ
in eternity. But there's an if, there's an
if. Can you answer? Yes, that's me. There's an if,
there's an if. Look at verse six of chapter
three. Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we
if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm
to the end? Verse 14, for we are made partakers
of Christ, and that's what I've called this message, a people
made partakers of Christ, for we are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Why the conditional there? Why
the if? Isn't this a doubting thing?
We shouldn't doubt, should we? Why the if? Is it not certain
that all God's people will go to be with him? There's no doubt
about it. Why the if? The answer is this, very simply.
It's because of false profession. All true believers are eternally
saved. But all who profess faith do
not necessarily have real faith. It's illustrated in various ways
in the scripture. Do you remember the parable of
the sower? The sower went forth to sow his seed and some of the
seed that he scattered landed on the pathway and it... The
birds of the air came down and took it straight away. The seed
is the word of God. The seed is the gospel preached.
The seed being sown is the white horse of Revelation chapter 6
riding forth. It's the gospel of God's grace.
And some, a lot of it, falls on the wayside. And the birds
of the air just take it away. And some falls on ground which
is okay, it's stony, and it looks for a while as if it's rooting.
It looks for a while as though it's germinated. It gives an
appearance of having received that seed and started to grow,
but the ground It corrupts it, it doesn't have a deep root,
and so it doesn't thrive and it dies. The sun comes up and
it shrivels and dies. And other lands on what might
be thought of as slightly better ground, but it's ground where
thistles and thorns also like the ground and flourish. And
it says as the corn grows up, as the plant grows up, the thistles
and the thorns grow up with it and they entangle it. And if
you're a gardener, you'll know that there are certain weeds,
we have a lot of a weed out there which is known as bindweed. Timothy
knows about this well from when he cuts the hedge for me because
At certain times of the summer, the majority of the hedge is
bindweed. There's just loads of it. It
just chokes the real plant that's there. And some falls on good
ground. You know, there's some that appears
as though it's true, but in actual fact it isn't. We need to heed
the warnings of Scripture, because they're there for our learning.
They're there to teach us. Look at them. Hebrews chapter
3, verse 12. Take heed. Brethren, take notice, brethren,
pay attention, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Chapter
six of Hebrews, chapter six, verse four. It is impossible
for those who were once enlightened, you know, the grain that fell
amongst the stony ground and it looked like it was growing.
It's impossible for those who were once enlightened and have
tasted the heavenly gift. Oh, this is a good thing, isn't
it? Eternal life. And were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, looked like they were, and have tasted the good
word of God. This is powerful stuff, yes. Tasted the good word of God and
the powers of the world to come. It's impossible if they shall
fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10. and verse
26, Hebrews 10 verse 26, for if we sin willfully after we
have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no
more sacrifice for sins. Verse 29, Of how much sorer 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 hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace. And verse 38, now the just shall
live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him. 2 Peter, 2 Peter, chapter two. And verse 20, for if after they
have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the
way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from
the holy commandment delivered unto them. And chapter 3 of 2
Peter, verse 17, ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these
things before, beware, lest ye also, being led away with the
error of the wicked, that's Satan, fall away from your own steadfastness. Now be in no doubt, true faith
always stays. Faithful to God, always. Jesus, in John 15, in the opening
verses there, talked about him being the vine, the grape plant,
the vine rootstock. And he said, you are the branches.
He that abides in me, that sap of the truth of God is constantly
feeding. He said, you must abide in me. Abide, the branches abide in
the rootstock. Abide in him. There are many
examples given in scripture of people who seemed to be going
the right way, but fell away to their own eternal destruction.
