In this sermon, the preacher discusses the transition from the old economy to the new economy. He expresses his dissatisfaction with the old ways and emphasizes that they were merely shadows of what was to come. The preacher highlights the importance of understanding that the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is written about Jesus and his purpose. He explores the purpose of God for the elect, the performance of Christ for believers, and the persistence of the Holy Spirit. The preacher also acknowledges that there are challenges and problems that need to be addressed honestly and fairly.

On Jewish altar spring, to give the filthy conscience peace. Awash away the stain. 117 please. You who have ever loved me, are buried on the grave. To give the filthy conscience peace. Awash away the stain. To give the filthy conscience peace. Awash away the stain. Oh God, dear heaven of mine, One heart of perfection, I know what thy truth is. The passion of this earth, Where I need not ever be, I know that you are there. Isn't it great? So from this evening, you see, I think that a great many of the saints of God, truly born-again, blood-dark saints, march into Zion, I believe a great many of whom are upset and annoyed and distracted and depressed because of the false teaching that it's called being lost again. I'm going to tackle this for you. Tackle all the problems along with it. I have to take the coat off. She said before I came out that I could take the coat off this week. You see, I wasn't, I hadn't a man fed right last week. So McCulloch, you see him sitting down there. Chuck McCulloch they call. He was in at the door. Tell him that. He has the coat off, he said. So I asked her could she take the coat off. She said well take the coat off but don't take the shirt off. All right, now this is what's been up this evening. This false teaching about being lost again. So here's a question for you. Can our faith still become lost again? Now I know that right across the country you'll get people who will say, Yes. And I know that you'll get just as big an army on the other side you will say, No. And I say the book says, No. I've got to prove that from the book. Not just me that's talking. Make sure you're getting what the book says. And I say that the book says, No. Here's another question for you. Can the justified, see if you're sitting down there this evening and you're a believer, by faith, we were justified. Therefore being justified by faith. And you know what justified means don't you? It means that I stand before God just as if I'd never sinned. Now can the justified become unjustified? But let's look at Romans chapter 8 just for a moment. Letter to the Romans. And we're at chapter 8. And I think everybody in the meeting knows Romans 8 and 28. At least you ought to know it. And it reads like this. And we know And let's stop with the word we because Paul has himself in there. He's the writer. And he says we know. And he's writing to believers in this great letter. So he's saying aren't we believers know that all things work together for good for them that love God. And I hope we know that. I believe that with all my heart. That since the day I trusted the Lord that our God is working all things together for my good. And we know that all things work together for good for them that love God. For them who are recalled according to his purpose. Because when God called me out of darkness then he had a purpose in the back of his heart. But we'll get on to the purpose in a moment. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate then he also called. And whom he called then he also justified. And just watch the phrase then he also justified. And whom he justified and watch for he. Then he also glorified. What shall we say then to these things if God be for us who can be against us. He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. I'll have to get this phrase quite clear. It is God that justifies. Who does the justifying? It is God. If I can point you off a text now Mr. S. and what God doeth with his will. So the question is nearly answered but I think we'd better tease us a bit for some who are in the meeting. And the way I want to tease you about it I want to look at the privilege of God for the elect. And then I want to look at the performance of Christ for the believer. And then I want to look at the persistence of the spirit for all the saints. And then of course I want to tackle the problems that some of my friends turn up so often. Because there are problems to be met here and we must make the monastery infernal. Now let's look at the purpose of God here in Romans 8. We'll read verse 28 over again And we know that all things work together for good for them that love God. For them who are recalled are calling to his purpose. You see there came a day when God called me. Of course you should be making your calling I'm the next I'm sure. And I can go back to the moment when I was called. And I was called out of darkness. And I was called into marvelous light. Now the day that God called me He had a purpose in calling me. You see the phrasing? Them who are recalled according to his purpose. So we must get this purpose out into the open. For whom he did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Now that was the purpose God had when he called me. God called me out of darkness And the whole purpose wasn't just to make me a Baptist minister or a teacher of the books. The whole purpose of God was that one day I should be conformed to the image of his Son. That was what was in my heart and mind and purpose of God. Now just calm down and follow the