I want you to open your Bibles
with me to the book of Joshua, chapter 23. Now, I'm not going to try to explain
this message. I'm just going to preach it. I was preparing our Bible class
lessons this past week. enabled me to do three of them
this week. And I was studying the book of
Joshua and I came to chapter 23 and I sat at my desk and I
read it. And it was such a solemn warning
and impressed me so strongly that I decided to prepare a message
and speak today from Joshua 23. And then I worked on the message
for Sunday morning and the one for Piteville this afternoon.
I came back to this Joshua 23 and I thought, I believe I'll
lighten up and bring something else. I think I'll just put that
aside, you know, for the time being. But I couldn't find anything
else, and seemingly, I can't say with some of these preachers
that God told me to do this and told me to do that. I'll be perfectly
honest with you, I've never heard the voice of God. Not one time. I believe I know Him. I believe
I love Him. I believe I know and love Christ.
But the Lord God has never told me anything except what He told
me through this book. And if any of you, if God's ever
told you anything, I wish you'd come down here after the service
and tell me what language he spoke. And then tell me whether
he had a high voice or a low voice. Come on now, I'm serious. And just how did you hear God? Because I sure would be interested. But he speaks through his Word,
and what I find in finding the will of God is the will of God
is revealed in His Word. The will of God is revealed by
His Spirit, and the will of God is revealed by the impressions
that the Holy Spirit lays on our hearts, and we can't get
out from under them. Can't get out from under them.
And then the will of God, to me, is revealed when a door that
I don't open now, but He opens. A door He opens, supernaturally,
I can open doors. I can use my name. I can use
my influence. I can use my friends. I can use
preachers I know. I can get on the phone tonight
and arrange 15 meetings for next month. Just call preachers I
know and say, would you like to have me come preach for you?
That is not the will of God. But the will of God is miraculously
revealed by an open door. You are impressed to move in
a certain direction, and when you move, that door opens. It'll
open. if He wants you there. And so
this message tonight, I'm going to preach it. I'm not going to
try to explain it. I'm just going to preach it and let you follow
along in the Scriptures and see what God says to you, because
He did speak to my heart through His Word. Now, it says here in
verse 1, It came to pass a long time after that the Lord had
given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about. Moses
had died. Joshua was the commander, commander-in-chief
of the people. Joshua, Jesus, Savior. God is my Savior. He's the picture
of Christ, the type of Christ. He led them across Jordan into
Canaan. They conquered Jericho and the
other cities, and God gave them rest. But Joshua was old and
stricken in age. And Joshua called for all Israel
for their elders and their heads, their judges, for their officers. And he said to them, I'm old
and stricken in age. My days are numbered. I'm in
the sunset days. I'm in the closing months and
years of my life. I won't be leading you very much
longer. And he says in verse three, you
people know, you have seen all that the Lord God hath done unto
these nations because of you. You've seen how the Lord has
fought your battles, how the Lord brought you out of Egypt,
how the Lord led you across the wilderness, and how God led you
through the sea and across Jordan, and God led you into Canaan,
and God established you, and God fought your enemies and fought
your battles. For the Lord God is He that hath
fought for you. He's brought you into this good
land, and He's established you, and blessed you, and so many...
You know that, He said. You've seen that. You've seen
the hand of the Lord, like Richard prayed a moment ago. I've seen
the hand of God in my life. I've seen what God hath done.
It's like, oh, what God hath wrought. What God hath wrought. What God hath done. He says in
verse four, Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations
that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes from Jordan with
all the nations that I've cut off even unto the great sea westward. And the Lord your God, he shall
expel them from before you and drive them from out of your sight,
and you shall possess their land as the Lord your God hath promised
unto you. Now therefore, now therefore,
Be ye therefore very courageous out of gratitude to God, out
of thanksgiving to God, out of love for God. Be very courageous
to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law
of Moses, the things that God has commanded you, the things
that God has revealed to you, the things that God has written
by the hand of his prophets. Be courageous. steadfast, determined,
out of gratitude and thanksgiving and love to God, to keep them,
these things. Keep the Word. And don't turn
aside, therefore, either to the right hand or to the left. His
Word is our rule. His Word is our guide. His Word
is our foundation. His Word is our state. Let's
keep to the Word of God. That's what he says to you. Keep
to the Word of God. Keep to the Word of God. I thought when I read that, how
many churches and pulpits and denominations today have turned
away from the Word of God. They just don't use the Word
of God. They don't read the Word of God. And I think some of our
brethren whom we know and love and are precious to us, to me,
don't make enough of the Word of God in their worship services.
