Dangers of Drawing Back

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. His words to be pertinently, plainly, piercingly, and somewhat properly shared. [00:00:38] That's my desire. Peter says, Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith through the righteousness of God and of our Savior Jesus Christ. Peter was confident that he was writing to a people who had obtained a similar kind of faith as he had. And tonight I'm confident that I'm speaking to a people who understand and who have a similar faith as Peter had. [00:01:11] And I trust I have that faith. And he called it a precious faith. Brothers and sisters, our faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ is a precious faith, is it not? Is it precious to you? How do you value it? What kind of value do you place upon that precious faith? One of the reasons that I've come to a greater understanding of how precious this faith is, [00:01:44] because when you work with the people who haven't experienced that faith, And when we are first coming to that faith, then I cherish that precious faith through God's righteousness and my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. What is faith to you and I? And of course, we will go to Hebrews chapter 11 for that account of great men and women of faith. [00:02:19] Turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12 tonight. We're not going to be looking at 11 tonight. Maybe the next Lord willing, some of the next messages we'll be drawing from more practical accounts of these men and women of faith. But tonight I'd like to begin in Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 to 3. Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in that sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [00:02:52] Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and was set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds. Back in 1904, Henry Morris was on his voyage from Africa back to the United States. [00:03:25] And on the same vessel was President Theodore Roosevelt. Henry Morris had been in Africa for quite some time as a missionary there serving the people of Africa. He was weary. He had poured himself into his work. He was worn out, burned out somewhat. He was coming back to the States for a time of refreshment and encouragement. But on that same vessel, as I said, there was Theodore Roosevelt returning to the States, who had been off to Africa for safari hunting. [00:04:05] As they come to the shores of New York City, there along the quay there was hundreds and literally thousands of people there to welcome Teddy Roosevelt back home. But there was no one to welcome Henry Morris. Henry Morris lived in one of the southern states, so he gets on the train and goes south. As he's on the train, he begins to think about what happened and how at the harbor there in New York, how that there were hundreds there to greet and to meet the President of the United States, but no one to meet him. [00:04:54] And the devil began to do his work And he began to discourage this man And he became weary The closer he got to home He began to think about who might be there to greet him When he comes to his hometown Well, it ends up Because of miscommunication and connections He came a bit sooner than they had thought he would. [00:05:26] And consequently there was no one there, even of his family or his hometown, to greet him. So what does he do? Gets off the train, begins to walk home. That walk home was difficult. And the devil continued to do his work of discouragement in the heart of this man. And all at once God spoke to Henry and said, Henry, now listen. I want to remind you that you're not at home yet. You haven't reached the other shore yet. Don't be discouraged. Don't give up. Don't become weary because you haven't reached the shore. [00:06:10] Tonight, we find in our text the word weary, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds. The word weary simply means tried to toil, just wore out. The word faint means to relax the bowstring or relax the mind. That's what Henry Morris did. [00:06:42] He just kind of relaxed the mind and the devil began to do his work. We cannot afford to relax the mind. The Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 1.13, he says, We're to gird up the loins of our mind. We're to take control of what goes through our minds. Now, I know the reality is that we do become discouraged at times. We do become weary. And one of the tactics of the enemy is in the last days, the prophet Daniel says in Daniel chapter 7 and verse 25, it says, the enemy shall wear out the saints of the Most High. [00:07:19] He wants to wear you and I out to the point of giving up in despair. And he says further in the same verse there, he says, he will do so by changing the times and the law. Is that prevalent in our time? Changes. He wants to weary the faithful out. Those who have obtained like precious faith. He wants to wear us out with all the changes that you and I are seeing in our current day. [00:07:53] The verse 1 of our text begins with the word, wherefore. For this reason, we must consider what we find before this word, wherefore. We must jump even back further than chapter 11. Let's look at chapter 10 to discover the context in which we find this text tonight. Chapter 10 We find the Apostle writing about the old system, the old law, those who were under that. [00:08:35] Verse 14 of chapter 10, beautiful verse. