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Bro. Bill Nichols
I was a little surprised last week when we only got through
the first three verses of Hebrews.
I expected to get at least through six.
But I think the Lord intervened and pushed us back one day so that we could do
verses four through six on Palm Sunday.
So here we are.
Palm Sunday, a perfect example of some of the advantages
given to the Jews and referred to in chapter six.
I'm going to read chapter six, verses four through, I think, five
or maybe six.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted
the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted the good word of God and the power of this world to come,
of the worlds to come, if they should fall away to renew them again unto repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
Him to an open shame.
What they had were five advantages.
I highlighted them so I could find them easily.
Enlightened, they were enlightened.
They had tasted the heavenly gift.
They were partakers of the Holy Ghost.
They had tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.
These are advantages that they failed to capitalize on.
Oh, they recognized that Jesus was something special.
They saw His supernatural powers.
They heard His teachings.
And not only that, they were expecting the Messiah.
But they were unable to put it all together.
So we're going to begin this morning not with Hebrews, but with Luke 19, for two
verses, and then to John 12, for His account
of the events surrounding Palm Sunday.
But first, Luke 19, verse 41.
This is after Jesus has left Bethany and come up and over on the hill overlooking the city
of Jerusalem.
And when He came near, He beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace, but
now they are hid from thine eyes.
That's a scary thing.
We're going to look at John's longer account.
It was long in Luke as well, but this is the one I wanted to use.
This describes Jesus six days before the crucifixion.
Actually, that's not correct.
Six days before the resurrection.
Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus, which
had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.
And there they made Him a supper.
And Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him.
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,
and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair.
And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
Then saith one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
which should betray Him, why was not this ointment sold for 300
pence?
Now 300 pence is equivalent to the salary of
300 men for one day, or one man for 300 days.
This is almost a year's full salary that Mary used for ointment to put
on Jesus' feet and to wipe with His hair.
And so Simon said, I'm sorry, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son
said, why was this ointment not sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?
This he said not that he cared for the poor.
Isn't that the way it always is?
We're going to do something for the poor and we don't care a bit about them.
But because he was a thief and he had the bag, he carried the money.
And he bare what was put therein, and it was in the perfect place for him to steal it.
Except this was now smeared on the feet of Jesus.
Then said Jesus, let her alone.
Against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
For the poor always you have with you, but me you have
not always.
And I stopped there and added a question.
Something for us to consider today.
Is it possible for men to eliminate poverty?
I want to ask it a different way.
Is there anything that we can do, that we can authorize our government to do that will
eliminate poverty?
One of the things we're trying to do right now is give everybody a guaranteed salary.
You think that will eliminate poverty?
No, the Lord said we're going to have the poor with us always.
Okay, now we're to verse 9.
Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he, that's Jesus, was there.
And they came not for Jesus' sake only.
And I stressed only because they did come for Jesus' sake, but not just for Jesus' sake.
But that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
The people wanted to see a miracle, or they wanted to see the results of a miracle.
The miracle had already been performed.
But not the Pharisees, not the priests, not the rulers.
They were concerned not about seeing Jesus, or even seeing Lazarus.
They were concerned that they may lose their positions of power.
Verse 10.
But the chief priests concluded that they might put Lazarus also to death.
Now when I read that, I thought that was very funny.
Here they are plotting to kill a man that has already been dead, and has been risen from the dead.
They're going to kill him and keep him dead, right?
If Jesus didn't want him dead, he wouldn't be dead.
Jesus didn't want him to be dead, and he wasn't dead.
And them wanting to kill him is not going to make any difference at all.
But they thought it would, because that by the reason of
Lazarus, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.
They didn't like that.
On the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna!
Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
What they were doing were proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.
And for that, if we are in Luke's account, the Pharisees are going to rebuke them and
say, Master, don't you want to make your disciples quit saying this?
Because we know you don't think you're the Messiah.
We certainly know you're not.
But we're in John's account.
And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, said thereon, as it is written,
Fear not, daughter of Zion.
Behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's coat.
And then John goes on to say this.
These things understood not his disciples at the first.
They were there.
