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[0:00] Well, good morning and welcome to this pre-recorded service for the 4th October 2020 for Calvary Church! Welcome to you if you're regular or if you're just dropping in. For those dropping in let me just say! the usual introduction we're a church based in the UK in the seaside town of Brighton on the south coast directly south of London. My name's Philip Wells, I'm an elder at the church here and I'm leading and speaking this morning. If you're dropping in at the time of recording let me just say that as a church we are somewhat in a state of shock and distress as a church for reasons that I won't go into in detail but we come seeking God this morning for his wisdom and comfort and in some ways we hardly know what to think and hardly know what to pray and as the service proceeds I'm sure some of that will be reflected and we don't want to be unreal about that at this time. So let's begin with a short prayer.

[1:13] We pray to almighty God you who are the heart knower look upon our hearts see our distress and our shock and all other emotions and thoughts and in the midst of the storms of this life speak peace let us find that even though all is dark and stormy around us that you have set our feet upon a rock and that rock is Jesus Christ. Amen.

[1:52] I'd like us to look at two psalms you'll see up on the screen behind me the plan for this morning. The two psalms are Psalm 121 and Psalm 46. The first Psalm 121 is short enough for us to read out loud together and in a moment you'll see the words appearing on the screen. I'm reading from the New International version version version, version 1984. You might not have exactly the same version if you've got your Bible and but we'll do the best we can and we'll read out loud together for our comfort and for the glory of God.

[2:33] Psalm 121 which is a song of ascents. I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?

[2:45] My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

[3:05] The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. The wonderful Psalm tells us that for God's people the one who helps us is the almighty creator and maker of heaven and earth and it emphasised this that he is ever vigilant. He doesn't go off duty. He doesn't go into sleep mode. He watches and sees his people moment by moment. It says that he protects. He doesn't stop the sun being hot. He doesn't stop the moon shining. But he shades his people from the dangers of either. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night. And it says at the end he watches over your coming and going or as the authorised version used to say he watches over your coming out and going in. And as a dear Alec Mateer wrote, he watches over your coming, your going out and coming in. What other journey do you ever do?

[4:36] So the Lord is our helper. And we thank him for that. We're now going to read Psalm 46.

[4:51] This Psalm is more military and more active and dramatic. Let me read this to you. Psalm 46.

[5:02] For the director of music of the sons of Korah, according to Alamoth, a song. God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her. She will not fall. God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar. The kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice. The earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth.

[6:06] He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

[6:34] The God of Jacob is our fortress. The God of Jacob is our refuge. God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble. So we will sing or have sung to us at number 682, Jesus, lover of my soul. It's the one that says, all my trust on you is stayed. All my help from you I bring. Cover my defenceless head with the shadow of your wing. So this is 682.

[7:12] Jesus, lover of my soul. Let me to your presence fly. While the gathering water waters roar. While the gathering waters roar. While the gathering waters roar. While the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide. Till the storm of life is past.

[7:34] Step into the hail, O my Savior, guide. desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde my soul at last.

[8:13] Another refuge have I none. All my hope in you I see.

[8:23] Leave or leave me not alone. Still support and strengthen me.

[8:34] All my trust on you is safe. All my help from you I bring. Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of your way.

[8:59] You, your Christ, are all I want. More than all in you I find.

[9:09] Raise the fallen, cheer the faint. Heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and holy is your name.

[9:24] I am all unworthiness. False and full of sin I am. You are full of truth and grace.

[9:39] Boundless grace with you is found. Grace to cover all my sin.

[9:53] Let the healing streams abound. Make and keep me clean within. Living fountain now impart.

[10:08] All your life and purity. Spring forever in my heart. Rise to all eternity.

[10:23] We're now going to pray. And at the end of the prayer, we'll say together the Lord's Prayer, which is up on the screen by my head.

[10:37] Let us pray. Almighty God, we approach you as our Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

[10:49] And we seek the blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit as we do so. We pause to lift our hearts to you in humble adoration.

[11:02] For you are great and greatly to be praised. You are high and lifted up. Your glory fills the heavens. You are holy, holy, holy.

[11:15] In your righteousness, in your love, in your justice. You are compassionate and gracious. Slow to anger.

[11:27] Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. And we approach you only through the blood of Jesus Christ. We confess our sins of thought and word and deed.

[11:41] The sins of twistedness. The sins of iniquity. We confess the sins of transgression. Where we have crossed lines we should have not have crossed.