I've contended here all these years that there ought to be
a chapter of God's Word read every time the church comes together,
every time they meet, every time believers meet, whether it's
for prayer or for business or for worship or for teaching or
whatever. Read the Word. Read the Word. Keep to the Word
of God. It's not what the pastor down in Coldwater, Mississippi—no,
in DuBois, Louisiana. I was talking to him. Now, listen
to this. I was talking to him on the phone last night. He'd
been preaching the grace of God about a year. And he asked me,
he heard a tape somebody gave him from Arkansas, and he called
and asked me if I'd come preach for him a week. And I said, I'd
be glad to. He said, we need you to come
and preach. He said, I'm pastor of a Southern
Baptist church. And he said, the man before me
said he believed the grace of God, but he said, since I've
been here, I found out he evidently didn't, because nobody else believed. Nobody else has heard anything.
And he said, we want you to come and preach. I said, well, I'll
come. He said, now, pray for me. Pray
for me tomorrow, especially. This was yesterday. He said,
pray for me tomorrow. He said, I'm going to undertake something
tomorrow. He said, I may, I don't know
how to come out. He said, I don't know whether
people receive it. I don't know how they're going
to respond to it. But he said, we have, in our church, and other
churches in this association, women who are teaching men's
Bible classes, who are deaconesses, who are running the business
of the church, who are leading prayer, who are outspoken, who
use super authority over the men. He said, I'm going to take
the Word of God tomorrow. He said, I said, did you read
my commentaries on those? Oh, yeah. He said, I've read
everything I can get a hold of. I want to be well prepared. But
isn't this, and so, He turned over and read what he was going
to use today. But where are we when a preacher
is scared of how his people are going to respond to what God
says? You see what I'm saying? Here is plainly written in God's
Word from Genesis where God said to Eve, your husband will have
the rule over you. It says in 1 Corinthians, Paul
said, let your women keep silence in the church. If they're learning
things, let them ask their husbands at home if they've got a problem
or a question. Over in Timothy, it says plainly and clearly,
I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to preach, nor to usurp authority
over the man, but to be in silence for. Adam was first formed in
the eve, and Adam was not deceived in the transgression, but the
woman was, and that's part of the judgment of God upon her
to be in subjection her husband and her pastor and the men of
the church. But here's a dear pastor that wants his church
to be according to the Word, and he's just not sure how they're
going to take it. Neither to the right or to
the left, you see. Don't turn from the Word. But we have. And then he says, in verse 7,
that you come not among these nations. Now, I want you to watch
this. I got this little note here. Joshua is not speaking
here, warning the people of this serious, solemn warning about
fleshly infirmities. You husband and wife are going
to have your little skirmishes. If you have for thirty years,
you will, as long as your personality is, as long as you're individual. Your young people are going to
stay out too late, come in, have a fuss. There's a lot of fleshly
infirmities. You see what I'm talking about?
But this, what Joshua's talking about here, and I want you to
get your mind zeroed here in the right direction. He's talking
about departing from the Lord God. He's talking about departing
from the Word of God. He's talking about departing
from the worship of God. I'm not talking about fleshly
infirmities. I'm not talking about the conflicts
of the flesh. We're talking here about compromise
with the religions of this world. You keep that in mind while I'm
reading through this. These are serious things. These are serious
things. Now listen, that you come not,
verse 7, among these nations, these that remain among you.
Now here's Israel, here's the people of God. He said, God chose
you, God blessed you, all of this way. Now he said, don't
you depart from the Word. is to the right of the left,
verse 7, and don't you come among these nations that remain among
you, neither make mention of the name of their gods." Don't you compromise with them,
don't you join in with them, don't you recognize or make mention
of the name of their gods? Little lethargy. They're not
gods at all. And don't you swear by them,
don't you recognize them, don't you serve them, and don't you
bow to them. There's the conflict, here's
the issue. You're a chosen people, you're a holy nation, you're
a royal priesthood, you're God's people, you've been separated
to Christ. Don't you join with, compromise,
promote a false religion or a false God. Don't even mention His name. Read on. But cleave unto the
Lord your God. Cleave unto that sovereign God,
that almighty God, that living God, that God and Father of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Cleave unto the Lord your God,
as you have done this day. Verse 9, For the Lord hath driven
out from before you great nations and strong nations. He's fought
your battle. He's defeated a mighty enemy.
