as our salvation is concerned.
Our works before, in the process, and after we have come to experience
God's grace, contribute nothing to God's grace, and will not
ever cause God to take his grace from those to whom it is given. The sinner's only hope is the
free grace of God given to needy sinners through the blood and
righteousness of Jesus Christ, his darling Son. We cannot stand
before God on any ground except the ground of Christ's imputed
righteousness through the merit of his blood atonement. Our only
acceptance with God is Jesus Christ. And those to whom God
grants his salvation are saved forever. Our Lord says, I give
unto them each life. That means David Burge, if he's
given you life, he'll keep it for you. He'll never take it
away and you can't lose it. That's exactly what it means.
But there is a faith which is a delusion. Now here's a terribly
sobering fact plainly revealed in Holy Scripture and we will
be wise if we lay it to heart. It is quite possible for men
and women to have an undisturbed peace, an unshaken assurance,
and an unquestioned security with regard to their eternal
destiny, and yet have no saving interest in Christ. If that fact
is not alarming to you, it should be. The Lord God sounds this
blaring warning in words that ought never to be read or heard
lightly. that are at ease in Zion. Satan is a crafty, subtle foe. He knows that the surest way
to keep sinners from a saving knowledge of Christ is to give
them something else, to give them some satisfying, some conscious,
soothing at least what appears to be a suitable substitute,
some religious experience, some religious feeling or gift or
knowledge by which they can convince themselves that the grace of
God is surely theirs while they do not know the living God. Don't
be deceived. Many have gifts who have no grace. Many profess faith which they
do not possess. Countless thousands enjoy peace
who have no knowledge of pardon. Hordes of men and women, orthodox
to the core, are yet without life before God. There is a form
of godliness possessed by multitudes, but a form of godliness possessed
by men who deny the very power of godliness, the gospel of God's
grace. Many, we are told, have a name
that they live. while they are dead. They have
whited sepulchers, but inwardly they are just dead men's bones.
The fact is, hell is bulging with eternally damned souls who
went there with a song on their lips and a song in their hearts
and a Bible in their hands, absolutely sure, Larry, they were on the
road to glory. Absolutely sure. Singing blessed
assurance Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine When all the other apostles Were fearful all of every last
one of them. I said Lord, is it I? Is it I? Is it I all but Judas? He was
just cocksure. Everything's all right with him Does that not surprise you Remember
Lot's wife. When she felt most secure, she
went straight to hell. There's nothing on this earth
more fearful than carnal security, the carnal security of carnal
religion without Christ. More than 20 years ago, I received
a letter from a man. He'd heard one of my tapes. This
is what he said. I never doubted my salvation. While I continued
to live contrary to God's word, I thank God that some twenty
years after my profession, he gave me possession of his spirit. There's a huge difference between
professing faith and possessing it. Tonight I want us to bring
our faith to the word of God. I want us to do what the scriptures
command us to do, examine ourselves. to see whether we'd be in the
faith, to pray that God the Holy Spirit will search our hearts
and try us and make us know if we are yet in the way of the
wicked and lead us in the way everlasting. Let us give diligence
now to make our calling and election sure. Our text will be Hebrews
chapter 6, verses 4 through 20. You'll find the title of my message
in verse 6, if they shall fall away. Here is a solemn warning
against apostasy. In verses 4, 5, and 6, the Holy
Spirit shows us plainly that there are some people who have
what appears to be heavenly gifts, who have no grace whatever in
their hearts. We read in verse 4, for it is
impossible, impossible. A stronger word couldn't be used.
It's impossible. This is an absolute impossibility. It's as impossible as it is for
God to lie. This is impossible. For those
who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the
good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they
shall fall away, it is impossible. It is impossible. to renew them
again to repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Now, these verses
speak of a people who have experienced much, professed much, and demonstrated
much in religion. And yet they are a people who
have no saving knowledge of Christ, no saving union with him. They
have faith, but it's a false faith. They've experienced conviction,
but it's a false conviction. They have repentance, but it's
a repentance that must be repented of. They've experienced religion,
but they haven't experienced the grace of God. The warning
of these verses is glaring and solemn. Beware of resting your
soul upon experiences, gifts, emotions, feelings, and knowledge. Beware. If you build your house
on this ground, you build your house on shifting sand, and it
will soon fall. Look what these people had experienced.
