Hold Fast to Sound Words

Q: What does the Bible say about holding fast to sound words?

The Bible instructs us to hold fast to sound words, as seen in 2 Timothy 1:13, emphasizing the importance of adhering to the truth in faith and love. In 2 Timothy 1:13, the Apostle Paul exhorts Timothy to 'hold fast the form of sound words,' which points to the necessity of being anchored in the truth of Scripture. This call is not merely for intellectual agreement but involves a deep commitment to the gospel as it is revealed in Christ Jesus. Sound words are those that are consistent with the Scriptures and that glorify God, place humans in their rightful position, and declare the sovereignty of God's grace in salvation. Holding fast implies an active and ongoing tenacity in faith and love, reflecting both our relationship with God and the truth of the gospel we proclaim.

Q: How do we know that perseverance in faith is important for Christians?

Perseverance in faith is crucial as it demonstrates genuine faith and is evidenced by our continuing relationship with Christ, as stated in Hebrews 3:14. The importance of perseverance is rooted in Scripture, notably in Hebrews 3:14, which states, 'For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.' This underscores that true salvation is evidenced not just by an initial act of faith but by a continual, unwavering relationship with Christ. The faith that saves is the faith that endures, suggesting that those who fall away were never truly of the faith (1 John 2:19). This emphasis on perseverance aligns with the understanding that salvation is a process involving God's sovereignty and our steadfast response, affirming that God preserves His people while they are also called to persevere in faith.

Q: Why is the doctrine of grace important in the Reformed tradition?

The doctrine of grace is vital in Reformed theology as it emphasizes God's initiative in salvation, highlighting that it is entirely a work of His sovereign will. In the Reformed tradition, the doctrine of grace underscores the belief that salvation is wholly the work of God, initiated by His sovereign choice and not influenced by human merit or effort. This is seen in passages like Ephesians 2:8-9, which teach that we are saved by grace through faith, and that this is not of ourselves but is the gift of God. The emphasis on grace challenges human pride and reliance on works, affirming God's sovereignty in election and redemption, as expressed in Romans 9:11 and 2 Timothy 1:9. This doctrine serves to ground believers in the security of their salvation, allowing them to rest in the assurance that it is God who keeps them, not their own efforts.