They saw what was going on.
They just didn't understand what it all meant.
But when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that
these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
It was written that he was going to ride into town on a donkey that no man had ever written before.
It had been written the day that he was going to do it.
It was written that the people would come out and sing to him,
Hosanna, blessed be the name of the King.
They're going to remember those things then.
They didn't understand them now.
Then remembered they that these things were written unto him, written of him, and that they had done these things unto
him.
The people, therefore, that were with him, when he called Lazarus out of
the grave and raised him from the dead, bear record.
What did they bear record of?
That this was indeed the same Lazarus that was in the grave that came out and Jesus raised from the dead.
They were there to testify that indeed Jesus did this miracle.
And for this cause, the people also met him, for they had heard that he had done
this miracle.
The Pharisees, therefore, said among themselves, Perceive ye how we prevail nothing?
Behold, the world is gone after him.
And there were certain Greeks among them that came to worship at the feast.
The same came, therefore, to Philip, which was of the Seder of Galilee.
Now, why would they go to Philip, do you think?
Because Galilee was a Gentile area.
Philip was somebody they knew.
You would go to somebody that you knew.
And so Philip goes to Andrew and telleth Andrew.
And Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come.
The Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it.
He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow me.
And where I am, there shall also my servant be.
If any man serve me, him will my Father honor.
Now my soul is troubled.
And what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour.
But for this cause came I unto this hour.
He's saying, you know, I'm concerned.
I know what's ahead of me.
But should I ask the Father to save me?
That's the very reason I came.
He's saying, I came for this hour.
And then he said, Father, glorify thy name.
Then there came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will
glorify it again.
The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said that it thundered.
Others said an angel spake to him.
And Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me.
I didn't hear it, but for your sakes.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out at Satan.
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
That doesn't exactly clear it up unless you read this.
This, he said, signifying what death he should die.
He told them he was going to die by being lifted up.
And the people answered saying, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever.
How sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted up?
Who is this Son of Man?
And Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you.
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
While you have light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light.
These things spake Jesus and departed, and did hide himself from them.
And now look at verse 37.
But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not
on him.
Now, why do you think they didn't believe him?
Why do you think they didn't believe on him?
Well, Luke tells us it was hidden from them
that the saying of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled.
Which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report?
And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Therefore they could not believe him.
Because Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts,
that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,
and that I should heal them.
These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
And now, probably for the saddest portion of this
passage, nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also
many believed on him.
But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue,
for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Does that not speak to us today?
Do we not love the praise of men more than we love the praise of God?
It seems that way, doesn't it?
It seems that the things that we do, we do to gain the praise of men, not to gain
the praise of God.
Anybody got anything to say about Palm Sunday?
Okay, let's pray.
Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for letting us come together again face -to -face to
worship you and to study your Holy Word.
Thank you for giving us your Holy Word to study, and thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit that will guide us
in our studies to help us understand what it is that you're telling us.
Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to take us to the portions of this lesson, to
get the things that we personally need, because we all need different things at different times.
Thank you most of all for giving us your Son and allowing Him to come into the world,
to die to pay for our sins, to be put on the cross,
and then to be raised from the dead to lead us to
life eternal.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Okay, now we're beginning to go back to Luke, not Luke.
I've been in Luke so long, I want to say Luke on everything.
Hebrew.
I'm going to read the first three verses, that's not very long, that we did last week.
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying
again the foundations of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God, of the doctrine of
baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
And this we will do if God permit.
That's how far we got last week.
The intent of these first three verses is to make the case that the Old
Testament covenant, the law, was only the starting point
for the salvation process.
And I put salvation process in a quotation, set of quotation marks, because
salvation is more than justification.
A lot of times what we want to think of is salvation is what happens the day that the Lord notified
you that you are His.
We call that salvation.
But it's an ongoing process.
First we were elect.
Then we were notified that we were elect.
Then we're set apart to do work for Him.
Then we spend our life doing the works that we can do to make us more like Him.
And then we die, or we are lifted up in the rapture, and we go
to Him to be glorified.
So it's a big process.
