Stay Clear Of The Edge

Please stand for the reading of God's Word.

The Old Testament reading is Ezekiel 18, 21 through 24.

But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all his statutes and does

what is just and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him for the righteousness that he has done,

he shall live.

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord, and not rather that he should

turn from his way and live.

But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does unjust and does the same

abominations that the wicked person does, then shall he live.

None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered for the treachery of which he is guilty and the

sin he has committed for them, he shall die.

New Testament reading today is in John 6, verses 35 through 44.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing at all that he has given me

but will 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.

So the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread of life that came down from heaven.

They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How does he say now, I have come down from heaven?

Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves.

Not one who can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him

and I will raise him up on the last day.

You may be seated.

I'd ask you now to take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews

so we get a taste of the whole context.

I'll be reading from Hebrews 5 verse 11 through 6 verse 20.

Our text for this morning is verses four through eight but you need to get the feel

for the whole thing.

Hebrews chapter five verse 11.

About this we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of

the oracles of God.

You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness

since he is an infant.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant

practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a

foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instruction about washings and laying

on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

And this we will do if God permits.

For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift and have

shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come

and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are

crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those

for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.

But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be

burned.

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to

salvation.

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the

saints as you still do.

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of

hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith

and patience inherit the promises.

For when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself

saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you.

And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

For people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes, an oath is final for

confirmation.

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose,

he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God

to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast

to the hope set before us.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the

inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf,

having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Father now open our text to us that we might understand, not just understand Lord, but

that we would hear your word and obey it, that we would change, that we would walk in the

way that you would have us to walk we are thankful

and we pray now Lord that he would become very dear to us in this hour.

Thank you now in Jesus name, amen.

You've gone to Arizona to fulfill a dream that you always had.

And that's to see the Grand Canyon and not being the touristy kind of person that most people are,

you wanna go along the paths along the trails that other people don't typically go, those less traveled

paths, the ones that are out of the way.

And you're walking through some of the forest that surrounds the canyon when suddenly on this path,

you come across an old sign that says warning.

If you go any further, you're dead, turn around now.

And so, well, you turn yourself around, you don't go anywhere near that sign,

you don't go past that sign because you're saying to yourself, I better steer clear of the edge, I'm not in

the mood to die today.

All right, and so off you go.

Well, in our text this morning, verses four through eight, we have a warning.

A warning to stay away from the edge and the fall into eternal destruction.

Now, like that sign on the canyon trail, it's a warning intended to keep you from

destruction.

And it isn't an empty warning.

If you ignore it, you certainly will fall into eternal judgment.

Now, in this section that we read, our Hebrew pastor, as we've noted, gives us both warning

and encouragement.

This morning, we're going to look at the warning.

And the next time we visit Hebrews, we will see his encouragement.

But today, we look at the warning.

Now, let's recall where we've been.

This sermon called Hebrews is written to people who because of the pressures of persecution have

been tempted to abandon their faith in Jesus.

And so our Jewish pastor has devoted this sermon, this entire book, to persuading them to

hold on to Jesus rather than retreating to the familiar

territory of their old covenant ways.

He does this by displaying the superiority of Jesus to the old ways that they were

familiar with, and by warning them of the dire consequences

that will surely follow if they abandon Jesus.

Now, last time we heard him in chapter five, verse 11, through six, verse three, he tells us about the

danger of spiritual laziness that causes you to remain infants.

And as we noted, he's making the point, it's a dangerous place to be.

Now, he presses on with a particular alarming, a particularly alarming

warning.

And here's what we want to note today.

It's a strong alarm to keep you from the deadly apostasy of

leaving Jesus.

So let's look at these verses, verses four through eight.

And we, pardon me, for it is impossible

in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have

tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and if they have fallen away,

to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of

God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose

sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.

But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its

end is to be burned.

Well, what's the first thing that God says to us here?

He says, you heed the warning.

You heed the warning.

Who should heed this warning?

You, all of you who are sitting here this morning.

As you come to understand this text as we go through it today, understand it's addressed to you.

Don't think about the person sitting next to you.

Okay?

Don't think about the person who might fit this description.

Don't think about the Methodists and the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians who obviously had their theology wrong.

Don't be thinking about other people.

You think about you.

God addresses this warning to you.

All of you who are sitting here this morning, pay attention.

It's not addressed to some hypotheticals out there, some people we may know.

It's addressed to you.

You've got to understand that.

Note how the recipients are addressed.

He says, these are ones who have once been enlightened.

Once, indicating the decisive moment of enlightenment.

