I will be a few minutes getting
there, but my text tonight is 2 John, verse 8. 2 John, verse
8. And while you're finding that
text, listen carefully. I want to talk to you about faith.
Faith in Christ. The scriptures never really define
faith. You will search the book of God
in vain to find the definition given of what faith is. It's identified for us as the
substance of things, the evidence of things hoped for, the substance
of things not seen. But faith is never really defined
in the word of God. Faith in Christ is altogether
spiritual. It is a heart matter. It has
absolutely nothing to do with any physical posture or physical
deed of any kind. You cannot come to Christ by
walking a church aisle, kneeling at a mourner's bench, rubbing
rosary beads and counting them, going to a confessional booth,
or repeating the sinner's prayer, any of those things. You cannot
come to Christ by a physical act. I repeat myself deliberately. Faith is a spiritual matter.
Faith in Christ is a heart matter. It has nothing to do with anything
physical. Faith, John Gill said, is emotion
of the soul unto Christ. That's a pretty good description
of faith. And yet, terms referring to bodily movements and bodily
acts are used throughout the scriptures as being synonymous
with faith. Let me show you a few. Faith
is called seeing Christ. Our Lord Jesus said, this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the
son and believeth on him may have life, have everlasting life. If you would see Christ, Christ
must be revealed to you by the gospel, revealed in you by God
the Holy Spirit. You must be given eyes of the
soul with which to behold him. If you would see Christ, Christ
must be revealed to you. And seeing the Son is life everlasting. Faith is the site of Christ's
glory and excellence, the crucified, risen, exalted Savior. It is
a site of His fullness and perfection, the fullness and perfection of
His grace, His righteousness, and His redemption, the completeness
and suitableness of Christ as the Savior for sinners. Faith
in Christ beholds him as the author and finisher of faith,
beholds him as that one who is altogether lovely, the chiefest
among 10,000. Faith is created in us. by God
causing light to shine out of darkness into our hearts, giving
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. So that sinners born of God and
taught of God look to Christ and behold everything we need
in him. Faith is spoken of as seeing
Christ and faith is called coming to Christ. To whom coming brother
Merle read just a little bit ago as unto a living stone Disallowed
indeed of men but chosen of God and precious hear what the Lord
says Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. He says, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
The spirit and the bride say come and let him that is a that
here say come and let him that is a thirst come And whosoever
will let him come and take the water of life freely if you would
have life come to christ Come to christ and coming to christ.
You will have the life that you seek from him. Listen to our
savior again Jesus said unto them. I am the bread of life
He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. In Hebrews 6, 18, faith is described
as fleeing to Christ. Sinners needing mercy. Sinners
knowing their guilt, sinners fearing the wrath of God, flee
to Christ like the manslayer fled to the city of refuge for
his safety in the Old Testament. Those cities of refuge are portraits
and pictures and types of the Lord Jesus. And they were located
throughout the land of Israel so that anyone who was guilty
of manslaughter could, within a day's journey, easily reach
one of those cities of refuge and there be safe. The believer,
the sinner, trusting Christ, flees to Christ for refuge. Fleeing to him, we have refuge
from the wrath of God. Faith is seeing Christ, coming
to Christ, fleeing to Christ, laying hold on Christ, leaning
on Christ. Esther's venturing into the presence
of King Ahasuerus, saying, if I perish, I perish, is a beautiful
picture of faith in Christ. Venture on him. Venture holy. Let no other trust intrude. Venture
your soul upon Christ. But hear me, you who are without
Christ, unlike Esther, you are invited more than invited. You are commanded by Christ the
Lord to come to him. And there is no venture involved. If you come to Christ, you're
welcome. If you come to Christ, you're
welcome. No matter who you are, no matter
what your circumstances, no matter what you've been, no matter what
you've done, you come to Christ, you're welcome. He says him that
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Now there's, you
can read volumes of books written in the various, by various men,
various groups of folks today and throughout the history of
the church about what it is to come to Christ and how the sinner
must come to Christ. Any way you can come, come on.