It's more than just coming down to the altar and saying, yes, I accept Jesus.
There's more to it than that.
So the Old Testament covenant, the law, was only the starting point for this
salvation process.
And also to point out that it was incumbent for the Jews to push forward to a more
complete understanding.
That is, to add on to this foundation, the law, not to destroy the law, to add on to it.
You don't destroy the foundation when you build a house.
You just add on to the foundation.
But nobody would want to live in the foundation, would you?
Would you want to live on the foundation?
I mean, you might put a sleeping bag out on the foundation, but that's after you've got
the first floor paved.
You've got to have something besides the foundation.
That's what they were trying to do.
They were trying to live on the foundation.
And so the author of Hebrews is telling them, it's more to it than just the foundation.
Push on, push forward for a complete understanding.
Add on to this foundation.
Have the entire gospel message.
And as we proceed through four through six, we're going to see how Jewish unbelievers
missed the mark.
Now, there are going to be two sets of Jewish unbelievers.
This set that we're talking about now, and another set that we will get to, I'm sure, next
Sunday.
And these are two different sets of unbelievers.
This first set of unbelievers, I'll just preface this by saying, we commonly refer to as the goats.
The second set of unbelievers are what we call the lost sheep.
Some were never going to be his, and some were always going to be his.
They just didn't know it yet.
And so he'll talk to them separate.
And it's very clear when he changes from one audience to another.
So he's going to talk to three audiences.
The goats, the saved sheep that know they're saved and are acting right, and the
lost sheep that are acting like goats but are really sheep.
How many of the lost sheep will he lose?
None.
He'll lose none of the lost sheep.
So there's an urgency about doing what the lost sheep need to do.
We'll get to that next week.
But it's not an urgency with a dread penalty about it.
He will not lose a single one of his.
In any case, let's go on.
So let's reread verse 4, 5, and 6.
For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gifts
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the world to come, if they fall away to renew again unto
repentance, seeing they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh
and put Him to open shame.
Now verses 4 through 6 catalog five advantages I've already pointed them out that the Jews possessed,
advantages that they failed to take advantage of, and advantages that were
not sufficient to acquire salvation.
One, they were enlightened.
They had received instruction in the biblical truth.
For a long time, it was passed down mouth to mouth, but beginning with Moses, the Scriptures began
to be written, and they had written Scriptures available to them, and
they had help in explaining it.
So they knew what the Scripture said.
Moreover, the truth that they were... that had been revealed to them was accompanied by
intellectual perception.
That is to say, they understood it.
They read it, and they understood it.
I've had a lot of things that I read, and I read, and I read, and I never understood.
And then eventually, I either understood or I still don't understand.
But they had intellectual perception.
They understood.
But that's not enough.
Understanding the gospel is not equivalent
to salvation.
It's not equivalent to regeneration is the word I really wanted to use because salvation is
too broad of a term.
Hebrews 10, 26 tells us something.
For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking forward of
judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two
or three witnesses.
Of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden
underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was
sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace.
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth to me.
I will recompense, saith the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
But call to remembrance the former days, which after you were illuminated, after you
saw the light, you endured a great fight of afflictions.
Did things get better for you when you became a Christian?
Well, in one sense, they did.
In the real sense, they became much better for you.
Now you know you've got a destination.
Now you know that whatever bad things Satan can bring upon you, you will get through them.
And that's a good thing.
But don't think that will eliminate you or shelter you from Satan
trying to do those bad things to you.
And you will have a fight, but you will have an ally.
You will have an ally much more powerful than you, much more powerful than Satan.
You will have Jesus Christ as your ally.
And how can you lose if Jesus is on your side?
That's the good thing.
But that doesn't mean that we won't have bad things happen to us.
Bad things do happen to good people, if there are any good people.
I'll say it differently.
Bad things also happen to redeemed people.
So don't think if you're redeemed, don't think all the bad is going to happen.
He didn't promise you a rose garden without thorns.
He promised you a rose garden with thorns.
Now, in the Gospel of John, it's also clear that enlightening is not equivalent to salvation or
regeneration.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that was Jesus, that all men through
him might believe.