Now let's read again from 2 Timothy chapter 1, my text, just one
verse. Verse 13, 2 Timothy 1 verse 13,
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me.
in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Now let me state three important
things in my introduction, three very
important things. Number one, my great anxiety, and I believe
it increases with the years, My deep, sincere desire and anxiety
is that God will enable me to preach the truth. I heard a man on television this
morning, and it was so depressing. It
just seemed like that he went to the greatest extremes to keep
from telling the truth about a passage of Scripture. He used
the Greek, he used the original language, he used the translations,
he used the masculine and the this and the that and the other
to keep from telling those people the truth. That astounds me. When I am in my heart, and I
believe others are too, trying our best to understand the truth
and preach it, I remember preparing when I first
started these Sunday school lessons, going verse by verse through
the scripture. Now, it's one thing to preach
in what we call topical preaching or like that, you know, taking a
topic, judgment or mercy or justification. But let me tell you something,
it's something else to take this word, word by word, phrase by
phrase, verse by verse, and start interpreting it, interpreting
it, and start teaching it. And I'd lay the commentaries
out in the Bible and sit down to write, and I do it now. and
literally agonized before God. Literally agonized. Lord, don't
let me write down what you're not saying. Please, don't let
me put down an error. Refrain my mind. I'm so dumb. Teach me. Teach me. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. Woe is unto me. He said for us
to hold to an error and teach men so, it'd be better to hang
a millstone around your neck and be cast into the depths of
the sea. It'd be better for the man never to have been born than
to take this blessed word and twist it and lie on God Almighty. I tell you, you see why my great
anxiety and desire is that God enable me to tell men the truth. as it is in Christ Jesus. And
the second thing, the second great desire, is that God will
enable you to hear it. I don't mean just hear a preacher's
words, go through the motions, sitting there Sunday after Sunday,
hearing some words, or that we might hear him who speaks from
heaven. Our Lord said, He that hath ears
to hear, he better hear now. I know throughout the Word there
are a lot of instructions to those who preach, but there are
some instructions to those who hear. Did you know that? Take
heed how you hear. Take heed how you hear. Let him that hath ears to hear,
hear and believe it. It's not by might
nor by powers, by my Spirit, saith the Lord. God has to take,
I can stand here and preach truth, but the Spirit of God has to
take the things of Christ and show them to you. He must. See,
the natural man doesn't receive the things of God. They're foolishness,
utter foolishness. But he hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. I remember back years ago in
1950 when I had come through religion
and all of the forms of religion and all of the traditions of
religion and all of the memorizing and all of the professions
and rededications And I actually, I remember a time in 1950 when
I actually began to hear God speak. I don't mean a voice,
but I mean a voice through the Word. I actually began to hear
God speak. He actually began to speak to
me through His Word. The Word up until that time had
been a duty. It had been a job, it had been
a vocation, I guess, something like that, maybe some sincerity,
I don't know. But since that time, it has become
life. It has become God speaking to
me. I want so much to win Christ
and be found in him. I want you to know him and the
power of his resurrection. And then the third great desire
is that when we have heard, when we have actually heard the truth
as it is in Christ Jesus, that you and I will, as Paul exhorts
Timothy, hold fast the form of sound words and continue in the
faith. Do you know, and I realize that
there are a lot of people who have some misguided notion that
I hear people use this term, I got saved. I got saved. And I don't know exactly what
they mean. I think I know what they mean.
That there was a time and a place and an experience when they got
fixed up. And the record was clear and clean and they were
reconciled to God and it was all fixed up. Now, whichever
way they go or whatever they do or whatever they think or
whatever they to the things to which they may hold, or the direct,
doesn't matter really, they got it fixed up then. I got saved.
I was saved in 1940, or I was saved in 1950, I was saved in
1960, and so I'm saved. But now, the Word of God, the
Word of God does not honor that. The Word of God speaks of salvation
in three tenses. For by grace have you been saved,
and there is a time, there's a holy confrontation, there's
a divine visitation, there is a new birth, there is a revelation
of Christ. Have you been saved through faith? But the Word of God also recognizes
that children of God are being saved. It says to you who are
being saved, it is the power of God. And then Paul speaks
of our salvation and our final redemption actually being nearer
than when we first believed that we shall be saved. And the word of God also shows
