Previously, we have examined the solemn warning concerning apostasy in Hebrews chapter 10, part of it back in October, and then we broke from our Hebrew series for missions month and for the month of December, but have come back to it now and we looked at another part of that warning last week. We come now to the final part of that section for our message today in the last four verses of Hebrews chapter 10. A warning against apostasy, a warning against falling away, a warning against having professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and then to drift away from it, to turn away from it, to fall back from pursuing Christ and believing the word of God.
That warning was certainly appropriate for the Hebrews situation. Recall that the writer of Hebrews is addressing Jewish Christians, those who have professed faith in Christ and have paid a pretty serious price for doing so because their unbelieving Jewish friends and neighbors persecuted them for taking their stand with the Lord Jesus Christ and evidently some of them found that persecution to be more than they could bear and so they turned back from following Christ and returned to their former Jewish practice, religious practices under the old covenant and others evidently were being tempted to do the same thing. And so this epistle is written to shore up the faith, to fortify the faith of wavering believers who are minded in some cases to turn away from Christ and back to their former practices which though before Christ came that mosaic covenant, the old covenant was a perfectly acceptable way to worship God. Now that Christ has come, it is no longer acceptable. It has no more spiritual value. It is to be studied, it is to be helpful in giving us a better understanding of the workings of God throughout history but as far as practicing it for any religious good, that's passé.
It's no longer possible and yet some of them were evidently being tempted to return to that practice once again. But the warnings against apostasy were obviously needed in that day, in that situation. It is also true that warnings against apostasy are needed and appropriate for our day as well. And so we take these verses up with serious interest to learn what God has for us here. There are several warnings like this one scattered throughout the scriptures.
This is not the only one. And there are a number of examples in scripture of those who seem to have faith in Christ but then later proved that they did not. Probably the most commonly known example is Judas Iscariot whose external adherence to faith in Christ and following him was so impeccable that the other apostles did not even suspect him of being a pretender. But he was a hypocrite.
He was no true believer at all but he certainly seemed to be. But in the day of trial he turned away from Jesus Christ, betrayed him and went to his place. A son of perdition was eternally lost after having ostensibly been a disciple of Christ for at least three years.
And there are others as well. Think of Simon Magus in Acts chapter, what is that? I guess that's chapter nine where Philip went to Samaria and preached the gospel and many believed and were baptized and Simon the magician we are told also believed and was baptized. And then Peter came from Jerusalem and preached to them and also inquired about their knowledge of and reception of the Holy Spirit and they had not heard of him and had not yet received him in these days of intermission, these days of the foundation of the Christian church. And so Peter laid his hands on believers and they received the Holy Spirit. And Simon observing all this said, let me give you money that the person I lay hands on can also receive the Holy Spirit.
He wanted that gift. And Peter recognized that this was an evidence of his unbelief, of his apostasy. He was not a true believer at all, only a pretender. And Peter made that very clear when he denounced him in his sinfulness and told him to pray that the Lord might be willing to forgive him of this apostate sinfulness.
And on it goes. We think of Demas who was a companion to the apostle Paul and helped him his missionary work. But we read those sad, sad words in 2 Timothy where Paul from Roman imprisonment says, Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world. Demas has forsaken Paul because Demas has forsaken Christ.
A missionary, a preacher who turned back and is now no doubt suffering in hell forever. It's a serious matter. And what the Bible is teaching us is that there are two kinds of faith. There is superficial faith and then there is genuine faith.
And it's difficult sometimes to discern one from the other. When we're observing it in the lives of others we cannot tell in all cases, we cannot tell in many cases which person is truly saved and which is not until their true condition is manifested in the passing of time. And in this passage in Hebrews we are told how to know whether we individually have genuine faith and how to tell in the lives of others when it is clear that they do not have genuine faith. Christ taught about this in the parable of the soils, remember? The good seed of God's word was cast equally in three different kinds of soil. One, four actually, but one was hardened, no penetration there. But in three cases the seed had some effect.
But in those three cases only one of them proved to be a saving effect. One received the word with joy and then the sun scorched it out and it did not continue. One received the word and then thorns and thistles choked it out, it did not continue. And Jesus tells us what the sun and what the thorns and the thistles represent. In some cases it represents trials and sufferings and persecutions and when they came the faith failed. In other cases material things, the love of money, the love of riches became more important than following Christ and the faith failed.