[11:56] We confess the sins which mean that we simply never achieve the thoughts and actions that a proper human ought to achieve. And for our many sins we are very sorry.

[12:10] We turn from our sins to you. Asking that you would grant us deep and true repentance. And we seek that forgiveness. As you promise it. Only in and through Jesus Christ.

[12:23] We pause to pray for those who at this time are seeking forgiveness through some other method. Those who are seeking to achieve merit by their good deeds or the depth of their repentance.

[12:36] We particularly think of those who have been seeking peace with you on the day of atonement. Yet without any atoning sacrifice to offer. Open their eyes to the sacrifice once made.

[12:50] The full and complete sacrifice made by Jesus Christ our Saviour. We pray for our world. In all its need. We pray for the leaders and governors.

[13:03] That they will turn from self and human confidence to put their trust in you the only God. We pray that they would do it not just as a sham to win votes.

[13:14] But from a true penitent humble heart. We pray you would have mercy on our city. So lively and full of creativity and energy.

[13:25] Yet so totally bankrupt when it comes to giving the thanks and honour that are due to you the very great giver of gifts. Please have mercy on this city.

[13:36] Where so many do not know their right hand from their left. Spiritually speaking. And finally we pray for ourselves and our church. We are distressed and shaken by your providences towards us.

[13:54] And we commit every dear one in the church to yourself. We pray for those who are ill together with their families. May they know nothing but the peace that passes all understanding.

[14:07] We pray for those who are suffering. May they know comfort from the God of all comfort. May they know comfort. We pray for those who have deeply lost their way. Good Shepherd, go and bring them to themselves and bring them back to you. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[14:26] And let's say together the Lord's Prayer.

[14:56] Amen. Amen. Our faith in this life and in the life to come is in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again for our salvation and our future resurrection.

[15:18] Amen.

[15:49] To all his people. That's from Praise 299, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds. To all his people. Inner believers hear.

[16:35] It soothes our sorrows, He heals our wounds, And drives away our fear.

[16:48] It makes the wounded spirit whole, And calms each heart oppressed, Its manner to the hungry soul, And to the weary rest, And to the weary rest.

[17:28] Dear name, the rock on which I build, My shield and hiding place, My never-failing treasury, Filled with boundless doors of grace.

[17:57] By you my prayers acceptance gain, Although with sin defiled, Satan accuses me in vain, Since I am God's own child, Since I am God's own child.

[18:35] Jesus, my shepherd, brother, friend, My prophet, priest, and king.

[18:51] My Lord, my life, my way, my end, Accept the praise I bring.

[19:04] Weak is the effort of my heart, And cold my warmest thought, But when I see you as you are, I'll praise you as I ought, I'll praise you as I ought, Till then I would your love proclaim, With every fleeting breath, And may the music of your name,

[20:06] Refresh my soul in death, Refresh my soul in death, We've been going through the letter to the Hebrews, And as I was planning this earlier in the week, I thought we ought to strike out into the passage that Brenda's going to read to us.

[20:38] There's quite a bit that we've passed over, And I think we might well come back to it. But in order to keep the momentum, Let's go on to this passage, In which, well, the letter to the Hebrews tells us to look to Jesus, But it also warns very firmly against the opposite of neglecting this great salvation.

[21:00] And this passage is one of those warning passages that warns against the failure to look to Jesus, That is to forget him, To wander off the path, To divert, And as it says, To become lazy and sluggish.

[21:16] So thank you, Brenda, For reading this to us. During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.

[21:32] And he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, He learned obedience from what he suffered, And, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, And was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

[21:55] We have much to say about this, But it is hard to make it clear to you, Because you no longer try to understand. In fact, Though by this time you ought to be teachers, You need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again.

[22:13] You need milk, Not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, Being still an infant, Is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

[22:25] But solid food is for the mature, Who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ, And be taken forward to maturity, Not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, And of faith in God, Instruction about cleansing rites, The laying on of hands, The resurrection of the dead, And eternal judgment.

[23:00] And God permitting, We will do so. It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, Who have tasted the heavenly gift, Who have shared in the Holy Spirit, Who have tasted the goodness of the word of God, And the powers of the coming age, And who have fallen away, To be brought back to repentance.

[23:24] To their loss, They are crucifying the Son of God all over again, And subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain, Often falling on it, And that produces a crop useful, To those for whom it is farmed, Receives the blessing of God.