They were once enlightened. It's interesting that the Spirit
of God uses this term first. They were once enlightened to
an understanding of gospel truth. Now, our text is not talking
about heretics. It's not talking about Arminians, free willers,
Pathists, or Hindus. These are people who know the
truth, at least mentally. These people have an intellectual
submission to doctrinal truth as is presented in the gospel.
To them, the doctrines of the gospel are logical and reasonable. They see them written in the
scriptures and say, well, that's got to be so. The fact is, the natural
man. Now, I want you to hear this.
Some time back, I could hardly believe it. I've heard fellows
say it, and now I've read it. He said a man cannot believe
these things, what men commonly call Calvinism, and be lost. You listen to me. No, listen
to this book. The natural man can see anything
Larry Criss and Don Fortnum see. He can understand anything you
can understand. The natural man can be logical and precise. The natural man can read the
book and figure out the facts, doctrinal and historical, written
in the book. He can't see the glory of God
in the face of Christ. That's hidden to him. He can't
love the Redeemer. That's contrary to his nature.
But he can love the doctrine and fight you over it. These
folks had an enlightenment into the truth of God. The believer
is different. He knows, loves, trusts, and
rejoices in Christ. The natural man may be a better
theologian, but the believer knows the Master. Years ago I
read a story about a man, a well-trained, talented actor, who was called
upon on one occasion to stand before a large group of people
and read Psalm 23. And he read the Psalm just every
word pronounced exactly right, proper voice inflections, proper
pauses, everything exactly right. And when it got done, people
applauded and he sat down. A while later, one of his friends
was with him and they were in another assembly, and another
man, not very well trained, couldn't read very well, but he stood
before the assembly to read the 23rd Psalm. And when he began
to read. There was a hush that fell over
the crowd. And before he was done, folks wiped away their
tears. And when they left, this man's
friend said to him, said, I don't understand. He said, you read
that psalm just the other day. And folks were stunned by your
reading, but unmoved. This man. He stumbled through
the psalm. And folks were moved like I've
never seen folks moved before. What's the difference? He looked
at him and he said, I'm afraid the difference is this, I know
the psalm, he knows the shepherd. That's the difference. Multitudes,
we're told here, have tasted the heavenly gifts, who have
never tasted the grace of the gift of heaven. During the apostolic
age, Miraculous gifts were given to men. Some could heal diseases
and speak in tongues and prophesy. But miraculous gifts, which appear
to be gifts of the Spirit, are by no means an evidence of grace
in the heart. Though the gifts cannot be denied
or refuted, that's no evidence of grace in the heart. You see,
Judas had some gifts. Demas had some gifts. Deocrates
had some gifts. They wouldn't have been where
they were without them. Tasting the heavenly gifts and the powers
of the world to come is not salvation. Salvation is eating the bread
of life. Salvation is not a miraculous
power, but it's an immutable grace. Salvation is not feelings
and emotions and experiences, but rather salvation is Christ.
You know that difference, don't you, Father? It's a difference.
A man can preach with power and eloquence and not know God. right where you're sitting. And
I've listened to men preach and had my heart moved to worship
God. And the men preaching proved
themselves to be reprobate in time. A man can perform miracles
and not know God. Pharaoh's magicians did. A man
can cast out demons and yet be the messenger of Satan. Our Lord
speaks of some who said such in Matthew chapter 7. A man can
speak in tongues, but not speak in the power of God's A man can
preach, promote, defend righteousness, so everybody looks at him and
says, there's a moral crusader for righteousness! And yet be
the servant of him who changes his ministers of righteousness
and his preachers into angels of light. You see, spiritual
gifts and usefulness must not be looked upon as an evidence
of grace and salvation. Look at the text again. It speaks
of lost men and women who've been made partakers of the Holy
Ghost. Folks read that and they say,
well, Larry, that proves these folks were once saved and then lost.
Not at all. That's not at all what it says.
