Hold Fast, Held Fast - [Hebrews 3:6]

The Comfort of Hebrews for Christians Under Trial

If you were going through a trial or a trouble issue in your life, and you called a friend, a Christian friend, and you wanted some advice, you wanted some help, what do you wish they would say to you?

Some big issue going on, and you call them, would you want them to help you escape the problem? Would you want them to say, I understand, I'm sorry? Or I could flip it around, if someone calls you and says, I've got some trouble.

Some persecution is happening. I'm getting persecuted even for my faith. Could you please help me? What would you do? What would be your approach and your strategy? Well, it's very fascinating, because the people in the time of the Bible, when the book of Hebrews was being written, they were in trouble.

They were losing their houses for persecution's sake, issues of finances, money. They were in trouble. And the author gives them comfort. But he does it in a way that is unexpected. Instead of saying, let's solve the problem, let's hit the escape hatch, he says, for 10 chapters, I'd like to talk to you about who Jesus is.

Very interesting way to go about it, because at the end of the 10 chapters, you're thinking more about Jesus, and then you're looking at your trial in light of who the Lord is, instead of the other way around.

The Supremacy of Christ in Hebrews 1 and 2

Turn your Bibles, please, to Hebrews chapter one, as we get back into verse-by-verse exposition in this Christ-exalting book. Of course, issues are dealt with. Eventually, real life must be dealt with, but it's a focus on the Lord Jesus Christ that dominates this book.

Maybe the most Christ-centered book in all of the Bible, out of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and Hebrews. I heard a man this week say, if he was on the desert island, he'd have one book of the Bible with him.

He would have the book of Hebrews, because there's so much of the Bible in Hebrews, so much of the Old Testament, and it's all culminating in the excellencies of Christ Jesus. So before I went on sabbatical and had the medical things taken care of, we were in March, the last time for Hebrews, and so hopefully now we'll be in Hebrews for the next, it'll probably take me three to four years to get through the rest of the book.

So far, we're 30, Sherm just shook his head. Okay, Sherm, six years. And we will just work our way through. If you're new to the church, welcome. There's a blue pew Bible near you, and you'll be able to pay attention much more if you have a Bible, because we're gonna go verse by verse by verse.

There's a reason why we're called Bethlehem Bible Church, because you'll need your Bibles, because all of the Bible, and especially Hebrews, talks about the person and work of Christ Jesus. And so we wanna devote a lot of time to the preaching of the word.

And it's not only my responsibility to preach to you faithfully what the text says and means, but it's also your responsibility to listen, because you are worshiping God as you listen, as you ponder, as you reflect on who God is in this text, because the ultimate driving force is you believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you're not a believer, you must believe. If you are a believer, the goal is to keep believing, to keep realizing that the reason you're good with God and He's good with you, that you can stand in His presence is because of the work of another Christ Jesus.

Even Christians can fall into the trap. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone, but we stand before God by our own merits now. But we stand before God because Jesus is the true God-man and He is excellent.

So we are in chapter three, verses one through six today, finishing with verse six, but because we've been out of this text for such a long time we're gonna go to chapter one and I'm going to read you chapter one and chapter two, maybe the two most Christ-exalting chapters ever written.

And imagine if you are in trouble and these people were the recipients of this letter, this exhortation, this sermon, how do you talk to someone in trouble? What does a wise Christian counselor say? And it is top-heavy talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. And He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when He brings the firstborn into the world, He says, let all God's angels worship Him.

Of the angels, He says, He makes His angels winds and His ministers a flame of fire. Verse eight, but of the Son, He, God says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. Like a robe, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will all be changed or they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will have no end.

To which of the angels has He ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Chapter two, therefore, we must pay attention much closer to what we have heard lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard. While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him are the son of man that you care for him.

You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

At present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who was for a little while made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Verse 12 saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him.

And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil and deliver all those through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. My only response is, wow. Chapter one, Jesus is the eternal God. Chapter two, he is additionally a human being so that he can be a high priest and he can know about our temptations and our troubles.