truth. If this is what God's purpose was That he would make me like his Son one day Because I can tell you that neither sin Nor Satan Nor faith Nor scum Nor spirits I don't know anything that can upset the purpose of God. Because if God in his heart and mind Purposes something Whatever is going to upset it must be bigger than God. I don't know anything bigger than God. Maybe you do, but I don't. I think when the divine, eternal, almighty creator stands up and he purposes something I would like to know what's going to upset it. I don't think that anything will upset it. Now I want you to get the hold of that. You see this is the purpose of God. He called me according to his purpose. Now I want you to notice this predestination. You see the verse begins like this For whom he did foreknow For always when we talk about election And predestination and sovereign choice When I say that I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Some who argue with me immediately jump and say Well did God elect you and were you chosen before the foundation of the world And others were left to perish? Oh don't be surprised. That would be putting the blame on God. That God saved me and damned others. Don't you do that for my God. Because I'll tell you that God so loved the world. No it just means this. That the way back there in eternity Before the world began There is no world, no planet, no sun, no moon, no stars, no nothing. God is there. He must be there in eternity. He foreknew. He can see down the angels. Oh God can't see. The only form of the beginning is not God. Don't take me back to a place where God didn't know. He wouldn't be God. Now he is God. He knows. And he foreknew That a thing like me would be gone in a place like Newtown Arms. And that I would grow up in the middle of the little kitchen house. And that I would be a drunkard. And that I would be a disgrace to my family. And that nobody on God's earth would want me. Ah but he also foreknew That there would come a day When the gospel would come to me and all And I would respond. Oh yes he foreknew. And because it is foreknowledge Therefore he could predestinate. He could settle my destiny before it ever began. Now predestination. And whom he foreknew he did predestinate And whom he predestinated then he called the kingdom of all which you see. When I was called. And whom he called then he justified. And he said this to you. Whom he justified The house of men he glorified not on your list. Whom he foreknew Then he did predestinate. And whom he did predestinate then he called. And whom he called then he justified. And whom he justified then he glorified. I don't think you can argue against the purpose of God. But we'll get deeper into this as we go along. If you look at the performance of Christ for the believer. I think you could argue easily from the purpose of God. Let's go to Hebrews. Chapter 10 please. Letter to the Hebrews. And we're at chapter 10. I would think this is one of the great chapters Of the New Testament. And almost every word here is valuable. And we must be very careful with the reading. Hebrews 10 Verse 1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come. When you talk about the law, read about the law in this book you have to be very careful. Because you see the Ten Commandments Is sometimes called the law. In fact the Ten Commandments are the moral law. And of course The sacrifices They were the law too because It's the law of the orphans. Now what's he talking about here? Is he talking about the Ten Commandments? Or is he talking about the sacrifice? You'll easily find out. For the law having a shadow Of good things to come Are not the very image of the things. It's only the shadow. It hasn't the image. Can never result of sacrifices. Oh and he's talking about the ceremonial law. He's talking about the law of the orphans. And he's trying to point out That those sacrifices You know they were just shadows. They foreshadowed something that was going to take place. But they were not the substance they were only the shadow. And of course he points out That the law Having a shadow of good things to come And not the very image of the things You get these two words. Can never. You see the offering The lamb put upon the altar Or the bullet slain by the altar. Or whatever offering you like to think about. Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain Can give the guilty conscience peace Or take away the stain. That's what we were saying. They can never. They were only shadows. They weren't put there to take away things. They were foreshadowing something. And so he says Can never with those sacrifices Which they offered year by year continually Make the commerce there onto perfect. You could never get perfection through that. You could bring the lamb And it could be offered And your faith could be In someone who is going to be the lamb Who will come and eventually do this. But this is only the shadow. But your faith in the shadows Cannot make the perfect. Of course you would know that. If those sacrifices can never Because they are offered year by year Make the commerce there onto perfect. Then the writer here is Paul And he begins to argue. This is how you get light You know, by asking questions. He says, for then Would they not have ceased to be offered? That's a good question. You see, if I brought the lamb And I put it on the altar And it made me perfect Oh, I wouldn't need to offer it anymore, would I? Well, for then would they not have ceased to be offered? If this lamb could make me perfect Then I wouldn't need to offer it year after year. Well, it's just good reasoning, isn't it? He says, for