But in one case the faith found good soil and thus sprang up to spiritual fruit. So this is taught all throughout the Bible and we need to take these warnings seriously and what this passage is telling us is the faith that saves is a faith that perseveres. Now let's work through the passage. Four verses, four points. We see number one, a word of necessity, verse 36. Second, a word of motivation, verse 37. Third, a word of instruction, verse 38. And number four, a word of encouragement, verse 39. A word of necessity in verse 36 where the writer says, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promises.
You have need of endurance. Here is a word of necessity, something that you necessarily must have if you are going to receive the promise of salvation. Now when I say a word, and the word in this case is we must persevere faithfully, I do not mean a single word as we generally use that terminology, but I mean a saying. You've probably heard people talk about the last seven words from the cross. And you look at each of those last statements of Christ and each one of them contains several words. It's not seven words, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, but each one is a statement.
It is called a word. It is a statement of Christ. When he says, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. When he said, Lord receive my spirit.
When he said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? All of these are statements, they're sayings that are sometimes called a word. There are seven such statements, seven words from Christ on the cross. And so that's the sense in which I'm using the word word. When I say in verse 36, we have a word of necessity.
Now, what's the problem that we're trying to solve in studying this passage? Well, it's the problem is that in the Bible, we have some statements that seem to guarantee that those who believe in Jesus Christ are guaranteed salvation infallibly. There are a lot of statements like that. My sheep hear my voice, said Jesus, I know them and they follow me. I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish.
The father that gave them to me is greater than all. And he holds them and I hold them and you know the passage and that's just one of many passages that teach correctly what we rightly call the doctrine of eternal security. That when a person is saved, they cannot lose their salvation. When a person is saved, they are forever saved. That is a Bible doctrine.
But there are also statements in the Bible that warn about falling away. We have one here this is what confuses some people, but we cannot take the statements that speak of eternal security and completely dismiss the warnings about apostasy as some people do. Nor can we take the statements about apostasy falling away and dismiss the statements about eternal security as other people do.
We will not have a proper understanding of this entire issue unless we take all of these statements together and study them all carefully and come up with an understanding and interpretation of these statements that does not violate what is said by either category of statements. Yes, it is true that a person who is saved cannot lose their salvation, but it is not true that everyone who professes to be saved is eternally secure. Some who profess to be saved will fall away and their falling away becomes the evidence that they never truly were saved. They had a superficial faith.
They agreed to things about the gospel and about Jesus Christ. They acknowledged these things to be true, but it did not have a saving impact in their heart. They have no regenerating work of the Holy Spirit within.
They have no new heart and new life. They have no love for Christ and for his word as compared to their lack of that before they professed a faith in Christ. There is such a thing as a profession of faith that is not saving faith even as there is a genuine faith which is a saving faith and we need to be able to distinguish the one from the other and we won't do that if we close our eyes to passages like the one before us in Hebrews.
So what is needed? Well, the rite of Hebrews tells us that what is needed for us to achieve the promises of salvation is what my translation calls endurance. Verse 36 again, for you have need of endurance. Some translations use the word patience. You have need of patience and some have the word perseverance. You have need of perseverance and really there's an element of all of those three words in this Greek word that I have in my Bible as endurance.
This is patient endurance. This is persevering faith, not faith for a little while that then evaporates but a faith that continues on through life. That's what you need. What is needed is a persevering faith, an enduring faith, a patient faith that will face the trials of life and not crumble in the midst of these difficulties and sufferings.
That's what is needed. And what is pursued by a persevering faith? And again, the writer tells us in verse 36, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. This is what persevering faith pursues, the will of God.
It's not a one time thing. It's not, okay, I've prayed and asked Jesus into my heart so I'm now forever secure. It is, I have been given a heart by the work of the Holy Spirit that believes in Christ and continues to believe in Christ and follows him and listens to what he says and endeavors to obey him. It is my heart's desire to live a life of doing the will of God. That's what enduring faith is. And that's what must be pursued, the will of God. Now God commands us to believe, so that's pursuing the will of God, namely to believe the word of God. But God not only commands us to believe, past tense, but to keep on believing, present tense. And that's what we are pursuing, the will of God throughout our lifetime.