The Call to Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest

If I were to ask you questions, setting up your mind to think about what we're gonna talk about today, I would ask questions like this. Can a Christian lose their salvation? I would ask a question like this.

Has God ever planned to do something and was unable to fulfill it? Has God ever planned something that he did not have power enough to get it done? Can Christians be found guilty of sin on that last judgment day if Jesus has already paid for those sins?

I would ask questions like, if God justifies you and declares you righteous, will you also then become sanctified and live a holy life? I would ask questions like this. Can a person say they believe in Jesus and then go on for years living like they're hellions?

I would ask questions like, if God has chosen some and Christ has died for those some, will the Holy Spirit not sanctify those same some? I would ask you, does God always keep his promises? I would ask you, is there a human side, a response to salvation that says, God has done everything for me and my response is something I am responsible for?

I would ask you a question like this. Are there some people who say they believe but they really don't? Is there something like a faith that does not save? Why would you even ask these questions, Pastor Mike?

Well, I have several reasons. One, there are people who say they're Christians and they're not. Number two, this warning passage in Hebrews 3 elicits kind of this response where, yes, I understand everything about God's sovereignty and salvation, but what about this?

What about that? All kinds of questions. If today you're a Christian, I would like to show you from the Bible that you can have assurance of your salvation that you know that you know. But through this text today that we'll see if you're not a Christian and maybe you've tricked yourself or maybe you know you're not, I hope your assurance is taken away and that you end up believing on the Lord Jesus.

Let's go to Hebrews 3, verses one to six and we're going to deal with this issue of response to the gospel. The way the writer is going to present this, it's like a sermon because it is a sermon. Hebrews 13, 22 through 24 talks about this is a sermon.

And as I'm preaching to you now, I say to myself, I know many of you are Christians and I know some of you aren't Christians. I'm mainly preaching to the Christians, but there are some here, maybe children, maybe longtime members.

Do we have charter members anymore? Maybe charter members that they're not Christians. And so as I preach, I'm telling you about who Jesus is so that if you're a believer, you say, yes, that's my Lord, I am continuing to believe in him.

But if you're not a Christian, you're seeing the object of your faith so that you might turn from your sins and turn to the Lord Jesus. Built into this warning passage is both comfort for the believer and a discomfort for the unbeliever.

I know Christians need the comfort, but I also know the unbelievers need to be convicted so they're uncomfortable. One of my all-time favorites, as you know, was a man named Samuel Lewis Johnson Jr., S. Lewis Johnson Jr., kind man, Southern gentleman.

And he would regularly pray for unbelievers. I just pray, Lord, I wish I could give you his Southern drawl from Birmingham, Alabama, but I can't. I was asked, by the way, in my ordination, last question, is there anything you could ask of the Lord that he would give you that would help you in your ministry?

Not very sharp, but I happened to just be quick-witted that day, and I said, yes, a Scottish accent. The church would be 5 ,000 people. And Lewis would pray, Lord, give this unbeliever no rest or comfort in their life until they rest in you by faith.

That's not a wicked thing. That's a wonderful thing. And the writer of Hebrews wants to encourage Christians to keep believing in that eternal God and that eternal Son, that human being who's more than human, who's fully God, keep believing in him.

But if you're an unbeliever, the word of God wants to expose you because, as the old spiritual said, everybody that's talking about heaven ain't going there. Satan is a liar and a deceiver, and what a lie.

If you're going to believe any lie in the world, may it not be, everything's good with God. I'm better than everybody else. I've done more good than I've done bad. I've been baptized, catechized, and everything else, and all I have to do to enter in the presence of God is to die.

That is fatal because you're not perfect. You're not good enough, and God's heaven is perfect, and you need to be perfect to get into heaven. Matthew 5, verse 48, Jesus says that. So how can you get into heaven if you have to be perfect?

You should be saying to yourself, I am far from perfect, I can't. If that's the case, I can't get in. But here's the good news, God has provided someone who is perfect, that if you trust in Him, God credits all Jesus' perfection to your account for free.

