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Take your Bibles this morning
and turn to, we will get to John chapter number 10. John chapter
number 10, if you would, John chapter number 10. Today is,
there's a couple of, there's definitely holidays that we acknowledge
and recognize within our nation. But I believe there's a couple
of holidays that are special days that we recognize as the
church, because these are days that had a great impact for the
church. Obviously, Resurrection Sunday
is one of those days we pause to recognize. I think that this
is a Sunday, the Sunday before the 31st of October. is a day
that impacted the church in history. And it's a conviction of mine
that we recognize it, partly because I have a desire to reclaim
that day as Reformation Day. But it is a day that was set
aside in history. It was a moment. Of course, God
was doing a thing in the hearts of people for well over 100 years,
from the time of a guy named John Hus to Martin Luther, but
also in the hearts of other men and women and believers across
Europe at the time. But it was when Luther, on October
31st of 1517, went and nailed the 95 theses, basically 95 things
that was a point of contention, a point of disagreement, a point
of debate, really, was what he was proposing. Let us discuss
these. Let us see if these things are
actually what the Bible teaches. And God was really orchestrating
things in that event because some have sort of wondered that
had Luther nailed those things or had somebody like Luther done
that very action 30 years before, would what have happened, happened?
Or would it have been forgotten in history? But you see what
happened was, is that it was such a bold statement that just
a few years after that, a guy named Gutenberg had developed
the first printing press. And as young men do, young college
age men do, they see something and they say, oh, this is controversial,
let's spread it. And so some young students of
Luther got all excited and they took what Luther had posted,
they ran it through the printing press and it started spreading
across Europe to where it got to the Pope. Now, this only emboldened
Luther, and of course, the debate didn't really happen. There was
other debates that did happen, but those 95 things didn't get
to address. And before long, there's a lot to the story, but
before long, the pope wrote what was called a papal bull. What
a papal bull was, was basically an order, we can think of it
sort of like, almost like an order of cease and desist, or
an order of condemnation. When the Pope did this, and you
also have to understand this, as Protestants in America, we
don't quite understand. Like, it's hard for us to put
ourselves in the shoes of what that would have been like over
500 years ago when somebody with the stature of the Pope did something
like that, okay? It was, you are, just foreboding,
I mean, you basically forfeit your life, right? You are done,
okay? And when he received that, Luther's
action then did something else, they got these young men stirred
up again, that then spread like wildfire across Europe, and that
was, he took that papal bull, he went outside to a field with
an audience, and he burned it. lit it on fire, in other words
saying, write all the papal bulls you want, I don't care. And it
was that kind of action that God used. People that do studies
on the life of Martin Luther or read biographies, they like
to focus on some, some like to focus on like the problems with
Luther. Yes, Luther was not a perfect person. Luther had issues, all
right? If we were to take some of the
things that Luther wrote, some of his more colorful language,
we could not necessarily read it in mixed company or in the
company of children. But sometimes God seems it necessary
to use individuals like that. We normally look at this at the
Reformation, at things that were recovered, were reformed from
what the Roman Catholic Church had done and recovered or reformed
back to what the Bible taught. And the main things that normally
come to mind are what is known as the five solas. If we look at this, sola scriptura,
sola gratia, sola fide, Solus Christus and Sola Deo Gloria. That's Latin for scripture alone,
grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
And those were the main things that were reformed or recovered
in the Reformation. But there were other things that
as those things were battled out, that reforming or Reformation
continued to happen within the church and across Europe. One
of those things that were battled for and reformed about are one
of the things that we're going to be doing this morning. That
is the Lord's Table communion. In fact, there's a very famous
debate that actually happened with two of the reformers. who
was leading the reformation efforts in Switzerland and Luther came
together and they tried to like, they're friends and everything,
like, we gotta get you guys together, you're on the same page and we
can have like a team up, like an Avengers event, right? And
like, it would be awesome. And they did. And the two personalities
of Zwingli and Luther found that they sort of butted heads a little
bit. but were finding that they could
agree on most things, the things that they felt were important.
