When Revival Can be Hoped for - Part 2

I'm in, I'm in 12. That's good though, we're coming back to that. But I'm a little ahead of myself. But 11, we'll do better this time. Verses 39 and 40. All these having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. Now Hebrews has a good bit to say about promises. But in these words, they are not a reference to promises, but to the promise. So, as a summary of all that is said in Hebrews chapter 11, every person whose name appears in Hebrews 11, had something that the vast majority of professed Christians in America do not have. They had God's approval. I'd rather have God's approval than yours. I'd rather have God's approval than the approval of the church. I think it would be a tragedy to have my pastor approve of me, when my God does not. Every believer mentioned in Hebrews 11 had God's approval. But not one of them had received the promise. And they did not receive the promise, because God had something better for us. That they, without us, should not be made perfect. Now they received the promises. This is reported elsewhere in Hebrews. They received the promises, but they didn't receive the promise. Noah was told to build an ark, because an incredible rain was going to fall. It took him 120 years. It was an embarrassing task. He had to endure the jeers and the smart aleck remarks of the multitudes. I can't even conceive of how he did it. My word, a boat, besides what he built, required some huge beams. How did he get those beams in place? Did anybody help him? Well, we've no record that anybody did. We only know that for 120 years they made fun of him. But he got the promise of the flood. He got other promises, but he didn't get the promise. Moses didn't get the promise. Abraham didn't get the promise. No Old Testament saint got the promise, because God had something better for us. That they, without us, should not be made perfect. The promise makes one perfect. They had approval, but they didn't have the perfection that comes with the promise. And what is the promise? Well, obviously, the promise is Christ. Now, as I mentioned to you on Tuesday, read you a little piece out of Nehemiah. Captain I talked about their standing a quarter part of the day, confessing their sins. Talked about standing another quarter part of the day, praising God. Talked about their putting earth or dirt upon themselves. They didn't have the promise. They didn't have Christ. They had God's approval, and thank God for that, but we've got the promise. And I ask you then, and I ask you again, how can we react so casually, so indifferently, when we've got what they never got while they were on earth? Love begets love. The love of God in Christ that Enoch never had. You've got what angels longed to look into, but didn't quite understand. You have what the prophets themselves searched with great seriousness for, but never understood who they were describing in their prophetic statements. We have, and in the light of what we've got, how can we be so careless, so casual, so indifferent to the one who has loved us with an everlasting love? I told you when I met Maggie and weighed with great care whether I was even capable of making a commitment of love to her. I came to the decision that I absolutely, if I was going to be within the will of God, if I was going to bless my own life, I had to commit my love to her. And because I try to be honest, I have kept that commitment and shall by God's grace until I die. But I wonder how can so many professed Christians, who have received from Christ a much better love than you have received from any earthly being, how can you regard so lightly what he has done? So you see the thrust of Hebrews is Christ is the promise. And as I told you on Tuesday, the book of Hebrews consists of the two parts, all the wonderful doctrinal passages elevating Christ. My word, you can't go through those doctrinal passages without having your own love stirred up, without feeling more deeply and earnestly the desire to love him as completely and as fully as he himself loves you. And when we were speaking of these things on Tuesday, I told you there were three areas where I believe application is urgently needed. I ask each one on Tuesday to personalize these warning passages, to ask in every instance, have I drifted in any fashion from Christ? If you find that the answer is yes, will not love bring you back immediately? And if you focus on the first and the greatest commandment, will that not enable you not to drift again? But not only did I urge you to apply the matter personally, but in true Christian fellowship to apply it to other believers with whom you have contact. For instance, your own children. Some of you have told me that you have children who are drifting. Why not go to them with the book of Hebrews and show them the excellencies of Christ and ask them if they are so evil in their spirit that they are willing to shun the very one who has loved them with everlasting love. Each one of us has to approach others the way that God leads us and enables us. But this is a wonderful tool for dealing with a backslidden church and families that are wandering away from God. I would urge each of you to so thoroughly familiarize yourself with the book of Hebrews that at any moment when God gives opportunity, you can turn to one of the warning passages, show the incredible danger of what they are doing and then bolster that by demonstrating out of the doctrinal passages the excellencies of Christ. So personally and in Christian fellowship and then in the church itself. Every pastor here is remiss in his duties if he does not approach every individual member. If he does not know precisely where they are at at all times spiritually. One of the things that distresses me so greatly is that we are so enamored by growth, by numbers. There are millions of professed Christians in America that do not have a pastor. They attend the church and maybe there are 12 pastors on the staff but there isn't a single one who knows their name let alone the condition of their heart. There is something very evil about gathering more sheep than you can shepherd. I don't think any human