He, that's John, was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, Jesus.
That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
That's most of them.
But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name,
of which were born not of blood, not because of who your
parents were, not of the will of the flesh, not because you wanted it, not by the will of man,
not because your spiritual man wanted it, but because of God.
You were born again by the will of God, nothing else.
Well, that's one thing.
The Jews were enlightened.
They understood the Scripture, but they rejected it.
The second thing, the second advantage that they had, that they received,
they tasted the heavenly gift.
Now, tasting is a play of words.
They didn't really taste it.
They consciously experienced it.
They experienced it.
They reveled in it.
They understood it.
They wallowed in it.
They tasted the heavenly gift.
All men experienced the goodness of God.
It's said somewhere, it rains on the just and the unjust.
So when it rains, the unjust get the rain as well as the just.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that they were all saved.
Just because they're consciously experiencing the goodness of God doesn't mean that they're all
saved.
Many Jews during the Lord's earthly ministry experienced the blessings from
heaven that He brought.
Healings.
He healed many people, and the rest of the people saw Him heal the people He healed.
Deliverance from demons.
Food.
He miraculously created food, sometimes totally out of nothing, and sometimes out of
the little that we brought.
Remember the feeding of the 5 ,000 with the three fish?
And baskets and baskets of food left over?
More food left over than they started with?
That's a miracle.
However, sharing in any of these gifts was not the same as
The third thing, they were partakers in the Holy Spirit.
Now, normally, partakers of the Holy Spirit is reserved for believers who
have the Holy Spirit and they are partaking of it.
But you've got to really look at it in context of who it is that He's talking to.
The context must be the final determining factor.
Now, the context in verses 4 through 6 seems to preclude any reference
to true believers.
Now, it could be a reference to unbelievers who, in spite of the convicting
ministry of the Holy Spirit, resisted without experiencing salvation.
That was from Dr. John MacArthur.
I'm going to read it again, exactly as he wrote it.
Even though the concept of partaking is sometimes used to describe the relationship that believers
have with the Holy Spirit, the context must be the final determining factor.
This context in verses 4 through 6 seems to preclude a reference to true believers.
It could be a reference to unbelievers who, in spite of the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit,
resisted without experiencing salvation.
Can you resist the Holy Spirit?
Yes, you can.
And until you quit resisting, you resist it.
Brother David has said this many times.
Just before the time that you yielded to the
prodding of the Holy Spirit and came down and confessed your sins, when you were in the
seat back at the back and you yielded yourself to Him, then you ceased resisting,
but five minutes before, you were resisting.
Acts 7, 51 says,.
You stiff -necked and uncircumcised in the heart and the ears, you do always resist the Holy
Ghost.
As your fathers did, so do you.
Verse 5,.
And tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.
They had tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, and yet had
not been regenerated in spite of everything that they had heard and seen.
They were repeating the sins of those who died in the wilderness after seeing the miracles performed
through Moses and Aaron and hearing the voice of God at Sinai.
And we talked about this either last week or the week before.
What a miraculous thing it was that this army of over five million people
with their livestock could go through the desert, go through the
wilderness and survive.
We couldn't supply an army of that size today if we had
trainload after trainload of food and water going to them.
A large river, the Columbia River in
Oregon, would probably be sufficient to provide enough
water for all of that army.
But the Columbia River in Oregon is an organ.
It's not in the Sinai Peninsula.
It's not out in the wilderness.
They had food provided to them every day.
They had water provided to them every day.
Now I know it said they met at the rock and Moses struck the rock and water poured
forth, but they didn't stay at that rock.
They went on.
Next day they were someplace else or next week they were someplace else.
The Lord had to provide water and food for them every day, and He did that for 40 years.
And after 40 years of having food and water miraculously supplied to them
every day, except on Sunday the food, and they were allowed to pick up enough on
Saturday to do for Sunday, they still refused
to be regenerated.
They still resisted.
And now for the crucial verse.
If they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance, seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to open
shame.
It is impossible for those who have sinned against Christ when they had rejected Him with full knowledge
and conscious experience to be renewed to repentance.