And they developed 14 points, 14 points of doctrinal conviction
that needed to be agreed upon. And they agreed on 13 and a half. And it was to such a, and the
one point that they disagreed on was what was meant by the
Lord's Supper. To the point that the decision
was so much that Luther said, if Zwingli says one more thing,
I'm throwing something at his head. And we can easily judge those
men from our American standpoint today in 2024. But I dare say, especially if
you study history, withhold your judgment of historical characters
until you're able to put your feet into their shoes and to
that time. Another one of those things that
was battled out in the Reformation time period are the things that
we've been covering in our series, The Doctrines of Grace. Was man
good or was man sinful? Is man inherently sinful? Is
he totally depraved? Or does he have the ability to
contribute to his salvation? This was one of those fights
that Luther actually fought with a Roman Catholic priest named
Desiderius Erasmus, and he wrote his book, the book that survives
today, called The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, was
really his response to the debate he was having with the Catholic
priest Erasmus. The sovereign election of God.
And these are the subjects that have been covered so far in this
series. So we talked about the radical corruption of man. The
sovereign grace of God or God's sovereign election was a point
of disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation.
The definite atonement of Christ and what we covered last time,
the effectual call of the Spirit. These things are what have been
categorized as the doctrines of grace and now we come to the
final point, the final point. Which in the acronym TULIP, where
you have total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
irresistible grace. When you come to the P, it is
perseverance of the saints. Now, I have titled this morning's
message as the preservation of the saints. You say, well, why
did you change the word? I'm not the first person that
changed the word, okay? It has actually been a thing,
but I think that part of the problem with the word, although
I believe perseverance is a truth, is a doctrine that is taught
in scripture, I believe that it is misleading to start with
that, and maybe I can explain that clearly for you this morning.
So as we jump into this, let's look at this. We're gonna look
at three, basically ask three questions. Three questions this
morning. The first question is, what is the difference between
preservation and perseverance? So we can basically get an understanding
of preservation and perseverance, this final doctrine. This is
sometimes labeled in Baptist circles as eternal security,
all right? So having an understanding of
this, and one of my goals this morning is to drown you with
Scripture. I want to just completely overload you with this morning
with the Bible. And so we will look at many scriptures with
that. Then we're gonna tune in a little bit closer as we get
to our second point. Our second question is, how does
this work? How does this truth or this doctrine
of preservation actually work? And we will take a closer look
at one passage, which is John chapter 10. Then we will end
with a look at an objection. An objection, and what is that
objection? And I sort of categorize this as the third question is,
what about Hebrews chapter six? What about Hebrews chapter six?
Now, some of you are thinking, yeah, what about Hebrews chapter
six? Some of you are thinking, what is Hebrews chapter six?
We will get there, and you will understand once we read Hebrews
chapter six, verse four through six, why that is an objection. But we will explain that as well.
So let's look at death. What is the difference between preservation
and perseverance? Perseverance has been misunderstood. Armenians have, and those that
are opposed to this, have disliked, even those, I'll say this, even
those who disagree with the doctrine of election, but believe in eternal
security, which I hope by the end of this series you'll see
that that's a bit of a contradiction. theologically, logically, okay? But even those that believe in
eternal security will criticize those that believe in the doctrines
of grace because of the term perseverance of the saints. And
this is what they say. They totally misunderstand it.
And they say this, oh, you believe that you've got to work your
way to heaven. You believe that you've got to persevere. And
if you don't finish, then you've lost your salvation, you're not
gonna go to heaven when you die. That is a complete misunderstanding,
which is why I sort of like, prefer the term preservation.
However, I hope I get across to you and make it clear to you
that perseverance is a part of it, okay? Why do we use the term
perseverance to begin with? Matthew 10 is not the only place
but Matthew 10 verse 21 and 22 Jesus same brother will deliver
brother over to death and the father his child and children
will rise against parents and have them put to death You'll
be hated by all for my name's sake but the one who endures
to the end will be saved and He mentions the same truth in
Matthew 24 verse number 13 The one who endures to the end will
be saved and so someone may say wait a second Is the bible saying
there that the only sure cap of our salvation is if we make
it to the end? Therefore it's on us And we would
say No No John Frame, the theologian, wrote
a very lengthy systematic theology, said this, perseverance simply
means that those who are truly regenerate, have been born again,
have experienced a new birth, in saving union with Christ,
can't lose their salvation. In other words, All right, here's
the linking of preservation and perseverance, okay? God will
preserve his elect, and therefore, they will continue to persevere
unto the end. All right, so when we say preservation,
we are speaking of what God does. for the security of the believer. And when we say perseverance,
because of what God does, we speak to what the believer will
do. All right, so let me say it this
way. If you are saved, if you have been born again, if you
have experienced a new birth, if you are in Christ, You will
endure to the end, but it is not because of anything you have
done. It is because of God's hand on
you. So that's the thesis statement,
all right? That's the truth, all right? Now what do we do? We must back
it up from scripture, right? All right, so let's do this.