being can say what the capacity for shepherding of another person is. I know men with only 200 sheep who don't even know their names let alone their spiritual condition. I expect that the average pastor who truly loves Christ can pastor maybe 500. But I know that there are not many who can shepherd a thousand and none who can shepherd 5,000. But I'm appealing now to Sunday school teachers, to pastors. We are responsible for the spiritual well-being of those that God has given us. It is nowhere near enough to preach the word faithfully to them. Many don't even do that. But that's just the start of the task. The task involves knowing exactly where each person is spiritually and applying to them personally the word of God. What if each pastor and each Sunday school teacher left here in a short time today with the determination that no sheep would be allowed to drift. That you keep such close tabs spiritually of your congregation that you know the immediate moment when, for the first time, a person builds a callus on their heart. And you're right there with a warning passage showing them how dangerous it is to harden the heart. And you're there to appeal to them from the word of God and to elevate Christ before their eyes so that they see how despicable it is to trod underfoot the grace of God. And as I told you in the beginning, there were six warning passages. And I've spoken of three and sought at least in a measure to apply those three. But before we go on with the next three, let me just mention one other thing that's quite commonly known among those who are serious about the Bible. The book of Hebrews was written in particular to young converts of Jewish descent. And as I told you the other day, the thrust of the book is it's not a good beginning, but a glorious ending. Now that was tremendously important because at that time, Nero had a huge hatred of Christians. And it was a very common thing for Nero to send his guards to gather up a group of these young Christians and to bring them to the palace. They were smeared with inflammable liquids. They were hung on crosses. And in the evening, they were set afire to provide light for the garden party. If somebody gives us a dirty look, we're inclined to back down from any stand for Christ. Imagine what it would take to stand firm knowing that there was a strong likelihood that you would provide the light for the next garden party. At the same time that young believers were being taken this way, there was systematic looting taking place. The homes of the believers were marked out. So when young believers went to the fellowship meetings, gathered together for prayer and worship and hearing the word of God, organized mobs went to their homes and looted. There was a huge price to be paid in those days for being a Christian. And then, to top it all, because so many of them were Jewish believers, their parents and their grandparents were pleading with them, Look at what a stupid thing you have done. You have left the bosom of your family and you've gone and linked yourself with this ridiculous heretic Christ. Don't you understand that Christ was simply a monstrous deceiver? Do you not know that all true salvation is in Israel itself? Don't go that way. Come back. Come back. Come back. They didn't understand that the old covenant was nothing but a shadow, a type. Types have value when all there are is types. But when the reality comes, it's an incredible tragedy to turn back to the shadow. So this book is written because of the strength of the wicked one in those days to draw people away from Christ. Now it's not quite that way today, but there's an awful lot of similarity and things are getting worse and it's probable that it will cost a great deal more in days to come to live for Christ than it's cost thus far. And every one of us needs to be equipped and we need to understand that these warning passages at their very heart make it clear that every violation is a violation of Christ. So again, I appeal, do you realize that even the slightest drift is a drift away from Christ? We have been getting serious and more serious with these passing days. But if we reach that point where we have so fortified our hearts, I will not drift. Christ is everything and I'm going to stand with Him. I'm not going to budge an inch. I'm not going to give way in anything to the evil one. I am going to stand with Christ. And I'm learning how subtle sin is and how easily one can become tolerant of a small sin in their life. But I understand also that once I begin growing calluses over my heart, there is no stopping. So I refuse. I absolutely refuse in any way to harden my heart because my heart is Christ's heart and I will not let Christ be harmed by calluses in my own life. And every bit of dullness, every bit of sluggishness is a demonstration that I have not treated my Savior as He deserves to be treated. I wouldn't spit in His face. I wouldn't cheer and taunt against Him. Why should I in any way allow anything in my life that makes me dull or sluggish? But now we move to the third of these warnings. And we find it in chapter 10, beginning at verse 19 and running to verse 39. I'll give you a moment to turn there. Chapter 10, starting at verse 19. Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart of full assurance, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. For I remind you again, in the old covenant, they honored the priest. And they had a high priest who they held in especially high esteem. But that high priest up and died and had to be replaced with another. Who up and died and had to be replaced with another? Who had the audacity to die and had to be replaced by another but our high priest? The ever-living high priest. Never, ever replaced. Surely, surely, I can be faithful to my high priest. I must. I must have my heart sprinkled clean. When we were looking at chapter 6, I pointed out the words repentance from dead work. My heart sprinkled clean. No reliance at all upon any dead work. When I serve God with my gifts and not with His fresh graces, that is dead works. When I've got a sin in my heart that I will not deal with, my sermons are nothing but dead works.