Satan's a mighty enemy. And he's conquered him for your
sake. He's put in the flight for your sake. He's conquered.
He satisfied the holy law of God. He put away the curse of
the law. He has redeemed you from your
sins. He has overcome your enemy. Yes, He has. Great nations, strong
nations. As for you, no man has been able
to stand before you unto this day. One man of you shall chase
a thousand. The Lord, your God, thousands,
forces of evil. And you know, you think, talk
about Israel here now, and how that one man could chase a thousand
Canaanites or Hittites or Amorites. But you know, our enemies are
not flesh and blood. The principalities and powers
and rulers in the darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places, and
by His grace, they've been put to flight. They've tried everything. See, Israel is a picture. Israel
is a type of true Israel. Now look at verse 11. Take good
heed, therefore. Take good heed, therefore, to
yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. That's where it
is, that you love the Lord your God. But now watch verse 12 here. And you know that doesn't sound
too difficult, does it? He says to us, he says, you see
how the Lord has blessed you? You see how good the Lord's been
to you? See how he brought you out of bondage and across the
desert? River Jordan, into the promised land, fought your battle,
whipped your enemy, gave you strength and grace, now cleave
to the Lord and love the Lord. Don't depart from God's Word.
Don't out of compromise yield to the religions of this world.
Give in to their gods, recognize their gods, even make mention
as if their gods existed. Don't mention them. Swear by
them, or bow to them, or worship them, or take part in their worship.
That sounds simple. Else, now watch this, verse twelve. If you do, if you do in any wise,
go back, if you go back, and cleave unto the rendement of
these nations, even those that remain among you, and make marriages
and alliances with these pagans, religious pagans, oh religious,
you see, That's what he told us over here in this other verse. He said, they're gods, they have
gods. He said, I want my daughter to
marry a religious fellow. Well, she can do that and marry
a pagan, a heathen. In fact, most of the pagans are
more pagan in religion than they are in the world. The world's
got more respect for God than religious world. Now, if you
make marriages with them and go into them, day to you, make
alliances and partnerships with them. Verse thirteen, you know
for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more, no more. You lay down the banner. That's
what I call laying down the banner. We got the banner up here, the
banner of Christ. Christ is our banner. And we
are marching onward, Christian soldiers marching as to war with
the banner of Christ. And we look round about us, you
know, and There's some folks that aren't marching with us,
you know. So we've got strange gods and strange ways, and we
don't want to be too peculiar and stand out too much. So we
just kind of lay the banner down, you know. One reason or another.
Lay her down. But if you do, verse 13, you
know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more, no
more, drive out any of these nations from before you. No more.
Not going to fight your enemies anymore. But they shall be. The very thing or person or way
with which you compromise, this very thing with which you compromise
is going to be a snare and a trap for you. The very thing, the
very place where you let down the banner, the very reason,
the very temptation, the very thing. And like I said before,
I'm not talking about a failure here and a flash and a failure
there. We've got so much of that about us. an allegiance to and
dedication to Christ and the gospel and the glory of God and
the honor of God. Is that clear, Paul, what I'm
saying? The honor of God. The honor of God. If you compromise
it, if you compromise the honor of God and what's, at what place
is the honor of God more at stake than in the gospel? Who Christ
is and what Christ did and why he did it and where he is now.
What's more at stake? He said, God won't drive out
your enemies from you anymore. But these very enemies are going
to be snares and traps under you and scourges in your sides
and thorns. Think about a thorn, how sensitive
a thorn is in the eye. But these very things for which
you compromise and with which you compromise, they are going
to be God's rods to chase you. The very thing. The very person after which you
ran, or the very means of whatever you departed for, whatever led
you away from the gospel of Christ, identification to depart from
His ordinances and from His worship and from His gospel and from
His honor and from His glory and from His worth, whatever
it was that led you away, that's what God's going to use to wear
you out. To wear you out, that very thing.
Like a fella said one day, he wanted this girl, and he got
her, and she wore him out, took him to his grave. That's right.
Whatever it is, God'll use that very thing to be the rod of chastening,
the thorn in your eye, and a trap and a scourge, watch it, until
you perish from off the good land which God gave you. You'll
perish. Oh, I tell you what a solemn,
solemn warning. And you know, here's the thing,
I read that, and I knew there was a message for us, but then
I read on, went on, and you know, as if, as if they hadn't even
heard him. Joshua repeated the same thing.