Any way you can come, come to Christ. Him that cometh to me,
the Savior says, I will in no wise cast out. I can but perish
if I go. I am resolved to try. If I stay
away, I know I must forever die. But if I die with mercy sought,
when I, the king, have tried, this were to die, delightful
thought, as sinner never died. Another bodily motion used in
the scriptures to portray faith is receiving Christ. To as many
as received him, to them gave it power to become the sons of
God. Christ is received not merely
into the head, not merely into the mind, but in the heart. With
the heart, man believes the son of God under righteousness. That
is, he believes the son of God with reference to righteousness.
It is not that our righteousness, our faith, our righteousness
comes from our believing. No, no, no, no. We believe on
the son of God with our hearts, with reference to righteousness,
so that all righteousness, we look to Christ for it. The matter
of coming to Christ and receiving Him is to receive Him in our
hearts, trusting Him and Him alone as our righteousness, our
salvation, our redemption. And when a man receives Christ,
Receives Christ in his heart. He comes down from his high tree
of self-exaltation and high esteem of himself and self-righteousness
Like Zacchaeus came down from the sycamore tree and gladly
receives the Lord Jesus Christ Faith receives the whole Christ
Not parts of Christ the whole Christ. He is all together lovely
so that faith looks upon Christ and receives him as he is, rejoicing
that he is as he is. Faith has no objection to anything
that Christ declares himself to be and reveals himself to
be in this book, but rather looks upon him in all his being as
altogether lovely. We receive Christ like the children
of Israel ate the Passover. They ate the whole lamb. And
so the sons and daughters of God Almighty receive all of Christ,
God and man, prophet, priest, and king, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And faith is bowing to Christ. If you would be saved, you must
bow to Christ the Lord. If you would be saved, you must
bow to Christ the Lord. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust."
Brother Scott Richardson said, the thing you must do is take
your place in the dust before his sovereign throne. And that's
where you will find his mercy and grace, bowing to Christ Jesus
the Lord. Turn, if you will, to Matthew
chapter 16. I want you to see this. Matthew chapter 16. Hear
what the Savior says. This is what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about bowing to Christ. Matthew 16 and verse 24. Then
said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me,
Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Deny his righteousness, his goodness,
yes. Deny himself, deny his worth,
yes. But more than that, deny himself. Deny himself. What's that mean?
What's that mean? Look at the next slide. For whosoever
will save his life shall lose it. and whosoever will lose his
life for my sake shall find it. Faith is nothing less than the
surrender of my life to Jesus Christ the Lord, lock, stock,
and barrel, so that I have no claim on anything. I belong to
him. Lose your life to Christ. That's
what faith in Jesus Christ is. But perhaps looking to Christ
is used more commonly than any other physical bodily motion
to portray faith in him. To believe on the son of God
is to look to him. Look unto me and be you saved
all the ends of the earth. Our Lord Jesus uses this very
analogy, referring to the children of Israel looking to the brazen
serpent. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Our Lord uses the term
looking and believing synonymously. He's telling us that looking
to Christ, looking to him for everything, as a child looks
to his parents, looking to him for everything, as a servant
looks to his master, looking to him for everything, is believing
on him. As the children of Israel being
bitten of fiery serpents were dying in the wilderness, but
everyone that looked to the brazen serpent. Everyone that looked
to the brazen serpent, as soon as he turned his eyes toward
that lifted up serpent of brass was made whole. That's what it
is to believe on the son of God. It is to look to him for everything,
looking to him for all righteousness, for all redemption, for all pardon,
for all atonement. In our text here in 2 John verse
8, God the Holy Ghost tells us that looking to Christ necessitates
looking to ourselves. Look to yourselves. Do you see
it? 2 John verse 8. Look to yourselves. Now that's my subject this evening.
Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have
wrought but that we receive a full reward. Four times in this book,
we're commanded by our God to look to a specific thing with
regard to salvation. May God, the Holy Spirit, give
us grace to do so. Let's begin back in Isaiah chapter
45, that passage I quoted just a few minutes ago. Isaiah 45
and verse 22. Isaiah 45 and verse 22. Here, the Lord Jesus calls for
sinners to look to him and be saved. I'm calling on you, you
who hear my voice, to look to Christ and be saved. Look unto
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and
there is none else. And look at this line by line.
Look to me. not to idols, not to things that
you conjure up and imagine to be God. Look to me, look to me,
not to the works of your hands, not to the things that you do.
Look to me, not to your own righteousness, not to your mourning and sorrow,
not to your repentance and reformation, not to your graces and evidences.
Look to me, not even to your faith. Look to me. We have Struggles
with assurance. Now, I try to help with this
all I can because I try to help myself with it all I can. Struggles
with assurance arise from looking elsewhere. Look to me, the Savior
says. Look off all of the things and
look to Christ alone for righteousness and pardon for all supplies of
grace here and of glory hereafter. When in the dark, look to Christ
for light. when dead and lifeless look to
Christ for life. I finished preparing this message
last night and looked over it a good bit last night and again
this morning and oh, how dead and lifeless my soul. If I look to the liveliness that's
in me toward God for hope, I would never have any. I would never
have any. Oh, how empty, barren, dead,
and lifeless. When dead and lifeless, look
to Christ for life. He is our life. When sick, look
to Christ for healing. When hungry, look to Christ for
food. When disconsolate, look to Christ for comfort. Look at
the next line here. And be you saved. Look unto me. Be you saved he didn't say look
to me and you may be saved He said look to me and be you saved
the Lord Jesus is set forth in the gospel and by the preaching
of the gospel as the singular object of faith Here Christ himself
calls and commands sinners to look to him promising salvation
to all who look now here God's promise and understand it and
If you trust Jesus Christ, salvation is yours. Charlie Mathers, that
doesn't mean if you trust Christ like you ought to, you don't.
That doesn't mean if you feel like you trust Christ like you
ought to, you never will. If you do, I'm sorry for you. That doesn't mean if you trust
Christ and you think you're trusting him right, then you're saved.
No, it means if you trust Christ, salvation's yours. If you trust
Christ, salvation's yours. Mr. Spurgeon once was speaking
to a lady in his congregation, an older saint, who all her lifetime
struggled with this matter of assurance. And she said, I just
don't think I have faith in Christ. And Spurgeon finally looked at
her after getting a little upset with her continually coming to
him. He said, sister, oh, my soul, that's me. Oh, my
soul. Somebody shoot the pastor. My face good and red? Sorry. Sorry. Now, what was I saying? He said,
he said, Sister, are you here to tell me that you don't trust
Christ? And she said, Oh, no, I couldn't
say that. He said, believing on Christ is salvation. Be you saved. Look at the next
line. All the ends of the earth, all
the ends of the earth. The son of God calls for sinners
everywhere. everywhere to look to him. He sends his gospel by his servants
to proclaim the gospel, seeking out and finding centers, publishing
salvation to them. And it gives this next declaration
to assure us that we may confidently rest our souls upon him and believe
his word. For I am God and there is none
else. Look to me. I'm God. there is
none else. Because he's God, there's virtue
enough in his blood to pardon and cleanse sin. Because he's
God, there's virtue enough in his righteousness to justify
from all sin. Because he's God, there's virtue
enough in his sacrifice to expiate sin and make atonement for it.
Because he's God, we may safely look to him and trust our souls
to him. All right, turn back to the book
of Job. Job 35. Look unto me, the Savior says.
Here in Job 35 and verse 5, Elihu instructs us to look unto the
heavens. Look unto the heavens and see
and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. Now get the
context. Job has been listening to his
three miserable comforters and Elihu has been listening to them.
