I just saw Seth. Doesn't he look
handsome in that uniform? Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. I've entitled
this message, Is it still the way it was? Is it still the way it was? What initially drew me to preach
on this was verse 34 of Hebrews chapter 10. For you had compassion of me
in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring
substance. You received favorably the confiscation
of your property and your goods. Now, I want you to think about
that. Because of their identification with the writer to the Hebrews,
he was put in jail for preaching the gospel. And you stood with
him. You identified with him. That's
what he's saying. You identified with me. And because
of your identification with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
you had your goods taken away. Your savings account was drained. You lost your property. I got to thinking about that. Let's say. If you attended this church.
You'd have your goods taken away from you. Would you still come? I'm asking myself that question.
Let's say your property was taken away, your savings account was
drained, you lost your job. Would you come to this place? Now, a lot of folks would say,
man, there's a church on every street corner. I'd go to a different
one. Well, you haven't heard them. You haven't heard. Would I do this and receive it favorably? It says you took joyfully. You
received it favorably. You counted it a blessing. You
actually counted as a blessing. You didn't look at it as that
big a loss. You lost your possessions. And it was not that big a loss
because you had some understanding that you have possession in heaven
that can't be taken away. I asked myself, and I asked you,
would you receive it joyfully? These people did. And I see in
their example the power and the realness of faith in Christ. That's what faith in Christ does.
It makes someone count joyfully, receive favorably the spoiling
of their goods, their stuff, as it were. Now, the writer to the Hebrews
had been warning them about apostasy. Leaving the gospel, what apostasy
is, you hear, you claim to believe and you leave. Look in verse
23 of Hebrews, chapter 10, he says, let us hold fast. The profession
of the confession of our faith without wavering. For He is faithful
to promise. Don't you go back and forth.
Don't be trying to straddle the fence. Don't be in one day and
out the other. Let us hold fast the confession
of our faith without wavering. For He is faithful to promise.
And let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to
good works. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully after that we've received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Now,
let me stop just for a moment before we go on reading. That
verse of Scripture, I suppose, has caused me more trouble. than any other verse in all the
Bible. I read that if we sin willfully. What's that mean? Now, has there ever been a time
when you sinned when your will wasn't involved? Every time you sin, you know
what you did? You did what you wanted to do. You can't blame
the devil. You didn't. Is that what he's
saying? If we sin with our will, There's no more sacrifice for
sins. That sin was an accident. That one's OK. But that one was
a will. I'm in trouble. No. You look
at the context of this passage of Scripture. He'd been talking
about the gospel being perfected by Christ Jesus. You read beginning
in verse 10 all the way up to that point. He'd been talking
about the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, now, after hearing
that, if you willfully go back to works, you've had it. It's
over for you. There's no more sacrifice for
sin. You've left your only hope. That's what he's saying. I don't
want to leave you. I don't want to leave the gospel.
That's what he's referring to when he's talking about forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together. He's not just talking
about missing worship services. He's talking about removing yourself
from identification with the message of the gospel. That's
what he's talking about. Verse 26, For if we sin willfully,
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, how that
God saves by Christ, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but
a certain fearful looking for judgment, and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries. Now, he that despised Moses'
law died without mercy, under two or three witnesses. Now,
of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted,
have viewed the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified,
an unholy thing." Now that word unholy is common. Common. As a matter of fact, by definition
it means that which is general to all. As opposed to that which
is peculiar to the few. And isn't that the way most people
view the blood of Christ? General for everybody. He died
for everybody. Wants to save everybody. Made everybody's payment.
All that is, if you believe that, all that is is salvation by works.
It's saying, you make the difference. He died for everybody. His blood
is common. It's general. It's shed for everybody.
But there's something you need to do to make it work. Now, that's
to trod underfoot the Son of God and to count the blood of
the covenant, the covenant of grace, wherewith He set Himself
apart for an uncommon thing, an unholy thing, and have done
despite to the Spirit of grace. For we know Him, verse 30, that
has said vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. So we see from this passage of
Scripture, he's exhorting them to perseverance in the faith,
to not leave, to not sin willfully after having received the knowledge
of the truth. Now, he reminds us of something.
Verse 32. but called to remembrance the
former days. Now, evidently, it appeared that
these people that the writer of the Hebrews is writing to
seem to be going back. That's why he made these exhortations
to perseverance. They seem to be going backwards.