God commands us to obey, but not just to obey initially, but to continue to obey throughout our lifetime. And we do understand, again from scripture which teaches us this, that neither initial faith nor continuing faith is ever achieved perfectly in this world. Nobody has all the faith that we could have and should have and want to have, but Jesus made clear it's not the amount of faith you have, it is the object of your faith that is important.
You can have just a little faith, the faith of a grain of mustard seed. If I had one here, you couldn't see it. It'd be so small. If I had it on my thumb I could hold it up and you probably could not see it at all.
It's so small. You don't need a lot of faith, but the faith needs to be placed in the right thing. It needs to be placed in Christ. It needs to be placed in the infallible word of God.
It must not be replaced in second hand religion, something that somebody else told you, which may or may not be true. It's faith in the word of the living God that you must receive, must believe, must pursue. And though none of us will ever have all the faith that we ought to have, we'll never achieve either faith or obedience, which obedience follows faith, we'll never achieve perfect faith, we'll never achieve perfect obedience. The Bible makes that clear that we will not arrive at perfection in our surrender to Christ and our obedience to him until we get to heaven. But if we have genuine faith, we'll never stop trying to achieve it.
That's the point. Persevering faith continues to reach out in faith to Christ and praise for that faith to increase and it increases as the knowledge of our word and God's word increases. Persevering faith looks at the commandments of God and says, Oh, I have not obeyed them all.
I have sinned and repents of those failures and seeks forgiveness from God, which is granted to all who confess their sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and then to return again to an endeavor to be obedient and pleasing to God. We are pursuing the will of God from the time the Holy Spirit first showed us our need of Christ until we are safely home in heaven.
That's what's needed. The will of God is what is pursued. And when we have that kind of faith, what do we receive? We receive the promise. Verse 36, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
Again, notice that language. It doesn't say after you have believed on Christ, you will receive the promise. They're properly understood.
They're one of the same. But notice that this is as much true as the statement, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. This statement that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Again, not perfectly. Please don't think I am preaching some kind of sinless perfection.
I am not. That is not what the Bible teaches, but it does teach that a saving faith is a faith that keeps pursuing greater and greater obedience to God and to his word. It's a faith that is growing throughout our Christian sojourn.
It's a sanctification that is continuing throughout our Christian lifetime. That's what is needed, a word of necessity. We must persevere faithfully. But secondly, a word of motivation, verse 37.
For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. And actually, verse 37 and 38 are one freely rendered quotation. So I'll go ahead and read verse 38 though I'm looking at them separately.
But verse 38 says, for the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. The source of this statement is evidently from the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 are, what should I say, are freely quoted. When I say freely, not exactly quoted, but rather free rendering of what you find in Habakkuk 2, 3, and 4. Now in the case of Habakkuk, what we have, the statement, is in the context of Chaldean oppression of the land of Israel. And I'm going to read Habakkuk 2, 3, and 4. I wish I could read a couple of chapters to give you the whole context, but we don't have time for that.
But here's what it says. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, that's the vision that God gave to Habakkuk about the time when God is going to judge the ones who oppress Israel. Israel is going to be judged by the oppressors, Babylonia or the Chaldeans, but God is going to judge the Chaldeans because of their injustice to Israel. This vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries, though this promise doesn't come quickly about God's judgment on Babylon, wait for it because it will surely come.
It will not tarry. Behold, the proud. His soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Now that's what Habakkuk says, and that passage is, you might say, borrowed by the inspired writer of Hebrews and used for his own purposes here. This statement about the Chaldeans' oppression and God's divine judgment upon Israel for their sins using the Chaldeans to do it, but beyond that a promised judgment upon Israel's oppressors. That day will come when Chaldea will be judged by God, and we're told that this judgment will come at God's appointed time when God's purposes have been accomplished. God is not going to judge the Chaldeans until their oppression of Israel has fulfilled the purpose for which God designed for them to oppress Israel.
It is the judgment of God upon them, and so it will continue until God's purposes have been accomplished, and Israel must therefore wait patiently to receive the promise of God's deliverance from the Chaldeans. And it tells us in this passage that some will not believe the promise, and they are identified as the proud, but others will believe the promise, and they are identified as the just, and it goes on to say the just shall live by faith. And I'm confident that that's the main statement out of these two verses in Habakkuk that the Rite of Hebrews wanted to bring forth at this time. This momentous statement, the just shall live by faith. In fact, that is such an important statement that it is found in the book of Romans, it's found in the book of Galatians, it's found here in the book of Hebrews. In Romans 1 16 and 17, a familiar passage, Paul said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. You hear the emphasis here in verse 16 on believes and verse 17 on faith, two different ways of saying the same thing. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
That was the text when a Roman Catholic monk by the name of Martin Luther finally after struggling for years to find out how to gain salvation and he just couldn't seem to find it. He did everything that the church instructed him to do. He confessed sins by the hour.