I have some slides, Colin. You're gonna have to do your
best, buddy, because we're gonna go through this fast, and I've tried to put some of
these on the screen, so hang on, okay? Hang on. All right,
Psalm 37, verse 28. Preserved forever, but the children
of the wicked shall be cut off psalm 66 9 who has kept our soul
Among the living and has not let our feet slip psalm 94 14
for the Lord will not forsake his people He will not abandon
his heritage psalm 97 10. Oh you who love the Lord hate
evil He preserves the lives of his saints. He delivers them
from the hand of the wicked and Psalm 121, 3, he will not let
your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.
Psalm 127, or 121, 7 and 8, the Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord
will keep your going out and your coming in from this time
forth and forevermore. Psalm 145 verse 14, the Lord
upholds all those who are falling and raises up all who are bowed
down. Psalm 145 verse 20, the Lord
preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
Ezekiel 11, 19 and 20, and I will give them one heart
and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart
of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh and
that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them
and they shall be my people and I will be their God. Now, before
we just pause right there, you may be thinking, hey, you're
just reading Old Testament passages. How's that talking about us if
they're in the Old Testament? All right, understand this, get
this. Those who were saved were God's
elect. Those who were saints in the
Old Testament came to be that way by the same way that we come
to be saints in the New Testament. All right, understand it this
way. You say, but Christ hadn't come. It is still by their faith
in Christ. See, remember this, and this
will help you understand salvation in the Old Testament. Promises
made, promises kept. Promises made, promises kept. They looked towards the anticipation
of the Messiah and believed and had faith. And what does the
New Testament say? Abraham's faith was counted to
him as? Righteousness, we look back to
the work of Christ on the cross by faith. Promises made, promises
kept. So therefore we do not section
off the Old Testament saying that was talking to them. We
still see the truths that are written in the Old Testament
still have impact for us today, okay? But let's get to the New
Testament. Hebrews 13 verse five, keep your
life free from love of money and be content with what you
have for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. The gospel of John, John chapter
three verse 36, whoever believes in the son has eternal life.
Whoever does not obey the son shall not see life but the wrath
of God remains on him. Whoever believes in the son has
what? eternal life John 5 24 truly truly I say to you whoever
hears my word and Believes him who sent me has eternal life
Period it is not common to judgment, but it's passed from death to
life very definite statements John 6 really studied Jesus's
teachings on John 6 all of what we've covered in the doctrines
of grace is in John 6 and All of it John 6 verse 39 through
40 and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose
nothing Of all that he has given me Well, hey, what if I do this
after I'm saved he will lose nothing He will lose nothing
that the Father has given, but raise it up on the last day,
for this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the
Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will
raise him up on the last day. Verse 51 of the same chapter,
I'm the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats
of this bread, he will live until he messes up really bad. He will
live forever. And the bread that I will give
for the life of the world is my flesh. 2 Timothy 1 verse 12,
which is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed. For, does
this sound familiar this morning? I know whom I have believed,
and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day
that which has been entrusted to me. Church, I hope you sing
that with a heart full of gratitude towards your God that what you
have believed and committed He will keep until that day. It's not on you. It's not resting
upon your efforts. It is Him First Peter 1 verse
3 through 5 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ According to his great mercy. He has caused us to be
born again To a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an inheritance All right. So what is he saying
so far salvation, right? That's the gospel. You've been
born again new birth Through Christ, the resurrection of Christ
from the dead, now verse four, to what? An inheritance. What
is your inheritance? What is the nature of that inheritance?
It is imperishable. It is undefiled. It is unfading. And it is kept in heaven for
you. You cannot lose this inheritance. Who by God's power, are being
safeguarded through faith for a salvation ready to be refilled
in the last time. Our book that we have been covering,
and we are going to pick up again and finish it out by the end
of the year, 1 John. 1 John chapter five, verse 11 through 13, and
this is the testimony that God gave us, what? Eternal life. How do you know that eternal
life is secure for you? He says, this life is in His
Son, Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the
Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that
you have eternal life. Philippians 1.6, and I am sure
of this, that he who began A good work in you will bring it to
completion at the day of Jesus Christ. See, there's great error
whenever you take a belief that you have begun the good work.