In chapter 10, verse 32, he uses the same term

where he says to these people, but recall the former days when after you were

enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

And then describes those sufferings.

So it's addressed to those enlightened.

It is those who have tasted the heavenly gift.

It speaks of that gift that comes from heaven.

I believe he's talking about our salvation.

And tasted doesn't mean merely sipping or taking a little bit, sampling the dish.

In chapter two, verse nine, this word is used where it says, so that by the grace of God, he, that is

Jesus, might taste death for everyone.

Tasting there, with Jesus tasting death, it doesn't mean he sampled death, does it?

It means he actually was fully partaking of

death.

He talks about those who have shared in the Holy Spirit.

The reception of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is the very definition of a Christian.

Shared, not merely becoming acquainted with the workings of the Holy Spirit.

In chapter two, verse 14, that word shared is used in this way.

Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, referring to Jesus, likewise

partook, there's our word, or shared of the same things.

In other words, Jesus didn't sample humanity.

He became human.

He says those who have tasted the goodness of the word of God, the same word that's used before.

They feasted on the word of God.

Those who have tasted the powers of the age to come.

Again, the same word.

They have enjoyed the blessings of the age to come.

That age has invaded this present age, and we are able to enjoy its blessings through faith.

They've enjoyed those blessings in a powerful way.

In other words, he speaks to you believers here.

He doesn't want you to take the easy way out and pin this on someone else.

Oh, I'm a Christian, I don't have anything to worry about.

I'll listen, but it doesn't apply to me.

He's talking to you.

Now, the bottom line here, I know you're already thinking the big question, can we lose our

salvation?

We'll get to that.

But right now, don't even ask that question.

Right now, understand what God is saying.

The bottom line is this, do not be complacent.

Do not be complacent.

Too many people have the attitude, well, I've been saved by Jesus, I'm all set.

I'm headed for glory, whew.

I'm glad I prayed the prayer, and everything's gonna be fine.

To those kind of people, the journey to glory is like taking a journey on a cruise ship,

right?

I'm on, okay, just relax.

But scripture describes our journey as one that is full of suffering and temptation.

Temptation and suffering that entices you to leave and abandon

the walk you have following Jesus as a disciple.

These are not just little things.

These are incredible pressures to abandon your walk

with Jesus.

We are indeed on a ship.

We are steaming our way to glory.

But God sends warnings of great storms for which we must prepare, or we

will sink.

He's not fooling around with us here.

God speaks to you this morning to keep you from complacency.

Now already, you know, as I look at your faces, and I know you already, some of your hearts are

starting to do this as you hear this text.

That's a good thing, that's a good thing.

You need to understand, we cannot be complacent in our walk when it comes to Jesus.

Now he gives an illustration in verses seven and eight that helps us to understand it.

He describes here those who have in some sense experienced these blessings, I believe, where he talks about the rain

that falls on some land and produces wonderful fruit and blesses those people, and the same rain falls on

other land and it produces thorns and thistles.

Two pieces of land who've been exposed to these rains of the blessings that he has

just described.

Some who've experienced those rains produce abundant crops.

They have the effect of producing good fruit to the blessing of everyone.

And that land, that rain accomplishes something good.

However, others who've been exposed to those blessings produce thorns and thistles.

Instead of producing good crops, this pasture of ground produces nothing of value, produces

something that isn't even valuable at all.

These people will face the judgment of God.

They will be cursed and they will face eternal judgment.

Here he uses the word burned.

And he doesn't talk about burning the thorns and the thistles, he talks about burning the land.

Now, I believe that God then addresses this to anyone who

professes faith in Christ, to anyone who professes faith.

Now, know the danger in the warning.

What exactly is the danger that he's warning against?

If you want to catch the danger contained in this text, you have to pay attention

to the sentence here, which starts in verse four and goes into verse six.

And in the middle, I have all these qualifiers, right?

All these qualifiers, all these things about tasted

and shared and all those things, those are qualifiers.

So if you want to read the sentence simply, it says in verse four and then drop down to verse six, for

it is impossible to restore them again to repentance.

There's the danger.

Reaching a place where it is impossible to repent.

Wow.

We're talking serious stuff here, aren't we?

There can come a place where it is impossible to repent.

That's the danger.

That's the danger.

A heart so hard that there remains no possibility of repentance

any longer.

Now, I believe that the phrase that's translated here, and then have fallen away, should read if they have fallen away.

If one who has experienced the great blessings of salvation falls away, there's no hope of recovery.

There's none.

Now, why is that?

It goes on.

Talks about this in verse six.

Why is that?

Because they are crucifying once again, the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

In such a case, you crucify once again, the son of God to your harm.