He brought punishments upon his own body in order to make it behave. He did everything he could and he still had no sense of forgiveness, no sense of peace with God. And then finally the Holy Spirit caused this text to open up and he realized that the righteousness of God is not something we earn, it's something that is given to those who believe. The just or the justified one lives by faith.
That sparked the whole Protestant Reformation. This text, the just shall live by faith, is quoted again by Paul in Galatians 3-11 when he says, but that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for, and then he quotes it, the just shall live by faith. It's not by the works of the law, not by even keeping the Mosaic law. Some in the Galatian setting were being pressured to start taking elements of the Mosaic law and adding them to faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. You must be circumcised after the law of the Moses if you're going to be saved.
You must eat the dietary law that Moses requires in order to be saved. And Paul says, it's evident, it's evident, isn't it? That one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live not by the law, not by works, but by faith.
This is an important statement. And the writer of Hebrews takes it up at this point and says the just shall live by faith. But this is, as I say, an allusion to Habakkuk 2, not a quotation. It's referenced, but it is altered.
What Habakkuk says is not quoted exactly and what it meant in the words of Habakkuk to the people of his day is not exactly what the inspired writer of Hebrews uses it for to speak to the people of his day. He changed it to suit the Hebrew situation. It's an inspired change.
He's an inspired writer. So he can do that. We cannot, but he can do that. And so he used this as a backdrop and particularly to be able to highlight the statement that just shall live by faith. But he's looking at it in a different way and what he's talking about turns out to be the second coming of Christ. Back to verse 37. For yet a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. The Habakkuk was saying the promise that God made to judge the Chaldeans will come at God's appointed time.
It will not tarry. The writer of Hebrews takes that up. He changes the it into he and he's talking about the second coming of Christ. He who is coming, the coming one. That is one of the terms for the Messiah. Listen, and this is recorded in both Matthew and in Luke. We'll look just at the one in Matthew where the disciples of John came to Jesus.
And it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding his 12 disciples that he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and they said to Jesus, this, these words, are you the coming one? Are you the coming one?
Or do we look for another? In other words, are you the Messiah? Or is it someone else? Are you the one who's been promised to come? I mean, this is the most important promise that has ever been made by the Old Testament prophets and God's people, Israel, believing people have been looking for this coming one for centuries. And now John's disciples say to Jesus, are you the coming one?
The answer is yes, he is the Messiah. And that's what the writer of Hebrews wants us to know. Yet a little while, and he who is coming, that is the coming one, will come and not tarry. But this will come is an emphatic declaration. But the first coming of Christ is already in history when the writer of Hebrews wrote these words.
John's disciples and Jesus' answer made reference to Christ coming the first time. Yes, I am the coming one. I am the Messiah. I have come.
Here I am. But when the writer of Hebrews writes, Jesus is back in heaven. He died. He rose again.
He ascended back to heaven. His first coming is over. And so clearly, therefore, the writer of Hebrews has the second coming in view, which is also promised. He is the coming one in regard to the second coming as well. The second coming is in view, and it is as divinely promised as the first coming, and it is as certain as the first coming. God promised that a Messiah would come. Did he come?
Yes. His name is Jesus, and he completed the atonement that saved sinners from their sins. Did God promise that Jesus, now in heaven, would return to earth?
Answer yes. And that promise is just as certain and will be just as perfectly fulfilled as the first promise that the Messiah would come and would deal with sins. Christ is coming again, and the writer of Hebrews takes that up and says, the justified ones will believe that. The justified ones will live by their faith. The justified ones will live a life of faith with, and here's the point here, their eye to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
And that's the purpose. He will come, and the writer says, and will not delay. We can describe the second coming of Christ with the term immanency. He can come at any moment. He might come before we dismiss this service today. Do you believe that?
That's what the Bible teaches. No man knows the day nor the hour, but he could come today. His coming is imminent. We can describe it with the term readiness. That is our need to be ready at all times, and that's the point of this passage.