instances and gives us warnings about this thing of having an
experience and making a decision and departing from the faith.
Let me show you this. Turn to Hebrews 3. Hebrews chapter
3. Hebrews, the third chapter, and
let me read several verses. Verse 6, first of all. Hebrews
3, 6. Now, let's see what this sounds like to you. Hebrews 3,
6. But Christ as a Son over His
own house. Whose house are we? If we make
a profession, if we join the Church, if we're baptized, if
we got saved. If we hold fast, is not this
my subject? If we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Look at verse 14, same chapter,
Hebrews 3. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold fast, or we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast to the end. That's when we're partakers of
Christ. That's evidence and proof that we're partakers of Christ.
Turn to Hebrews 10, just over a few pages. Hebrews 10, look
at verse 23. Paul says, he talks here about
Christ's sacrifice and redemption and the covenant of grace. Then
he says in verse 23, let's hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering, for he's faithful. that's promised. And then let
me read to you Colossians 1. Now listen to this, Colossians
chapter 1, Colossians 1, verse 19. Now listen, Colossians 1,
19. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things to himself. By him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were
sometime or at one time alienated enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight, if
you continue in the faith." And I know we get this saying,
well, people, I tell you, we're just foolish. That's all there
is to it, just foolish. Well, yeah, that's a Methodist
sermon, preacher. Somebody else says, well, Baptists
believe once saved, always saved. Listen, this is a Bible message,
my friend. I'm a Methodist Baptist or whatever.
I'm trying to identify what redemption is in the light of the Holy Word
of God. That's one of our greatest problems
is we've got this denominational problem, that this belongs to
this one, that belongs to that one, that belongs to someone,
this is the emphasis of different ones. We need to get totally
away from that and find out what God says about salvation and
redemption, if we continue. And I say if the gospel is the
true gospel of God, then it's worth hearing. It's worth hearing.
And I say that if the true gospel of God is worth hearing, it's
worth believing. Is that right? And if the true
gospel of God is worth believing, it's worth continuing to believe
it and to hold it fast. Is that not right? Continue. Continue. Now let's go back to
the text. I have four points in this message. Four points. I want you to think
about four things. Paul says in Hebrews, or rather
in 2 Timothy 1, 13, hold fast the sound, the form of sound
words. Hold them fast. Hold them. God hold me and enable me to
hold fast. Grant me faith and then the grace
to continue in it. The first division is this. I'm
going to tell you what I believe to be the form of sound words
to which we are to hold fast. What are these sound words that
hold fast the form of sound words? Well, first of all, first of
all, no system of doctrine or preaching can be sound words
unless it's according to the Scriptures. Now look back here
at verse 7, verse 7, 2 Timothy 1. For God hath not given us
the spirit of fear. We don't fear men, we don't fear
losing our jobs, we don't fear being put in prison. God has
given us a spirit of power and love and of a sound mind and
Paul says to Timothy, so be not thou therefore ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord. What is the testimony of our
Lord? It's the gospel according to the scriptures. These sound words are sound words
because God said them. Turn to Isaiah chapter 8. Listen
to the prophet Isaiah here. Isaiah chapter 8, verse 19 and
20. When they shall say unto you,
Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, or those that are familiar
with the spirits, unto wizards that peep and mutter. Should
not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead? To the law, to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's
no light in them. Let me tell you something. If
they're sound words, they came from the word of God. If they're
sound words. All right, secondly, move on.
And Paul says this in verse 8. Be not ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. If these words
are sound words, they are words that exalt God and put man down. Always the power of God. A gospel that does not exalt
God and put man down is not sound words. God said, Can I not do
with my own what I will? Is my hand shortened that I cannot
say? My ear heavy that I cannot hear?
If our doctrine is not according to the scriptures, and if our
doctrine does not exalt God, magnify God, glorify the Sovereign
Lord, then it's not sound words. Is that not true? It glorifies
God. All right, thirdly, though preaching
is of sound words, is sound words if it does not give God all the
glory in the salvation of a sinner. Look at verse 9 now. He saved
us. He saved us. He called us. Salvation
is of the Lord. He saved us. He called us. He loved us. He chose us. Not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace. I want you to turn
with me to that scripture in John chapter 1. Now listen to
this. John chapter 1. This is the scripture that the