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, having reference to Jesus. Jesus, verse 23, a very solemn and serious warning that he gives to us, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. Let us hold fast to the faith and not give up. [00:09:11] Then we come to verse 38 and 39, for ye have need of patience. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Thus we come to the title of the message, Dangers of Drawing Back. Dangers of Drawing Back. [00:09:43] We are not to be of those, it says, who would draw back, who would give up, and who would quit in this faith that we have begun. To draw back simply means to flinch, to waver, to shrink away from, to abandon, to abandon faith, to give up the faith. [00:10:18] Another story of a man, a true account, Charles Templeton. Charles Templeton was a companion of Billy Graham. Back in Billy Graham's early days, Charles Templeton was also an evangelist and they worked closely together in their evangelistic campaigns. But Charles began that process of drawing back, unknown of the dangers that it would be to his own soul. [00:10:54] Charles began to question God and he began to say something like this, But God, if you really are God, how could you as a loving God allow such pain and suffering in this world upon all the innocent? And how could it be possible, God, that if the sinner dies and he goes to hell, how would a loving God ever allow such a thing to happen? And that process in his mind began and he began to draw back and to question God. [00:11:34] Finally he came to the place where he said, I cannot believe in Jesus Christ anymore. He said, I would have to deny my own brain to believe in God. So he left the ministry and became an agnostic, which simply means that not only did he not believe in God, but it means that you cannot know God. [00:12:08] And so this man who once preached truth came to the place where he believed that there's no way that man can know God. Later in his life, toward the end of his life, someone with a burden on their heart for Charles Templeton's soul came to him and said, Charles, do you believe in Jesus? Charles said, yes, I believe that Jesus was a man that lived on this earth, but I do not believe that he could have been the Son of God. [00:12:44] Charles began to think a little bit, and he said, you know, this may sound strange, but he said, there's something about Jesus, though, that I would believe that everything good that I know and everything that's pure that I know must have some connection with this man. And he said, Father, as he began to weep, and he said, I actually miss this man. But he said, there's no way I can believe in him [00:13:18] Shortly after this, Charles met his death as an unbeliever Because he said, there's no way that man can know God And brothers and sisters, that's what faith is to you and I tonight Faith is a vehicle that connects you and I to God Almighty You see, Charles reduced God and His Word to human understanding and perception. [00:13:49] And this mind can never know God in its own perception. We can never reduce God and His Word to man's understanding. It must be faith that connects my soul and my heart to Almighty God. That's the vehicle between God and myself And brothers and sisters, when we come to realize that We understand that faith is precious Very precious [00:14:21] And we dare not draw back To the position and the place where Charles found himself Believing he could not know God Paul, when he wrote to Timothy He had another description for those who draw back as it relates to the dangers of drawing back. He says in 1 Timothy 1.19, he says those who would abandon their faith, he says they make shipwreck of their lives. [00:15:00] Some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck, he says. Well, I've come to understand more about shipwreck in the last four years than I ever did in all my life before that. Because we just live about a mile from the shore, very close to a little fishing village. We only live several hours from the last stop of the maiden voyage of the Titanic, where it collected about several hundred Irish passengers as it began its voyage across the Atlantic to America. [00:15:33] In Cove, close to Cork City, you'll find a museum of the Titanic. I've been there several times, very interesting, but also very stirring as it relates to shipwreck. Some of the testimonies of those who did make it back to the shore, but literally hundreds, as you know, lost their lives in that maiden voyage. Shipwreck Several miles from our house stands Hook Lighthouse [00:16:07] On a little peninsula called Hook Head The oldest working lighthouse in all of Europe and possibly the world But the place is known as the graveyard of a thousand ships Because of the harsh sea and the rocks Two years ago, or was it three years ago, about this time in January, five fishermen one night were coming in to harbor the shore there in Dunmore East [00:16:39] with two semi-loads of