And all your sins that would make you not perfect, Jesus paid for on the cross. For free for you, it cost Him. And then God raised Him from the dead. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

And what's driving Hebrews 3 is one particular command, verse 1, as we've seen several times back in March of 1993, I think that was. And notice, before I even read it, for those of you that want to have four things to do to get out of your troubles, three easy steps to manage your finances, five easy steps to have a better marriage, etc., etc., that could all be talked about.

But not until we go through chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter, don't forget who Jesus is. And that's why I refuse to get up here on a Sunday and give you five examples to follow and put it on a PowerPoint and then give you all the stuff to do and only talk about things to do.

There's nothing wrong with doing, but there's something called law and gospel. And I would like some good news today, how about you? I realize how weak I am and frail and sinful and how I don't measure up to the standards of God.

But let's talk about one who did, who freely gives us his righteousness. I prefer to talk about Jesus, and I hope that I die preaching to you, here's who Jesus is. I said on Twitter this week, if your pastor gives you a fill-in-the-blank outline on five easy steps to do, you write Jesus in every one of those fill-in-the-blanks and hand it to the pastor at the door and smile.

That's why we don't do outlines. One of the reasons I don't do outlines is because if I change the last point, and then that's after it's been already printed, you guys are like, hey, wait a second, you changed that.

And then you draw me with this microphone down. The key overriding imperative is in verse one, consider, and the object is consider Jesus. Consider Jesus, think about him. What's the remedy for trouble in life?

You need to have a hard, long look at Jesus to contemplate, to ruminate, to meditate on, and not just quickly, not just drive by. They have drive-by funerals now, and you just drive up, it's like coffee.

Instead of driving up saying, I'd like to have a latte, extra shot turbo, you drive up, you type in your little code from the mortuary, the curtains open up, you see the dead body, it closes back up, and you drive by and you think, duty done.

And you don't sit there and you walk over to the dead body at the mortuary and think, I'm gonna be in that casket one day. My kids are gonna be in that casket one day. Who can walk over to that body and say, get up?

Arise, only one Jesus. It takes time to think that way, and the writer wants you to think about Jesus. And he doesn't say think or consider Christ, although that's true. Why does he say Jesus instead of Christ?

He wants you to think about the human Jesus, your priest. Remember when the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said about his wife, she shall bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, and he will save his people from their sins.

When you think about the earthly Jesus, the human Jesus, you should think about he keeps the law. He submits to his father, he honors his mother, he pays his taxes, and he lives that representative life for me.

He wants you to meditate on Jesus, he doesn't say I want you to meditate on moralism, I don't want you to meditate on politics, I don't want you to meditate on sports, that's what we just do by default.

Meditate on music, meditate on education, meditate on differential equations. I don't know what he's not, I know he's not saying do that, he's saying, think about Jesus, and he gives you some considerations.

Remember, consider that he made you holy brothers, verse one. This is in review, but it's important review as we build to verse six. Holy brothers, because of who Jesus is and he takes our nature, chapter one, verse three, he purges our sins, he cleanses our sins, we're holy.

He's not saying you're growing in holiness, that's true, he's saying you used to be over here and now you're set apart, you're special, you're for me. Holy brothers. We've gone from enemies to brothers.

Didn't we not read in chapter one, he's not even ashamed, chapter two, to call us a brother. He also gives us a heavenly calling. Think about that, consider that. Number two, it says, who share in a heavenly calling.

And God, through the writer of Hebrews, wants you to just step back and say, who called? God called, God initiated. Where did God call from? Heaven, where's he calling me to? Himself, heaven. What else has Jesus called?

What else should we think about when we're in trouble? Chapter three, verse one, Jesus is an apostle. He's not just an apostle, he's the apostle. Consider Jesus the apostle. What's apostle mean, do you remember?

The sent one. When the apostles were sent out, but Jesus is not just an apostle, he's the apostle of apostles and he's sent out. Who sent him? The father. What did he send him to do? To live a perfect life and to die for the people of God.

Did he do his mission correctly? And the answer to all those questions are obvious. He's also high priest. I just stop and think, he's made us holy brothers, he's given me a heavenly calling, Jesus is the apostle, Jesus is the high priest, verse three, chapter three, verse one, and high priest of our confession.