man was on this morning on television that was doing all within his
power to keep it from saying what it says. In John 1, verse 10, start with
verse 10. Now, let us say what it says.
Now, here's what I'm saying. Words are not sound unless they're
according to the Word of God, unless they give God all the
glory. unless they exalt God and put us down. Now listen to
this, and let us say where He was in the world, verse 10, Christ
was in this world. And the world was made by Him,
and the world didn't know Him. That's what that's saying, our
Lord came into this world. He was despised, rejected. We
hid, as it were, our faces from Him. They didn't know Him. The
world didn't know Him. And He came into His own, alright,
His own world, His own thing. That's all right, but his own
people. The Jewish nation was certainly
the chosen nation, no question about that. They had the prophets,
they had the law, they had the tabernacle, they had the sacrifice,
they had the priesthood. God told Israel, said, I didn't
set my love upon you because you were the greatest of all,
the most in number. I chose you, you the fewest of
all, because I'd keep the covenant I swore to Abraham and to your
father. God chose Israel. And he came
to Israel, he came to the temple, he came to the law, he came to
the Passover, he came to his own people, his own things, his
own word, his own tabernacle, his own nation. He was a Jew,
king of Israel, and his own received him not. They rejected him, all
right, they refused him, as all do and will. As many, Jew or Gentile, male
or female, bond or free, but as many as received him. How do you receive Christ? You
believe the record of God's word. You trust the promises from God's
word. You receive Christ as your wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. You receive him
as the messenger of the covenant. You receive him as the righteousness
and redemption, as the great high priest. You received him
as the only mediator, you received him. And to those people, God
gave the right, the privilege, the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name. There's not a period there, that's not the end of
the sentence, colon. These people who receive him,
these people who believe him, these people for whom God has
given the right and privilege to become his sons, these who
believe on his name, were born. They were born. And they were
not born of blood, that of the flesh, that which is born of
the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
They were born not by natural generation. They were born not
by their father and mother. That's not how they were born,
human blood, natural genealogy. They were not born of the will
of the flesh. The flesh does not will to follow
God, the flesh wills to follow the flesh. They were not born
of the will of man, they were born of God. Born of God. This is what I'm saying, no preaching
is sound words that does not give God all the glory in the
redemption of his people. Salvation of the Lord. Turn with
me to Romans 9. Listen to this, Romans chapter
9, verse 11, verse 10, Romans 9, 10. And not only this, but
when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even our father Isaac,
the children being not yet born physically, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of God that calleth. Who called? He called us. Who loved? He loved us. Who chose? He chose
us. Who saved? He saved us. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Well,
God's unfair. Is there unfairness with God?
Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. He said to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, not of the will of man or the will of the flesh. It's
not of him that runneth, north about to establish his own righteousness. It's of God that showeth mercy. Those are sound words. Let's
go back to the text. I must hurry. Listen to this.
Hold fast sound words. What are sound words? They come
in the Scripture. They exalt God's sovereignty
and power. They put salvation in the hands of God, they exalt
God, and they put man down. And I tell you this, no teaching
is sound which does not declare a covenant of grace in Christ,
established by God before the world began. Now you cannot,
I know there's such a thing, and has been a long time, what
they call dispensationalism. Dispensationalism. What does
the word mean? Well, this is what they teach.
Dispensationalism says that when God created man, he created him
in innocence and holiness, which is true, and hoped to keep him
that. But that failed. And then God
put him under a dispensation of conscience. And every man
did that which was right in his own eyes, and that failed. Then
God put him under a dispensation of judges. hoping thereby to
bring man back to be reconciled to God, but that failed. And
God put him under dispensation of law, and that failed. And then God put him under dispensation
of grace, and Christ came into the world and made an effort
to turn the hearts of men back to God, and as you can see, that
seems to be failing too. And then there's going to be
a dispensation called a millennium. in which Christ is going to come
down in person and reign in Jerusalem, and we're going to reestablish
this thing again and have what we call the millennial or kingdom
gospel. Well, let me tell you something.
Let's read verse 9 again. He saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus. Not in conscience, judges, law,