then Would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the bishops Once purged Should have no more conscience of sins. You see, if placing The lamb on the altar Could make me perfect Or purge me Humbly Or cruelly, if you like Or Give me no more conscience of sins Oh, wonderful thing it would be, but it can't do it. He says, but in those sacrifices There is a remembrance again Made of sins every year. And then he comes to this conclusion For it is not possible That the blood of goats and of goats Should take away sin. Of course you would know that, I don't need to tell you. But they did this in the old economy This was the law of offerings And they brought the lamb And they put it on the altar And they said it's blood And it was a shadow But it was not a substitute And the shadow can't take away sin And it can't purge you And it can't make you perfect But he's using a lot of good words, isn't he? Is there something coming on After the shadow that can do it? He's saying tighten on In case you get into trouble here Because that's what you boys are teaching You're teaching that it was never done before That's what you're teaching That you can be lost again Now, let me get down to it Very carefully with you now You can see this That the lamb on the altar Are the blood of bulls and goats It is not possible That the blood of bulls and goats Should take away sin Therefore, just because There were shadows in the past Had proved Therefore when he cometh into the world Who are we talking about now? We're talking about the Lord Jesus now Therefore when he cometh into the world He says Sacrifice and offering He's talking to God Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not Oh, those sacrifices and offerings Could never satisfy God Thou wouldst not But a body God prepared me Oh, did you get a hint of something there? Or was this body given to him for? Was this body going to do What all the other offerings Just think a wee bit now Let me help you as we go on But a body God Prepared me I think you ought to see something here You know, he's just about To come into the world He's the eternal Son He is a person He's talking to The eternal Father And I want you to get this He's saying You lost You lost sacrifice and offering Didn't satisfy me, surely But a body A soul Prepared me Oh, get it all in now In case you get mixed up in the Godhead Get round me then You run of talk There are many happens to be true But there are compressions here There's the Father and the Son And then we're talking about a body being prepared And being prepared for the Son too Thou hast prepared me What's this body being prepared for? Let me say to you That when people deny the virgin death They make my blood run cold Because I happen to know these verses They don't tell me that a German soldier Prepared this body It's trite, it's blossoming It's horrible It's detestable They need to stand against it, don't they? Let's follow the reading here He said In those offerings We're back at the old economy I'm sick of the past of sin All the other offerings Thou hast had no pleasure Oh, you know it's true They were shadows Of something that was to come That God couldn't be satisfied without Not all the blood of beasts From Jewish offers left Then he said, I I come In the volume of a book That is written of me To do thy will, O God You see, if you take this book This whole volume You know, right from Genesis Right through to Revelation It's all written about him It's written about how he would come Where he would come to How he would be born and resurrected And every step is written there In the volume of a book That is written of him And the reason why he came He came to do God's will I come to do thy will Now, you'll find out that Verse 8 and verse 9 These two verses are parenthetical In some of the good old Bibles They're more parenthetical Now, just to prove that it's parenthetical Let me do this Read verse 7 carefully now Then he said, I know I come In the volume of a book That is written of me To do thy will, O God And then you leave verse 8 and 9 Out there parenthetical Let me read verse 7 And go on to 10 Then he said, I know I come In the volume of a book That is written of me To do thy will, O God By the which will We, as we believers Are sanctified That's what we were like last week We are set apart Through the offering Of the body Of Jesus Christ And you've got this That is written plain enough, you know Did you see the old offerings? They're no use They can't do the job No, but there was one who came I come to do thy will And this was the will of God By the which will We, believers Are sanctified That would mean set apart You remember we were at it last week We are set apart, that's it By the offering of the body of Jesus Are we or are we not? You just answer the questions, that's all Don't argue against the word of God There are people who go away From these meetings and call me everything But they're not prepared To face the word of God Come and tackle me, do you see I'll stick you to the bones Oh yes, one fellow went home last week Said he's mad My dear friend, I'm preaching his book You pay attention to the book If I stray from the book You come and tell me You, you're trump You are not able to read it I will take no nonsense from you now And you think you'll get off of that Your trouble is that you're not prepared To bow to the word of God Are we getting this? The old offerings couldn't do it It's impossible for the blood Of bulls and goats, isn't it Then said I, oh I come For Jesus is coming To do thy will, O God By the which will We are sanctified Through the offering Of the body of