Talking about exactly what he discussed at the end of chapter two, about high priest. Not just a priest, but the high priest. And what do priests do? They sacrifice and they pray. Wouldn't you like to have a priest like Jesus who prays and sacrifices like he did?

Moses as Faithful Servant and Christ as Faithful Son

Now we also see how faithful he is, verse two. Consider Jesus' faithfulness. You're gonna see the analogy of house construction here. If you're a worker and you're a construction guy or gal, this is right up your alley, or right down your hallway or in your cellar someplace.

When I do go to the other parts of the country now, I'm such a New Englander after 20 years, that when people say they're gonna drive down to the bridge, I'm like, you don't walk down into the basement.

You don't walk down to the cellar. My mind, I'm tainted by you all. Down cellar, down cape. Now here's what's gonna happen. They're Hebrews and this writer is gonna tell them, yes, you love Moses and rightfully so.

Far from perfect, but he was a model of faithfulness. The writer of Hebrews does not say anything bad about Moses, although Moses was sinful and frail and needed to be forgiven. But he's going to say, look, Moses was faithful in what he had to do, even though he's not the Messiah.

And if Moses was faithful, how much more faithful was Jesus? There's gonna be a comparison and he's gonna use this house construction with a much more argument. Verse two, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.

Numbers 12 says Moses was faithful. Moses got a calling from God, he was faithful. Jesus gets a calling from God, he's faithful. Why compare with Moses? Well, the people obviously were Hebrews, but some Hebrews even believe that Moses was greater than angels.

For whatever reason, the writer is saying, Moses didn't take this upon himself, Jesus didn't take this upon himself. Moses was faithful, Jesus is more faithful. Why? Verse three, for Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of the house, the architect of the house, the planner of the house, that's Jesus, has more honor than the house itself.

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Jesus is the builder of the house, he's not the house. By the way, God builds everything, Jesus is God. You see the logic? Now some Jews believed, cited by Eusebius the historian, that Moses was placed on a heavenly throne with a crown and a scepter.

So there's God on the throne and right by God is Moses. And here the writer says, Moses was faithful, but he's the house. Was it not A .T. Robertson, the Southern Baptist theologian who said, who gets more glory, the person who's laying the bricks at St. Paul's Cathedral or who designed it?

Christopher Wren, sounds good. Sounds like I know what I'm talking about. I regularly get corrected, rightfully so. And if you study your Bible and you hear me say something that isn't true, you should say, you know what, pastor, you said such and such, I wanna ask you this question.

You can feel free to do that every time because you're to be a Berean. But if I have to make a mistake today, I wanna make a mistake on who built St. Paul's Cathedral, not is Jesus great and is he God?

I'll take one versus the other. He's just comparing. A person is more value than his property. You're in a hurricane and you run to your house, you've got five minutes to take out everything you need.

And you go, well, let's see. I need my chess set. I need my robotic kit. Trying to appeal to some WPI people that might ever come. Do they ever come? Anybody here from WPI? No one ever comes, only graduates.

You run in and you find your wife and your kids because they're more valuable. Who's more valuable, the builder of the house or the house? Who gets more honor? And of course, you're thinking already, aren't you?

When Jesus says, I don't care if there's gonna be death and hell or anything else, I will build my church. When you admire a great cathedral, you think to yourself, wow, the builder. And not only that, as we get ready for our verse, Jesus should be considered because he's the son, not the servant.

Moses was the house, as it were. Moses is the servant, an indentured person. Who's the son? Who gets more honor, son or slave? Now, Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify the things that were to be spoken later, like there's a greater prophet, Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses is a better prophet than you, i .e. Jesus.

But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. Moses had the glory of God on his face. Jesus is the glory of God and it radiates from him, Hebrews chapter one, the transfiguration. Everything here is written to these Jews who are thinking, you know what?

Jesus is pretty good, he's pretty great, but I might have to turn my back on him because I'm going through trouble and back to my old religion I go. It's not worth it, if I keep doing this, it's going to cost me.