So he says, I want you to remember the way you used to be. Call
to remembrance the former days. And that's why I entitled this
message, Is It Still The Way It Was? Now, you call to remembrance
the former days, verse 32, in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of
afflictions. You were illuminated. You were given light. You were
made to see who God really is. You saw Him in His holiness,
in His unapproachableness. You saw that He was utterly and
absolutely sovereign. You saw the truth in the Word
of God. You were illuminated. You were
given light to see who He is. And you know what else you saw?
When you saw who He is, what did you see next? You saw who
you were. You saw that indeed, in truth,
not just doctrine, but in truth, you were totally and completely
depraved, full of sin, nothing but sin. You saw that. You hadn't seen it before, but
you do now. Oh, when you were illuminated,
you saw your sinfulness. But not only did you see who
God is, Not only did you see who you are when you were illuminated,
you saw the complete salvation that's in Christ Jesus. Look
in verse 10 of Hebrews chapter 10. By the which will. By God's will,
that's which will he's talking about, by God's will. By God's
will, by the which will, we are What's that next word? Sanctified. Declared by God, actually made
holy. That's what the word means. We
are holy. Who's the we? Everybody that
He died for. Everybody who believes. By God's
will, we are sanctified once for all. That means it's a completed
action. It's not going to be repeated.
It's perfected. Now, when you were eliminated,
you saw who God is, you saw who you are, and you saw that Christ
is a completely sufficient Savior. You were made to actually trust
Him as your righteousness before God. You were made to really
believe in the power of His precious blood after you were illuminated. Now what happened after you were
illuminated? You found out that people had no love for what you
believed. Look what happened. The call to remembrance in the
former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured
a great fight of afflictions and trouble. It brought some
trouble to you. Verse 33, partly whilst you were made a gazing
stalk, an object of ridicule and content both by reproaches
and afflictions, and partly whilst you became companions of them
that were so used, you became an object of ridicule. Do you really believe that the
Bible is the Word of God? You actually believe God wrote
it and there's no error in it? Boy, you're an idiot. Why does
this prove so much that it's in the Bible? I mean, look at
the facts. That's the kind of stuff you
hear. You really believe? Do you really believe that Jesus
Christ, that One who's nailed to the cross, is God? Do you
really believe that He's the Creator of the universe? And
you mean to tell me you believe that I'm in His hands? And He
can do with me whatever He's pleased to do? Do you really
believe that? Do you believe He's got that much power? Do
you really believe that you're saved by the righteousness of
somebody else? Do you really believe you were
condemned by what somebody else did? How can you believe something
that stupid and ignorant? How can you believe that? Why,
do you really believe that Men are totally and completely depraved,
unable to save themselves. Don't you believe in free will?
Well, that's the most ridiculous thing. You must be crazy to believe
so. Do you really believe that God
chose who would be saved before time began and that they're the
only ones who will be saved? Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe that Jesus Christ died for the elect only
and He didn't shed His blood for everybody? Do you believe
something that foolish? Why, nobody believes that. How big
is your church? Man, you all, that's ridiculous. I mean, the
theologians don't believe that way. The big shots don't believe
that way. You really believe that God's
grace can't be resisted? You really believe God's... That's
foolishness. That's stupid. That's some ignorant,
country bumpkin, idiotic... I don't believe anything like
that. You really believe that? You became a gazing stock. an
object of ridicule. You're crazy. And you were reproached. Look what he says, partly why
you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions. Now, reproaches is the defamation
of character. Why, if I believed what you believed,
if I really believed My acceptance before God had absolutely nothing
to do with my works. If I really believed that, I'd
live however I want to. I'd sin all I want, wouldn't worry about
it. You're really an evil person if you believe something like
that. Why? You're an antagonist. You don't care anything about
holiness or good works. All this talk of grace. Why? You're an evil person. This
is just a cover-up for sin. This is what this is all about.
You defamed and reproached for what you believe. And afflictions,
and partly why you became companions of them that were so used, you
identified with. They were companions of those
who were persecuted for the preaching of the gospel. You stood with
them and confessed, this is what I believe. Here I stand. I can
do no other. You stood with them. You stood
with them. And the writer to the Hebrews
is saying, you stood with me. You actually took joyfully the
confiscation of your goods, the spoiling of your goods. It didn't
bother you. You took it joyfully. You received
it favorably. Look at the way you were then.