When you think it is by your will and your efforts that have
begun that good work, you make great error because you miss
on what God, by His power, is actually doing. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24, now
may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may
your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Revelation 14, 12, here is a
call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments
of God and their faith in Jesus. 1 Timothy 4, 16, keep a close
watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for
by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers. Each
person in the Trinity has a hand in securing a believer. As the believer perseveres God
the Father establishes 2nd Corinthians 121 and it is God who establishes
us with you in Christ and has anointed us So God the Father
establishes God the Son confirms 1st Corinthians 1 verse 8 who
will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ And God, the Holy Spirit, seals, Ephesians 1, 13, which
we read this morning, in him you also, when you heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed
in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Anyone who has the Holy Spirit
has a guarantee of final perseverance. That is preservation and perseverance. God has preserved you, you persevere
to the end. And it is not dependent upon
you. Although we walk in the statutes of the Lord, we walk
in His obedience, we walk in His commandments, we grow in
sanctification, we obey, it is a work of God that is working
with us. This brings us to point number
two, question number two. Did you turn the air down? Okay.
All right, I was about to say something is hot. All right,
but we got the air going, all right? So it's gonna cool down
just a little bit. How does this work? How does this work? How
do we understand this? The 1689 London Baptist Confession
says this, in chapter 17, paragraph two, this perseverance of the
saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability
of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable
love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and
intercession of Jesus Christ and union with Him. The oath
of God, the abiding of His Spirit, and the seed of God within them,
and the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth
also the certainty and infallibility thereof. So if I can get something
across to you this morning that this truth, your continuing,
your perseverance is not dependent upon you. It's based on what
God's work is. So let us go to John chapter
10. John chapter 10. John chapter
10. This is the text where Jesus
is teaching and he declares the truth. I am the Good Shepherd
Jesus is the Good Shepherd Now he teaches this through verse
21 and there's discussion and upset the Pharisees there They
think that he's teaching wrong things Verse 22 Now it was the
feast of dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter. And Jesus
walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded
him and said to him, how long do you keep us in doubt? If you
are the Christ, if you're the Messiah, tell us plainly. Verse 25, Jesus answered them,
I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you do not believe because
you, here it is, are not of my sheep, as I said to you. Now,
this is where we're gonna focus in on here in verses 27 through
29. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them
out of my hand. My Father who has given them
to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. This
is a wonderful passage. Actually, in these three verses,
the doctrines of grace are here. First election, when Jesus identifies
his sheep as having been given to him by the Father. In other
words, they are the gift of God's electing love. Death, not atonement. Verse 15, if you drop down to
verse 15, he says, as the Father knows me, even so I know the
Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. So in this, these
are the sheep for whom Christ died, a factual call which we
covered last week. He says, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. By the efficacious work of
the Holy Spirit, these sheep respond to God's irresistible
grace. They are said not only to listen
to Jesus' voice, but also to follow him. And then where's
the preservation of the saints? Well, let's look at verse 28.
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. Okay? So what
do we see here in this text? First of all, he asserts absolute
security in three ways. In three ways. When he calls,
when his sheep, his sheep, God's sheep, God's, you know, not everybody. You go to John chapter 17, he's
like, I'm not praying for everybody. I'm praying for those you've
given me. All right, so we understand that. His sheep, the ones that
are elect, his through time and history that he's called, okay?
What does he do for them? What is the gift he gives them? Eternal life, eternal life. But can't we sin in such a way
to where we lose that, all right? Are we saying now that Jesus
gives something and then takes it back? I'm gonna give you eternal
life because you're my sheep, but I will take it back, so watch
out. Are we saying, that's not what
he says. He says, I give them eternal life. Now he goes on
even further. So that's number one, he gives
them eternal life. He goes further in number two
and he says, he says the sheep will never perish. So first is
a positive assertion of here's what I give to you, eternal life. And then a negative assertion
of you will never perish. You have eternal life, so you'll
never, You'll never go into outer darkness. Christ uses a double negative
actually in the Greek. They shall never ever perish.
