Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/bbcsylmar/sermons/21574/slip-sliding-away/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] how's that better yeah there it is all right Hebrews chapter 2 and it was my memory verse today you know I was reading I'm reading Charles Spurgeon how many know who Charles Spurgeon is you know I'm the kind of guy that I'm like I'm like audience participation thing you know I'm not going to come over here and say hey man give me an but I I want to I want I want you to participate not just right okay so Charles Spurgeon you know who Charles Spurgeon is I was reading him recently and he said he said this he said he said for when a text grips me I have found the sermon and you know that's basically pretty much the way I've lived my whole preaching life is is I am looking for something that grips me I'm not I don't think I ever had to

[1:01] I just not think you know oh man I got to preach today let me try to see oh that'll work I just ah it just doesn't work for me I just wow I just really have a hard time with that really would have a hard time with that so I've always besought the Lord and um you know it's not that all the time that I get one of those but um but I just got to tell you every time I've needed one I've been blessed and just thank God thank I thank God for it so this is one of them in Hebrews chapter two and happen to be in my Bible reading a lot of them are that way but uh in in Hebrews chapter two in verse one it says therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip and um you know I I've always looked at you when when I say about Spurgeon you know he said when the text grips me and this one gripped me I think about I always looked at it as um fresh oil how many know Jack Houses Jack Houses you ever heard of Jack House okay some of you have so he's a he's an old-time preacher I don't even know if he's still alive um but I remember I remember him preaching a message on fresh oil once and I just never forget that you know you probably have some of those sermons that you you that that grab the hold of you just never forgot you know Pastor Dave he he preached one on bearing fruit I just that's just it's it just always will be there it's you know there's there's some of those I remember I remember when I was young there's one that it's called the season of sin it was in North Carolina me and me and my wife back then my my girlfriend we went we went to a jubilee meeting in North Carolina and uh and the preacher preached on the season of sin and man you know I I got written I got written somewhere on my bulletin board I believe a post-it note probably still of uh of of game changers in my life times when times when things happened in my life that moved took that neck took another step in

[2:57] Christianity I mean it was one of those kind of things you know where it happened and whoa we we come up a little bit you're climbing a mountain here so we take another I'm gonna go down that way I'm going up that way right so there was there was time and that was one of them that was one of them season of sin uh got into conviction about some things you know hopefully you know what that still is you know this is preaching right here this is gonna be preaching and you you preaching is like this okay preaching is the bible says preach the word be instant in season out of season it says this is reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine so all long-suffering doctrine all good stuff but when you're when you're preaching and you're reproving you're rebuking and you're exhorting you have to move I'm not saying you got to come down here I'm saying down in here something something ought to be moving something's got to move if you could just sit through preaching and uh when it's all said and done you just like what happened that's that's not good something wrong there something wrong there so hopefully tonight you get something in this verse right here this verse right here says therefore therefore you know what the therefore is therefore what the previous chapter was and the previous chapter you know talked about them things but I'm trying to point out this one thing tonight it says therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard okay I'm not talking about things I'm saying I'm talking about the very word of God that you hear it says therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip title of my message is slip sliding away you know the the title came to my mind because I have a hard drive and there's a hard drive in here that that records a song from way back in the 70s that was called slip sliding away when were you born sorry uh you know yeah okay so it's not probably bothering most people anybody know that song I'm talking about slip sliding away okay so that that just you know when it came in when when I was impressed about uh the message on the on the verse that's what I thought about just I don't know anything else to the song nothing I just know those three words you know I I when I I'm I'm I'm half deaf so when I'm when I'm when I hear it it's over and oh it'll stick but the things I only hear once or twice that so this I heard over and over so I just want you know if you get one thing tonight