millennia. In Christ Jesus, when? Before
the world began. Now, that's sound words. God
doesn't change. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. The gifts and calling of God will without change. There
are dispensations. There are dispensations of revelation. There are different dispensations
of how God was pleased to work and reveal Christ. But in every
dispensation, salvation is the same. It's by the grace of God,
through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham
saw my day, Christ said, and rejoiced. Moses wrote of me. Abel offered his sacrifice in
pain. By faith, Abel offered the sacrifice. Abel wasn't saved by the sacrifice
he bought. or the motivation that brought
him, he was saved by the God and Lord and Jehovah in whom
he believed. You see that? He purposed our salvation. He
gave it to us. He gave it to us in Christ. He
gave it to us in Christ before the world began. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in the heavens, in Christ, according
as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Beloved, we give thanks to God for you, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whom
he foreknew he did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, Whom he predestinated, he called. And whom he called,
he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified. I tell you, there'll be no vacancies
in heaven, but there'll be plenty of room. And those whom he foreknew
are those whom he'll glorify. And they're not sound words,
I tell you, if they do not recognize and declare That covenant of
grace in which David took comfort as he lay dying, God made with
me an everlasting covenant. I'm telling you the truth. The preacher people don't, people
today are just not going to hear that. Well, people by nature
never have heard it. But Christ said, my sheep will
hear my voice. My sheep will hear my voice. My sheep will. And see, that's one of the evidences
that a man is his sheep, if he hears his voice. They said, well,
tell us, are you the Christ? He said, I told you. I told you
what I told them. I told you what I told them. You heard the same things they
heard. I told you, but you didn't believe me, because you're not
of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I
give them eternal life, and they'll never perish. And no man can
pluck them out of my hand. My father gave them to me. And
no man can pluck them out of his hand. That's just so. All right. Fifthly, I tell you,
sound words. Sound words come from the God's
Word. Salvation. Sound words magnify the power
of God. Oh, the power of God. I'm so
weary of preachers today who literally tried their best to
bring God down. And I want so much to keep on
exalting Him, dwelling in that light to which no man can approach,
the incomprehensible, unapproachable, holy God, God of power and majesty
and might and glory, the eternal God. I don't need a God I can
understand. I don't need a God I can comprehend.
I don't need a God I can explain. I want the living God to know
Him. You say, well, preacher, you
get God beyond your reach. That's the way He's always been.
But He's not beyond the reach of my Lord. He's not beyond the
reach of my Mediator. He's not beyond the reach of
my Redeemer. And I'm in Him. He brings me
to God. You see that? He doesn't bring God down to
me. He brings me to God. He fixes me up so that God will
have me. Our generation of religion is
to compromise God. Christ said, I didn't come to
destroy the law, to whittle it down, to take the edge off, to
take the power out, the perfection out. I came to fulfill it. I didn't come down here so you
could understand God and make yourself right with God. I came
down here to give a revelation of God to your heart and take
you to Him and present in me, through me, by me, faultless,
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. No preaching is sound that does
not declare the fulfillment of every promise and manifestation
of God's purpose in Christ. Look at verse 10. But is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He came down here to enable God
to be just and justified. We never could reach God, and
He came down here to get us. We never could know God, He came
down here to tell us. We never could come to God, He
came down here to get us and bring us to God. And do for us
while He is here everything that needed to be done. It's manifest,
it's manifest. I know it's in promising picture
and pattern, but now Christ, you've seen me, you've seen God. Oh, my, my. And sound word, look
at verse 11, I've got to move on, it doesn't leave out the
preacher. God, through Christ, has abolished death and brought
life and immortality to life through the gospel wherever I'm
appointed a preacher. Apostle, a jinn teacher, the
gentile. Brother man, couldn't God save
people without a preacher? Well, I don't know what God can
do. Actually, that can even do all things. I know what God does
do. I know what God does do. I know that he chose by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. I do know that. I do know he said, how are they
going to hear without a preacher? How are they going to preach
except they be sent? So sound words, recognize. The preacher
doesn't save. God saves. But the preacher brings
the gospel that saves. Isn't that right? The preacher