He's been listening to the banner back and forth between Job and
his miserable comforts. And here Elihu is reproving Job,
rightly so, because Job spoke too much of his righteousness
to his accusers. Here We're reminded that God
is infinitely above us. Let's read these first eight
verses of this chapter together and recognize that God has no
need of us. God has no need of anything from
us. Job chapter 35, verse 1. Elihu
spake moreover and said, Thinkest thou this to be right? that thou
saidest, my righteousness is more than God's? For thou saidst,
what advantage will it be unto thee? And what profit shall I
have if I be cleansed from my sin? I will answer thee, and
thy companions with thee. Look unto the heavens, and see,
and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. If thou sinnest,
What doest thou against God? If you sin, do you think you've
injured God? If you do evil, do you think
you've hurt God? Read on. If thou be righteous,
what givest thou him? If you do something good, if
you should perform perfect righteousness, do you imagine that you've contributed
something to God? Read on. Or what receiveth he of thine
hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man
as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the Son of man. Now,
this is what Elijah was telling us. Our sin doesn't hurt the
Almighty. Man's unbelief doesn't defeat
or hinder God in his purpose. Our goodness, our righteousness
cannot reach the throne of his holiness. Turn over a few pages
to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. And hear this cry of
the psalmist David. As you read the psalm, remember
this psalm is spoken by David prophetically of our Lord Jesus,
as will become obvious. Psalm 16, verse one. Preserve
me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. My soul thou has said
unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not unto
thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent
in whom is all my delight and look at verse 8 verse 8 I Have
set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved Therefore
my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall
rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell. Neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Clearly the psalm is prophetic
of our Savior. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. Now understanding this to be
our Savior speaking, he's telling us that we have great reason
to rejoice. His goodness in righteousness
and redemption extended not to God in heaven, who is eternally
and immutably the same, but to God's elect upon the earth. It
made good, made righteous, justified his people by his free grace
so that we are made excellent by him and made his delight.
Elihu's admonition is for Job and for us to look away from
ourselves unto God our Savior for everything. It is also an
admonition to us as it was to Job to look not to our woes but
upon God our Savior in heaven. I spoke to a dear friend today
for some time who's going through some heart-wrenching difficulties. Heart-wrenching difficulties.
And I endeavored to the best of my ability to encourage my
friend to look away from his woes to heaven. To look away
from his woes to God on his throne who sends the woes. For our light
affliction, Paul said, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While
we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal. For the things which are not
seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly
house and this tabernacle were dissolved, We have a building
not made of God and house, a building made of God and house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens. My God, give me grace in every
difficulty to lift my heart to heaven, above the earth, above
the things of the earth, above the people of the earth and rejoice
in God, my savior. Look in Isaiah chapter 51. Isaiah
chapter 51. Here's the third thing. God's faithful prophet here calls
for every safe center to look unto the rock. Isaiah 51, hearken
to me, you that follow after righteousness, you that seek
the Lord, look unto the rock which you're hewn and to the
hole of the pit which you dig. Look unto Abraham your father,
and unto Sarah that bear you. For I called him alone, and blessed
him, and increased him. Abraham, the father of the faithful,
was originally an idolater. Sarah was the daughter of Eve. Both were from the stock of fallen
Adam, of whom it is truly said, there is none that doeth good,
no, not one. When the Lord God commands us
to look back to the rock from whence we are hewn and to the
hole of the pit whence we are dig, he is saying these three
things. Look to me. Look to me. Don't
ever forget who you are and what you are by nature. We will never
value the Lord's righteousness until we're convinced that we
have none. And then Christ will become a precious Savior to our
souls. When we're convinced that we
are poor, lost sinners without Him, then unto you, therefore,
which believe, He is precious. Don't ever forget, He's saying
to us, what I've done for you. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But
you're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. Now, let's
look at 2 John. 2 John verse 8. Here God the Holy Spirit says,
look to yourselves. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Look to yourselves. With those
words of exhortation, the Lord God urges this elect lady, this
local church, every child of God, every local church, every
gospel preacher, to persevere in the faith of the gospel, to
persevere in the doctrine of Christ, and give no heed to the
countless deceivers, the countless antichrists who have entered
into the world denying the gospel, denying the doctrine of Christ.