Moses was subordinate to Jesus. Moses was prep for Jesus. And now we switch the word from Jesus to Christ, do we not? Do you see it there in the text? But Christ, we're talking about Messiah now, we're talking about the anointed one, the one that even Moses wrote about.

For you Greek students, there's no article there with Christ. It doesn't say the Christ. Out of all these people, he's the one. When you don't put an article in the Greek, it's because you want to stress quality.

He's by quality, by nature, by essence, Jesus the Messiah. Now, there's a response needed. If Jesus makes you holy brothers, Jesus gives you heavenly calling, Jesus is the apostle, Jesus is the high priest, he's better than Moses, he's more faithful, he's the builder, he's the son.

What's the response? Verse six, and we are his house. Here's the human responsibility. Here's the proper response to the person and work of Jesus. If indeed we hold fast our confession and our boasting in our hope.

I could quote Jesus's words to have the same sense. If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed, John 8, 31. If you respond with holding fast, continuing to believe and trust in this Jesus, you're going to show that in fact, you're a Christian.

And if you don't hold fast and you say, you know what, I've heard the claims of Jesus and now I've got to turn my back because of persecution. Maybe modern day, I'm going to turn my back on Jesus because of a boy or a girl.

Many times I've said to the leadership here at the church and maybe even to you, when people start to struggle with, I don't know about Jesus, I don't know about the Bible. I was raised in this. I believe that I went to church all my life.

I'm not too sure. I always have a question. What's his name, young lady? What's her name, young man? And for these Jewish people, it wasn't a person. It wasn't infidelity that they were after, but it is hard when you can't go to the market and buy things.

It's hard when you get kicked out of the synagogue. It's hard to be persecuted by everybody and you're huddled in some little cave someplace when all you'd have to do is turn your back on Jesus and say, there's the temple, the marble, the incense, the trumpets, the priest, the gold, the labor, the everything.

Why believe in Jesus? That's why he's belaboring the point because remember who he is. He's worth believing. If you continue to believe, you're truly saved. If you don't, you're truly not. S. Lewis Johnson said, what is he saying?

Simply this, continuance in the house of God, that is continuance in the faith, is the proof of the reality of our faith. The whole theme is, do you believe? Are you believing? And if you believe to the end, you will prove, in fact, that your genuine conversion was genuine.

And if you turn your back, it was not a genuine conversion. Look what it says there, hold fast. If indeed we hold fast. That word means, in the original, to grab something. You hear the English where you white knuckle something.

You're grabbing it so hard, your knuckles turn white. That's the idea. And there's three types of Greek language. There's modern Greek, there's pre-New Testament Greek, and there's New Testament Greek, common Greek.

In the Greek before the Bible days, this meant to hold on to a body of teaching. Your parents teach you something, and you hold on to it. You don't let it go. It's like the, I remember when people would always say, well, you know, I believe in having an open mind.

And I always think to myself, I don't say it out loud, but that little cloud above Mike says this, that's really dumb. Whatever goes in, goes in. Whatever goes out, goes out. I'm open minded. Actually, in Hebrew, that's not a good thing.

Your mind is to say, I can only believe what comes through the lens of scripture. And if I do have something in my mind that someone taught me that is from scripture, hold on to it. Don't just let it kind of float out, ethereal into space.

I just kind of go, toss to and fro with winds of every doctrine. In the New Testament, so pre-New Testament is hold on to what you've been taught. In the New Testament, it has to do with holding on to the steering.

What's the steering wheel on a boat called? The what? The wheel? OK. When did they make wheels? It means to hold on to whatever steering mechanism they had 2 ,000 years ago and get to the shore. Hold on.

If you just let go, you can just imagine what the wind would do. You could just see kind of those old pirate ship kind of thing flying around. Hold on. There's a response. God doesn't believe for you.

God doesn't persevere for you. Yes, there's a side of He preserves saints, I know. But this is the human response. In Acts, this word is used in this verse, casting off the anchors. They left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders and hoisting the foresail to the wind.