brings the gospel. Now look at the next line. And
this is sound words too, "...for the which cause I suffer these
things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. I know whom I have believed."
Well, Paul, how did you know him? You said, who are you? He
revealed himself to me. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him. Sound words. Recognize
the need of the gospel. And recognize that there is definitely
a response to the gospel. A response. Old Spurgeon said the best definition
of faith I've ever found is right here in verse 12 of 2 Timothy
1. Knowledge, I know whom I have
believed. Confidence, I am persuaded he's able to keep. Committal,
that which I've committed to him. Had you? All right, let
me give you the second point now, and I'll hurry. Some reasons
for holding fast these sound words. Now, these are sound words.
I'm not going over them if you want to go over and get the tape.
But these are signs. This is true. Now here's some
reasons to hold fast to this truth. First, for your own sakes.
For your own sakes. He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. If any man draw back, my soul
has no pleasure in him. Paul said, we are not of them
that draw back, but we are of them that continue to the saving
of the soul. I'll tell you, in this thing,
you say, you preach perseverance? Oh yeah, definitely. I preach
two things. I preach a preservation. We are
kept by the power of God. Kept by the power of God. Philippians
said, he that hath begun a good work in you shall perform it. And in the covenant, God said,
I'll not depart from them. But we also preach this, and
these two go together like repentance and faith. They're inseparable.
There's preservation, but there's perseverance. We're kept by the
power of God through faith, through faith. And he said in the covenant,
he said, I'll not depart from them, and they won't depart from
me. And John made this statement
about those who departed from the gospel. He said they just
never were of us. Because if they'd been of us,
they'd have continued with us. Now that's so. So for your own
sake, hold fast the form of sound words. And then secondly, for
the sake of those who are influenced by you. And Bob, I want to preach to
you a minute, if you don't mind, do you? You do that to your class
sometimes. You've heard the Gospel. You've
heard the Word of God. You've been here some 12 or 13
years. You've heard it. You've heard
it from the Scriptures. You've heard it magnifying God
in His power. You've heard the Gospel of His
grace, sovereign grace, how He saved us. God providentially
brought you to know that y'all's paths crossed in Cincinnati,
Ohio. You'd never heard the gospel. And God caused you to be attracted
to her, and you came over here and sat and listened. And He
revealed the gospel to you. And you know, He did it. You
sought Him, but He sought you. You called, but He called on
you. You love Him, don't you? But He loves you. He loves you.
And He loved you first. And He made a covenant. You know
why you're here? Because He chose you. And if you continue, He'll
keep you. But I'm going to tell you this,
if the day ever comes when you fall out with a preacher, fall
out with me, your father-in-law, I do something you don't like,
say something you don't like, and you quit, or perhaps one
of these people here, perhaps you don't like the way we run
the service, and maybe we make a contribution to a missionary,
you don't like that missionary, so you quit. Or perhaps something
else happened. You have a disagreement, you
quit. Well, you're in trouble yourself. Is that not right?
You're in trouble. Because you've gone back on your
vow, on your profession, on your confession of faith in Christ.
You're in trouble. But I'm here to tell you somebody
else is in trouble too. Those two right there are in
trouble, and your wife is in trouble. Because you're the head
of that house. You're speaking for them. And
God will judge them. Now, you check your Bible. When
Achan stole the wedge of gold and hid it, and they found him
out, they stoned him and his wife and his children. Now, you
can write that down. You will bring reproach not only
on Christ and judgment on yourself, but when you leave the gospel,
when you depart from the gospel, I'm telling you the truth. You're
going to bring judgment on your home and everybody whom you influence. That's exactly right. Do what
you will, but God honors faithfulness and God will judge men who quit
the gospel. That's exactly right. So when you just stop and think,
now I'm thinking the same thing. I've got a response to, I see
these preachers leave the gospel and run off here and there and
do these things. What about those whom they influence?
John, no man lives unto himself. He's not an island. He has a
responsibility. And God will judge him. And we
need to think about this. You talk about holding fast sound
words. You better hold them fast because
of your influence, your testimony. Your testimony. It's a serious
business. Well, thirdly, I'm off to you
now. All right, you didn't mind, did
you? But it's a warning that you touch the light. They're
people who do business with you. And they say, well, I thought
you were, I thought you were, grace believe, I thought you
were down here at 13th Street. I quit. Must not be a thing to
it. You're influenced. You're a student.