ship or of fish on their ship, on their boat, and because of the rough sea, all at once they went down, never ever to see the five men again on that ship. Shipwreck! Lost their lives that night in an instant. Never saw them again. Brothers and sisters, our voyage in life is like going over troubled waters. We become weary at times as we go across these troubled waters. [00:17:15] Waters of discouragement, waters that would weary us, waters that would cause us to become faint As it says here in verse 3 of Hebrews 12 Isaiah 43.2 says, When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee Psalm 69.1 Save me, O God, from the waters that are coming to my soul. [00:17:47] Psalm 124.4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, and the stream had gone over our soul. Waters of discouragement overtake the soul. We call them bridges, don't we? That's what we call those things that take us from one shore to another shore Across the waters Over the waters We call them bridges [00:18:19] And I believe the Apostle Paul builds a bridge From Hebrews chapter 10 To Hebrews chapter 12 And that bridge is Hebrews chapter 11 And we have an account here of this bridge of men and women who were a part of that great cloud of witnesses that did not sink and become weary in those troubled waters. [00:18:49] They took the bridge of faith across to chapter 12, crossed those troubled waters. Waterford City has been building a bridge the last four years, three years at least, three and a half years probably. They just completed it about three months ago. It went across the bridge one time. But it's an amazing structure, an amazing work of architect. [00:19:24] The bridge is probably close to a half a mile long, but there's only one pillar on that bridge. The middle of that bridge, there's a huge, massive structure of concrete, probably 200 feet, 150, 175, maybe 200 feet high. I don't know how high it is. It's way up there. It starts on either side of the bridge, goes up to a point in the peak at the top, towards the top it comes together, and from that point it even goes up much higher. [00:19:57] And that pillar is on bedrock, down deep, deep into the waters. And of course the bridge has to be up high enough so that the ships can go underneath it. It's not a drawbridge. And from those, from this bridge, from the very top, way out to the far end, you have cables that span that distance from the center of the bridge clear out to the end. [00:20:27] And then other cables a bit less. And I don't know how many cables are all the way across that bridge, that span that bridge, but there's many of them. Huge cables. But it all goes back to that one pillar And I'd like to say tonight that that pillar is faith And it's grounded deep and rooted in God's word And his truths and principles And then those cables might be the men and women of chapter 11 [00:20:58] That are anchored to that pillar And they go out across that bridge And they keep up that bridge so that those who journey in their journey of faith, you and I tonight, can cross the troubled waters and can go over that bridge without having shipwreck. This great cloud of witnesses that we read about in Hebrews chapter 12 are very ordinary men and women. [00:21:39] They're like you and I. They were men and women who had struggles. They had difficulties in their journey. They were men and women who made conscious choices and decisions for God. Ordinary men and women You see, we as men were created as free moral agents We have power of choice You and I do [00:22:10] Now the animal kingdom was not created in that way They are controlled by instinct They do what their instinct tells them to do But you and I tonight have power of choice The intimate things that God created, such as the stars, the planets, those kind of things are controlled within the system God created them. They just do what God wills that they do. But not you and I. [00:22:42] We are creatures of choice. You see, neither the animal kingdom nor the intimate kingdom of God's creation are like you and I. They don't choose. We choose. We make choices. Someone has said that the test that God gave Adam and Eve in the garden revealed three things. God wanted you and I to discover. That God wanted to reveal as it relates to His will in man. [00:23:20] Virtues that God wanted to develop in you and I. Number one is subordination or submission. Number two, accountability. We will be accountable to God Almighty. There's a sense in which we're accountable to each other. And thirdly, obedience. And God gave Adam and Eve the test. Will they be submissive? Will they be accountable? [00:23:51] Will they obey? It's a matter of choice. A matter of choice. Let's look more closely now. As it relates to these cloud of witnesses, do these cloud of witnesses hear us tonight? These men and women of Hebrews chapter 11, Men like Henry Morris, if he was faithful to the end, men like our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who have passed on, who are also a part of that cloud of witnesses, do they hear us tonight? [00:24:29] I don't know. I don't know. You know, often we think of witnesses as someone who sees something or hears something. I've witnessed it, I heard