Millard Erickson sort of translates it this way. They shall not,
repeat, shall not ever perish in the slightest. It is such a definite, solid
statement of His work of keeping those who are His. But He's not
done yet. So He said, I give them eternal
life. They shall never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,
ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever perish. But wait, there's more. Look at verse number 20, end
of verse 28. Neither shall anyone snatch them
out of my hand. Whose hand is he talking about?
Christ. Then he goes on in verse 29, my father who has given them
to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them
out of my father's hand. James Montgomery Boyce in his
book on this subject says, thus, we are doubly secure, clutched
by both the Father and the Son. And if we still feel insecure,
we should realize that even when we are held in this manner, both
the Father and the Son have a hand free to defend us. We are being held in the hand
of Christ, and that hand of Christ is being covered over with the
hand of the Father, so therefore we are both in the hand of Christ
and the hand of Father, and there is not even a being ever in creation
that is even close to coming to threaten to snatch anyone
of His out of their hands. Samuel Rutherford, the Puritan.
You think about many of the teachings of those who say, in fact, I
had an acquaintance, a friend, and that friendship has actually
waned because of some of his doctrinal positions. That changed
on this area of the eternal security of the believer. and believed
that you could, yes, someone who was a Christian could lose
their salvation. And in that, he basically, like,
we're understanding this is very, a hard clenching, like, ugh,
don't wanna let go attitude of this idea of free will, because
think about it. Let's take this logically. If you, it's dependent
upon you to exercise your choice to choose God, and we understand
how fickle man is, plus in our human experience, do we not see
this? Do we not see those who have been in the church, even
preachers who have apostatized and left the faith? There's one
very famous one that wrote several books For many years, pastored
a church in the outer D.C. area. His name's Joshua Harris. Claims to be an agnostic now.
Left the faith. So they say, yes, we see this
experientially. Those who were believers left
the faith. Samuel Rutherford, the Puritan,
I think gives, and I'm gonna read a quote also from Spurgeon,
gives a very good pushback to this logic. Rutherford said,
were I in heaven and the crown on my head, if free will were
my tutor, I should lose heaven. So think about this, if we could
lose our salvation on earth by free will, Why not also could
we not lose it in heaven? Or do we say that someone who
claims and very strongly says we have this free independent
will here on earth, and we could lose it here on earth, we could
lose our salvation on earth, but are you saying that God takes
away our free will in heaven? Is that their position? Because
if it's not, then you're still under the same threat once you're
in heaven. Plus, you're contradicting a
lot of scripture. What about Spurgeon? What did
Spurgeon say about this matter? Well, he wasn't as kind as maybe
Rutherford would have been. He said, and if I were an Arminian,
I should recommend the angels not rejoice over a sinner that
repenteth, for he might fall from grace and perish. And then
they would have to ring the bells of heaven backward, or to toll
them, and to recall their songs and say, we rejoiced too soon.
Don't you love Spurgeon? Much problems result in the logic
of saying that God is not more powerful than we are in our salvation. Salvation then follows that we
persevere, we go forward, we grow in Christ. We call this
sanctification. Kurt Daniels said, salvation without sanctification,
following is no salvation. So what about backslidden believers?
Let me say one thing about backslidden believers before we move on to
our major objection in Hebrews 6. What about those who backslide? Do we who believe in the doctrines
of grace have a category in our belief system on backsliding?
And I would say yes, but I think that what has been traditionally
taught in the church about backsliding is very, very off, all right? So the idea that some say of
this idea of backsliding is that somebody can walk an aisle, make
a profession, do whatever, and then they can go and never step
foot in the church for another 20 years, they're just backslidden. This
is actually a category that theologians of that mindset have come up
with called the carnal Christian. I do not believe that is a biblical
category. All right, but are we saying
that those who are in Christ are perfect? No, we're not. We do not teach that Christians
never backslide or fall into heinous sins or grow spiritually
cold. This should be obvious from experience
as well as scripture. The Bible records examples of
the sins of great saints, Noah, Moses, Samson, David, Solomon,
and others. A Christian might even commit
worse sins after his conversion than before. That may trouble some of you.
Well, think about it. What if you're truly converted
at the age of 10, but you struggle in your growth
and commit stronger sins than you have committed before you
were 10 years old? This is particularly true of
those converted as children. All Christians still have indwelling
sin. So again, I wanna quote one of
my favorite Puritans, Thomas Watson, who said, though sin
lives in him, yet he does not live in sin. So what about the objection?