They were heading for the beach, holding on to get to the beach. If you were some Star Trek admirer, Star Wars admirer, I would take you back to the very first show. And there's that guy going to kill the Death Star.

He's going to die. And what does he keep saying? What? Well, I guess you guys don't watch pagan movies that are about Hinduism and such. Stay on target. Now, you can easily just put that into this. You've been given the claims of Jesus in chapter 1 and in chapter 2 and in chapter 3.

Hold on. He doesn't say keep your salvation. He doesn't say you can lose your salvation. Keep believing. Keep steadily going towards that goal. If you don't, you're going to prove you never were saved.

What about that person? It was at the church for 15 years. They got baptized. They said this. They said that. And then they just ran off the deep end, said they don't believe in God anymore. Well, this verse applies.

This is the verse. What about the person that struggled with their life and had ups and downs, but throughout their entire life, even when they were struggling, and even when they were full of anxiousness and fear and other things, they didn't respond well, they kept thinking about the object of their faith.

They're believers. Hold on. Endurance is the evidence of salvation. You're not saved by grace through endurance after all you can do. That's pretty much a quote out of the Book of Mormon. But endurance proves your salvation.

It doesn't produce it. That is key. The Book of Hebrews is simple faith in the glorious Jesus is saving and will allow you to persevere. The writer includes himself, does he not? We, even the writer, if it's Paul or whoever it is, he's thinking about the people of God and they have to endure till the end.

Saving faith endures. God uses warnings like this to assist believers in their journey home. God uses warnings like this to say, you call yourself a Christian? You turned your back on Jesus? How can you call yourself a Christian?

Now, did you see in verse 19 of chapter 3, because everything here is about faith. Hold fast to what you believe is what he's essentially saying. Hold fast to the object of your faith. Hold fast to this Jesus I talked to you about, verse 19.

So we see that they were unable to enter because of what? Unbelief, that's the root. Chapter 4, verse 2, for good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them. Why?

Because they were not united by faith with those who listen. Sola fide. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 39, you can look it up or I'll just read it. Verse 38 and 39, but my righteous one shall live by faith in the object of Jesus and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Hold on, that's the idea. You say, but there's an if there. Chapter 3, verse 6 says, if indeed we hold fast.

The if is not to make you go, oh, I don't know if I can make it. It's put there to show you you can have settled assurance. Are you continuing? That's the question. Are you continuing to believe? Because if your faith is settled and grounded on Christ's work alone, you will have the evidence in your life of continuing to have faith.

The ground of salvation is only Jesus. The evidence is faith. Now, some of you know who J .C. Ryle is. He said, there's two ways you can lose your soul. One, two ways to go to hell. One, a man might lose his soul by living and dying without any religion at all.

He may live and die like a beast, prayerless, godless, graceless, faithless. This is a sure way to hell. You just live like a pagan. That's a sure way to go to hell. And then Ryle said, there's another way to go to hell.

He may also lose his soul by taking up some useless kind of religion. He may live and die contenting himself with a false Christianity, resting on a baseless hope. This probably is the most common way to hell that there is today.

I hope you're thinking Hebrews 3 .6. Let me tell you what I mean by useless kinds of religion. A religion is entirely useless in which Jesus Christ is not the principal object and does not fill the principal place, chapter 1, chapter 2.

There are too many people calling themselves Christian who practically know nothing about Jesus. That's why, by the way, the writer of Hebrews, for those people who aren't saved, he's telling them about the object of their faith or who they should believe.

Ryle, their religion consists in a few vague notions and empty expressions. They trust they are no worse than many others. They keep to their church. They try to do their duty. They do nobody any harm.

They hope God will be merciful to them. They trust the Almighty will pardon their sin and take them to heaven when they die. This is about the whole of their religion. Ryle, I warn you plainly that such religion will not take you to heaven.

It may do very well in the eyes of man. It may pass muster very decently at the church meeting, in the place of business or in the streets, but it will never comfort you. It will never satisfy your conscience.

It will never save your soul. Neither will it meet the approval of Almighty God. I warn you plainly that all notions and theories about God being merciful apart from Christ and except through Christ are baseless delusions and empty fancies.