There's examples given in the epistles, Hymenaeus and Alexander
are ones who fell away. Paul had somebody with him, it
seems, when he was in Rome in house arrest, Demas, Demas, who
was one who served to Paul's needs, and he said, Demas has
left me, having loved this present world. John said, little children,
love not the world. Demas loved the world and went
away. Demas has left me. Here's the
vital question. Do I trust Christ to have redeemed
me from the curse of the law? Do I rejoice in him? No confidence in the flesh. Do
I rejoice in him and the cleansing of his blood to fit me for God's
kingdom? Is that me? We're told, we're
encouraged. 2 Corinthians 13, 5 and 6. Examine yourselves,
whether ye be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be reprobates. But I trust that ye shall know
that we are not reprobates. Is my confidence in Christ alone,
or is it mixed with other bets in this life, the other things
that we hope for in this life? Does my heart echo what the hymn
writer wrote, bold shall I stand, confidence, bold shall I stand
in that great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay? I know
that it's well with my soul. we can be sure we are part of
Christ's house. We can be sure that we are partakers
of him if we continue to the end in the true faith of God's
elect. Examining yourself is not something
to be concerned about, so long as you don't do too much, it's
not something to be too concerned about. Don Faulkner said this,
he said, I would rather go to heaven questioning, examining,
the sincerity and truthfulness of my own heart and faith in
Christ, I'd rather to go to heaven questioning, examining myself,
than go to hell having deluded myself with presumption that
I'm God's child when really I'm not. So is there anything that
can help us be alert? and avoid heart deception? And the answer is yes, of course,
the Scripture. Romans 15 verse 4 says this,
for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope. What has the Scripture given
us to encourage us in this? to teach us, to cause us to walk
faithfully in the right way, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Well, there's the example of
the Israelites' unbelief, and that's what the writer here,
Paul, I believe it is, in the second half of chapter three,
He points to this as the example of keeping going and not being
as they were and looking away. Whose house are we, verse six,
if we continue, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing
of the hope firm to the end. And then in verse seven, wherefore,
as the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of temptation, in
the wilderness. Now that is quoting Psalm 95
verses 7 to 11, which we read at the start of the service.
Read that Psalm again. It's speaking about the Israelites
having come out of Egypt and falling away in unbelief in 40
years of wilderness wandering. Israel was in bondage in Egypt. You know, God sent them down
there in the days of Jacob. Before Jacob died, they went
down there. Joseph went there and became ruler in Egypt, because
there was great famine. Just exactly as God had prophesied
to Abraham back in Genesis 15, your people, the people that
will come, will be bond slaves in another country. That's what
he was referring to, 400 and odd years earlier. And they'd
gone down there, and the Pharaoh of the time, when Joseph was
long forgotten, they badly treated the Israelites, and they made
them slaves, and they put great burdens upon them. Egypt was
a world empire. the first possibly world empire
in the pattern of Babel, Nimrod and Babel, the Tower of Babel,
which was Satan's attempt to produce an alternative to the
kingdom of God. Satan's attempt was to make,
and it always has been and it still is this day, worldwide
unity. Globalism, you hear that, the
people that want a global government in this world, it all comes from
the same thing. A world empire patterned on Babel
and Nimrod, a utopia reaching to heaven, a tower, the tower
of Babel reaching to heaven, all symbolism, all metaphor,
reaching to heaven but without satisfaction of the justice of
God. For God's purpose for his kingdom
is that his justice concerning sin must be upheld and must be
maintained. The people from whom the seed
of the woman would come, Abraham's seed, were in bondage in Egypt. The people from whom the seed
of the woman would come, the promised seed of the woman, Genesis
3.15, from Abraham's seed would come to redeem his church. These people were in Egypt, and
God, by Moses, brought them out of Egypt. Read all about it in
Exodus. And it's pictured in the journey
out of the bondage of sin in Egypt, into the rest, the liberty,
the freedom from slavery, of salvation in Christ, which is
pictured by the promised land to which they were led, told
to go. And they were told, these people,
when they came out, believe God, obey his instructions via Moses,
and you will enter the rest of Canaan. Can you see the parallels
with where we are now? believe God, obey the gospel,
believe the gospel of Christ that you hear preached to you,
that Christ will speak to you in your heart as you read his
word, obey the gospel revealed to you, and you will enter the
rest, not of Canaan, which was just a picture at that time,
you will enter the rest of God's kingdom, of God's eternal kingdom,
but they being sinners, they hardened their hearts in unbelief. Verse 8 of chapter 3, harden
not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation, in
the wilderness. Harden not your hearts. When
your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years,
they'd seen all that God had done, bringing them out of bondage
in Egypt. They'd seen all the way in which
they were they were dying of thirst when they came out and
they cried to Moses and this well what has God done bringing
us out of Egypt we had water a plenty and God and Moses prayed
to God and God said take your rod with which you did all those
miracles those plagues in Egypt and here's a rock and strike
that rock And a million people, their thirst was quenched. Out
of that rock came water. What was that a symbol of? What