[23:43] But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, And is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, dear friends, We are convinced of better things in your case, The things that have to do with salvation.

[24:03] God is not unjust. He will not forget your work, And the love you have shown him, As you have helped his people, And continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence, To the very end, So that what you hope for, May be fully realised.

[24:21] We do not want you to become lazy, But to imitate those who, Through faith and patience, Inherit what has been promised. And before we come to think about the passage, Let's return to that great theme of God's faithfulness, As we sing number 258, Great is your faithfulness, O God my Father.

[24:45] There is no shadow of turning with thee, Thou failest not, Thy compassions they fail not, As thou hast been, Thou forer will be. Great is thy faithfulness. Let's immerse ourselves in the greatness Of the faithfulness of the living God.

[25:02] There is no shadow of turning with thee, There is no shadow of turning with thee, Thou changes, Lord, Thy compassions they fail not, As thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

[25:55] Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, All in thy glory, Till blessings I see, All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided, Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, Untie me.

[26:27] Shower and winter and springtime, Our fathers, Sunburn and stars, In their horses alone, Join with the winter in the manifold witness, To thy faithfulness, To thy faithfulness, To thy faithfulness, Mercy and love.

[27:02] Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning, Your blessings I see, To thy holy night.

[27:19] Though I am free, yet I have not known my name. It is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

[27:37] God and the Savior, please not end your end. Thy home declare to see, cheer and to guide.

[27:54] Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings of all, with ten thousand near sight.

[28:10] Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new message I see.

[28:27] All I have made, yet I have not provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

[28:43] The song says that there is strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

[28:55] Let's rest ourselves in those thoughts of God's goodness and his faithfulness and his great, great wisdom for us. Let's now pray as we come to hear God's word.

[29:10] O Lord, whatever state and condition we're in, please may we hear from you. And hear not just in a way that is disconnected from our hearts and lives and thoughts and feelings, but in a way which connects very deeply with us as your people by your living word and in the power of your Holy Spirit.

[29:35] So hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. Well, let's spend some time looking into the letter to the Hebrews.

[29:47] And I've got up on the screen there a picture to send shivers down your spine. If you can see it, it's a tourist, I presume it's a tourist, Burling Gap, stretching herself out over a crack in that huge chalk cliff.

[30:09] That's the credit. It's by Brian Clark. It's on the BBC website. And the caption says, Woman is seen stretching across a large crack in the chalk cliff.

[30:21] There was another picture on the website of somebody holding a baby over the crack, but I didn't have the heart to show that because I found that such an upsetting picture. But there's a grown woman stretching across that gap.

[30:36] And as you know, we're Sussex people, most of us are, we know what happens to that crack. Periodically, it just falls down without any warning and the cliff disappears.

[30:48] And if you were there, you'd be shouting out to that woman and the person photographing her, Get away from that crack. Don't be so stupid. Take warning.

[30:59] Don't go so near that dangerous, dangerous edge. Well, that's a warning. And the letter to the Hebrews is a letter of warning. It includes warnings.

[31:11] And I just want to spend some time, a little bit of time on the warnings. You'll understand it's been a certain sort of week this week, so this isn't going to be long, I don't think.

[31:23] And just to say this is mostly and mainly an in-house matter for Christians. If you've tuned in thinking about Christian faith, then please feel free to overhear.

[31:34] But this is in particular an in-house discussion. And it's about the matter of people who start off as Christians but go off track. And Hebrews warns seriously about this.

[31:48] You know, what are we to make of that? How do we cope with that? It's one of the most vexing subjects, really, in Christian experience. And this morning is just going to be a very, very brief introduction to the topic.

[32:02] So what about the relevance of this? We might feel inclined to see this as matching situations that we know of, people that we know of by name.

[32:13] I haven't chosen this passage with that in mind. And we always need to be careful to apply a passage to where it really fits. So let's just be careful about that.

[32:25] But there is most certainly a relevance to each person who says that they're a Christian. Each and every single one. There's no person to whom this is not relevant.

[32:37] No Christian can afford to drift, to forget, to go off the safe path, to go too close to the edge.

[32:50] No Christian can afford to do that. Nobody is safe. Nobody can say, oh, that doesn't apply to me. So let's think about this.

[33:01] My first or my zeroth point, actually, is that this is called apostasy. It means falling away from Christ, falling away from faith. That's the word apostasy.