So turn with me to Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews chapter six, okay? Hebrews, for some reason, Some
reason, Hebrews is like one of those books that whenever you're
looking for it, you just never can find it. It's like one of
the longer New Testament books. When you go looking for it, it's
like, well, where is it? Hebrews chapter six, it's right
after the little book Philemon or Titus, but it's before James
and 1 John. So if you get there, you've passed
it, but Hebrews chapter six. So what's going on in Hebrews?
Let's first read these verses. There's actually two sections
that give people a lot of struggle in the book of Hebrews. First
is Hebrews 6, 4 through 6. The other passage is Hebrews
10, 26 and 27. All right, we're gonna focus in on Hebrews 6,
okay? Hebrews 6. Look at chapter six, verse number
four. For it is impossible, very strong language, right? Impossible
for those who were, now watch the language, once enlightened
and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers
of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the age to come. If they fall away to renew them,
again to repentance, since they crucify again themselves the
Son of God and put Him to an open shame." Ooh, that is a hard
one, is it not? Because here's how the argument
goes, that someone says, see, Hebrews 6 means you can lose
your salvation, because someone who is, let's go through the
list. They've been enlightened, they've
tasted the heavenly gift, they've become partakers of the Holy
Spirit, and they've tasted the good word of God, What does fall
away mean? Because it says if they fall
away, there's no chance of repentance for them after that. Surely these things mean someone
that's in Christ. Well, first of all, when we talk
about hermeneutics, what is the one thing that I always say?
Context, context, context, okay? In this case, we have to understand
the context of the entire book. What is the context of the book
of Hebrews? I think I have this on here written by the author
of History and Theology of Calvinism, Kurt Daniel. He says, the writer
of Hebrews is addressing a congregation of Jews who profess to follow
Christ. Some were having second thoughts
and were about to reject Him and return to the old covenant
sacrifices and law. The writer warns that they would
die in the wilderness like their ancestors. Jesus is the promised
Messiah, surpassing even Moses and Abraham. To reject him brings
worse condemnation than even rejecting Moses. Denying the
gospel is worse than breaking the law. A true believer proves
he is such by continuing in faith to the end. Those who go back
prove they were not true believers. So, you have to think about it
again. Part of this is understanding this and trying to get yourself
to look and put yourself into their shoes. This idea of Christianity,
the Messiah had come and what they were teaching and this way
of doing faith was now changing things up for the Jews who were
now coming to Christ. And so now they're being taught
things like, well, you don't have to do this, the veil was
rent, you don't have to do this. This was so jarring to them that
it created a lot of fear. Oh. No, we were taught we must
do these things. We must do these things to secure,
you know, but the Messiah's come. To the point where you look at
the cultural impact, the peer pressure of that family who said,
no, we're still looking to Messiah. There's great anger and animosity
towards those. Is this worth it? Some of them
probably were thinking. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I just got caught up in
emotion. This is not the Messiah, we're still looking. And things
will go back to normal for me if I go back. There's a lot of
anxiety with these people. And so the writer of Hebrews
is explaining to them the error of that. And by the way, do not
go back to it so nonchalantly. All right, so that's our context. So what is he saying here? Let
me break some of these phrases down. I'm trying to move quickly
here. Break some of these phrases down individually. He says, first, he says, it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened. This enlightening simply means
that they came to understand the truths of the gospel, that
they responded to those truths, not that they responded to those
truths with genuine faith. They had been enlightened by
the gospel. They understood what you're saying. How many of you
have ever been in evangelism and you're giving someone the
gospel and you ask them a question, now, do you understand this?
And they look at you and they say, yeah, I understand it. And
then walk away. How many of you ever had an experience
like that? It's heartbreaking. They understand
what you're saying and they're not completely opposed to it. But they're not ready to die.
to self. They've been enlightened. What
about tasting the heavenly gift? This means that these people
have come to understand the heavenly gift, which probably means here
that they had experienced some of the power of the Holy Spirit
at work. Just think about it. When we
look at even the phrase, partakers in the Holy Spirit. If you come
to church and you get involved in a local body of believers,
like some of these were, and you see the Holy Spirit doing
things in people and giving great blessings to his church, and
you've been ministered to by somebody who is a true believer,
and the Holy Spirit's working through them, you may not have
the Holy Spirit, but you're sharing in the blessings of the Holy
Spirit. You're partaking of that gift. That term partaker is the
term metochis in the Greek. It has a range of meaning. One
Lucy association is with the other person or person's name.