was that a symbol of? That rock, it tells us in the
New Testament, that rock was Christ. For out of him, he said,
he that believes in me, out of his inner being shall come rivers
of living water. All those ways, they saw his
works for 40 years, yet they tempted with unbelief. Exodus
17 is not long into the journey out from the Passover. Verse
2 of Exodus 17, wherefore, the people did chide with Moses and
said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them,
why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And verse seven, and he called
the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding
of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord,
saying, is the Lord among us? You've brought us out here, is
the Lord among us or not? Is the Lord going to keep his
promise that we're going to his eternal kingdom, or is he not? They didn't believe. They doubted
the word of the one who cannot lie. Numbers 14. Numbers 14, verses 22 and 23. Because all those men which have
seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the
wilderness, and have tempted me now these 10 times. So it
went on and on, that unbelief and that tempting of God. And
have not hearkened to my voice. Listen what God says, surely,
"'They shall not see the land "'which I swear unto their fathers. "'Neither shall any of them that
provoked me see it, "'but my servant Caleb will.'" My servant
Caleb will. And so verse 11 of chapter three
of Hebrews, "'So I swear in my wrath "'they shall not enter
into my rest.'" They wouldn't enter into the rest of the promised
land of Canaan because of their unbelief. And so, with us today,
what will keep us from attaining that eternal kingdom of God,
that eternal kingdom of bliss? Answer, unbelief. A hardened
heart of unbelief. Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as they did in the day of provocation,
in the day of temptation in the wilderness. Take heed of an evil
heart of unbelief. It wasn't all of them, verse
16, for some, when they had heard, did provoke. How be it? Not all
that came out of Egypt with Moses. There were those that were faithful,
Joshua and Caleb, et cetera. But take heed, verse 12, take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living God, because that is calling
God a liar. Unbelief is calling God a liar. In our society, the idea of agnosticism
is not rejecting but not accepting, it's kind of sitting on the fence
and not being able to decide, is regarded as intellectually
superior. No, it's not. It's an evil heart
of unbelief, calling God, who cannot lie, a liar. It's departing
from trust in God, which, verse 14, we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to
the end. If We are made partakers of Christ. We can't doubt God.
We cannot call him a liar and disbelieve his promises if we're
made partakers of Christ. If we're in eternal union with
God in Christ, you know, chosen in Christ, when? Before the foundation
of the world. Chosen, when did he give to us
that promise of salvation? Second Timothy chapter one, before
time was, before the world began. In eternal union with God in
Christ, nothing can separate us from him. Romans chapter 8
says it, and it's an oft-quoted passage. But what shall we then
say, verse 31, to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Is God for you? Who can be against
you? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, all his people, how shall he
not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died for his people, yea, rather, that is risen again.
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, trouble, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? No, in all things we're more
than conquerors through him that loved us. So we're partakers
of Christ if we continue. If we're made partakers of Christ,
it's proven that we are if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast to the end. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
30, it says of the church, of the people of God, the elect
of God, we are members of his body, of his flesh. and of his
bones. He is the head, we are the body.
We are so united with him that that picture is vividly true.
We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
We're in eternal marriage union with him. There's going to be
that marriage supper of the Lamb in eternity, Revelation 19. It's
like It used to be in British law, the legal responsibility,
I know it was all corrupted and twisted because of sin, but the
truth is this, the legal responsibility of a husband for his wife and
to his wife. That's Christ with his church.
I speak of Christ and the church when Paul in Ephesians 5 is talking
about husbands loving wives, as Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it. His merits, the merits of Christ,
are ours who believe Him. Do you believe Christ? Do you
trust in Him? As far as the justice and righteousness
of God is concerned, everything that the beloved Son in whom
the Father was well pleased is, we are in Him. My sin, union
with Him, my sin was made His, and He paid for it. He paid the
price of justice for it perfectly. His lifeblood, not corruptible
things like jewels and the things of this world, but the precious
blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, His lifeblood,
the life is in the blood, His lifeblood made satisfaction to
divine justice for all whose sins He bore in His own body,
as Peter says, on the tree, on the cursed tree, as He has paid
the debt of the sins of his people. Is that him? I think it's top
lady, isn't it? Payment God cannot twice demand. First, at my bleeding surety's
hand, the one who died and shed his blood for me, he demanded
payment there, and that payment was made. But God cannot twice
demand it. If Christ has paid it, as Romans
8 told us, who shall bring any charge against us? There's nothing
more to pay. We are partakers of Christ. We are made the righteousness
of God in Him. We are built on Him. The temple
of God, built on Him. He who is the chief cornerstone. The stone which the builders,
the religious folk, the Jews, those that should have known
better, they rejected the chief cornerstone, which is Christ.