[33:13] And to say that, according to the letter to the Hebrews, there is a real and present danger of apostasy. The other letters in the New Testament say a similar thing. They might say it in a different way.

[33:25] But they also say the same thing. And as I said earlier, this is one of the most disturbing and vexing things in the Christian life. It might not have disturbed you yet.

[33:35] But almost certainly at some point in your Christian life it will. Because you'll say, I knew old so-and-so. I knew that person. I deeply respected that person, so-and-so.

[33:49] I was blessed by that person, so-and-so. I became a Christian through the ministry of so-and-so and so-and-so. But now they are nowhere in the Christian life.

[34:05] They've left Christianity. They're nowhere. How do we account for that? It's one of the most difficult things to think about. I can give you a list of such people.

[34:17] King Saul. Well, I mean, he's not somebody that we know by name, is he? But he's in the Bible. King Saul. Who had all sorts of positive experiences of God.

[34:28] But in the end, it's a tragedy. He died not in faith, but turning away from God. King David. He felt, oh, there's a happy end to the story, that he returned.

[34:42] But at some point in the story you'd think, what on earth? He wrote part of the Bible. Look at him. The Apostle Peter. We shouldn't underestimate the horror of the fact that he denied Christ.

[34:56] That is the one thing you must never do. And he did it. And it's a miracle that he returned. And he did return. The assistant pastor before I was assistant pastor, or one of the assistant pastors, was Gerald Ascot.

[35:11] A man of dignity and propriety and superb doctrine.

[35:23] Left his wife, went off with another woman, and is now nowhere in the Christian life. I benefited from his sermons, but he's nowhere now. Roy Clements, in my opinion, one of the very best preachers in the UK in those days.

[35:41] I was very much blessed by him and influenced by him, and had a very high opinion of him. Well, he went off with another man. Pastors that many of us know.

[35:55] Andrew King from Haywards Heath, what was Haywards Heath Evangelical Free Church, his marriage got wrecked. Thankfully, he has now returned to faith, no longer in ministry.

[36:07] David Sprouse, a good and dear friend of mine, a good pastor who fell and happily has now returned to faith. You could give a list of former church members here.

[36:21] I'm not going to do that, because they might even be watching. It would be great if they were. But who were serving the Lord, but are now nowhere.

[36:32] So, falling away is a dreadful reality. So, we learn that. We also learn that you shouldn't give up hope too soon. Because you might have thought King David had fallen never to return, but he did return.

[36:47] And you might have thought Apostle Peter fell never to return, but he did return. We shouldn't give up hope too soon. No, we shouldn't. And also, as a little bit of a footnote, the fact that one was blessed by someone's ministry is actually a testimony to the grace of God.

[37:07] It doesn't ultimately depend on the minister. God uses his word no matter who it's spoken through in the end. I mean, he loves to use people who are in alignment with his word, but he's not absolutely forced to.

[37:22] And you can't work backwards and say, if I was blessed, then that person can never fall. So, apostasy and warning texts.

[37:32] Now, we've seen some warning texts. And I'll just recap over those, the ones we've seen so far. In 2, chapter 1. We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we've heard, so that we do not drift away.

[37:47] So there's a warning of drifting away. And if we to take that word in its English sense, drifting like a boat moored by the river that just quietly, almost imperceptibly, just drifts away.

[38:03] Not properly anchored. Somebody forgot to tie it up properly. Nobody went and looked and re-tied it when the knot was slipping. And it just drifted away. And he says, don't drift away.

[38:16] And there's a positive which says, pay careful attention. Make sure that you're anchored firmly to the riverbank. Go back and check it again. Go back and check it again. Make sure that knot's tight.

[38:28] Pay careful attention to this message, he says. 3, verse 12. We looked at this.

[38:39] See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God, but encourage one another daily, so long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

[38:54] We have come to share in Christ, if we hold firmly till the end, the confidence we had at first. So lots of things in that, but I'm just reminding us of it.

[39:05] There's a warning here of a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Something goes on right deep down in the heart area, refusing to believe, not trusting, and being the driver of a turning away.

[39:26] What goes on in the heart, he says, be careful of that. Watch your heart. Good idea to go and check, isn't it? Not every single moment, but be checking what's going on in my heart.

[39:38] What inclinations and steering is my heart providing for me at the moment? And that text, 3.12, has a very lovely positive.