[5:36] I want you to be thinking about the things that you might have let slip in your Christian walk that's what you look at I was thinking the other morning while I was at my sacred desk which happens to be my kitchen table um as I was um as I came upon this verse in my time of devotion I was thinking about a family that's not together today and it didn't happen overnight but gradually because uh the the guy let something slip he let something slip in his Christianity and um you know it's kind of like it's kind of like the first mention of repentance in the Bible Genesis 6 6 says uh it repented God that he had made man well you know when he made man it was good so he repented of something that he made that was good and it's you know why man corrupted himself and um you know the story there and and and with Noah's flood and all that real quick I want you to think maybe something something that came to your mind when I talked about letting things slip what what what do you think um are some things that a Christian could let slip anybody what are some things that a Christian might be able to let slip your testimony and you do that by letting other things slip right your testimony slips Linda reading your Bible okay I don't know about you but when I got saved I read my Bible through in two and a half months I mean I mean I needed it I got saved at the roll-off homes uh in a boy's home locked behind a barbed wire fence and I got one and then I got saved like within a week when I understood the gospel I was like yeah I was raised in New York and uh uh under Catholicism and never never heard it just never even heard the gospel didn't even know there was anything else but Catholicism so when I got saved it's I mean and they showed that there was a word of God somebody showed me how to get saved I was like man I couldn't get enough of that thing how am I today with my attitude toward the word of God have I let things slip is the question and you must ask yourself that question what else what else anything but prayer life you know I mean these are things that everybody knows we ought to have in our life right you ought to have a good testimony you ought to you ought to be the word of God that's all we are it's all about the word of God and then your prayer life right pray without ceasing it everything with prayers right so God wants us to pray but I know I know that's a spiritual work so it's that's not an easy task but we're supposed to do it and God gave us a privilege sometimes I think

[8:44] God you let us pray I said I mean why you know without anything else what's that church attendance yeah right I mean I we we we didn't invent this we're not doing this we're not doing this for well I say for ourselves we actually are but God has allowed us and he set up this institution he set up this idea so that we could come and get fed we could fellowship right love each other right these are the kind of things we do here the Bible says not faith not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as a matter of some is right the Bible talks about knowing how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God yeah this place this is all this is God's business here God wants to God is interested in the church so let things slip you know I let this I let this verse serve notice to me to look at some of the things I might have let slip in my life

[9:55] I'm sure I have that leads when you let something slip it leads to the wrong place right it doesn't lead to the right place you know the attitude the attitude becomes up it's not so bad when the attitude ought to be how good is it right when somebody gets saved you know the I remember this time after time after time somebody would come up to me when they get saved and they go hey man what's is there anything wrong with this and I was I got to where I started saying is anything right with it let's just start there right you want to know what's right with a thing we're talking about Christianity we're talking about God we're talking about good and you want to know you want to know if there's anything wrong with it you ought to want to know if there's something right with it amen so in Hebrews chapter 2 right here let's look let's look on just a little bit it says therefore we are to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken of by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him and and I read that to show you the severity of that first verse

[11:22] I mean there's some stuff going on there that's uh that's uh very severe you know how shall we escape it says and I know the book of Hebrews I understand Hebrews I understand the doctrines of it and and and all that and and I'm not that's not what I'm doing tonight I'm not teaching you a doctrinal class I'm just trying to preach to you a principle of not letting something slip slipping I don't know about you but when I think of the word slip I don't think good I understand there's some good words you know the boat slip right I like that I used to have a boat you pull it in a slip that's a good place for it to be I mean that's not it's not always a bad thing you know uh um uh there's uh the um uh what is that thing they they slide on slip slip and slide yeah slip and slide those are nice that's all right there's nothing wrong with that but for the most part you know I looked at the word slip in the bible looked it up a little bit and uh slipping isn't always necessarily bad but when I when I think of slipping in your Christian life I I don't think of it being good I don't it doesn't it doesn't ring good to me now you know I talked about this family that's not together and uh the person let some things slip and um in this person's uh in this person's case I believe that there was pornography involved and um you know that's not that's not my message tonight but there are some things I do want to say about it uh you you know you men better be on guard about pornography you know the the stats are off the charts about pornography and uh there's there's there's a certain percentage of uh you know when people take polls and stuff there's a certain certain percentage of men in the church that are involved in pornography and and and there's like a percentage point there where it says this many men this average of percentage in in a church is involved in pornography and so we as Bible believers strong Christian Bible believers we look around we go not here not here but if I went and talked to this person this counselor that has counseled many many men and I said and I said that oh but not here she would laugh at me and tell me how naive I was yeah just you know I was looking at them this is staggering this is staggering this is not really just really where I wanted to go necessarily tonight but this is some staggering stuff more than 40 million Americans are regular visitors to porn sites there are around 42 million porn websites the porn industry this porn industry's average revenue is more annual revenue is more than the NFL the NBA and the NB MLB combined 40 47 of families in the United States report that pornography is a problem in their home there's something wrong there 11 is the average age that a child is first exposed to porn and 94 percent of children will see porn by the age of 14 56 percent of American divorces involve one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites 70 percent of Christian youth pastors report that they have had at least one teen come to them for help in dealing with pornography in the past 12 months 68 percent of church going men and more than 50 percent of pastors view porn on a regular basis