You see, when you make a commitment, you say, that's true of everybody.
No, it's true of the man that makes a commitment. It's true of the
man who makes a commitment. He makes a commitment. He takes
a stand. He says, this is God. This is of God. This is from
God. And then I decide it's no more
of God. And I take everybody with me who believes in me. Dan,
that's right. And they don't understand. They
don't understand why you're mad at the preacher, but they're
mad at him too. Because you are. When you're mad at someone, your
children are mad at them. They don't know why. They don't
understand it. But they're mad too. And they'll
never hear the gospel again. God will meet a man at his point
of rebellion, and he'll bring him right there. You say, did
man have to be baptized to be saved? No, but the Pharisees
did. Did everybody go down to River
Jordan and get healed of leprosy? No. But Naaman had to. God told
him to. And God will meet you where you
rebelled. and he'll break you there or he'll let you go to
hell. Now, here's the thing. That's
what I said at the first. I want to tell men the truth
and I want men to hear me. But I'm going to tell the truth
whether they hear me or not. I hope you hear me. All right,
the third thing. Here's some dangers you face
in seeking to hold fast sound words. You'll face persecution.
Now, bear with me. Let me finish this. Christ said,
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
If you hold to sound words, if you tell the truth, believe the
truth, you're going to be persecuted. You say, well, you've preached
the gospel for 39 years and you don't look like you've bled too
much. No, it's not physical suffering, mainly the tongue. That's where
it is, the tongue. People ridicule you. They'll
harass you. They'll ridicule what you believe.
They'll try to turn you from it with this little devil right
here in their mouth. The tongue is a little member,
but it's set on fire with hell. You know you can kill a man with
his tongue? You've killed his reputation, you've killed him.
Haven't you? Sure you can. And they'll lie
about you, they'll lie on you, they'll lie on your God, they'll
lie on your doctrine, they'll laugh at the smallness of your
flop, they'll argue, they'll threaten, they'll berate you.
The tongue, it's the sword of persecution in our day. That
awful, awful tongue. And you know a lot of people
can't stand up against it? You say, well, that's a little old
thing, yeah, but it destroyed them in your kingdom, destroyed
many a family, broken many a heart. And some preachers can't stand
it. They give way to the devil. What
will people say? Another way you'll be persecuted
is loneliness. Your husband or wife opposed
to the gospel. Anybody know anything about that? Family at odds, family divided. Some of the girls here at church
say, preacher, there are no saved people today. There are no believers to marry. All right, are you going to hold
fast or are you going to give in? It's persecution. You may live
where there's nobody preaching the gospel. I have friends that
write me and say, send some tape. We've got no place to worship.
I tell you, some day, I tell them, Bob, while I go, I'm 62,
there's not too many more years I'm going to stand here. I hope
God will put somebody here in my place some day who preaches
the same gospel, but suppose he doesn't, you're going to stand. You're going to hold fast. Will
you hold fast to farmer's sonhood in spite of all of the persecution? By his grace, I will. Last, I
close. Here's the way to do it. I've
got to quit, but here's the way to do it. Verse 13. Hold fast
the form of sound words, which you've heard of me, in faith
and love, which is in Christ Jesus. There's the key. See something? There it is. Well, Brother Mahan, we all need
to get busier, don't we? That won't do it. That won't do it. Well, maybe
you need to have some more social activities, our young people,
more social activities, and now it won't do. Well, let's have
some more meetings, and we've got a lot of meetings now everybody's
not coming to. Let's have some more meetings,
let's have some home Bible studies and home prayer meetings. No,
that's not going to get it either. There's two things here on which foundation people hold
fast. One is faith. If they believe
God. In here. I believe Abraham. Boy,
he didn't have many social activities or Bible classes or home prayer
meetings. He wandered out there in the wilderness looking for
a Savior. But he believed God. And ever wind that blew it, ever
storm that came, he just stood there and said, I believe God.
Like old Paul on the deck of that sinking ship. She's going
down, but I believe God. I believe God. That'll do it. I believe God. And secondly,
I love Him. Because He first loved me. How
can I help but love Him?

Hold Fast to Sound Words

What does the Bible say about holding fast to sound words?

How do we know that perseverance in faith is important for Christians?

Why is the doctrine of grace important in the Reformed tradition?

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Hold Fast to Sound Words

What does the Bible say about holding fast to sound words?

How do we know that perseverance in faith is important for Christians?

Why is the doctrine of grace important in the Reformed tradition?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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