[39:49] It says, encourage one another daily. That's a great thing to do. And just to say, I hope you are able to encourage somebody every day.

[40:03] And I hope you get encouraged by somebody every day. I hope you put yourself in a position of that. It's so easy in this lockdown type situation to be so isolated that you're not actually encouraging anybody and you're out of reach of encouragement.

[40:19] That's not a good place to be. And his antidote to the sinful heart is a constant stream of encouragement.

[40:34] And he also here talks about hardness, doesn't he? None of you be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Sin deceives.

[40:45] It sort of deceives in all sorts of ways. Perhaps it puts on a front. Perhaps it says, everything's fine.

[40:57] Everything's fine. What's there to worry about? I'm doing fine. The deceitfulness of sin. People who ought to be worried, who are not worried at all.

[41:08] So those are the texts so far. And I'm just going to spend a few minutes picking out just a few little things from this huge text that we've got in front of us.

[41:20] Brothers and sisters, we want to come back to this in due course. There's so many things in Hebrews to come back to because there's so much in there. But here's my first point.

[41:31] Going off the path, there really is a cliff edge. See, I don't think those people in that photograph think there is a cliff edge. I think it's just a joke. It looks dangerous, but really it isn't.

[41:45] You know, like one of those scary rides at the end of the pier where you're supposed to feel scared, but actually there's no danger. Well, this is the opposite, isn't it?

[41:57] You're supposed to feel scared because there is danger. And people are thinking, oh, there's no cliff edge. Now, just picking out of chapter 6, verse 4, he says there is a bit where you drop off.

[42:13] And humanly speaking, you know, to all intents and purposes, you can't be plucked back. It is impossible for those who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance.

[42:33] Because to their loss, they're crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. And there's a lot in there, but I'm just going to say my point is there really is a cliff edge.

[42:49] And if you get over it, you can't count on coming back. And the unsettling thing is there are all sorts of positive signs this person might have.

[43:01] They've been enlightened. They've tasted the heavenly gift. They've shared in the Holy Spirit in some sense. They've tasted spiritual things.

[43:11] They know that there is a power there. They've tasted the goodness of the word of God. They've said, yes, there's something good here. They've tasted the powers of the coming age. But they are dangling themselves over the cliff edge.

[43:27] And if you fall over that edge, there is a point where there's no return. You can't get back. It's the same sort of point that our Savior makes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where he says there is this self-deception which says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

[43:54] It says it's all very well said. Oh, yeah, I'm a Christian. I belong to that church. I go to that church. I know those songs. I've enjoyed that fellowship. But the question is, are you doing what Jesus wants you to do?

[44:10] Are you doing the will of the Father in heaven? When Jesus says, who does the will of the Father in heaven, he doesn't mean perfectly.

[44:20] He's not talking about sinless perfection. But there is such a thing as a pattern of life which characteristically seeks to do the will of God. And there is a pattern of life which characteristically does not actually seek to do the will of God.

[44:36] And Jesus says, it's only those whose pattern of life is doing what God says. Not perfectly, but that's the underlying principle of their life.

[44:48] Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? So lots of power there.

[44:59] Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. So no personal relationship. I never knew you.

[45:10] And what you were actually doing was evil. So there's what it is at the end of Matthew. The thing that Jesus says about the man who builds his house on the rock is the one who hears these words of mine and does them and puts them into practice.

[45:34] So there's something there about the regularity, day by day, of doing what God wants. Trust and obey.

[45:45] Second point here. Going off the path makes you spiritually stupid. The people in the picture have got spiritually stupid.

[45:55] And this is what the writer says about his readers. We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.

[46:08] Or you are, there's a word there meaning sluggish, to hear. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word over again.

[46:22] You need milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

[46:37] So again, I'm not going to go into the details of that. I'm just going to say that it makes you stupid. We can't teach you, he says. I want to teach you about this.

[46:49] There's a cliff edge there. What? What's a cliff edge? Don't be stupid. He says to his listeners, really you ought to be lapping this up.

[47:01] You ought to be enthusiastically and competently teaching other people. But I'm finding it hard to get you to listen. You're not getting this at all. You don't get it.

[47:12] It doesn't make sense to you. And I want to inspire you, says the writer, with the teaching on how great our high priest is. But to be honest, it's really hard to get through to you lot.