Jesus Christ Set apart once for all You think I'm sanctified tonight Because I went into some back room And shut my eyes, did something I'm sanctified through the offering Of the body of Jesus, are you You come and tell me now I'll tell you Yes I am, you know I'm set apart by the offering Oh wonderful offering it was It was the death of God's Son And John Cross was the Lamb of God We're not finished with this yet You see there's ten I want you to watch all the words By the which will, God's will We, we believers Are sanctified, are set apart Through the offering Of the body of Jesus once for all And I've just written down the rest Four by one offering Oh not one every year Four by one offering He, the Lord Jesus Christ perfected Forever Then That I'm sanctified Then that I'm set apart Through the offering You see this You know this is as clear As anything to me It's like ABC to me I can see the old offerings They were wonderful But they couldn't do the job They couldn't be perfect They couldn't purge you They couldn't give you A clear conscience at all Oh but he came And the will of God was That by the one offering He should set us apart And look at this bit Watch it again Verse fourteen Four by one offering He has Perfected Forever I want you to tell me now What perfected Forever means He says I don't know I said you tell me I can get any wee fellow in this meeting Any one of you Just stand up Do you know what perfected means? Of course you do Do you know what forever means? How can you be perfected Forever And lost again It can't be But the deepest doubt Comes from hell I'll tell you why I'm saying that Because it denies the cross I don't think that people Who talk of being lost again Know anything about the work of the cross I'm perfectly sure they know nothing I'll tell you if you knew The cross work of Christ They'd never talk blabbers like that Do you know you'd think That when we get saved We had to sort of hold on It's just an old reading You ought to just take a doctor eye And say you know You have to do your best And hold on tight And he was reading to her about Nor building the ark He read about nor building the ark And then the day came When God shut the door And he says we held on outside And the boys that held on To the end were saved She said it doesn't make any such sense Yes it does That's what it says here They held on outside Trailed behind the ark You let go you're finished She says doctor I've written the book He says must be That's what you preach He says do you never even thought That God put them inside And shut the door did you Ah we're in Christ Yes we are And we're safe too I'll tell you what's more We're as safe as God can make us I'll tell you what's better Than all my talk Perfect end Forever You try to break it Come around and have a go with me You're not being able to stop man You'll have to say I don't know what it means If you read perfect end forever In the Belfast Telegraph You'd know what they were talking about But when it doesn't fit Your cursed doctrine You don't know I tell you it blocks For me as a deepest tie Yes I would think If you look at the purpose of God If you look at the performance of Christ Let's go a bit further Let's look at the persistence Of the spirit for the moment Have a look at this This is Philippines And it's the first chapter Paul's letter to the Philippines It's chapter one Let's read a little bit To get the proper connection Paul and Timotheus The presence of Jesus Christ To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are in Philippi With the bishops and deacons There's a New Testament church New Testament church has got saints And they're only saints Because they're in Christ And it's got bishops and deacons The word bishops Just means elders Or shepherds And it's got deacons To look after the material Things of the church And that's what composes A New Testament church It's got saints and elders And deacons And Paul writes and says Grace be unto you And peace from God our Father And from the Lord Jesus Christ I thank my God Upon every remembrance of you Always and every prayer of mine For you all making request With God For your fellowship in the gospel From the first day until now Being confident of this very thing This is something that Paul Was confident about That he which hath begun A good work in you Will perform it Or if you've got a good marginal Bible there Will practice it Until the day of Christ You see I believe That when I was saved We were talking about Sanctification of the spirit Last night And I took the big man At my left hand here As an example Harold McKeown Talked about the night he sat on there When everybody went out And I said that the spirit Had laid hold on him And that's what you call Sanctification of the spirit The spirit was separating Everything else from the cloud And the thing that he needed Was belief of the truth And that's how you could say Through sanctification of the spirit Which comes first not second Belief of the truth Now I'm confident That the spirit that began A good work in him Then will finish it Very confident about that Because the spirit That convicted you And the spirit that Set him apart that night From the cloud And the spirit that opened his eyes To see that Christ was all that he needed And the spirit that has Led him on since And the spirit that Seals him tonight And will seal him Until the day of redemption I'm sure the spirit That began the work will finish it I don't think there's any problem You see these three things Do you see The purpose of the father Do you see the performance Of the son Do you see the persistence Of the spirit Do you