We could also use the word obedience. We ought to be pursuing holiness, and the point is this. How will Christ find you living at the moment of his unexpected return? Will he return when you are engaged in activities that you know are displeasing to him? Will he return when you are carrying on activities with friends who are no friends of Jesus Christ, but you are enjoying their sinful pursuits? Will he return when you are involved in an act of immorality? Will he return when you are spending time on the internet looking at things that you ought not to be looking at, and you would be ashamed if he found you doing that when he came? Well, if that is possible, and it is possible, then you better clean that up, confess those things, turn from them, forsake them, and be living every day in the light of Christ's return.
That's the point. It's a word of motivation. The second coming is a great motivation to live a life of holiness. The second coming is a great motivation to live a life of persevering faith, persevering toward the will of God, persevering in obedience to him. If you are living in a way that you will be thankful you are when Jesus Christ returns, then evidently you are living a life of persevering faith.
But if you are not, or if there are occasions in your life when you are not, then you are in danger. And we move on therefore to the third word, the word of instruction, verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. A word of instruction, namely, continue to live by faith.
You started that way, continue. And what is faith? Faith is believing the promises of God and acting accordingly.
It's as simple as that. To say you have faith in something that God has not revealed is nonsense. To say that you have faith that God is going to give you a certain amount of money, and if you believe it hard enough it will happen.
Some people will present that to you as an example of faith, and I will tell you that's an example of nonsense. Now what you know is, this is true, the word of God says that our God will supply our needs. So we can know that, but we can't dictate how he shall supply them, because God promises to supply my needs. I know he'll give me X number of dollars. Well, he may supply your needs some other way.
You can't dictate. You can take what the scripture says and you can believe that with all your heart. That's God honoring faith. But if you add something to it that's not in the scripture, that's not faith. Faith is believing the word or believing the promises of God and then acting accordingly. We can see that it's genuine faith when you are acting in accord with what you say you believe. And this word of instruction tells us that Christians are people of faith.
The justified ones shall live by faith. We become Christians through believing faith, and we continue as Christians through believing faith. If our initial faith was believing faith, saving faith, it will be continuing faith. If our initial profession of faith does not prove to be continuing faith, then it is evidencing itself to be a counterfeit, a superficial faith, not true saving faith. Christians are people of faith. The first part of verse 38, reprobates lack persevering faith. Again, verse 38, now the just shall live by faith. The justified ones, Christians, live by faith.
But here's the other side of the coin. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. If anyone draws back from the life of faith, if anyone discontinues a life of faith pursuing the will of God through the merits of Jesus Christ, then that one demonstrates that he is no child of God at all and never was. In other words, persevering faith is evidence of genuine faith. This statement, by the way, introduces the great hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, this emphasis upon faith. And then what does the writer do in chapter 11?
He says, let me give you a few examples so you can know what I'm talking about. By faith, Abraham, by faith, Moses, by faith, all of these Old Testament characters that are listed in Hebrews chapter 11. And as we think about their lives, we learn what this faith looks like. It's not perfect faith, even Samson's in that list, if you can believe it, that rascal. But evidently he had genuine faith and he repented of his sins and he was saved in the end. That's a great encouragement to those who know that they have failed badly like Samson did.
We'll learn a lot when we get into that chapter, starting Lord willing next Sunday. But finally, a word of encouragement, verse 39. But we, says the writer, are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Salvation, this is a word of encouragement, and we could capsulize that by saying salvation is the reward of persevering faith.
Did you get that? Salvation is the reward of persevering faith. How can we say that? Because everyone who is saved by the Spirit of God is enabled to persevere by the Spirit of God, is, we might even put it this way, is required to persevere by the Spirit of God. They cannot fail to if the Holy Spirit has initially done a work in their lives. This is an affirmation. The author considered himself to be a genuine believer. And so he says, we, we, myself and you are not of those who draw back to perdition.
And the author stated that he believes that the people he's writing to are also people of genuine faith. At least up until this time, they haven't turned back. They're still there. They're in the assembly of the saints hearing this epistle read to them. Those who have apostatized have departed.
They're not going to be in church to hear the epistle read because they have turned their back on Christ and on the people of God. But you, who are still here struggling, but persevering, that's a sign of encouragement to me. So I and you, we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. When faith is genuine, it perseveres to the end. And the Bible tells that, tells us that elsewhere.