You, my brothers and sisters, must look to yourselves. You must make your calling and
election sure. I can't do it and I won't try. I can't give you assurance and
I'll never try to give you assurance. I think Brother Ralph Barnard
was very accurate when he said only a lost sinner will try to
convince another lost sinner that he's saved. I'm not going
to try to do that. I'm not going to try to do it.
I'll do all I can to be of help to folks in any way I can, but
I'm not going to try to give anybody assurance. You must make
your calling and election sure. And you must not be moved away
from the hope of the gospel. You must persevere in the faith. The fact is when people abandon
the gospel, when they depart from the faith of Christ, they
make manifest the fact that they never knew the Savior. We're
never taught of God and we're never born again, never had faith
in Christ. Now understand the meaning of
those words. That doesn't mean cause somebody
gets mad at me and they can't listen to me anymore. They're
lost. No, that doesn't mean cause somebody gets mad at you and
they can't stand you anymore. They're lost. That's absurd. And that's awfully proud to think
such a thing. It does mean when somebody abandons
the gospel, abandons the faith of the gospel, abandons the worship
of God. They never knew God. Look back
at chapter 2 in 1st John. 1st John chapter 2 verse 18. Little children, it is the last
time. And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now
are there many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time.
Now watch what it says here. He's speaking of these antichrists.
They went out from us. They were originally part of
us. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they
had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us.
But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us. But you, you who are born of
God, you, you have been taught of God. You have an unction from
the holy one and you know all things. Turn back to Galatians
chapter 5. John's admonition throughout
his first, second, and third epistle, his admonition is to
give us assurance of faith in Christ by faith in Christ. And his admonition is to have
us constantly look to Christ alone and never be moved away
from the doctrine of Christ. This is what Paul did here in
Galatians. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 4. Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you, that if you be circumcised, if you do something
to make yourself righteous, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is
a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you've missed the grace of God altogether. You've
fallen from grace. Now, back in 2 John, verse 8. Look to yourselves that we lose
not the things which we have wrought. Now, carefully read
the text. Look to yourselves. Look to yourselves. You look to yourselves. Then
John says that we, he's not talking to you now, he's talking about
you, he's talking about we. That we lose not those things which
we have wrought. Now obviously, this has a distinct
and particular reference to pastors and gospel preachers. Those who
labor in the word and the doctrine of Christ for your soul's everlasting
salvation. That's what faithful men do.
They labor in the Word and in the doctrine of Christ for your
souls. They labor for your souls. John is telling us here, you
look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have
wrought. God's servants, faithful pastors,
genuinely care for the souls of men. They genuinely care for
those to whom they preach and for whom they labor. God's servants
look upon the people they serve for whose souls they labor as
their own sons and daughters. And now pastor, be honest before
God. When I came here, he asked me
to be your pastor 35 years ago. I said to Lindsay, Merle, Bob,
and you men who met with me, I said, before you call me as
your pastor, you find out everything you can about Don Fortner from
friend and foe. Because if I come here, we're
getting married. And I don't believe in divorce.
I won't abandon my family. It's not going to happen. Not
going to happen. I'm confident that God was in this thing. But
I have a responsibility. This is my family. This is my
family. And I look upon the loss of any in the family, those for
whom I labor, as a miscarriage of labor. The loss of a child. That's exactly how Paul spoke
to the Corinthians and to the Galatians. Turn back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. Let me show you. 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. Verse 1, we then as workers together with
him, as workers together with God, are you there? 2 Corinthians
6 what? Beseech you that you receive
not the grace of God in vain. David, don't receive this message
in vain. Don't hear the gospel in vain.