This again is John MacArthur.
With full revelation they had rejected the truth, concluding the
opposite of the truth about Jesus.
Thus they had no hope of being saved.
They can never have more knowledge than they had when they rejected Him.
And they concluded that Jesus should have been crucified...
I lost my place.
They concluded that Jesus should have been crucified and they stand with His enemies.
There is no possibility that this verse refers to losing your
salvation.
There are many scriptures that make that unmistakably clear.
Salvation is eternal.
I'm going to read four of them.
They're nice and short.
The first one is the clearest and maybe the shortest.
John 10, verse 27.
My sheep, you're my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,
and I give unto them eternal life.
Now if that's not clear enough, he adds one more phrase.
And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
So what does he say?
Their salvation is eternal.
You'll never die.
Who does that depend upon?
That depends on God and Jesus.
You're in the hand of Jesus and you're in the hand of God, and there is nothing greater than
Jesus and God that has the ability to take you out of His hand.
You will be in Him.
No one can or nothing can deny it.
Now Paul, in Romans 8, 35, says it a little bit longer,
but I'm going to read it anyhow.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
the sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are cured all day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Did he leave out anything?
Things now, things in the future, angels,
principalities, higher levels of angels, things to come,
things that are present, height, depth, any
other creature, nothing is left out.
And Philippians 1, 6, Being confident in this very thing, he which has begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
So if He started on you, if He has started you on your path to eternal life, well, if He is starting
you on your path of eternal life, He will keep doing it
until you are with Jesus in heaven.
That's what that's saying.
And then Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 1, 4.
To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time.
Now, I want to be crystal clear in case I haven't been so far.
Those who want to make this phrase, if they shall fall away, mean that believers
can lose their salvation.
They have to admit that they would also say that having lost it,
they can never get it back.
And now the Lord gives us two illustrations, one of rain falling on
the just and bringing forth blessings, and another of rain falling on
the unsaved and bringing forth, I guess, curses, I don't know.
For the earth, which drinketh in the rain, that cometh off upon it, and bring
forth herbs, meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessings from God.
So the rain falls on you, you produce a fruit, that fruit is fit for eating of
the saved, you receive a blessing.
The other is addressed to those who do not.
But that which beareth thorns, the rain that falleth on the ones that beareth thorns and
briars, is rejected, and is not unto cursing, whose end is
to be burned.
And now we get to verse 9.
And I don't have enough time to finish verse 9, but I do have enough time to
start on it.
So I'm going to start, and I'm going to stop after I have said this
much.
But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that
accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
So he's saying to the group that he's talking to, okay, I've been talking to a group of people that
are destined to, I guess, destined
hell.
But beloved, we are persuaded of better things of you, and things that
accompany salvation.
The beloved is a term that shows a change of audience.
It's a change from a message of warning to a message of encouragement.
So the rest, 9 through a next section, is going to talk about
things to encourage us, that the address is to believers, is
further confirmed by the expression of confidence that better things could be said
of them, as compared to whom?
As being compared to those who are being warned in the preceding verses.
Now, the things that accompany salvation.
What are the things that accompany salvation?
Anybody know?
Things that accompany salvation.
I'm sorry?
Fruits of the Spirit.
Now, specify.
Love, joy, that you have love, that you have joy, you have love for your friends, for your
enemies, for everyone.
Yes, these are fruits.
I'm going to do it different.
Works.
Works that you do.
The love that you have.
The joy that you have.
The things that you do.
The works that you do that verify your salvation.
Not works that you do to create your salvation, or to earn your salvation.
There's nothing that can be done to earn your salvation.
How do you get your salvation?
God gave it to you.
Why did He give it to you?
Because He wanted to.
To whom did He give it?
To whom He wanted to give it.
When did He give it?
In one sense, before time began.
In another sense, when you got it.
You know, I thought I got mine at 13, and I might have.
I don't know.
I am positive that I have it now.
Brother David said he got his.
When Brother David got his was before time began, just like when I got mine.
But he tells everybody that he got his on the way, either from
Waco to Mahea, or on the way from Waco to Mahea, in his car, driving from Waco to
Mahea.