We know that's contrary to Scripture. We know that's contrary to the
statements plainly given in Holy Scripture concerning the eternal
salvation of God's elect. And we know that it's contrary
to the experiences of men revealed in this book. Wicked King Saul
was a man upon whom the Spirit of God came so that he prophesied,
and he was found in a school of prophets, but he didn't know
God. On one occasion we are told about Balaam, not a more wicked
prophet ever to be risen up out of hell than Balaam. And yet
Balaam prophesied concerning the things of God and the Messiah,
Christ our Redeemer. Why, shoot, even Balaam's ass
spoke by the power of God, and neither one of them were saved.
Caiaphas, the high priest, stood and spoke by the Spirit of God.
And when he did, Wes, he preached the gospel of substitution as
plainly as I've ever attempted to preach it. But he didn't know
God. You see, it's possible for men
to say and do things which, considered by themselves, make it appear
that they are partakers of the Holy Spirit, though they are
not born of the Spirit. There were many in our Lord's
day, as there are today. In that very passage that Larry
read to us earlier in John chapter 2, we're told of many who believed
on him because they saw his miracles. Something moved them. This has
got to be the Messiah. This has got to be the Christ.
This has got to be him of whom the prophets spoke, and they
believed them. But they never trusted him, and the Master refused
to commit himself to him. He knew what was in him. He knew what was in them. We're
told in verse 5 that these people have even tasted the good word
of God and the powers of the world to come. So I know he saved
us. I was there. I saw him under
conviction. There is a conviction. There's no conviction at all.
I've seen his life changed. There's a repentance. There's
no repentance at all. Why, he lives by faith like I've
never seen anybody live by faith. There's a faith that's no faith
at all. These folks love good preaching. They're moved by it.
You find them at every Bible conference. Their emotions are
stirred by the preaching of the Word. But that's all. That's
all. It never reaches their hearts. You see folks moved, and we sometimes
think because we are moved, somehow that's an evidence of life. Not
at all. You can go out to one of these
stagnant ponds, got silk growing all over it, throw a big rock
in it and it'll move for a while. It'll look like it's a flowing
river, but all it is is a stagnant pond somebody has stirred up.
There's a difference between that and a river bustling with
life, flowing by power that God alone can give. This is what
these verses tell us. It's quite possible for men and
women. That means you and me. to enjoy rare, unusual gifts
and experiences, and never experience God's saving grace in Christ.
Outward gifts and heartfelt emotions impress and they deceive. We've got to have something more.
Listen to what Paul says. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, Let me give you
another reading of that. I'm not stretching it at all.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not
Christ, he who is perfect love, I'm becoming sounding brass and
tinkling simple. Though I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries, all of them, all of them, Open
the book anywhere. What does that mean? I can tell
you right now, just like that. Understand all mysteries and
knowledge. And though I have faith so that
I can say to this mountain, be removed into the sea, and it
obeys me, and have not Christ, I am nothing. Though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, and have not Christ, it profits me nothing." Now look
at verse 6. Here's a fact that must be faced.
It must be dealt with. If we would be honest with the
word of God, honest with our own souls, and honest with the
souls of others, those who fall away are lost forever. That's what it says. It is impossible If they shall
fall away, to renew them again to repentance, seeing they crucify
to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame." Now I try to bend over backwards
and hope against hope, but I tell you what I've observed in 30
years of pastoring, and what I've observed. The same I've
watched a lot of people come in Sit down, get excited, make
a confession of faith, want to join the church, get started
reading the Bible, get started witnessing, get tapes and literature
and tracts, and oh, they're on fire. Why you hold them up in
the midnight hour and look like one of those sparklers you hold
up on the 4th of July, everybody can see it. Everybody can see
it. And they soon fizzle. They soon fizzle. Folks wonder
why I don't get so terribly excited when somebody shows a little
interest. I'll get excited, I'll get real excited, Bob, if I see
you sitting right there 20 years from now. 20 years from now. That's exactly
right. That's exactly right. And I see
them leave. Care of the world, deceitfulness
of riches. This thing, that, gets hold of
them, they leave. They go, gone, gone. And then they get a little
scared. Get a little disturbance, and
they come back. Sit down for a while. Glad to have you back. So thankful you're here. And
I never say it, but this is exactly what I think. It ain't gonna
last long. You know why? I've never seen
it last. I've never seen it. They forsake
Christ? And think they can walk back
in and take hold of him? Oh no. Now, you understand the doctrine
of scripture. God's elect shall not and cannot fall away and
perish. Those to whom the Good Shepherd
gives eternal life shall never perish. They're saved forever. If salvation is God's work, it's
eternal. When God says, I give to them
eternal life, Wes, that means eternal. That doesn't mean temporary.
