SERMON NOTES ON: THE "HOLD FAST..." EXHORTATIONS
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
INTRODUCTORY MESSAGE
READ: JOB 27:1-13 TEXT: v6 " I HOLD FAST…"
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
INTRODUCTORY MESSAGE
READ: JOB 27:1-13 TEXT: v6 " I HOLD FAST…"
I want to look over the next few weeks in a mini series at the various New Testament exhortations to "Hold fast…" and so, this message, must be viewed as an introductory message to the whole series
It might be considered a bit strange to have read then from the Old Testament, but it is always worth noting the first mention of any word or phrase and who better than Job to supply the occasion?
[i] Job was a real man of God being described in glowing terms in 1:1
[ii] Job held fast through the crucible of the hottest affliction
[iii] Job held fast through the deepest/discouragement
[iv] Job held fast successfully to the end
[v] Job is set forth as an example of patience in James 5:11
Just as Job held fast, so too would the Lord have us hold fast
7 times in the NT, we have this exhortation "Hold fast" while, there is another (8th) exhortation to "hold that fast" - bearing the same Greek word as most, though not all, of the other references
Really is no major difference between the faith of the OT/NT saints
That is why the OT is so vital to the child/God
Most of the NT, although an advanced revelation, is founded on what we read in the earlier testament
The NT only makes complete sense when we understand the OT
In each, the onus was on the Believer to hold fast
Whether he had a nearly complete revelation/Scripture or was still in the relative shadows with many questions, to be answered or has a complete revelation like us…he was still commanded to hold fast
Why is this exhortation so necessary? 4 reasons:
1) WHAT WE HAVE TO HOLD FAST TO DOES NOT COME NATURALLY:
Speaking of course, about our spiritual possessions
While wisdom would have us hold fast to our material gains, especially those honestly gained through hard work/toil etc., yet the Scripture itself never exhorts to hold them fast and never surrender them up
A/ Spiritual things cannot be produced from /through the flesh
The flesh and the spirit are always set against one another/Bible:
John 3/Galatians 5/Romans 8
We are not born/flesh into Kingdom/God but born/God (John 1:12)
Any desires: spiritual things are despite the flesh…not because of it
B/ When Saul was converted, he conferred not with flesh/blood (Galatians 1:16)
When Peter confessed Christ: the Son/Living God…again, the Lord Jesus put in an important disclaimer to the same end (Matthew 16:17)
i.e. there was to be no crediting of these things to flesh/blood
Bible faith is a supernatural thing - men are Born of God
Men are born from above (Alternate reading)
Finney foolishly/heretically taught: sinners can regenerate themselves
If so, then why should they hold fast what they possess?
If the sinner can work them up or claim them at will…then to lose them is to be no more feared than losing a bus pass!
But if come from above (claimed/NT) then we need to hold them fast
C/ God is sovereign in the dispensing of these things
God withholds as well as gives; Romans 9:15
And if we let them go, then we might not get them back
The backslider, upon his repentance, may regain much ground:
The years that the locust hath eaten (Joel 2:25)
The joy/salvation may flow back again (Psalm 51:12)
A testimony may be rebuilt and become sustainable
But an apostate is a different matter:
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)
Therefore, we should not let these things go at all
God was under no obligation in the first place to give them and therefore is under no obligation at all to give them back
Hold fast these things - you cannot unilaterally replace them
2) WHAT WE HAVE IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING WE POSSESS
A/ Precious because it concerns our souls- the immortal part/being
Thought/ precious contained/verses: Mark 8:36-37/Matthew 10:28
Who can put a price on it? What monetary value can we equate it with?