see the triune God Coming out to work For our eternal salvation Don't you I think you ought to see I think that would answer All the questions I don't think that anybody Should be upset about it at all Now there are some problems At least some people Think they're problems Let's have a look at them The branches in the vine Sometimes are a problem Let's go to John 15 An old doctor Brought this up to me once Now John 15 Our Lord Jesus Christ Is on the way to Gethsemane And he stops to preach The same message as he ever preached To the saints Talking to his own On the way to Gethsemane Judas is not there Adjust the eleven And he says I am the true vine It's time to tell them That all the sufficiency That they need for all The steps of the journey Can be found in him And my father Is the husband man And my father Every branch in me That beareth not fruit He taketh away And every branch that beareth fruit He purges it Thus it may bring forth more fruit You see you have the Sufficiency of the son And the expectancy Of the father Because he's the husband man He's expecting fruit And you can see the responsibility Of the branches Meaning through the word Which I've spoken unto you Abide in me And I in you Of the branch cannot Bear fruit of itself Except it abide in the vine No more can ye Except ye abide in me Go over it again I am the vine Ye are the branches He that abides in me And I in him I like this little word Vishnu Bringeth forth much fruit For without me ye can do nothing You see I believe That when you see You see they're one of the branches Of the vine And you know you see For a purpose too Because God wants you To bear fruit Now when you come to Fruit bearing in this book You have to be very careful Because we're not talking About evangelical fruit bearing Paul wrote a letter To the Romans He said I long to come That I might have Some fruit among you Ah well that's evangelical He was one of the three folks That's all right Then he was writing to the Philippines He was talking about Them giving to the gospel And he called this fruit And it was fruit It was laid up That they would be rewarded for And that's a practical thing Not evangelical It's practical But what our Lord Jesus Is talking about here Is spiritual That we who are in Christ Ought to abide in him Which simply means We ought to trust him More and more And more and more Because the only way That the branch can bear fruit Is to depend On the vine And surely depend On this trust Because the trust In spring and summer And autumn and winter And of course There's a bit more To the abiding life Than just trusting the Lord For the old Wonderful Portion that John uses is He that keepeth His commandments Dwelleth in him And the wood dwelleth It abides And where you abide Is where you dwell And you have to keep His commandments to dwell So you trust and obey And if you trust the Lord All the time And obey the Lord Then you reflect Something of the duty Of the Lord Isn't that true? That's what he's trying To teach them on the way To Gethsemane It's a great message For us And then he said this to them Verse 6 If a man abides not in me He is cast forth Of the branch And is withered And men gather them And cast them Into the fire Under their bones And old Doctor came to me And said You know Some of the branches In the vine You would say They were chained I say they're all chained Yes He said Well some of the men Love getting put Under the fire In the vine I said that's right Doctor He says they're in the ground I said I'm afraid You're not reading it right Doctor Can you not read Or have you not glasses Or something He says I can read Also we'll read it over again You talk to me As if God Was taking them And putting them into hell That's what you'll find Of course Let's read it over again If a man abides not in me He is cast forth Of the branch And is withered And men gather them Into the fire And the men They love God Kneel and gather them And cast them Into the fire Now what sort of a fire Do men cast them into All the time They'll inhale into this You see it's fairly It's fairly true That there are folks Who have placed their trust In the Lord Jesus And they're really saved But they're like demons You know They get their eye In the world And fall in love With the world And they forsake The Lord They're in love With the world And they do things That they shouldn't do And I'll tell you this If you're a believer In this religion You know the whole world The whole scripture The whole business Each chapter And if you're doing things You shouldn't do You know I'll tell you What they'll do with you They'll take their testimony And burn it You're not bad And first of all You're living like a sinner Oh I have known Sins who live like sinners But for a wee woman Not so long ago She said he'd take his baby Out and goes and sits In the meeting like a sin At home he's always Like a bear Do you hear What news now In case you're caught on It won't do I'll tell you this Men Will catch you on Take that stuff Come on in Keep your guns There's nobody Going to hell in this passage Oh we do Lead it into a dump When we can't read I don't think We need to waste time In that one Let's have a look At Hebrews chapter 6 This is where they Talk me through All the time And I'm sure Some who are here Who think you can Be lost again Want to go through As fast as they can Alright We're at Hebrews chapter 6 For you We'd better go back To chapter 5 Just for the moment At verse 12 Paul's writing To these Hebrew Believers And the 10th Paul When For the time He offered the Teachers He said But one teacher Again Had to be the first Principals of the Oracles