If you abandon your hope in Jesus, if you decide he's not worth the suffering that

following him brings, you are in the same place as the ones who crucified him.

That is to say, along with them, you declare he's not the Christ.

He isn't who he claims to be.

Crucify him, right?

So if you get to that point, you're actually agreeing with the people who said he isn't who he

claims to be.

So if you abandon Jesus, if you say I'm done and you walk away,

you're saying he's not the one.

He's not the one who can save.

And that's exactly what you affirm if you walk away.

That action holds him up to contempt.

It's the idea of anyone who's crucified is held up to contempt.

If you abandon your hope in Jesus, if you decide he's not worth the suffering that following him brings,

you are like the ones who mocked him, spit on him, placed a crown of thorns on his head

and nailed him to the cross in open shame.

That's what would be true.

And that is exactly what will happen.

If you walk away from him.

In essence, he's no savior.

Now, if that's what you believe, which these actions indicate, then you can see why it's impossible

to restore them to repentance.

Because the very object of their faith they no longer believe is the one who can

save them.

You see now why he says that.

Now, I wanna challenge you here for a moment.

What is your attitude?

What is your attitude when someone has been prayerfully

and carefully and properly disciplined from the church and they walk away not caring

a thing about the warnings they have received in the whole process?

Warnings from the word of God, what do you think?

Do you think, oh man, what a shame, he's been taken off the rolls of the membership.

I hope he can find another place to worship.

Is that your attitude?

Or is it this, please repent.

Because if you don't, your heart will get so hard that repentance

will be impossible for you.

Is that your attitude?

What about if someone starts here in the congregation, someone you know long before the elders are even aware,

but surely and slowly walking away from the fellowship of believers, becoming

absent from their assembly, bit by bit surrendering to the desires that they've gotten

tired of fighting and are giving themselves over.

Do you say to yourself, oh, it's too bad that she's not walking with the Lord now.

Or instead, do you say, stop, don't go any further.

The path you're taking can result in the curse of God.

Come back, is that your attitude?

What about you?

When you have those first thoughts about pitching it all, because the life of a disciple is

not worth the pain and the agony of fighting temptation.

What happens when that first appears in your mind?

You toy with the idea of giving over to those desires that prove so insistent because it's just so much

easier than following Jesus.

Or do you take yourself in hand and say, if I keep thinking this way, and if I keep going this way,

I may reach the point of impenitence and facing the wrath of God.

Is that what you say to yourself?

Do you instead turn to your sympathetic high priest who has suffered like you

and knows all the temptations and the sufferings that you face?

And you turn to him and you cry out to him who knows exactly where

you are and who sympathizes with you and you ask him, help me.

You will then find a savior who will come alongside and help you.

But do you do that?

Do you cry out to him?

I remember and I will call him, I'll just call him, I'll call him TJ right now.

I remember TJ who was once a member here and a dear, dear friend.

He came to LaRue Baptist Church on fire.

On fire, he came here because his pastor, we had when he was in college and said, if you go

back home, go to LaRue Baptist Church.

And he came here and I'm telling you, this guy was on fire.

He knew the five points of Calvinism inside and out and he would battle any Arminian who

crossed his path.

He talked to people about Christ.

He read great and wonderful books.

He loved to talk about spiritual things and when he was in trouble, he wanted answers from the word of God

and nowhere else.

After a number of years here, he was required to move because of his job.

He joined another church and we would visit him.

I can still see the church.

We would visit him on occasion.

But then he started to miss and he started to make excuses about missing, about how he couldn't.

And soon he was involved in some things.

He started drinking a lot.

As I would come across his path periodically, we ended up in discussions about some of the basic doctrinal convictions he

once had, disavowed them all.

Absolutely disavowed them all.

I remember sitting in Starbucks with him one evening, pleading with him and

warning him that if he continued down this path, he would end up

with an unbelieving hard heart and the impossibility of repentance.

I offered to help him in his struggles.

I offered to walk with him, but he wouldn't have it.

Wouldn't have it.

He did not heed the warning.

And yes, it appeared he had come to the place of impenitence.

Had he crossed the line?

Is he beyond the hope?

I don't know.

I don't know if he's crossed that line.

But let me say to you, do you want to be in the place where anyone's asking that question?

Don't even get that far.

Pay attention to what this warning says

and do something with it.

Don't just pass it off.

Do something.

Look at your heart.

Take note of your ways.

The last thing I want to point out to you is this.

Know the purpose of the warning.

What is the purpose of this warning?

Is the purpose of this warning to tell you that you can lose

your salvation?

I don't think so.

I don't think that's what it's saying.