Is it still that way? You had compassion on me. In
my bond, you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and more enduring
substance. Is it still that way? Now, people's stuff, their material
stuff, that's so important to them. This is my stuff. This
is my savings. This is my security. This is
my sense of well-being. He says you had that taken from
you, stripped from you, and you received it joyfully, favorably. You're like those
fellows we just read about Acts chapter 5 who rejoiced that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. He's saying to the Hebrews, Is
it still that way? He knew they were not what they
had been and that's why he tells them to remember the former days. Remember the former days. Look
at verse 38 of Hebrews chapter 10. Now the just shall live by
faith. But if any man draw back My soul shall have no pleasure
in him. Now, to draw back is a nautical
term. It means literally to let the
sails down so you don't drive quite so fast. That's all it
means. You slacken the sails, you put
them down so the boat doesn't move as quickly. That's what
it means to draw back. You don't go quite so fast. It's
to shrink back. It's to not be too radical. or
too extreme. It is the middle of the road. It is laissez-faire. It is being
lukewarm. It's no longer being a fanatic
and a fool. Yes, following Christ is important,
perhaps very important, but He is not all. At least my conduct
seems to say that He is not now all to me what He was to me then. The person who's drawn back has
become mellow. You know what mellow is? It's the
first step before rotten. Mellow. Mellow. I've become tolerant and mellow. Perhaps they were like the Ephesians
who had left their first love, or the Laodiceans who had grown
Lukewarm. Now, he says in verse 35 to these
people, he sees struggling. Seemingly going back, and I'll
tell you what, it would have been a lot easier on the flesh
to go back at this time. I mean, it would save them a
lot of trouble. It would save them a lot of persecution. They
would have had a lot easier life. Now, look what he says to them
in verse 35. Cast not away. Don't lay aside. Don't throw away your confidence,
which had great recompense of reward. Now, what is the confidence
he's speaking of? Turn back to Hebrews chapter
three. But Christ, verse six. But Christ
as a son over his own house. Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end? Now, what is the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope? Now, what's my hope? It's the
same hope every believer has. My hope is this. Now, hope is
regarding the future, isn't it? It's a confident expectation
regarding the future. Now, here's my hope. I've got
a confident expectation regarding the future that when I stand
before God in judgment, God's going to say, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. What makes you think that? What
makes you give this? What makes you have confidence
like that? I'll tell you exactly what makes me have this confidence.
when my blessed Lord bowed His mighty head and said, It is finished. By salvation, my perfect standing
before God was accomplished. It didn't have anything to do
with my works. His work. What confidence I have in His
work. Now that's the confidence He's
speaking of. It's a great confidence. I've got such confidence in Jesus
Christ, the Lord. I don't have any confidence in
myself. I really don't. I don't trust myself as far as I can
throw me. I really don't. Don't trust you either. I mean,
really, I mean, as far as what we are, we have no confidence
in the flesh. But oh, what confidence we have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, this word confidence.
It's quite often translated boldness. Boldness. I love that verse of
Scripture in Acts chapter 4 verse 13, when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and they perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men. They took knowledge of them that
they be with Jesus. Boldness. You know what boldness
is? By definition, boldness is speaking boldly. Freedom of speech to speak without
ambiguity. I can't stand to hear a preacher
when his words are so convoluted, you can't really tell what he's
saying. You're not sure if he means this or that. That's not
preaching God, the Holy Spirit blesses. It doesn't come from
God, the Holy Spirit. God's word is bold. It's bold,
no ambiguity, no, no, no mistake in what's being said. Now, I
know nobody can understand it unless God gives them life to
understand it. It's not like you can preach
so simply and clearly and boldly. That's going to make people believe.
No, I'm not saying that at all. But I know in the preaching of
the gospel, there's true boldness. There's not an apology. God's
sovereign. That's what the Bible teaches
regarding Him. He's in control. You're in His
hands. He's not in your hands. You're in His hands. He can do
with you whatever He's pleased to do. That's just the way it
is. Men are dead in sin. God elected
a people before time began to be saved. Christ died for them. He accomplished their salvation.
The grace of the Holy Spirit is invincible and irresistible.
I don't apologize for that. It's what the Word of God teaches.