it, or I saw it. Brothers and sisters, the word witness here in the Bible that we're looking at tonight has a far deeper meaning than that. The word witness here means a martyr. Or it means one that gives record. [00:25:02] Or one that testifies. Now to the question tonight, do these witnesses here, do they know what's going on here tonight? I don't know, but that isn't very important as far as I'm concerned. The important question tonight is, do we hear them? Do we hear what they're testifying? Do we hear what they're giving record of? Do we hear what they are saying? That's what's important. Are we paying attention to the record of Hebrews chapter 11? [00:25:39] We're not going to go into that one tonight. We'll look at it a bit later in a bit more detail as it relates to the record of these men and women. I'd like to quickly now just mention six things that we'll find in our text here that it says that these witnesses are testifying or they're giving record to. Number one is that we are one. We are one with them. It is not them and us. [00:26:13] Look at verse 40 in chapter 11. God hath provided some better thing for us, that they without us should be made perfect. Now, as I understand that, it's simply saying that you and I this morning are living, or tonight, are living in a dispensation that is superior to theirs of those who live in the Old Testament dispensation or Hebrews chapter 11. But they without us should not be made perfect. [00:26:48] In other words, there's going to be a completion. there's going to be a perfection when you and I meet them and we are united as one when we all together will be one when that last weary, weary soul steps across the finish line and God says this is now the end [00:27:19] And then we will be with them, and they with us, and we are one So point number one is, we shall be one with them Not them and us, not Moses and not Abraham and then us, but we are with them That's encouraging, brothers and sisters that a man who was the friend of God, that I too am one with him. [00:27:50] Point number two, these witnesses testify that the weights must be laid aside. Notice what it says, let us lay aside every weight. The vine says that these weights are a bulk or a mass that hangs on to us. It encumbers us. It weights us down. It keeps us from moving ahead and having that victory. [00:28:24] It wearies us. And these witnesses are saying, put them aside, lay them aside, cut it off. Brothers and sisters, you and I continue to struggle with this flesh. It's a weight to us, as it were. The pronouns of mine, me, it's itself. Tozer says that we need to tear it out by the flesh and it needs to bleed every once in a while. [00:28:57] But it's encumbering, it weights us down. God has bigger and better things for us If we, if I, but am willing to lay aside the weight And let it go And sometimes, I dare say, brothers and sisters These weights can even be good things But we need to lay them aside for the better things Number three These witnesses testify that sin must be dealt with. [00:29:34] It says in verse 1, the sin which does so easily beset us. Sin is to miss the mark. It besets us. It takes us the wrong direction. It takes us the wrong way. And it will take us much further than we will ever want to go. That's what Charles discovered much further than he ever thought it may take him. Sin must be under the blood if we're going to be one with those witnesses. [00:30:11] Point number four, they testify that we must run with patience. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. And brothers and sisters, we want to quit at times, but this is what it means that we cannot quit. We must continue to run to the end. Run with patience. Fathers, we get tired at times, don't we? We continue to teach. We continue to instruct. We continue to teach and instruct. Church leaders, we do the same. [00:30:43] We try to teach and instruct and guide. And sometimes we'd like to quit, but we will not be one of those witnesses. That cloud of witnesses, if we do, we must continue on with patience and endurance. Number five, these witnesses testify, according to verse two, that we must look to Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, he is our only hope of reaching the end. [00:31:18] Stepping across the finish line Looking to Jesus Who is the author and the finisher of that precious faith Point number six The last one These witnesses would testify to us tonight That this journey is not going to be a glamorous one Look what it says Verse two Despising the shame [00:31:49] And then verse 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself In our journey we are going to discover there are those who will mock us And they will try to bring us to shame They will contradict us It simply means that it will dispute with us on our journey. We need to continue on. In spite of all that, Jesus did as our example. [00:32:24] He continued on. He did not draw back. Brothers and sisters, may we, in spite of the fact that we become weary and our minds begin to become faint. We must continue on. We are going to endure to the end. And that precious faith is going to be ours until Jesus returns. [00:32:59] May God help us to that end.