of God And I become Such as of need Of milk And not of strong Meat For everyone That uses Milk Is unskillful In the word of Righteousness For he is a babe But strong Meat Belongs to them That are of full age You know the difference Between a babe And full age Of course you do Them that are Grown up Strong meat Belongs to Them that are Grown up Even those who By reason of youth Have their extensive Exercise to Deserve Good and evil And because of that He says Therefore Therefore Leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ Let us go on On to perfection Let's go on And grow up Not laying again The foundation of Redemption from Dead books And the faithful God Of the doctrine Of baptism Or laying on The palms And the resurrection Of the dead And the eternal Judgment And this will We do If God Permits For it is impossible For those who Were once Enlightened And have tasted Of the heavenly Gifts And were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost And have tasted The good word Of God And the power Of the will To come If they shall Fall away To renew Them again And lay on To repentance Till they crucify Themselves as Son of God Afresh and put Them to an open Shed So this is The whole problem You see Some people Come to me And they say You see It talks Here about Those who Were once Enlightened And have Tasted of the Heavenly Gifts And have been Made partakers Of the Holy Ghost If they Shall Fall away To renew Them again Unto repentance Therefore They really think They've got something In their hands here And again the Problem is with The reading I shall read It for you In a way That you will Get the sense Paul is the Writer here And he says Therefore leaving The principles Of the doctrine Of Christ Let us Did he put Himself in the Ashram Yes The truth is True Master of Roderick Hall I'll have to Keep the Exercise Right It may not Go on Unto perfection For it has Let us Believe we're Born Not laying Again the Foundation of Repentance From dead Worship And the faith Toward God Of the Resurrection Of the dead Of eternal Judgment And this Will We Do He put himself In the Wheel Yes Let us Believers Go on To perfection Let's Grow up Is the actual Wording This Will We Do For it is Impossible For us Who were Once in Light I didn't say That did it I shall tell you That he Changed the Word Going down From verse One and two And three He says us And we And then he Says it is Impossible for Those Now that's A different Club from Us and We Talking about Another club All together He's talking About those Who were Once enlightened There Are you Know there are Plenty of folks In this world Who are enlightened But are not Saved Yes there were Jews in his Day this letter Is to the Hebrews And there were Jews in his Day and you Know they had Got a certain Amount of Life they Could see That Christ Was the Substance of All the Shadows They were Enlightened but They hadn't Oh they were Enlightened Let's get that Now let's Get it a bit Closer than That For it's impossible For those who Were once Enlightened and Have tasted Of the heavenly Gift I want you To get the Word tasted You know When Christ Was on the Cross They gave him A cup Of vinegar And when He had Tasted Thereof He would Not Drink He never Made a Drink And there Are people Who are brought Up in Christian Homes and In Christian Circles And you Know for a Great many Years of their Life they Have tasted But they Have never Made it There That's the Craig we Were talking About No There's Quite A Difference He says And have Tasted Of the heavenly Gift And were Made Protectors Of the Holy Ghost Of course They were Made Protectors Now when We talk About the Spirit of God coming To a Believer We talk About the Spirit of God sanctifying Him We talk About the Spirit of God anointing Him We talk About the Spirit of God healing Him And we can Go on like That Did you see When a Man sits In me Shakespeare And the Spirit of God shakes Him in His shoes On a Sunday night And there's A man here Now at This moment He said To me On a Day I said How did It happen On a I tried The whole Way home All things Wrong with Him He's a Protector Of the Holy Ghost He's A Protector That's All That's All it Is We'll Come This Into The Clear In A Minute And The Taste Of The Good Word Of God Of Course They Have And The Powers Of The Way To Come Of Course They Have Now I Want You To Get This They Shall Fall Away Cause This Word Is Apostasy Ah That's Not Just Rejecting Apostasy Did You Get That You Know We Hear A Lot About Apostates And I Want You To Get Away Cause Apostasy You Get That You We Hear The Word Of God Of Course Have And The Way They The Powers Of To Come They Don't Have Any Faith In You At All You See I Want You To Get The Whole Of This That There Are Believers Unbelievers Carnal Christians Spiritual backsliders, men who openly say, yes I used to walk with Jesus, but they're not all that really, but they don't fight. Oh, but there's another group, they're called apostates. Now listen, you see I know a young man, and he was brought up in a Brethren home, and his father and mother read in the morning through, and prayed with him, and the same in the evening, and he went to the meetings, and he went to the Sunday school, and you can't go to a good old Brethren Hall Sunday school without hearing the gospel, bless them for that. And the Bible teaches me to give honour where it's due. But you know that he was a heathen, when he took the bit between his teeth, and he turned away. But he didn't just reject Christ, but he didn't just neglect school-agreed foundation, no, he put no hedge on his faith, and said to hell with Christ. Do you know what