But we are built on Him. We are rooted in Him. We are
grounded in him, rooted in the vine stock, the root stock of
the vine. We are the branches connected
to the root stock. His resurrection from the dead
is the guarantee of our resurrection from the dead. I remember years
ago, there was that Bishop of the Church of England, Durham,
I think it was, Jenkins, was that his name? And he said that
you didn't need to believe in the resurrection, literal resurrection,
to be a Christian. Well, you believe what you like,
but you're not a child of God who is heading for that eternal
abode if you do not believe that. Because His resurrection, the
resurrection of Christ, is the guarantee of the resurrection
of His people. He is made unto us. 1 Corinthians
1.30, He of God is made unto us. Christ of God is made unto
us. Wisdom from God, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption. Regarding entry to that eternal
glorious abode of God, what more could you need to be made? Christ
is made wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
What more could we possibly need? And the proof that we are? The
proof that we are partakers? The proof that we are partakers
of Christ, made partakers of Christ, we hold the beginning
of our confidence. What did you first trust in when
you believed the gospel? We hold it steadfast to the end. How can we avoid the error of
the Israelites? Because did not they come out
of Egypt with all the ones who believed? Did not they all come
out with Caleb and Joshua and Moses? Did they not all come
out? How can we avoid the error of
unbelief of those Israelites? You know, it says they all. You read 1 Corinthians 10. You
read 2 Corinthians 3. They all came out and went through
the same experiences of the hand of God upon them, and yet many
of them perished in unbelief. How can we avoid the error of
the Israelites? Oh, the eternal torment to get
to that day and discover that you were so close to those who
truly believed the gospel, but you weren't amongst them. Oh,
how serious that is, isn't it? Meditate on these things. Think
on these things. What can we do? Answer, verse
13. Hebrews 3, 13. Exhort one another
daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is so deceitful. The delusion
of Satan. You know how Satan deceived Eve? who was sinless in the Garden
of Eden, and yet, on probation, she was tricked by Satan. And
Adam was not deceived. He knew what he was doing, but
for love of Eve, he himself cast the whole of his race into sin.
Because of sin and the weakness of the flesh, these things are
very deceitful. We're easily tricked by it. We're
hardened against the things of God to doubt and to disbelieve. But what's the answer? Exhort
one another while it is called today. Exhort one another daily
while it is called today. Mutual fellowship is what we
need. Strengthening of the brethren.
I just want to, when I was preparing this, this verse occurred to
me. Ecclesiastes chapter four and verse nine. Listen to this.
You say, what's this got to do with spirituality? Everything.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their
labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.
But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath
not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then
they have heat. But how can one be warm alone?
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him. And
a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. You know, one thread
might be quickly broken, but a three-fold one. Fellowship
in the things of Christ. This is the thing. Like Christian's
companion hopeful in the pilgrim's progress, they encouraged one
another on the way. So what do we do? Meet together.
You say, we can't meet together for this reason and that. What
about the internet? It's so easy today, isn't it? We can study together. We can
encourage one another. We can warn when we see us falling
into errors, not judgmentally, but out of compassion and love
for a brother or a sister. When we see brethren enticed
by the things of the world, warn one another lovingly, out of
care for their soul. Our goal is God's kingdom. Our
goal, we don't look for a city here, we have no continuing city
here, but we look for one to come, that city to come. And
we will certainly arrive and enter if we keep on believing
God in his strength. What does it say? Run the race
before us, run the race before us, looking unto Jesus. The author Oh, but bless God,
he's the finisher also. He's confident, said Paul, about
the Philippians, that he who began a good work in you shall
complete it. God will complete it. Keep looking
to him. Amen.