Seek to it that you profit from it. And then he gives a parenthetical
statement. Skip down to verse 3. Receive
not the grace of God in vain. We beseech you, giving no offense
in anything, that the ministry, the service be not blamed. But in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of Christ. in much patience, in affliction,
in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments,
in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by
knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God,
by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the
left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report,
as deceivers, yet true, as unknown, yet well known, as dying, and
behold, we live, as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having
nothing, and yet possessing all things. O ye Corinthians, Oh,
you who speak in doubt of me. Eucharistians, they charge Paul
with all kinds of stuff. These fellows came in accusing
him of being a false prophet, a misleader of their souls, one
who's using them for his own gain. He's, oh, Eucharistians. Our mouth is open to you. Our
heart is enlarged. You are not straightened in us,
but you're straightened in your own bowels. He speaks to them
like a father speaking to a rebel son. Yet you are not straightened
in us, but you're straightened in your own bowels. Now for a
recompense of the same, I speak as unto children, be ye also
enlarged. Look at second John again, verse
eight. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which
we have wrought. but that we receive a full reward. Obviously, John is not suggesting
that some of God's children have greater degrees of reward in
heaven than others do, that some will have great rewards and others
have great loss. That absurd God dishonoring doctrine
is nothing but the papist doctrine of purgatory in different language. John's doctrine here is exactly
that of the other apostles. He's saying, you who are born
of God, you who are taught of God, you who trust the Lord Jesus
are our reward and our crown. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter
two, 1 Thessalonians chapter two, verse 19. The reward of faithful men for
their labors are those who are born of God
and taught of God by their labors. Look at this. First Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse 19. For what is our hope or joy or
crown of rejoicing? What is it you think we labor
for? What is it you think we're seeking? are not even ye in the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. For ye are our
glory and our joy. Look unto me. Look unto the heavens. Look unto the rock. Look to yourselves,
my brothers, my sisters, my family. Look to yourselves, lest you
be moved away from Christ and the blessed hope of the gospel.
Turn to one more passage, Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Verse 12. Meryl Hart, I remember the day
you asked me to baptize you, and I've been your pastor now
for a long time. I'm saying this particularly to you, okay? And
everybody else here, particularly to you. Hebrews chapter 3, verse
12, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Take heed. Take heed. But exhort one another
daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. While it is said today, if you
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard,
did provoke. have be it not all that came
out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved
40 years? Was it not with them that sinned,
whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom he swear that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not. So we that so we that they could
not enter in. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Chapter four. Let us therefore
fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. They heard Moses and Aaron. They
received all the instruction of God and the law and the tabernacle.
but they didn't believe God. They were religious, but they
didn't believe God. They practiced religion, but
they didn't believe God. For we which had believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
that they shall enter into my rest, although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. You may still have
your bulletin in your Bible somewhere if you do. You might want to
read along. This is just what I had in mind
when I wrote this hymn for you. Oppressed with guilt, beset with
snares, to you, dear Lord, I call. On you I cast my woes and cares. Oh, do not let me fall. I seek
your grace and trust your power, while earth is my abode. Uphold
me in each trying hour in Zion's narrow road. How many who once
seemed so safe have given up their race. Hold thou me up,
I shall be safe. Uphold me by your grace. Though
bitter sorrows fill my cup and loads of guilt oppress, I'm safe
if Jesus holds me up and joyful if he bless. Hold thou me up
shall be my cry, while I have life and breath. And oh, may
Jesus Christ be nigh to hold me up in death. Our Heavenly Father, give us
grace to look to ourselves, each one, to make our calling and
election sure. Give us grace, our God, to walk
before you, trusting Christ the Lord. In good times, in bad,
in prosperity and adversity, we ask for grace, our God, to
uphold us in your way. Give us grace to walk by faith,
ever surrendered and ever surrendering our lives to Christ the Lord. For our friends, your children,
enduring great trouble, God comfort them and sustain them. Comfort them and sustain them
as only you can. Uphold us as only you can and
help us, our God, to uphold one another, to lift
up the hands that hang down, to strengthen the feeble knees,
to help our brethren along the way, to help one another through
difficulty and trial and heartache in this pilgrimage until at last
we enter into heaven's glory with our Redeemer. Amen. God bless you. You're dismissed.