Well, why?

It sounds, you've just preached it like we could.

No, I don't believe anyone can lose their salvation.

If we compare scripture to scripture, it's clear that God sees his people to the end.

He does see us to the goal.

He does see us to the end.

Take into account other scriptures.

John chapter six, which purposely you heard this morning.

All that the father, this is Jesus.

All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will

never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose

nothing of all that he has given me, 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.

You can't get any stronger than that, can you?

All those given to Jesus, all those who flee to Jesus, who repent and believe will

be raised.

He's not gonna lose any of them.

John chapter 10, the great shepherd chapter.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

By the way, that can be translated given the form of the Greek grammar there.

They will never ever perish.

And no one will 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 the father's hand.

I and the father are one.

Now, some would say, yeah, but you can jump out.

Don't give me that.

Nothing, he says, will ever get you out of the father's hand, all right?

Romans chapter eight.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also

predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many

brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called.

And those whom he called, he also justified.

And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

An unbroken chain of certainty from justification to glorification.

He goes on, for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come, nor

powers, nor height, nor debt, nor anything else in all creation will be able to

separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here it is.

And we could go on and on with other passages.

First Thessalonians five, 13 and 14.

Philippians chapter one, verse six.

And on we could go.

And you know more of those passages.

Recall as well what the apostle John says in first John chapter

two, verse nine.

First John two, verse nine.

Children, it is the last hour.

And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.

Therefore, we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

So the Bible does not give us the idea

that we can lose our salvation.

What about this warning then?

Well, you've already heard one purpose.

And that is don't be complacent.

Don't be complacent.

All right?

That's so important for us to see.

The purpose of this warning is to produce the perseverance that God requires.

It's given to produce the perseverance.

You say, yes, but God guarantees we're gonna make it.

So why does he even say that?

All right?

You know, obviously, you know, we're deep in the waters of theology here and it's good for you.

So I want you to hear this now.

Keep this in mind.

All right?

Here's some good theology, a good theological explanation that you need to tuck away.

Here it is.

God is not only the God of ends, he's the God of means.

Let me say that again.

Some of you aren't writing this down.

You need to write this down.

God is not just the God of ends, he's the God of means.

What do we mean by that?

God is not just a God of ends, he will bring all his children to glory,

but he is also a God of means.

And this is the way he brings them to glory.

He gives them warnings.

This is how he accomplishes his purposes.

You need to persevere, he says, and if you don't, there's destruction.

What is that gonna do?

It moves you to perseverance.

It's the very thing that he uses to bring you to glory.

Right?

Now, some of you are visitors here, and this may surprise you.

Those who've been here for a long time, it's no surprise the sinner's statement of faith.

We believe in predestination.

We believe that God has chosen his people from before the foundations of the earth who's gonna be saved.

So that means that in this place, you never hear the gospel preached from this pulpit, right?

You never hear sinners called to repentance, right?

No, and no one's impressing upon you the necessity of sharing the gospel with the people that

you know and meet, right?

No, why?

Because God has not only predestined who will be saved, he's also told us how

they will be saved, right?

They'll be saved by the preaching of the gospel.

God doesn't just give us the ends, he gives us the means.

Same thing here with perseverance.

This is intended to say to you, keep going.

It's gonna move you to perseverance.

Look at Acts chapter 27.

This is a real life.

This is a wonderful picture of God as the God of ends and the God of means.

So Acts 27, here's the story.

Paul's on his way to Rome, they put him on a ship, and he tells them, hey,

don't sail, because I'm pretty familiar with the Mediterranean, this is the bad time of the year

to sail, but the captain says, no, we're going.

And so off they go, they get in the middle of this storm.

I mean, this storm goes on literally for a couple of weeks.

They are really getting beaten around on this ship, all right?

So that's the story.

Everyone's scared to death.

Let's pick it up in verse 27.

When the 14th night, get that, when the 14th night, can you imagine getting beat up for two weeks?

When the 14th night had come as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight, the

sailors suspected that they were nearing land.

Nope, I'm sorry.

We need to go to verse 21.

That's where we need to start, all right?

Verse 21, here we go.

Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, men, you should have listened to me and not have

set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.

Paul was a normal guy.

You notice that?

He said, you know what he's saying here?

I told you so, okay?

But that's not germane to what we're talking about.

It's just, I mean, there it is.

Told you so.

He says, yet now I urge you to take heart,

for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship.

For this very night, there stood before me an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he

said, do not be afraid, Paul.

You must stand before Caesar, and behold, God has granted you all those who sail with

you, which later is 276 people are on this ship.

All 276 are gonna be fine, okay?