[15:31] of young Christian adults 18 to 24 years old 76 percent actively search for porn is that staggering 59 percent of pastors said married men seek their help for porn use 33 percent of women ages 25 and under search porn at least once a month it isn't just a man thing 57 percent of pastors say porn addiction is the most damaging issue in their congregation it's serious now I know this study I read something about a barnapole fact checker that said in our kind of circle where in in evangelicals in in in in in people that are really into their Christianity it's like 10 percent less that's not encouraging but it's serious and and it's because people let things slip people let things slip this is one of those if you're not careful you can easily get caught up into something like that pray for each other right walk circumspectly and you know I obviously in the last days perilous times have come it's not getting better it's getting worse unfortunately you know I looked up I looked up what is pornography

[17:37] I just wanted to read the you know I tell people you know and I'm not real big on the Google thing but I when somebody asks a simple question a lot of times I just tell them Google it Google it you'll probably get a D you'll probably get an okay answer on there I'm trying to find it I just had it and what what the definition of it is pornography printed or visual material containing the explicit description of or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings now this is hard porn this is uh this this is hard porn to talk about here soft porn soft porn soft porn soft porn soft porn soft porn is printed or visual material a step behind explicit or display getting you to the place described there in in this definition here erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings there's that soft porn gets you to the same place that's that stuff that you you see or you look at that you go ah it's not so bad see for a Christian somebody who's actively involved in the church you're probably I'm assuming you're not going down and buying one of the dirty magazines but you might watch that show where there's something going on there that you can imagine better be careful you know I think about this family I was talking about and um it's it's our circle and and I thought I thought about another one recently and I thought about another one recently and I'm thinking man you think you're bad but you ain't the devil is good at what he does and you do well to be very very careful lest you let something slip in your Christianity and end up prodigal son right where'd he end up he ended up hungry and alone

[20:36] I mean it was the bottom of the barrel for that that guy he it says he went he you know he wasted his substance and ride his living so he already been to that place and he ended up hungry and alone it was the end of the barrel Bible says wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall you know these these staggering numbers you know and I hear about these staggering numbers among Christians and and you probably can't say enough you probably can't say enough you know it's it's like it's like Revelation chapter 3 you just can't you can't preach on it enough it crossed my mind to preach on it tonight you know it's it's it's it's come it's come to the place where anytime somebody asks me to preach book Revelation 3 and I probably got 10 messages in Revelation 3 Revelation 3 is is Laodicean church it's the last church you do well to read that on a daily basis right it's God's message to the last church the church of the Laodiceans they're the ones that sit in the pew and they go I don't need anything

[21:47] I'm good I'm saved I'm a Christian I'm I'm doing the walk I just don't need to deal with anything because I'm just fine you ever felt like that I do I sit in that pew and I go well that didn't bother me hmm okay a little while later that one didn't bother me either well that one didn't bother me come on man I can't be that good and I think to myself there's something wrong with me you ever been there I don't know maybe not I have noticed over the years I believe that I believe we I say we I've seen it in this church less and less conviction movement of God in our heart slip sliding away sometimes I think you know the word of God

[22:55] I'm reading and I think you know this is it is as relevant today as it was when it was written yesterday you know I thought about that the other morning and it really meant something to me and I thought that was a dumb moment that was a dumb moment right the word of God is relevant for today duh right isn't it it is but I had to think about it for a minute and realize how relevant it is written 2000 years ago but it's right on the money right on the money tells us to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip and I exhort you tonight to look at your life and look at the things that you may have let slip in your life now I'm not here to give you the list but hopefully

[23:57] I'm going to say this I'm going to say here's Brother Pilkington backed me up on this one he seconded he seconded me on this one remember Brother Pilkington right when he was here I was preaching but he he said when he was talking and he'd say something and then he said that thing that just came to your mind that was probably it that's what I always think because it happens to me oh by the way you know that thing that came into your mind when we talked about slipping that was probably it that was probably one of them so grab a hold of that one and don't let it go because that's probably one of them and then make a note and deal with it right amen slip sliding away now if you've just been saved a short while you know you're ramping up your Christianity I get it you know you're just ramping things up you're trying to find out what's right about a thing you're adjusting in your life still but if you've been saved for a while if you've been saved for a while man you're at that place you're at that easy place to let things slip you know you look back what it was