As if, as if they hadn't, he said, like Paul said, as I said
before, so say I again, if any man preach any other gospel,
let him be accursed. And Joshua said, now, as I said
before, I want to repeat what I just said. Look at verse 14.
I'm going to repeat everything I've said. Behold, this day I'm
old. I'm going the way of all flesh.
Here it comes again. And you know in your hearts,
you know in all your hearts and in your souls, I'm talking to
people here just like Joshua was, I'm talking to people here
who know in their hearts what God's done for you. what God's
done for you, Bob, what God's done for you, your family, your
children, Jim, what God's done for you. Charlie, when Charlie
Pennington got up here and read and prayed the other night, I'd
known Charlie since he was a mean sergeant in the Army over in
Germany. And I told him that, sir, as
I said, if you'd told me five years ago that you'd been up
here leading a congregation to the throne of grace and prayer,
I wouldn't have believed a word of it. And I wouldn't No way. If you told me ten years ago,
Paul Mahan had preached the gospel, I'd have never believed it. He
might have preached something, but it wouldn't have been the
gospel. That's right. I'm serious. What God's done
for you. That's what... He says, I'm old.
I've seen God do some things for you people. And he said,
not only that, but you know it. Tom, God brought you out of the
devil's religion. That's what false religion is.
Tradition and custom. He just reached down and and
passed by a lot of others, and picked you up, and put you in
the gospel, and gave you a family, and friends, and a love for grace? You know that? In your heart
you know that. In your heart you know that.
Joshua said, I'm old, but I know this, in your heart, in your
soul, You know what's this now. Not one thing has failed of all
the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you.
He's never failed you one time. Boy, we've stumbled around, but
he's never stumbled. We've fumbled around, but he's
never fumbled. You can't lay one... Herman, you can't lay
one charge to God to fail in anything he's promised. He kept
every promise he had. Every promise he had. He's never
failed you, never has. Not one promise which the Lord
God spake concerning you, all of them have come to pass. Every
single one of them have come to pass, and not one thing has
failed thereof. Nothing that Christ has promised
or Christ has purchased or the Holy Spirit has applied has ever
failed in anything. God's never let us down. Always
blessed us. Therefore, he says, I want to
tell you, it shall come to pass that as all good things have
and are come upon you, which the Lord God promised you, so
shall the Lord God bring upon you all evil things. As He's blessed you, He's going
to judge you. As He's brought good things upon
you, He's going to bring evil things. He will, until he's destroyed
you from off the good land which your Lord God gave you. Now,
why? Why would God do that? Therefore,
when you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God,
that's it, that covenant of grace, that covenant of mercy, when
you've transgressed the covenant, when you've laid down the banner,
when you've turned your back on his covenant of mercy and
covenant of grace, listen, and served other gods, gods of materialism,
gods of whatever, you've served other gods, you've given yourself
to other gods, you've attention, you've bowed yourself to them,
you've compromised, then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled
against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land
which he's given you. And if you look over Joshua 24,
I'll show you how that he's summed this thing up again in this next
chapter. Now, Joshua said to the people, verse
19, you cannot serve the Lord. I heard a preacher preach a message
on this one time, and I just wasn't quite pleased with what
I heard, because he was showing their inability to serve the
Lord God, which is true. But that's not what Joshua's
saying here. Joshua's saying you can't serve the Lord and
another God. That's what he's saying. You
can't serve the Lord God and another God. That's exactly what
he said. Why? Because he's a holy God. You can't serve the Lord
and mammon. You can't serve the Lord and
self. You can't serve the Lord and your wife. I know a young
man right now that has heard the gospel of God's grace. He's
heard the gospel of God's grace. He's talked to me about it. He's
an educated young man. He's an intelligent young man.
And God has shown him, God has He's heard me preach a lot of
times. And he's talked to me about this. And the Lord God
has brought him out of Arminianism and freewillism and false religion
to hear the gospel. But he can't make the break because
his wife loves it over there. And she's going over there, and
she's going to stay over there. And there ain't nothing he can
do about it. He'd better do something about it. He'd better do something
about it. He better do something about
it. That's why you can't serve God and your wife. You can't
serve God and riches. You can't serve God and a political
party. You can't serve God and self.