Eternal life. And yet, there are many who do
fall. Many who once were numbered among
God's elect in the house of God, thought to be true believers,
even looked upon as examples of faith and faithfulness, have
forsaken Christ and the gospel of his grace. You remember in
John 6 when our Lord was preaching? A multitude. Man, they ate the
loaves and fishes, and you couldn't keep them away. You couldn't.
And they flocked around. They flocked around. This fellow
who was the off-scouring of the earth as far as men were concerned,
this fellow who as far as men were concerned was the most despicable
of every prophet who had ever been named. And yet he had such
power, he ate the loaves and fishes and they gathered around
him. And then he started pressing the issues of the gospel. He
said, you have to eat my flesh, drink my blood. He said, you're
going to have to live by faith in me. And the only way you can
get it is if my father gives it to you. They said, well, we
ain't going to listen to that trash. And they walked out the
door and walked no more with him. There are many of whom the
Apostle says they went out from us because they were not of us,
for if they had been of us, they'd still be sitting right here. Remember Lot's wife. who do fall
away are lost forever, for they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh and put him to an open shame." Now the question
must be answered. What is this falling? What is
it? What does the Holy Spirit mean by those words, if they
shall fall away? It's not talking about some act of sin. No, no. It's not talking about some overt
act of immorality. Murder or adultery didn't keep
David out of the love of God. It's not talking about denying
Christ. Peter did that, but that didn't
separate him from the Savior's love. It's not talking about
even error concerning essential doctrinal gospel truths. Read
the book of Galatians. On one occasion, Peter acted
in such a way that the Apostle Paul said to Peter, Peter, you're
telling these folks you're saved by the Lord! What's he talking about then?
God's people do fall into all these things. But our faithful
God lifts us from the ditch into which we fall and sets our feet
on the solid rock, Christ Jesus. Well, what's he talking about
now? When he talks about a fall from which there is no recovery. I see just two things in this
book. If you find others, let me know.
I see just two things. Turn to Galatians chapter 1,
5. To depart from the faith of the
gospel is to fall away and perish forever. This was Paul's fear
for the Galatians. He said, I'm fearful for you.
I'm afraid somebody's bewitched you. I'm afraid somebody's come
and shot you a curve and you fell for it. Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Don't listen to
folks who tell you you've got to keep the law. Don't listen
to them. Don't pay them any attention. Don't give any regard to what
they say. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you be circumcised,
and you can write in there anything you want to. If you read your
Bible, if you say your prayers, if you go to church, if you give
your money, if you circumcise your children, if you pay your
tithes, if you do anything, if you do something by which you
hope to gain God's favor, improve your standing with God, get God
to look on you favorably, you've missed Christ. What does it say
here? Christ won't mean as much to you as he used to. Is that
what it says, Bobby? Christ will profit you nothing. Nothing. You missed him. Verse
3, I testify again to every man that is circumcised, he's a debtor
to the whole law. Verse 4, Christ is become of
no effect unto you. That doesn't mean he's of no
effect. He's of no effect to you. He's of no benefit to you. He does you no good. He's useless
to you. Useless to you. Whosoever of
you are justified by the law, you've fallen from grace." That
doesn't mean you were saved and then you got lost. You've fallen
from the gospel. You've fallen from the doctrine
of the grace of God. Those who have been enlightened to the
truth of the gospel and then turned from it for whatever reason,
for whatever excuse, blaspheme the Spirit of God and fall away,
and that shall not be forgiven them. Read Matthew 12. John said
there is a sin unto death. This is it. And I would not that
you should pray for it. Number two, turn to Hebrews chapter
10. This falling away is an abandoning
of the gospel. A turning away from the gospel
to a counterfeit. A turning away from the truth
of God to a lie. Turning you back upon that which
God has by his word convinced you is so. Look at verse 25. To fall away is to forsake the
assembly of God's saints, the fellowship of the gospel, the
ministry of the word, to abandon the worship of Christ. That's
what it is to fall away and be lost forever. There are many,
I'm afraid, who tenaciously hold to and defend the doctrines of
the gospel, who defend the doctrine of Christ, fight you over it.