How about that statement of Christ? He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. Is anyone else going to be saved who doesn't endure to the end? No, he doesn't say whoever prayed a prayer and does not continue in the path of faith and obedience will be saved because he prayed that prayer initially and is eternally secure. No, Jesus said, the one who endures to the end shall be saved. His persevering faith will bring him safely home to heaven. When faith is genuine, it perseveres to the end.
And because the Hebrew readers, hearers have persevered thus far, then the writer of Hebrews has reason to believe that they will continue. But he gives a warning to these. The ones who aren't there can't hear this warning, can they? Because they're not there any longer to hear this epistle read.
They don't assemble with the saints of God anymore. And so the warning is given, even though the writer of Hebrews thinks that in likelihood the people he's writing to are true believers, he is still holding out the possibility that there could be some apostates even among them. This warning is given to explain the departure of former professing believers. Here's why they're no longer with you, because they were no true believers.
They didn't persevere. But it's also given to warn about the possibility of apostasy here. If those who sat with you in church in the assembly of the saints last year and seem to be Christians have now departed and are going another way and have thereby demonstrated their apostasy, is it possible that anybody who's hearing this epistle read now is also an apostate who will draw back?
That's possible. And so we have this constant tension between assurance of salvation and carefulness in our Christian walk and in our Christian profession, which brings me then to two lessons in conclusion. First of all, a lesson in biblical assurance. And understand that salvation and assurance of salvation are not the same. And sometimes people are truly saved, but they don't have assurance of salvation. And sometimes people are not saved but they have a false assurance of salvation. So what do we know about assurance of salvation? Biblical assurance is not found in an initial profession of faith.
You can't say I know I'm saved because when I was X number of years old I prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, was baptized, therefore I know I'm saved. Biblical assurance is not found in an initial profession of faith. It is found in a life of persevering faith. Perseverance points to a divine work within. As Paul said elsewhere, he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. If you had a divine work begun in you, the new birth, then it is being fulfilled, it is being carried out in you until the end. You do have persevering faith because he who began a good work in you will carry it out until the day of Jesus Christ. Perseverance points to a divine work within. Sin, unconfessed and unrepentant of cancels assurance. It's impossible to have a biblical assurance of salvation if you are indulging in sin and letting it go, unconfessed, unrepentant of, unforsaken. I'm not saying you can't go through a period of that and be a true believer. It's possible. David would be an example of that. But I'm saying it's impossible for you to have a biblical based assurance if that's your condition.
How can you know? It doesn't look like he who began a good work in you is continuing it in your life right now. Now if it is his work, he'll bring you to repentance.
He'll bring you to renewal. But if you're not there now, how can you have any biblical assurance that your profession of faith is the real thing? Repentance and renewal restores assurance. It doesn't restore salvation. You either have it or you don't. If you don't have it, repentance and faith will bring you into salvation. And if you do have it, repentance and faith will demonstrate that you are a true child of God. So we move from biblical assurance to living faithfully. How can we live faithfully?
Because that's the point. We need to understand that living faithfully, having a persevering faith, living by faith depends upon his work within us. If it were up to us, we'd all fall. We'd all fail.
We are sinful sons and daughters of Adam. We'd all fall. We'd all fail. We'd all drift away.
We'd all turn back. But living faithfully doesn't depend upon us as much as it depends upon his work within us. But he does that work not apart from us, but by engaging us in the process. It requires our faithful efforts. It requires our faithful diligence. It requires our paying careful attention to the state of our soul. It requires our giving attention to the revealed means of grace.
What is that? Number one, the Bible. We've got to learn what it says. Number two, prayer. We've got to engage in prayer regularly, confessing our sins, pleading with God for the help that we need.
And number three, the assembly of the saints. We've got to avail ourselves of this means that God has given. This is how he keeps us persevering through his word as we are growing in knowledge, through prayer as we are growing in grace, through the operation of the assembling of saints as we are exhorting one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching. And as we do that, we are going to receive the reward, the promised salvation that comes in the end. Shall we pray? Father, how grateful we are for the grace of salvation through Jesus Christ, for the promise of salvation for all who believe in him and pursue him. For the reminder that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. For the reminder that he who has begun a good work within us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, help us to be more faithful, more obedient, more determined and intentional in our walk for the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