It's the only way this sinner will be saved. Boldness. What is boldness? What's
confidence? What's the reward? Did you notice
how it says there's great recompense or the reward? What's the reward? Confidence. Isn't it great to
have confidence? Confidence in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I mean, there's nothing, you know, even in worldly things,
when you don't have confidence, you never do any good, do you?
Oh, it's such a blessing to have confidence, confidence. The great recompense or reward
is the confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse back to Hebrews 10. Cast, verse 35, cast not away
therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward
for, verse 36, you have need of patience. Isn't that the truth? You have need of patience. that after you've done the will
of God, you might receive the promise. Now, patience is the
fruit of faith. Faith believes the Word of God. Faith believes God reigns. Faith believes that Christ is
all in salvation. Faith really does. Faith really
believes God controls the outcome, that the outcome has already
been determined, the will of God is going to be done, and
there's really nothing to worry about. Now, when you really believe
that, you have patience, don't you? You wig out and you stress
out when you're not believing that everything's already taken
care of. That you don't know what's going
to happen. You're stressing. You're worrying,
which is the opposite of faith. And that's why it says you have
need of patience, don't you? Yeah, I need patience. Patience
really believing God is in control. Really believing that my salvation
is accomplished. Really believing that I have
a high priest that's representing me before the Father. Really
believing that everybody is in His hands. Everybody is just
His pawn. And He's in control of everybody and everything. That's what the sovereignty of
God is. God really is God. He's in absolute control. And
when you really believe that, you know what you have? Patience.
Patience. Turn over to Romans 12. Here's
what this is all about. We're to persevere in doing the
will of God, believing on Christ all the way to the end, looking
not behind, not to the right, not to the left, but doing this. Verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 12.
Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses. When's the last time you read
Hebrews chapter 11? It's a blessing. It's great. cloud of witnesses. Let me say
just a few things about them. Look in verse 33. This great
cloud of witnesses, he mentioned so many of them. He said in verse
33, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the
violence of fire, Escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness,
were made strong, waxed valiant to fight, turned to flight the
armies of the aliens. Verse 35 of Hebrews 11. Women
received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured,
not accepting deliverance. that they might obtain a better
resurrection. And others had a trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment.
They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They
were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wondered about
in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted and
tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered
in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith,
received not the promise. God, having provided some better
thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect,
wherefore, seeing we also are compassed, surrounded by this
great cloud of witnesses that I just read about, let us lay
aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Anybody know what that is? Well, my particular besetting
sin is this or that. No, he's talking about unbelief.
Unbelief. That's the sin that does so easily
throw us over. Let us lay aside every way to
the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with
patience. The race that is set before us
looking unto Jesus. The one who is the author and
the finisher of our faith. That's the Jesus we look to.
You know, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the faith I have,
I know who the author of it is. It ain't my free will. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He's the One who will finish
it and complete it and cause me to persevere all the way to
the end. He's such a glorious Savior.
He's such a complete Savior. Looking to Him, I run with patience. It's not going to last much longer.
None of us have much more time. Looking unto Jesus, the Author
and the Finisher, the Perfecter of our faith. Back to Hebrew sin. For you had need of patience,
verse 36, that after you've done the will of God, believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ, you might receive the promise, the promise
of eternal inheritance, the promise of being just like the Lord Jesus
Christ, the promise of being a part of that great heavenly
choir. Verse 37, for yet a little while,
And he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now, it may
be rough, but it's only for a little while. He that shall come will
come. Can you say from your heart even
so, come, Lord Jesus? Come, Lord Jesus. Whatever you're
going through, whatever I'm going through, it's just for a little
while. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, 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 things that are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. You know, I can't see that I'm
perfect before God, but I believe I am. That's a thing that's not
seen, but I believe. For yet a little while, and he
that cometh shall come, and will not tarry." Verse 38, now. Verse
38, now. The just shall live by faith. This is one of four times that
this is said in the Scriptures. It must be awfully important.