The text here speaks of people who have been associated with
the Holy Spirit because of this close association perhaps, even
being involved in the church. They have shared in the Holy
Spirit but were never truly regenerated by the Holy Spirit. So then go
on, what does it say? If they're not truly converted,
but they have seen these things, they have even experienced some
of these things within the church, and then what? They fall away. What is the very grave warning
he gives to them? Well that grave warning is, to renew them again to repentance,
since they crucify again themselves, the Son of God, and put Him to
an open shame?" In other words, don't think, don't think that
you have not Romans 1 talks about this and most of the time people
read this because of the context of Romans 1 into those that are
committing very gross sins. But it says God did what? Gave them over to a reprobate
mind. The warning here is to those
that have been sitting in church, have experienced these things,
have seen these things, completely understand, and then they reject
it and walk away. And he's saying, don't be surprised
if God gives you over. Don't count on repentance to
be there for you. It's a very grave warning. Whether it's this passage or
Hebrews 10, Frame talks about these two passages together.
He says they're not about immature believers who are trying to serve
Christ, but who struggle with sins in their lives. The apostates
of Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 were wolves in sheep's clothing. Those
in Hebrews 10 are people who became part of God's holy people,
separated from all others, as Israel was set apart by sacrifices.
And those in Hebrew 10 were set apart by the blood of Christ,
which separates the visible church from everyone else in the world.
But God did not change their hearts and they came to despise
the blood of Christ as Judas Iscariot certainly did. And most often we have those
that are in the church that are very concerned about whether
they are believers or not. They look to a sin that they
committed, maybe even the past after their conversion. Maybe
they're struggling with it now. And they say, I just can't be. Wouldn't God just totally condemn
me to hell because of what I've done? Again, quote Frame here, he says,
if you're concerned about your faithfulness and devotion to
Christ, your concern is a mark of true faith. Wolves in sheep's
clothing are not concerned about such things. As we come to a conclusion, I
want to read one more passage for you. And I want us to look
at how this, so we've looked at several passages, we've read
a lot of scripture, and how different passages sort of characterize
and present this truth of the preservation of saints. Romans
8, turn with me over to Romans 8. But Paul in Romans 8, writes a masterpiece about the
hold that Christ has on his people. And he centers it all in the
subject of love. So read with me Romans 8, beginning
in verse number 31. What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? Let me remind you, that was my
add-in. He who did not spare his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against
God's elect? That's really what is going on
many times, right? When someone's struggling with
their assurance because of their past, somebody, the accuser,
is coming and bringing a charge against you. It is God who justifies, verse
34. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore
is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for your sake
we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors,
not because of us, but through him who what? Loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, or principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing, or maybe I should throw in there,
nor any type of Arminian theologian can come up with, shall separate
us from The love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. How deep the Father's love for
us. How vast beyond all measure. We sang this morning. I want
to close with reading the lyrics to another hymn, a much older
hymn, written by a preacher, a Scottish preacher in the 1800s.
His name was George Matheson. The lyrics of these verses go
like this. Oh love, that will not let me
go. I rest my weary soul in thee. I give thee back the life I owe. that in thine ocean depths its
flow may richer, fuller be. O light that follows all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee. My heart restores its borrowed
ray, that in thy sunshine's blaze its day may brighter, fairer
be. Oh joy, that seekest me through
pain, I cannot close my heart to thee. I trace the rainbow
through the rain and feel the promise is not in vain. that mourn shall tearless be.
O cross, that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee. I lay in dust, life's glory dead,
and from the ground their blossoms red. Life, that shall endless. Church, the God who chose you,
who atoned for you, who called you, will most assuredly preserve
you. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your
Word. and the assurance it brings us. We thank you for Christ,
who sacrificed on the cross, atoned for our sins. We thank
you for the Spirit, who calls us and works within us that salvation
in our hearts as we grow to be conformed daily into the image
of your dear Son. And we thank you for your hand,
who holds us tightly, close to you, that nothing can snatch
us out of it. We pray that you will continue
to be worshiped and glorified in the taking of your supper. We love you. In your name, amen.
Pastor Adams.
The Preservation of the Saints
Series The Doctrines of Grace
Please join us as we worship our Lord together!
| Sermon ID | 10282401863678 |
| Duration | 53:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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