You can't serve two gods because He's a holy God. He's a just
God. That's what I'm saying. He's
a just God. It's got to be total allegiance
or nothing. Is that right? That's what Joshua
said. You can't serve two gods. He
won't forgive your transgressions and your sin if you forsake the
Lord and serve another God. You see verse 20? That's what
he's saying. If you do, if you turn from the
Lord and serve a strange God, a God that's not according to
the Word, then He'll turn and do you hurt. He'll turn and do
you hurt, and He'll consume you after He's done you good. After
He's done you good, He'll do you hurt. Why? Because you got
mad and blessed somebody else? No. Because you didn't make it
to prayer meeting Wednesday night? No. Because you did this, that? No.
Because you turned away from his gospel, his honor, his glory,
his son. That's it. You turned to the
gods of this world, the gods of other of other races and pagans. That's it. Turn to Ecclesiastes
5. Let me show you something here.
Ecclesiastes chapter 5. I'll show you what it says here. And this, you see, this knowledge
carries with it a responsibility. Revelation carries with it a
responsibility. If God teaches you, if the Holy
Spirit teaches Better not to have known the way at all than
to turn from it. That's what I'm saying. Better not to have
known it. For they have trodden under their foot the Son of God.
That's what Scripture says. In Ecclesiastes 5, verse 1, keep
your foot when you go to the house of God. Be more ready to
hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. They consider not that
they do evil. Don't be rash with your mouth.
Let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God. God's
in the heaven. You're upon the earth. Therefore
let your words be few. For a dream cometh through the
multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by the multitude
of his words. And when you have vowed a vow
unto God, defer not to pay it. For he hath no pleasure in fools.
pay that which thou hast vowed." We're not talking about money
here now either. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow,
than thou shouldest thou not pay. What did that old man say? I've
opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can't go back. And he was
talking in the face of the death of his daughter, wasn't he? Isn't
that what he said? I've opened my mouth to God,
and I can't Because Joshua said, if you do
all the good things he's given you, you'll give evil things
till you perish off this earth. As God has fought your enemies,
he'll fight them no more. But your enemies and those with
whom you compromise will be snares and traps and thorns in your
eyes till you perish off the land God's given you. Now is there a word for my generation
in this solemn message? You know, turn with me to the
Book of Acts. Let me show you something here. We talk about
the Old Testament. Do you know that the Apostle
called the old people over there, the Israelites, the church in
the wilderness? That's what he called them. Acts
chapter 7, listen. Acts 7. Listen to it here. Acts 7, verse
36. He brought them out. Verse 37. And this is that Moses which
said to the children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your
God raise up unto you of your brethren. That's what we studied
in Sunday school this morning. Like unto me, him you shall hear.
This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, which the angel, with the angel
which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, with our fathers who received
the lively oracles to give unto us. That's the church in the
wilderness. The examples for us. what God did to them, the
same message as Paul. The covenant's the same. The
covenant of mercy. God's the same. His character's
the same. Look at 1 Corinthians 10. Let
me show you here what he says in 1 Corinthians 10, beginning
with verse 5. Now, this needs to be looked
at carefully. In 1 Corinthians 10.5, Paul writes
these words, but with many of them, 1 Corinthians 10.5, God
was not well pleased. And they were overthrown in the
wilderness. Now these things were our examples. To the intent
we should not lust after evil things as they lusted. Neither
be idolaters as some were some of them as it's written the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in
one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ as
some of them tempted and were destroyed of serpent. Neither
murmur ye, or some of them murmured, were destroyed, or destroyed.
Now, all these things happened to them for examples. And they're
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
coming. That's clearly examples. So what Joshua said to Israel,
oh, Brother Mahan ought to come along in his sixtieth year and
say to us. I didn't say to you, I said to
us. So this is what I'm saying. I'm
old and well up in years, as the years of men go. But you
know, years do not necessarily mean wisdom. Not necessarily. Sometimes they do. They should.
But I do know this, if those years that God has given a man,
and he's up in years, if those years have been spent in the
Word of God, then that man ought to have learned what God said,
shouldn't he? And then secondly, those years
bring with them an understanding of what's really worthwhile and
what's valuable. Yes, they do. They bring an understanding
of what's worthwhile and what's valuable. And then, those years
also bring with them experience. And I can say this, I've watched
people who continued in the faith. and persevered. I've watched
them continue in the faith, stay with the gospel, stay with the
Lord, stay with an identification with the gospel. I'm not talking
about with me. I'm talking about with the gospel. I'm not even talking
about with a building. I'm talking about with the gospel.
