This is the Chancellor's Program. At his homegoing in November 1997, Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. left a legacy of lifelong ministry to students as Chancellor and former President of Bob Jones University. He also left a wealth of recorded sermons which we now present on the Chancellor's Program. Today we hear a message originally delivered in the chapel service, April 27, 1989. This message is titled, Hold Fast and is based on scripture found in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 6. Will you open your Bibles to Hebrews? Chapter 2, verse 1. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken to the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will? For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak, but one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of man, that thou visitest him? We ought to give attention to the things that we have heard, lest we let them slip. The Bible makes it very clear that there's a possibility of losing God's blessing. I'm not questioning now the matter of salvation at all. But you can lose the blessing of God and you can lose the indwelling presence of God if you depart from the Word of God. This Word is what you must take daily if you're going to be sure that you meet God's requirements of His children. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard, to our doctrine. Don't let it slide, don't let it go, hold on to it. The devil will always try to take away anything good from you. Job, in the twenty-seventh chapter of the sixth verse, said this, My righteousness I hold fast. Now, he was not self-righteous. He was confident that in his own heart he was right toward God. That's what righteousness is. Righteousness is a right-thought attitude toward God. Christ is our righteousness. Our own righteousness is no good. It's dirty, it's filthy, it's ragged. But Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and our righteousness is found in Him. We are clothed with His righteousness. But Job was saying there this, I'm not going to let slip the thing which I have, that faith which I have, which makes me righteous. Job was fixed in Christ. He says, I know my Redeemer. I know He's alive. I know He'll stand at the last days upon the earth. Those skin worms destroy my body, in my flesh I'm going to see God. That's the faith. He said, I'm going to hold on to that no matter what comes. Devil's going to try to make you doubt your salvation. Devil's going to try to make you doubt your victory, and you can lose your victory in Christ. You have to fight to maintain your Christian standard. You're saved without doing one thing but turning to Christ. turning from sin unto Him. But you won't have what you ought to have in Christ if you don't fight all the time. This is a battle you're in, young people. We've tried here this year to do everything we could to give you what we felt you needed. We've given you from the Word of God. We haven't tried to give you men's theories. We've simply opened up to you the book. But you must hold fast that which is good. You hold on to it. You hold on with your hands. Your hands give out, you take it in your teeth. And you hold on by your teeth, and God help you if they're false. You hold on as long as you can. When you get to the end of your rope, you tie a knot in it, you hold on some more. We're told in 1 Thessalonians 5, Hold fast that which is good, but alongside that is this admonition, abhor that which is evil. Abhor means to hold your nose because of it. It's something so unattractive you don't want to look at it, you don't want to smell it, you don't want it around you. Abhor that which is evil. What you hold to then is your nose when you're around evil. It's repugnant, it's repulsive, it's odoriferous. But you hold fast to that which is good, you can embrace that. You don't want to grab something that smells bad and hold on to that. But when something good comes along, you grab it and you hold on to it. Hold fast. That means to grasp with all your strength. And it is your strength by God's grace that enables you to hold on. You know, there's some things God doesn't do for you. God's not going to do for you anything you can do for yourself. God's not going to feed you. He'll provide the food. He'll send His ravens to wait on the table when there's famine in the land and His prophets for the brook. But God's not going to open your mouth and drop the food in. He thinks you can open your own mouth and chew for yourself. And God's not going to do for you, even spiritually, anything you can do for yourself. Now, God's Holy Spirit is in your heart and life if you're a Christian. He's there to comfort you. He's there to lead you or guide you into all truth. He's there to take the things of Christ and show them unto you. He has His purpose in your life and His love and care for you. But you can quench the Spirit. If you don't listen to His voice, you quench the Spirit of God. You don't hear Him, He won't speak to you. He's not going to keep telling you something on and on and on and on if you don't listen to Him. You're not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, the Bible tells you. You hold fast and you strive to obey what you hear from God's Holy Spirit. The things, Paul says, that thou hast heard and seen in me, those things you do. Doesn't do enough to hear, you've got to do. We have to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. Don't get the idea you can just lie back and let God do everything for you. What would you think of a preacher that made no effort to prepare a sermon went before a congregation that he'd been called to preach to. With no preparation, he made no effort to meet the needs of the congregation, to visit the sick and to bury the dead and to marry the lovely. None of those things he did. And he'd say, well, after all, God's going to take care of this church. It's his church. But God called him to take care of the church. He's the undershepherd. He has responsibilities. He has to work himself to death. That's his business. I was thinking about Dr. Rod Bell. He's nearly killed himself with the responsibilities that he felt were upon him. Bless his heart, I wish there were fifty men like him. Wish there were a hundred men like him. So conscientious that he's almost killed himself trying to do the job God called him to