[47:27] Because going off the path makes you spiritually stupid. And it's about spiritual responsiveness. I suppose this is a rather testing thing, isn't it?

[47:38] Are we spiritually responsive? Are we getting it? When we read our Bibles, are we saying, yeah, I get that. That is for me.

[47:50] I see the point of that. Or has it become a sort of distant ritual which runs off us like water off a duck's back?

[48:00] It's rather a searching question, isn't it? But the writer here is pretty clear that going off the path is not only spiritually stupid, but it makes you spiritually stupid.

[48:12] And my third and final point is that the important thing is how you are continuing today.

[48:23] The past is not nothing. The writer, I'm just picking this out of the text, in verse 10. God is not unjust. He won't forget your work and the love you have shown him as you've helped his people and continue to help them.

[48:41] He says the past is not nothing. You worked. You did. And you showed love. And you helped his people.

[48:53] You did all those things. That's not nothing. But you can't rely on it. You can't say, well, I did all that in the past. The question is, where are you today?

[49:05] We want each of you to show the same diligence to the very end in order to make your hope sure. We don't want you to become lazy.

[49:17] It's that same word for sluggish. But to imitate those who through faith and patience, that meaning patience, meaning keeping on, keeping on, inherit what has been promised.

[49:28] So the question is, yeah, you were on the path. You did things. They were not nothing. But are you still on the path?

[49:38] Will you still be on the path? Will you be on the path in five years' time? Or have you got lazy and sluggish? That's the challenge of that, isn't it?

[49:49] And I'm not going to go any further. But I'm just going to say, let's heed these warnings. And the positives are to turn our eyes upon Jesus. That's what the song says. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

[50:01] Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. I know there's a wrong way of construing that. But the heart of it is right.

[50:13] Turn your eyes upon Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews himself has said to us, fix your thoughts or fix a steady gaze on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

[50:30] Don't take your eyes off him, but keep looking to him. And he's going to say a similar thing in chapter 12, verse 1. Let us run with perseverance, meaning keeping on, keeping on, the race marked out for us.

[50:46] Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, etc., etc. And let's not be shaken, brothers and sisters.

[50:58] Let's not let anything or anybody or any events shake us so that we take our eyes off Jesus. Let us run with perseverance.

[51:10] Let's fix our eyes forward. Let's keep on keeping on and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Well, that's all I've got to say.

[51:22] What did I say? What did he say this morning? God uses warnings to save his elect. The mark of the elect is that they believe the promises and heed the warnings.

[51:33] And my three points were, there really is a cliff edge. It's not a joke. There really is a cliff edge. Number two, it's a stupid thing to go near the cliff edge.

[51:43] And going off the path makes you spiritually stupid. So wise up. If you're not hearing and you don't get it, then beware. You're in a dangerous condition.

[51:56] And number three, the important thing is not what you did in the past. That's not nothing. But whether you're walking now in simple trusting obedience. We have a great, great high priest.

[52:11] That's the point. Let's focus on him and not be distracted in any way from fixing our eyes on our almighty, loving, keeping, strong, redeeming Saviour.

[52:28] Amen. We've heard God's word. And we will sing a song which presents this particular side of the situation, that he will hold me fast.

[52:46] When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. It's number 1219 off the Praise website.

[52:56] In other words, we'll be up on the screen as we sing this. When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast.

[53:29] When the tempter would prevail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, he will hold me fast.

[53:42] I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path. For my love is often cold.

[53:55] He must hold me fast. He will hold me fast.

[54:05] He will hold me fast. For my Saviour loves me so. He will hold me fast.

[54:19] He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. Those he saves are his deep light. Christ will hold me fast.

[54:34] Precious in his holy sight. He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast.

[55:03] He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so.

[55:15] He will hold me fast. For my life He bled and died.

[55:30] Christ will hold me fast. Justice has been satisfied. He will hold me fast.

[55:43] Praised by Him to endless life. He will hold me fast. Till our faith is turned to sight.

[55:56] When He comes fast. He will hold me fast.

[56:07] He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so. He will hold me fast.

[56:19] He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so.

[56:35] He will hold me fast. Well, we've heard God's word and it remains just to close in prayer and commit ourselves into the hands of the living God.

[56:53] To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.

[57:05] To the only God our Savior. Be glory, majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord. Before all ages.

[57:17] Before all ages. Now and forevermore. Amen. So, Amen and it's goodbye from me for the time being.

[57:31]  Goodbye.