They stayed with the gospel and persevered. And I've watched
God bless them and continue to bless them until He took them
home. And then I've seen others who have departed. I've seen
others depart. for one reason or another. And
as I've seen the fruits of perseverance, I've seen the misery and the
heartache of departing. I've seen God deal with men in great unhappiness. Unhappiness. Men whom I believe
knew the gospel. He said, you believe they were
saved? Good possibility. Good possibility. Yeah, very
good possibility. But these, the reasons for which
they left identification with God and Christ, His people, His
ordinances, His gospel, these very things have become a trap
and a snare. and God's rod of chastening until
he takes them out. And here's what I'm saying, too. I'm not, like Paul said, I am
not the Lord. But I just don't know whether
a man who lays the banner down under the onslaught of an enemy
will ever be given by God an opportunity to pick it up again.
I've never seen it. I've seen some try. I've never
seen them dig it up. Not yet. But I may see it. I'll never say they won't. But
I'm saying the U.S. Army shoots men who desert under
fire. God Almighty puts them on the
shelf. Paul said, I keep my body and bring it into subjection,
lest while preaching to others I become a what? A castaway. That's what Joshua's saying here.
And I testify this, like Joshua of old. I'm old and up in years,
and I've, by the years of teaching in the Word and understanding
something of the hand of God and the blessings of God, and
I can say, I can testify this. You and I know what God's done
for us, don't we? You know what God's done for
you? God chose us. He revealed His Son to us, He
fought for us against every enemy, He became a man and subdued the
enemy through His strength and piety and grace and holiness
and death, cost Him His life to redeem my soul. He's given
me an inheritance of good land and called me to Himself and
made me a part of God's family. I can say to me and to you, like
Joshua of Oak, you know it, if we go back if we go back and
turn from His Word and from His ordinances and from His people
and from His gospel and for compromise sake and for the flesh's sake
and to satisfy our whims and fancies and to do what we want
to do and what we will to do, we lay down His banner, we put
it in the closet and hide it until we get accomplished what
we set out to accomplish, and then we go back, open the closet,
and try to take it out. I don't believe we'll be there. I believe we're back away from
the closet and say, God, what have I done? God, what have I
done? And he said, well, you'll find
out. You'll find out what you've done. And as I've given you good
things, I'll visit you with evil things, till I take you out of
this place. Till I take you out of this place. Turn to Hebrews,
chapter 10. Hebrews, the tenth chapter. It
says here, in Hebrews, chapter 10, Paul's sound just keeps sounding
this warning note. Keeps sounding this warning note.
He says in Hebrews 10, verse 23, Let's hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. He's faithful at promise. Let's
consider one another to provoke unto love and 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, departing
from Christ to the beggarly elements, after we receive a knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but
a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation,
which devoured the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy unto two or three witnesses. O how much sore punishment,
suppose you, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under
his foot the Son of God! and counted the blood of the
covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done
despite unto the Spirit of grace. We know him that hath said, Vengeance
is mine, vengeance belongeth to me, I recompense, saith the
Lord. And the Lord will judge his people,
the fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. But
call to remembrance the former days in which after you were
illuminated you endured a great fight of affliction, you come
this far, You battled as far, partly while you were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while
you became companions of them that were so used. Yet compassion
on me and my bonds, you took joyfully the spotting of your
goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better
and enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. You have
need of patience. Patience. Wait on God. that after
you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
For yet a little while, He's coming. He'll come. He will not
tarry, but just to live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul will have no pleasure in him. Thank God. Can you say this in verse 39?
We are not of them that draw back unto perdition. We are of
them that believe and keep believing. Keep believing, keep believing.
I believe to the saving of the soul. That's perseverance. That's perseverance. And I was
quoting a scripture to Doris driving down this afternoon,
told her to write it down here. Paul, David said this, and then
Paul repeated it. He said, I believe. I believe. What else? Therefore have I spoken. And so this ought to be applied
to everything about, I believe. Therefore, I confess Christ. I believe. Therefore, I serve
Christ. I believe. Therefore, I preach
Christ. I believe. Therefore, I identify
with Christ. I believe. Therefore, I stay
with Christ. That's it, y'all. I believe. That's why. Because
I believe. God help my unbelievers. All
right. Mike, come lead us in a song,
if you will.