B/ Without these spiritual things:
[i] We would not have our spiritual relationship with God
Would not know Him as our Heavenly Father with all that entails
Condemned to empty meaningless prayers
Back to reading the Bible and scarcely understanding it
[ii] We would have no pardon for our many sins
No ongoing cleansing from the precious blood
No state of a complete/perfect justification before a Holy God
Unable to sing Toplady's great hymn:
The terrors of law and of God/With me can have nothing to do
My Saviour's obedience and blood/Hide all my transgressions from view
Instead a certain looking for of wrath from a holy God
[ii] No power to live for God in an evil and wicked world
No Holy Spirit doing His ongoing holy, sanctifying work, helping us to resist the Devil through the means of grace given to us
Restrained ("If" restrained) only by common grace which has a use by date stamped upon it and will soon be lifted
This is something exceeding precious - Don't give it away
[iii] No glory in the world to come
No mansions of gold in the Father's House
No eternity looking into the peerless face of the Lord Jesus
No company of angels and redeemed souls of men made perfect
C/ What men have willing given up to embrace such things
They have given up their lands and gold and earthly ambitions
Read Hebrews 11:32-40 and see what the saints have endured rather than do anything else other than hold fast these spiritual things
Even the most despairing/distressed saint would not willingly give up these things
CHS spoke of giving pastoral help to a woman who had lost all assurance/salvation
CHS tested the waters by asking her to deny her Lord - and she couldn't bring herself to do it
How could she? By this act, she but confirmed that she really was His
We must hold fast what we have because…
3) WHAT WE HAVE IS IN DANGER FROM BEING TAKEN FROM US:
A/ This must be, otherwise the exhortation is a redundant one
God does not play games with anyone, least of all, His own people
OBJECTION:- What about the doctrine of eternal security?
ANSWER:- Yes, it is true…but it operates through means and these means include obeying exhortations like this one in its various forms
B/ Reality: We must face the possibility of letting these things slip
Certainly no warrant just to sit back and give them no thought
These things can be neglected - made light of - not appreciated
Do you actually attend to these things? Do they form a vital part of your thought patterns?
Do they guide you in your every day decisions?
As seen earlier…they do not come naturally to us
ILLUSTRATION: Your eyelid and your whole body naturally moves to protect your eye
As soon as your brain perceives your eye as being under attack, your eyelid will close, your arm will raise itself and your head will dodge and you will step back -
All naturally without your co-operation
But not so: spiritual matters. It calls for decisive action on your part
Here is something you need to build into your prayers - "Lord, again on another new day, let me hold fast all that I need to hold fast. Give me strength in my spiritual fingers to hold them as tight as I can"
B/ Our spiritual enemies would seek to take them away from us
Samson's great strength lay in the significance of his hair
With what cunning did his enemies seek to know this and rob it of him
And when they did - He ground/prison house with his eyes bored out
Does that appeal to you as a Christian? A spiritual failure? A wrecked testimony and blighted/stunted Christian experience?
Wrap those fingers tight, by the power/ Spirit, round these things
[i] The atheists want to rob you of these things
[ii] The agnostics want to rob you of these things
[iii] The materialists want to rob you of these things
[iv] The heretics want to rob you of these things
[v] Carnal Christians want to rob you of these things
Don't let them! The danger is real! Hold fast all that you need to hold fast to for these are your Blood bought rights -
Not by the blood/your forefathers as civil liberties are bought - but by the sacred Blood/your Mediator as He shed it on Calvary's tree
4) WHAT WE HAVE, WE NEED IN SO MANY DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIPS:
When we develop these texts (in the near future) we will how they were originally directed to different people in different circumstances
A/ For example, they were directed to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:13)
[i] Might observe that he was an individual Believer
[ii] He was also a young man - Are younger people in greater danger?
[iii] He was a spiritual young man - Still the need was there
[iv] Above all else, he was a Pastor
Yet the danger and so the need was real: Paul wrote to him about it
B/ They were also written to individual congregations:
[i] Thyatira (Revelation 2:24) - A problem ridden church (v20)
[ii] Sardis (Revelation 3:3) More problems
Philadephia (Revelation 3:11) A small church
C/ A whole group of people with a particular background
3 of these 8 exhortations appear in the Book/Hebrews which was written to those Jewish Christians under severe pressure to return
D/ No matter who we are- these words are for us as our study will bear out
THE END