That's when he got it.
No, he got it the same time I got mine.
Before time.
That's when we all got it, but we all knew when we got it when we knew.
Now, we got it, so what do we do with it?
Well, we do what Paul told us to do in Ephesians.
For we are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works.
To do what?
To do good works, which God hath before ordained.
Before ordained means He made this decision at the same time that He made the decision that you belong to Him,
and set you aside to do what?
To do works.
What kind of works?
Works to honor and glorify Him, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them.
That's the things that accomplish, that accompany salvation.
Those are the things that the Lord asked us, in fact, told us to do.
Brother David would say, now, Brother Otis would say, God doesn't ask anybody to do
anything.
He tells them what to do.
And then James said it this way, and a lot of people
misunderstand James too.
Yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have work.
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
How do I know that you have faith?
Because of the works that you do.
I can't read your mind.
God can, but I can't.
Show thee my, I will show thee my faith by thy works.
Thou believest in God, thy doest well.
The devils also believe and tremble.
What's the difference between you and the devil?
And the devils?
You are doing the work that God set out, set you apart to do, and the devils are doing
the work that Satan set them aside to do.
They're doing the work of their father, and we are to be doing the work of our father.
They never fail to do the work of their father.
We sometimes fail.
We don't always do the work that our father asks us to do, but our father is forgiving.
And if we fail to do something that we should be doing, and we recognize that, or even if we don't recognize it at
all, when we go back and repent, God forgives us of all that we've done wrong, even the things that we didn't
think about telling.
That is a wonderful message.
O vain man, thou know, O vain man, that faith
without works is dead.
Was not our father Abraham justified by works when he offered Isaac his son
upon the altar?
Seeing thou how faith wrought with his works
and by his works was faith made perfect, and the Scripture was fulfilled, Abraham
believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend
of God.
And I'm going to go down just a little bit more and add one other thing.
I'll just add it here instead.
When Abraham was given the promise by God, what was he promised?
Anybody remember?
One of the things, yeah.
Offspring.
Yes, he was promised offspring.
He had some offspring already, but he was promised a specific offspring, and that was he was promised Isaac,
right?
And so God gave him Isaac, and now he's got offspring, and now he's got a seed that
is going to grow and multiply and spread and cover the earth like stars
in the heavens and sand on the sea.
Multitudes of offspring.
And then what does God ask him to do?
He asked him to kill him, to sacrifice him.
Now you talk about faith.
His promise.
He is asked to destroy his promise.
Abraham is asked to destroy Isaac in our way of thinking,
but what did Abraham know that most of us don't know?
If God asked him to sacrifice Isaac,
if God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and God also told
Abraham that Isaac would be the father of great nations, then he's got to do something
between the time that he is destroyed and the time that he produces this offspring to bring him
back to life.
So Abraham knew that God would be true to his word.
He counted God's word as if it were already done, and that was the faith that Abraham
had, and that's the faith that we all need.
Okay, that's it, and we're running low on time or out of time now.
Any questions or comments?
Mm -hmm.
That would be an issue, wouldn't it?
Why do you think it wasn't an issue to Abraham?
It would be an issue to me.
Is this really God speaking to me?
That's what I would think.
Could this not be Satan telling me something that he wants me to believe?
Yes, sir.
He knew God's voice.
He has spent a lot of time with God.
He was the friend of God.
He knew God.
He knew this was God.
He knew it wasn't Satan, and so he also knew that God was not changeable.
He had promised two things.
They look contradictory to us.
Many offsprings and death tomorrow before any.
Death tomorrow before any, and many offsprings.
Which one is true?
I don't know how, Abraham said, but I know God can.
So he was going to sacrifice him, and God put something in his place, and
that something was representative of the thing that's going to be put in our place for our salvation, Jesus
Christ, and that is part of the wonderful gospel message.
Anything else?
Most gracious heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for all the many blessings you have given us.
Thank you especially for your son that you have given us to bear our sins, to pay the price
for our debt, and to have filled it completely, and to have given us
his righteousness so that we can stand in the presence of God and ask him for things
that we need.