[25:12] I've been saved for I think 40 years now but I look back you know and look I understand I learned some things probably back then you know that you could say legalistic law and all that I get all that but I don't think we're in danger of being in bondage under the law I don't think that's our problem today I think we do well to get a little bit more law in our life a little more Christian law in our hearts the word slip is only mentioned once in your New Testament so you know when you're looking at words or you hear of a word a lot of times it doesn't register a whole lot because you're not used to seeing it and slip is only mentioned one time in the New Testament it's mentioned about 13 times in the Old Testament in one form or another so I looked a little bit about I looked a little bit at some of the verses but I want to I want to look at Job chapter 12 there's one verse that I want to look at on slipping here

[26:14] Job Job chapter 12 and I understand the context of the verse but you know when I was reading this verse I kind of read read over it and then when I came back to it I just noticed some things in the verse that kind of stood out Job chapter 12 and verse 5 it says he that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease and I get it you know Job had some friends and they were persecuting him they were at ease and Job is the lamp despised and his feet are slipping in the way I get all that but I want you to see that so he that is ready to slip with his feet isn't that how you slip that's how you will slip in your Christian walk you're going to do it when you're walking in your Christian life that's how that's when you slip is when you're walking it says he that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised and I thought about that lamp despised and that's a lot of times on how you slip you know somebody says hey man you need a little better light no I got it how many times have you been around that or done it yourself you know hey man you need a little better light no no I got it boom you walk into a wall or you knock something over a trip over something or something else happens right don't despise the light you know what it says thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path you know what those verses are he that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised and the thought

[27:53] I thought man that thought process you know you think it's well you've heard the phrase the idle mind is the devil's workshop it goes on up there you know the verse that says casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought I think to the obedience of Christ casting down imaginations it goes on in that in the thought it says of him that is at ease I thought about that verse where it talked about I think it's in Luke where you know I'm going to tear down my barns and build bigger barns you know and I'm going to take my ease now you better be careful of that you better you better walk circumspectly you better put on the armor of God tomorrow morning right this isn't this isn't over yet hopefully you're still in the battle if you're not there's maybe that's something you slipped in you know it's doesn't he say and be not entangled with the affair of this life that you may please him who has chosen you to be a soldier it's a battlefield brother not a recreation room real quick and I'm going to be done but I just wanted to say real quick so what do you do what do you do so you let some things slip you got some slip stuff going on in your life what do you do all right

[29:39] I'm just going to give them to you real quick one is you must realize that you're slipping you must realize that you've had something that you've slipped in your life on okay did they say the first sign of healing is to admit you got a problem or something right that's what they say you know where they get that from they get that from because it's good you need to realize you need to recognize that there's something there that's slipping first then you need to repent fix your attitude you need to change your mind about the thing and get right with God yeah when was the last time you got right with God you said well I'm already right with God I'm always right with God no hopefully hopefully hopefully you understand that you ought to be getting right with God every day oh wretched man that I am you need to repent you know you know you know what the definition of insanity is right doing the same thing over and over and over expecting different results you know if you're slipping from something and you don't repent and change your mind about it you're just going to keep slipping it's not going to change it's not going to change by itself and then

[31:01] I saw realize repent and rejuvenate look at Revelation chapter 3 did I say whether you look at another verse I don't remember if I said that or not but I see Revelation 3 here I could probably let's just look at it Revelation chapter 3 and verse 2 I just want you to see it this would be a good verse to mark in your Bible maybe a good verse to memorize it says be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found that works perfect before God it's God talking about and he says be watchful and strengthen the things that remain the things which remain that are ready to die that's what the slipping thing is you you slip and you need to oh realize it and repent of it and rejuvenate that strengthening of your Christian your Christian walk so you can get back from there whoa we're not doing that and walking right whoa whoa we're not doing that stop doing that strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die don't let that happen don't let that happen so look just take away tonight the take away tonight is when you when you leave here and you go back home or you're on your way home or you get up in the morning and have your time with the

[32:31] Lord or you do it at night some people do it at night they never worked for me in the morning time examine yourself and check out your life that's what this is this is just preaching just a little bit of preaching and you just so you could examine yourself and check out and see if there's anything slipping in your life which it probably is it's just the nature of the beast it's where we are today we're we're we're in the nasty now and now we walk in this we walk in this world all day long it's so this bombarded really got to have your your guard up walking so respectfully let's pray father I am thankful for thy word and I believe we're at the home stretch and I'm looking forward to being in heaven I just long to be in heaven long to be where it's right

[33:37]  I pray tonight for thy people that you would bless them and deal with our hearts and show us those areas where we've let things slip in our lives where we need to strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die thank you for so great salvation thank you for that precious word in Jesus name amen amen all right all right you all are dismissed to you here to be I think