he is now? He's an apostate now, he has fallen away. I'll tell you one thing about him, it's impossible to remove him. See all you poor creatures that come to this place here, and try to make this a Christian who is falling away, because you have missed one word in this and I am going to second you with it. Watch it now. I make a mistake in this. Regine, you get it now. Verse 3 says, and this won't we do, and Paul's keeping himself there, if God permits, for it is possible for those who were once in my heart, doesn't say possible. I want to tell you that it says impossible. I want to tell you, if you're telling me that this fellow has got lost again, I want to tell you that he can never be saved again. And if that's what you're preaching, it's a pity of you, because you're putting them into a trouble with a ticket in his hand, a few tickets for hell. Impossible. The only people that it's impossible with are apostates. These are apostates that we're talking about here. You know, right through this wonderful letter to the Hebrews, Paul gets these two thirds all the time. They're always there. And you'll never get this book rightly divided if you don't see the two thirds. Let me show you him summing them up for you. Have a look at Hebrews chapter 10 that we were at. Now he has been bouncing these two thirds right through this wonderful letter. But when he comes to chapter 10, he sums it all up. In the last verse, verse 39, I'll write it carefully. But when, and he puts himself there. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. It's in the belong to that cloud. But of them that believe to the saving of the poor. Which cloud are you in? It's in the two clouds. Well, in the first cloud, it's apostates. It's them who draw back unto perdition. See, if a young man should stand up tonight and he should seek Christ in all his wonder of saving glory and power, then he knows right well, if I take him, he can get saved. But he doesn't only reject Him, doesn't only despise Him, doesn't only neglect this whole Greek tradition. He says, no, to hell with them, I'm taking Muhammad as my saviour. It's impossible. He's damned. There are boys on this earth at this moment, damned. And there are some old Presbyterian ministers who are apostates tonight, damned. I told you some of the things they read. Damned. Now, he doesn't. All the talk now about lost again and passages where it never appears. Here, let's do a bit more. Let's go to 2 Peter. You get lost next week, so you might have to play overtime tonight. It's time and a half for me when it's overtime. Here's the passage which will show you what I'm trying to tell you. We're at 2 Peter, and we're at chapter 2. And I think we'll read from verse 20, talking about something. Oh, it says, For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Now, when we talk about them escaping the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we're just talking about folks who were brought up in a Christian home. We're not talking about them being saved or anything. You know, sometimes just because you're brought up in that kind of home, you escape the pollutions of the world, you know. And it's a wonderful thing. Very wonderful. A young fellow said to me, you know, when I joined the army, went through France with the boys. He says, I never appreciated my father and mother and my home until I went there. He says, I wouldn't say it. But I knew all the things that were wrong. He had escaped. You know, all the lives in all Christian homes, not saved, you know. But they've escaped it for many a while. Well brought up, and it's a great thing, you know. I never escaped. I was head over heels into everything before I was 20. But watch this. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it. And overcome. The latter end of worse was then than the beginning. You see, once these boys are corrupted at all, I'll tell you there's no end to the debts. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. Rather than after they had known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them, they did turn, you know. But it happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog which turned to its own vomit again, and the soil that was washed saw a wallowing in the mire. And I'll tell you this, you don't use the word dog for a believer. And you don't use the word cow. Believers happen to be called sheep if you want to use an animal metaphor. You can tell he's a non-believer for the dog. Like the old dogs in Palestine that run round all the refuse bins and then eat and then get sick and vomited up and then when they're wanting food again go back to their vomit. Ah, that's not a believer at all. That's a dog. The soil, that's a word you use when you want to startle somebody. Yes, I don't think you can work that at all. It's to this horrible man we're here, because this gives a lot of argument. Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3, and the Lord Jesus is writing here unto the church in Fardus, telling John in verse 1, unto the angel of the church in Fardus writes. And it's a whole lot of things to say that we won't worry about. Verse 5 he says, He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. I want you to get that in your mind, because people come and say, can names be blotted out of the book of life? And I say, yes, they can. Let's go to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20, and you know when the great white throne was set up, verse 11, I saw a great white throne, and Him that toppened it, and the dead small and great stand before God And the last verse of the chapter reads, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. And people say, could your name be in the book of life, and then could it be blotted out? Yes it could. Now let's go to Revelation 21. See 21, it's talking about our eternal home. What a wonderful place it will be. I don't know whether I should tell you this or not, I'm building a big model just at this moment. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, it's so big. Of the new Jerusalem, what it will be like, everything about it. I'm to work it out from Scripture without it for much. Wonderful home that we're going to live in for all eternity. And it says here in the last verse of 20, 21, Revelation 21, verse 27, this city, There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever looketh abomination, or maketh a lie. But they which are written in the name of the book of life. You need to have your name in the name of the book of life. You see, sometimes, young people come to me and say, Mr. Mullen, are the names blotted out of the book of life? I say yes. Well if your name is blotted out of the book of life, you wouldn't get in. Whosoever's name is not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. And the folk that's going to get into heaven, the name has to be in the Lamb's book of life. I say that's right. You see, what some people don't know, there are two books in heaven. One that can do this for you. I use this one as the Lamb's book of life. As the Lamb's book of life. Use an old pen book as the book of life. You know, the book of life and the Lamb's book of life, they are two different books. Don't you think that God uses words just for fun? He's describing them. You see, the book of life has the name of every person who ever had a connection with life. God knows a name. Even a little child, and they sometimes say stillborn. Somebody's wee child, you know, and it's got a name. And it had a connection with life. Because I believe it had a connection with life in the womb even. You see, I was something of a, something more than a God's abortion. And God said to Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. You see, God forms the baby in the belly, forms its fingers, forms its feet. God forms it. Yes. And you know, if you look at this abortion business, you're sinning terribly against God and the child. Don't forget that. But the baby that has a connection with life, life at all, its name was in the book of life. Everybody with a connection with life. And then you see, God knows, he knew, foreknew, that thee may grow up, may come to be a man, and God may call it by his grace, and through his love, and by his gospel, and by his Spirit. And he knows they're going to reject the Lord finally and forever. And the day the final rejection comes, God takes the name out of the book of life. That person has no more connections with life. They don't have connections with God. The second death. God for all eternity, a living death. But you see, supposing the baby grows up and comes to the age, I came through 24 years of age, poor old drunkard, handing when the Lord came with all his power. And I took my cap off and say, alright Lord Jesus, on this spot I give you my life. I'll tell you this, I've got connection with the Lamb now. So we open the Lamb in the book of life. Because I've got a connection with the Lamb. My name's put under the Lamb's book of life. It's let stay in the book of life. But it's also in the Lamb's book of life. And you see when the eternal day comes and the books are opened, and that's what the Bible says, the books shall be opened. Whosoever's name is not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. You see there will be a perfect audit. Because that will tell the day that I have a connection with life. My name will be let stay. And that will tell the day that I have a connection with the Lamb. And these two books will tally in eternity. And if your name's not there, you must have rejected the Lamb somewhere. There's nobody being lost again. Once your name's in the Lamb's book of life, it's there forever and it will be in the book of life. My dear friend, you only need to look at the work of the cross to know how safe you are. You just, when I survey the wondrous cross, and then you say, hallelujah, what a savior. They're bound together in prayer. Dear Lord, we bow at thy feet, repenting for the purposes of God. We thank thee, Lord, that thou couldst foreknow and foresee and foretell and predestine and eventually call and justify. One day, Lord, you'll make us like thy Son. We have a long way to go to be like him. So many edges to be knocked off. But one day, as sure as your God, we shall be like thy Son. Lord, we want to thank thee for coming to the cross and doing the Lamb of God and getting that one offering for sins forever. We thank thee, Lord, that by one offering thou hast perfected us forever. Oh, God, we thank thee. We thank thee that the Holy Ghost has begun this work in us and never need go until we're like Christ. Lord, give us joy in our hearts tonight. The joy of God's salvation. Lord, when thou didst go back to heaven, it says that you entered heaven through thine own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us. How could we have eternal redemption and then be lost? Lord, how could we have eternal life? How could we have eternal life for a week? Oh, God, bless the believers. Grant, Lord, as we take a holiday and then re-gather again and get down to the great truths of thy word, that thou wilt build us up, that thou wilt make us men and women of God, that thou wilt give us thy rich blessing. Part us now in thy fear and with thy tender touch, for thy name's sake. Amen.