who have fallen away and abandoned Christ forever. I told you a while back, I correspond
with a good many people in various circumstances. There's a fellow
who I've been corresponding with in prison for a long time, I
know his family well. His brother, mother, dad were
all converted. I was preaching to them on occasion. This fellow stayed in prison
most of his life, made a profession of faith, started writing Send
them to him. And then he got to fooling around
with one of the female prison guards. Now you talk about a
nutty system, puts female guards in a male prison. That's a nutty
system, but that doesn't excuse it. He started fooling around
with her, got her pregnant, got out of prison finally after that,
and ran off. He got thrown in jail again.
Finally broke probation, got thrown in jail again. And you
know what the first thing he wrote to me? He wrote to me,
First letter I got from him, he said, this place is full of
Arminians, why don't you send me some good literature. I wrote
him back and I said, do me a favor and do yourself a favor and do
the kingdom of God a favor. Don't ever tell anybody you even
thought about knowing God. Don't tell anybody. Stand up
and defend the gospel of God's grace while you live in open
shame. Multitudes like that. They defend
truth, but they don't know him. They have no interest in the
kingdom of God, no commitment to the cause of God, no fellowship
with the saints of God, no concern for the glory of God. They live
for themselves, and they've fallen away. They trample the blood
of Christ under their foot. Let's see what this says here.
Hebrews 10, verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully," now read it in the context, we willfully
abandon the fellowship of God's people, we willfully abandon
the assembly of God's Saints, after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for
sin. But a certain fearful looking-for
of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries,
he that despised Moses' law. Moses came and gave the law,
and they said, we'll do what we want to. He died without mercy
under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified outwardly in his outward manner and behavior,"
counts it an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit
of grace. Look in 2 Peter 2. Let me see if I can put some
shoe leather on this thing. Verse 20. If after that rogue,
that scandal, that no-count, low-down, wretch of a man, Don
Fortner, has escaped the pollutions of the world. If Paul Wendell, Bob Pontius,
Larry Crease, any of us, has escaped the pollutions of the
world, religion got you clean up your act. Through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein
and overcome. It would have been better if
they had never heard anything to begin with. The latter end
of them is worse than the beginning. for it is better for them not
to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them." Now look at verses
7 and 8. Here is a distinction, illustrated
plainly. Here the Holy Spirit illustrates
the fact that the preaching of the gospel has a profoundly different
effect upon those who hear it. To some it's a savor of life
unto life, to others, Bob, it's a savor of death unto death.
When the gospel is preached and blessed of God to the hearts
of chosen, redeemed sinners by the power of his almighty grace,
it springs up unto life everlasting. Verse 7, for the earth which
drinks in the rain that comes often upon it and brings forth
herbs, meat for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing
from God. cause your word to come down
like rain from heaven upon these parched pieces of ground called
our hearts and spring up with life. If it doesn't, those who
hear the gospel and reject it, rejected as a thing to be despised,
are themselves rejected of God, cursed forever. and shall be
burned like useless weeds in the furnace of hell. But that
which bears thorns and briars is rejected, nigh unto cursing,
whose end is to be burned." David, if we have half good sense and
only God will give it to us, that ought to cause us to run
like scared children into the arms of omnipotent mercy. and
lay hold of our God and Savior with both arms with a death grip. But the passage doesn't end here.
Thank God it doesn't end here. Lest any true believer be terrified
as though somehow we will perish after all under the wrath of
God, we will not at last end up in glory, we will not persevere
to the end. In verses 9 and 10, the Holy
Spirit speaks of a persuasion of grace. But, beloved, we are
persuaded, we are convinced, better things of you, things
that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have
showed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints
and do minister. Though he solemnly warns those
men and women, because he cared for their souls, of the danger
of the necessity of perseverance. He saw in them evident tokens
of grace, things that accompany salvation. And we don't have
to guess what they were. He says, your work. He describes
it to the Thessalonians as the work of faith. That's how we
serve God, by faith, your work. Faith produces consecration,
devotion. Faith causes sacrifice. Faith
causes men and women to give themselves in the entirety of
their beings to Christ. Your work of faith and labor
of love. You see, believers are people
who labor together in the kingdom of God. Labor together for the
glory of God. Serving Christ, being constrained
by the love of Christ. Because we're loved of God. Oh
my. Tell me what's unreasonable now.