do. He's a good example. I hope you won't kill yourself at it. But you can't just sit back and say, Lord, you do it. God's going to expect you to do some things. And God expects you to hold fast to the things He gives you. He'll put something in your hand, in your heart, but if you don't take hold of it, it's going to fall out, isn't it? Run through your fingers. Saw a little kid the other day, somebody had given him a piece of chocolate. And he was so afraid somebody was going to take it away from him, he wouldn't open his hand up, and you could see chocolate coming in through fingers. He was absorbing it, but he wasn't enjoying the taste, until I saw him put his fist up and lick between his fingers where the chocolate was coming through. And I thought, what a wonderful example that is. That kid wanted that candy. He wanted it so bad, he wasn't going to let anybody else get it. He held on to it. Now, we don't do that with our Christian experience and our Christian faith, the Word of God. We share it. We say, have some. But we hold on to it for ourselves, too. So we'll have something to give somebody. The example of the saints and the apostles and the prophets is before us. You hold fast to that which is good. And in 2 Timothy, First chapter, the thirteenth verse, I believe it is, we are told to hold fast the form of sound words. What does that mean? That means you don't go and change the way things are stated in the Word of God. You just take the sound words as they are, and you follow them clearly and literally. You note the sin of our generation, doctrinally, I think, more than anything else, is to take sound words and try to soften them up to the point that they don't say anything. You can take truth, and you can so mix truth with human opinion that there's very little truth left. And what truth there won't do you any good, it's so diluted down. You hold fast to the form of sound words. You don't go and try to soften up sound words to please somebody else. Who was it? Some organization said, we have to make it so they'll listen to it because it's not attractive to modern ears. We can't talk too much about sin. We have to talk nice to people. Look. You can't talk any nicer than God talks. God's nice. May I put it this way and not be irreverent? Lord knows I don't want to be irreverent where He's concerned. But God's a gentleman. God doesn't force Himself on anybody. He'll knock and ask to come in. He'll beg and plead because He wants you, because He doesn't want you to be lost. But God doesn't enter any heart that's closed against Him. He's not going to force anybody to go to heaven. And God's going to say things as nicely as they ought to be said and as effectively as they ought to be said. Don't you get the idea you're going to have to soften up the gospel in order to get people saved? Men have got to realize they're sinners, and this day they don't like to face that. That's why some of these popular preachers that desire the applause of men always preach only on nice things. Out at the Crystal Cathedral, they cut out all references to judgment and hell. They change the words of hymns to make them all sweetness and light. There's nothing of righteousness and holiness and judgment in the hymns. You know, I think that's the height of nerve. Take somebody else's hymns, say one thing that came from the heart of a godly man who knew the Word of God, and then take out that which he put in, try to sweeten it up. There's entirely too much saccharine abroad in the world. You need some of a gall of bitterness, grief over sin. recognition of how evil human hearts are. But we don't say that. Over two million babies have been aborted since the Supreme Court passed that ungodly decision. Two million people say this nation ought to be on their knees before God. You don't call it murder. You call it freedom of choice. God calls it murder. You better learn to call things what God calls them. You don't put a nice name on something God condemns. You don't have some bad, sinful thing in your life and just say, well, you know, I have a weakness that way. Sure you have a weakness. God calls that weakness sinful nature, depravity. God doesn't call it just weakness. You better learn to call things what God calls them. You are to hold fast the form of sound words. I like plain talk. There are times for poetry. There are times for nice, sweet, poetic language. But when a man stands in the pulpit to preach, He's got to call them like they are. And if you as a Christian are going to be any use to God, you're going to have to hold fast the form of sound words. Why? Because you don't want to deceive yourself. You'll come to believe what you say. I've always been amused that a man will pay some public relations company forty, fifty thousand dollars a year to get him into the news and say good things about him. Politicians do it. They'll want good press. So they have a press representative, and they pay him to see that they get good press. Don't care whether it's truthful or not, as long as it sounds good. Advise them what to say and change their speeches so they won't offend some element of society where they might get a vote. It always amuses me that people pay that money to get bragged on, and then they'll come to believe all the lies they've paid for. Wouldn't you think they'd have enough sense to know that Glenn wasn't sincere when he said that? But they come to believe the lie. I talked about believing a lie the other day. I'm not going to get on to that. But you better call things what they are in your own life, using the form of sound words, or you'll soon begin to believe you don't have the need for humility and repentance. and the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let's turn to Hebrews 3.6. Let's turn to Hebrews 3.6. I'll begin with verse 5, which is a part of it. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ, as a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. You are to hold fast your confidence and rejoicing in your hope firm to the end. You're a member of the household of faith. Christ is the elder brother. He hath brought you to be a child of God. All right, you have to hold fast to that confidence, that faith in Christ, that assurance that you're God's child. And as you hold fast to that faith, you'll find you're holding fast to the rejoicing in hope. What is that hope? The hope of the coming of the Lord. The hope of that which shall be after. The hope of that which we call the glorious hope and the blessed hope. all that lies before you. If you do that, you will not come enamored to the world. Now look at Hebrews, the fourth chapter and the fourteenth verse. Turn right over close to it. Seeing then we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. There are some people that have changed what they used to believe about the coming of the Lord to try to conform to the logic and reasoning of people who are not sound in the faith. What you profess—your faith in Christ, your belief in the book, your concern that God's promises are true and that they're yea and amen—you're not going to let those things go. You're going to hold on to them. You hold fast your profession. Don't ever fail to let people know what you believe. I'm a child of God. I'm trusting Jesus Christ. My hope's in heaven from whence the Lord Jesus will come. Now let's turn over to Revelation for the time slipping by. If you turn over to Revelation 2, we'll begin with verse 2. That's a good place to begin. The Saviour here is dealing with His churches. This is to the church in Thyatira. This church has been contaminated with Roman Catholicism. Notwithstanding, you'll find it in verse 20, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and eat things sacrificed unto idols." He's dealing with the paganism of the Roman Catholic Church there. Now, he says the judgment, what he's going to do, kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searches the reins of the hearts. But now come down to verse 25. But that which ye have already, hold fast until I come. You don't let somebody come along with a false doctrine, artificial religion, satanic system, and take you away from your foundation in Christ. You don't fall victim to sound doctrine. What you already have is all you need. You don't go off after some newfangled religious system. You don't have to go off after charismatism, charismadatics. You don't have to fool with those things. You don't listen to new thought and Christian science and Russellism and Masonry or any of these things. You hold fast to what you have, and you hold fast to it until the Lord comes. Make up your mind you're not going to let that go. You don't throw away something that's rich and golden, for something that's crass and clay, you hold fast." Now, let's go over to the next chapter. He's saying to the church of Sardis in verse three, "'Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard And hold fast and repent. Repent for what? Have a name that you lived and you're dead? Lots of stuff's been taken away from you. But you take what you have, you're watchful, you strengthen the things which remain that are about to die, that little fire of faith that's left in the church, you blow upon it. I've not found your works perfect before God," he says to this church. Remember, therefore, what you've received, hold on to it, and repent that you haven't been holding on to it all along. You know, holding fast doesn't eliminate repentance. Holding fast encourages repentance when you haven't held fast. Let's go down now to the Church of Philadelphia. The church of Philadelphia had a little strength, had kept the Lord's word, and hadn't denied His name. Verse eleven, Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. What is that crown? That's the crown of righteousness. That's the crown for those who are faithful unto the end. He said, you have a little strength, but you hold fast to what you have. I'm coming quickly one of these days, and I'm going to have a reward with me. And I have a crown for you, but don't let some man take away your crown. Isn't that strange? God's going to give you a crown, but a man can take it away. How? By persuading you to turn aside from God's call and God's will and God's purpose. To tell you, you don't need to win souls, you don't need to stand firm, you don't need to contend for the faith. None of these things. Let somebody else do it. After all, this is a different generation. You get to the Church of Philadelphia, you're getting up toward our own day. You don't need all this effort. Relax a little bit. You can't fix up the world. The humanists will come along and say, man's going to fix up the world. Why do you have to worry with the gospel? Why do you have to cling to that old-fashioned book? What are all these things worth? Why bother with them? And anybody that can persuade you to that end, you're going to lose your crown. He's taking it away from you. Like the rats take the food away from you. when they pollute it and mess it up and gnaw on it and spoil it so you can't eat it. Hold fast. You know, that's a good motto. If you want a good motto, that's a good one. Hold fast. Don't turn loose. Don't let go. Christ holds you, but you hold fast to your profession, to your faith, to the things you've been taught in the Word of God, to the form of sound words, to the calling of God. Christ is in you, the hope of glory. You are hidden in Christ. He's your security, your rock, your fortress, your deliverer, your God, your strength in whom you trust, your breastplate, the tower for your security. He's all those things, but you have to hold on by faith, and you hold on, too, by words. Not on to Christ, but on to that profession which you've made in Him, and the calling of God which He has given to you, and the Word of God which He has made real to you, that you'll have a crown one day. Let's stand to pray. Our Heavenly Father pray to bless these young people. Strengthen their hearts. Give them grace in the way they do things. But may they never turn aside if death lies in the way. May they never be like those who we're told of who say, there's a line in the street, let's don't go out. If God says go, let them go. Tramp on the lines as they go. Give them the grit to hold fast, Lord, my love of Christ, that will not let go. You've heard a message by Dr. Bob Jones, Jr., who during the latter part of his life served as Chancellor of Bob Jones University. This message, titled, Hold Fast, was recorded April 27, 1989. You can order a cassette copy from the campus store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Please enclose a check for $6. Listen each week at this time for the Chancellor's Program, sponsored by Bob Jones University.