So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I've been told, but we must run aground on some

island.

So what is he saying?

He says, hey, guys, all of us are gonna be okay.

No one's gonna die.

Now let's keep going.

When the 14th night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the sailors

suspected that we were nearing land.

So they took a sounding and found 20 fathoms.

A little farther on, they took a sounding again and found 15 fathoms.

And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to

come.

And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea

under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless

these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Okay, let me get this straight.

God says everyone, all 276 are gonna be saved, yep?

And then these sailors start getting on the lifeboat.

And Paul says to the soldiers, here's the old army, navy

battle coming up.

He says, hey, if those guys get away, we're not gonna make it.

And so the soldiers cut the ropes.

So we're all stuck on the ship now, all right?

Now drop down to verse 39.

Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they

planned, if possible, to run the ship ashore.

So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders, then

hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.

But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground.

The bow struck and remained immovable and the stern was being broken up by the surf.

The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escaped.

But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan.

He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land and the rest on planks or on pieces of the

ship.

And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

Now, what's the point of that whole story?

Here's the point.

God said, you're all gonna be saved, all right?

So what did they do?

Great, let's just go down into the lower parts of the ship.

And just wait.

Is that what they did?

No, they started throwing out anchors to slow the ship down.

And he said, if those guys get done with their plan, we're gonna be lost, because guess what?

We need sailors to do this, right?

Right?

When they see land, what do they do?

They do all their things.

They let loose the ropes on the rudder, they cut loose the anchors, they hike

the foresail so that they can runner aground, hit a reef instead, and everyone's

saved.

What's the point?

The point is simply this.

God said, everyone will be saved, but he also said, these guys gotta stay aboard or

you're not gonna make it.

Yeah, God doesn't just tell us the end, he tells us the means, and we have to understand that.

So you see, the very warning that threatens judgment is the very thing that God uses to

keep you from judgment.

When you hear this, what are you gonna do?

You're gonna say, wow, I need to pay attention, I can't be complacent.

Remember that old sign on the trail.

A fall is going to be fatal, it says to you, but the sign that warned you was the means that kept you from

dying, right?

If you go any further than this, you're a dead man.

So what do you do?

You keep going?

No, you turn around and go the other way.

Here's the purpose of that warning, to keep you from complacency.

God's not only guaranteed you make it to glory, God says, here's the way you're gonna make it.

The storms are coming, be ready for them.

We're not on a cruise ship.

We're on a ship that's gonna go through storms and difficulties, and you need to make preparations or you'll sink.

In your life, that's what you need to do.

So where are you today?

You may be one who walked in here today thinking, is this all worth it?

Is this worth it?

My life is, I mean, I'm fighting temptation, I'm tired

of it, the suffering seems to be too much.

If I just let go and just went my own way, life would be easier.

Maybe that's where you were when you walked in today.

I hope that's not where you are now.

Maybe you have the attitude, once saved, always saved, which is true,

but what does that make you do then?

Once saved, always saved.

You know what, if I go off into this sin over here that I'm really tempted

to, and I just run that way, it's okay, I'm gonna make it to heaven.

I'll just have my good times now, and I'll still get my reward in heaven.

Wrong, wrong.

By the way, the Bible doesn't say, once saved, always saved, it says, once saved, you will persevere.

That's what it says.

Now, some of you are scared right now.

Some of you are scared and you're saying, am I a believer?

Will I make it?

And to you, I say, God didn't intend to give this to you to make you doubt your

salvation.

The writer here, and by the way, I would encourage you this afternoon, keep reading the rest of the

chapter.

There's more to this story, all right?

It's not intended to scare the liver out of you.

He's saying to you, you're following Jesus.

Keep going.

I'm not, this isn't written to say, oh man, am I saved?

Will I make it?

You will make it.

Keep going, keep following.

Don't abandon, don't abandon the ship.

You keep going.

That's what it's intended to do.

So, are you listening?

Have you heard God?

In faith, ask Jesus to strengthen you.

In faith, the answer is not to just, oh, I gotta work harder.

The answer is to say, oh Lord Jesus, you've made promises of salvation.

Help me to keep believing.

Father, thank you for your word.

I pray, Father, it has landed on years that would hear.

I pray that you have changed hearts today.

I pray, Lord, that we would take heed to the warning.

Father, I pray that we would not think in terms of, wow, am I

gonna lose my salvation?

But we would think rather in terms of thank you, Father, for helping me understand the way to glory.

Help me now, through Jesus, to rely on him and not to abandon

my hope in him, but to put my hope in him and no one and anything else.

Father, thank you for your word now this morning.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.