We're loved of God. Because we love God. The love of God's shed abroad
in our hearts. Because we love each other. That's
a labor, a work of faith, a labor of love. And then he says, in
that you have ministered to the saints and do ministry. That
word minister is what it means. The Lord Jesus, on one occasion,
his disciples had come in from a dusty road. They'd been walking
on a long, hot, dirty road. Their feet were dirty, sweaty,
clammy, tired, weary. While they were sitting down,
he took down a towel off the shelf. some water out of the
well, put it in a little bowl, and stooped down, and I suspect
moved on his knees from one to the other, and washed their feet." Served, served, humbly, though
he's master and Lord of all, though he deserved to have his
feet washed and kissed as they were by that woman who knew who
he was. He served, because he loved the
people he served. And loving them, he counted no
service insignificant for them. Now the apostle writes to these
believers, and he says, I'm convinced you'll be all right. You'll be
all right. I'm convinced better things of
you, and the rain hasn't come and brought up thorns and thistles
from you, oh no! The reign of God has descended
with grace from heaven into your souls and brought up faith and
love and devotion to each other. Now look at verses 11 through
20. I had to just run through this, but I want you to get it.
Here the apostle gives us an assurance of hope. It seems as
though the Holy Spirit anticipated a question bound to arise. I
can hear what you think. You've heard this message and
this warning, and you've heard of Demas and Theotophes and Judas
and Lot's wife and these who've fallen away. You say, well, Pastor,
how on this earth can anybody have a confident assurance of
hope before God? Now let me tell you something. If you look to your feelings
and your experiences and your knowledge and your gifts and
your doings, you can't. You can't. You can't. And if you pretend to, you're
a self-righteous man who deceives yourself. Now when you're in
trouble, when your heart's When you're fearful, when you anticipate
meeting God face to face, where do you go? Well, I remember the
wrong place. That's the wrong place. That's
the wrong place. That's the wrong place. Where
do you go? That's all. That's all. How can
we have any confidence? He tells us six or seven things
here. You can read them at your leisure.
First he speaks of the promise of God, covenant promise. God said, I will. That's good
enough. I'll bless you. And then he speaks of the oath
of God. God gives his promise and he's so great he couldn't
swear by anybody else, so he swears by himself and makes an
oath. Confirmed his promise with an oath. And then he speaks of
the immutability of God, the immutability of his counsel.
How on this earth can a man like Don Fortner, in the teeth of
his sin, in the coldness of his heart, in the depravity of his
nature, how can this corrupt man, whose
faith is at best unbelief, have any confident hope before God.
God doesn't change! That's how. He loved me from
everlasting. He set his heart on me before
I had any being. Whereas he called me when he
knew all that I was and knew all that I'd be, and that didn't
stop him. That's not going to cause him to stop loving me either.
Immutable. We have confidence because the
place of our refuge is outside ourselves. We fled for refuge
to the city where God said, nobody's going to touch you here. We fled
for refuge. We have an anchor, an anchor
for our souls. Now the anchor, Brother Larry's
fixing to go back down to Florida and do some fishing, going to
try to win that contest down there again. I haven't even been
in his boat. As a matter of fact, I don't
know anything about boats, but I have seen anchors. And I have seen
big anchors in boats I've been on. And you know when they start
to stop that thing? I don't care if that anchor's
as big as this building. If it's hanging on the side of
the boat, it's useless. If it's in the boat, it's useless. The only way that anchor's any
good is to throw it over. And it lays hold of something outside
the boat. Our anchor is yonder. It's not here. You understand
that? Our anchor is Christ Jesus. We have assurance of hope because
of the finished work of Christ. Jesus, the forerunner, is for
us entered into heaven, having obtained eternal redemption. And he gives us one more. Don Fortner, how on this earth
can you hope that God's grace will be yours and me? There's
a man sitting in glory whose name is Melchizedek, whose name
is God incarnate, who is the Son of God, who is my high priest,
and he intercedes for me constantly. And that's it. That's it. Amen. All right, let's take our
hymn books and sing again. Let's turn to number 17, I think
it is. I'll ask you to stand together.