Four times. Habakkuk chapter 2, Romans chapter 1, verse 17,
Galatians 3, 11, and here, the just shall live by faith. The just. Who are the just? The
just are the justified. The justified. You know what
justified means? It means not guilty. It doesn't mean forgiven. It means not guilty. There's nothing for me to be
guilty about. There's nothing for me to be
condemned for. I'm not guilty. Now, how in the
world can that be? Hold your finger and turn to
Romans 4. Verse 5. But to him that worketh
not. He sees that he cannot obligate
God to save him by his works. And the reason he sees that is
he sees that indeed all of his works in and of themselves are
nothing but sin. He really believes that. So he
doesn't work. You know, it would be plumb stupid
to work with it. I mean, it wouldn't do you any
good. To him that worketh not, But believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Now, here's
my hope that God actually justifies the ungodly. Now, the first thing
that you're going to have to be in order to be justified is
what? Ungodly. Ungodly. Now, to that ungodly person,
that person who truly is ungodly. And I can say this to every ungodly
person, every sinner. That's what that means. Every
sinner. Every sinner here. Here's a blessed hope. God actually
justifies the ungodly. He makes you not guilty. And if God justifies you, you're
justified. And you really are justified. Well, how does he do that? He
takes the righteousness of his son, the perfect obedience of
his son and places it upon you. He took your sin and placed it
upon him. It's called substitution. The
just for the unjust. And now every believer is justified. That's who the just are. The
just shall live by faith. They can't live off their works.
Can you live off your works? Can you live off your feelings?
Feelings go and feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are
deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. Can't live off the feelings.
Can't live off anything but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
justified live by believing that. Now, if you don't believe that,
if you don't believe on Him to justify the ungodly, if you don't
believe that and you die not believing that, then He never
justified you. You see, the just live by faith. Here's the evidence that God's
done something for them. They believe the gospel. They
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they live by faith. Paul
said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the
life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Now, the just shall live by faith,
verse 38, but if any man Draw back. Let the sails go down. My soul shall have what? How
much pleasure in them? No pleasure in them. If any man lets the sails down
so he doesn't go quite so fast, then he saves himself from the
trouble of being an out-and-out disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins to be tolerant. He
mellows out. The step before complete rottenness. The Lord says, My soul shall
have no pleasure in him. Now, you listen to this real
carefully. The gospel of Christ, if true, is of infinite importance. If false, It is of no importance. But one thing that it cannot
be is moderately important. It can't be. If what I'm saying
is the truth. This is of infinite importance. If it's not the truth, we've
really wasted our time, we would have been better off watching
Meet the Press, wouldn't we? But one thing it can't be is
of moderate importance. And God says concerning that
one who draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now, verse 39, But we are not of them who draw back
unto perdition. God won't let me. By His grace, I'm not one of
these people who draws back to perdition. It's only by His grace. But I'm not one of them. He says,
we're not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. I believed, and I believe. I believe God. I believe Christ. And by His grace, I'm not letting
the sail down. Don't you find it challenging
by the Lord's grace to make the sail go up even higher? and to
go even faster, depending upon the Lord. And he's saying to
these people, there was a time when you took joyfully the spoiling
of your goods. Is it now the way it was then? I want to close by reading a
passage from Revelation chapter 2. Verse one. Under the angel of the Church
of Ephesus. Where's the Church of Ephesus
now? It's gone. It's a sobering thought, isn't
it? If the Lord doesn't come back,
same thing's going to happen to this place one of these days.
The Lord's going to remove the candlestick. That's a sobering
thought. There's no local church that
continues. Including this one, unless the
Lord first comes back. Under the angel of the church
at Ephesus, that's the pastor, the preacher. Right. These things say, if he that
holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks, the churches I know your works,
and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil. And thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles, and are not. And you found them liars,
and you have borne, and had patience, and for my name's sake you have
labored, and have not fainted." Now, that's some pretty high
commendation, isn't it? But look what it says next. Nevertheless,
I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left thy first
love. Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen. That's exactly what he said to
the Hebrews. Remember the four days. Remember from whence thou
art fallen and repent and do the first works. What were the first works? I know what my first work was. My first work was this. I saw that I didn't have one
work to recommend me to God. That's my first work. I saw that
the only hope I had was Christ. I didn't have any good works
to recommend me. I didn't have any evidence. Didn't
have anything like that. All I had was Christ. That's
the first work. I trusted him. Now, you remember
that. You remember that. Do the first
work. Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen, repent and do the first work, or else I'll
come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of
its place, except thou repent. I said that was the last scripture,
but I think I better read one more. Turn to Colossians, chapter
two. This is what keeps somebody from.
Getting off track. Verse six. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus, the Lord. As an empty-handed sinner needing
His mercy, so walk ye in Him. May God give us grace to do so.
Let's pray together.