1 Corinthians 15: 1, 2

Proverbs 4: 13

Hebrews 4: 14-16

Revelation 3: 7-11

          I would like to speak of this matter of holding fast.  We are constantly reminded of the attacks of the enemy on Christianity; the attacks that are coming upon the truth, the attacks upon the Scriptures.  This is not something that is going to diminish, I think, but is going to become ever more prevalent.  A brother recently reminded us in Sunbury of the need not to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, 1 Tim 1: 8.  That involves nailing our colours to the mast so that there should be no surrender.  I seek the Lord’s grace to say a word as to this matter of holding fast to things.  There are things in Scripture that we are encouraged to put off, there are things that we are encouraged and commanded even not to do, but I wondered if I might speak of some things that are positive and some of the things that we are encouraged to hold fast, to lay hold of and to not let go.

         I read in Revelation because that seems to give the goal.  The Lord says to the assembly in Philadelphia, “hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”.  It is my simple desire that there might be that spirit among us; let “no one take thy crown”.  Let “no one take thy crown” individually but also let no one take that crown collectively: let us hold fast to what we have in view of that coming day.  That is a wonderful, glorious word, “behold, I come quickly” (Rev 22: 7); it is what is to be before us. 

         In thinking about holding fast it would be right to start with the Lord Himself as the perfect example of One who held fast.  Holding fast would suggest that things are securely constrained.  If you moor up a boat you have to make sure it is secure; it has to be held fast, moored properly, otherwise it will drift.  The Lord, in every step of His life and every step of His pathway, held fast to what was given to Him.  Think of that word in Psalm 40: 8, “thy law is within my heart”: absolute and total committal to what had been given to Him.  That law was indivisible from His heart.  It became Him.  He held it fast, He was not going to be diverted, and He was not going to be moved away from the tiniest element of that law.  He came and He fulfilled everything.  Not one thing was left unfulfilled, but every element of that law fulfilled in Him.  Think of Him on His pathway as He was here amongst men; there comes a point in Luke’s gospel where it says of the Lord, “he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem”, chap 9: 51.  There was no shying away from that pathway, no diverting.  Knowing who He was, how could there be a diverting from that pathway of the Lord Jesus, because the law was in His heart, because He held it fast?  There was no diversion.  He set His face stedfastly to go to Jerusalem.  He knew what awaited Him there and He had told His disciples, and He had spoken to them about it.  He spoke to them almost at every opportunity He could about what was to come, and we have noticed that, as He progresses, the descriptions that He gives the disciples get deeper and deeper, and yet still it seems that they failed to grasp the meaning of what He said to them.  Even that did not divert the Lord from that pathway; He held fast to it.  He was utterly and totally committed to that pathway. Then you get that wonderful reference in the Lord’s prayer, “When I was with them I kept them in thy name”, John 17: 12.  How affecting that the Lord was caring and dealing with those whom the Father had given Him, those who were intensely precious to Him; He says, “I kept them”.  Nothing was going to divert Him from that.  You think of the feelings of Jesus even as to Judas.  The psalmist says, “it was thou, a man mine equal, mine intimate, my familiar friend … ”, Ps 55: 13.  What that meant to Jesus, but He had kept the disciples.  He had kept them and He had preserved them; He had held fast to them.  Then, ultimately, as the Lord Jesus comes to that moment in Gethsemane He says, “not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42.  His will was perfect, there was no deficiency in His will, but He says, “not my will, but thine be done”.  He held absolutely fast to the will of Another; and in doing so He went to Calvary’s cross and He died for you and for me; He gave Himself.  Scripture says, “who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God”, Heb 9: 14.  He was the perfect Offering; I think that the fruit of everything that the Lord Jesus Himself held fast was so that at the end, He was able to offer Himself spotless to God.  What about us?  I can only speak simply of these things; I feel the edge of them myself.

         Paul in Corinthians says, “if ye hold fast the word which I announced to you as the glad tidings”.  Let us hold fast the glad tidings; we have such an intense privilege in coming under the sound of the gospel every week.  There are those who say that, if you have heard the gospel and you have answered to it, you no longer need it.  I think those who are in this room are the evidence that that is wrong.  We do need it, we need the gospel every week, we need it for practical salvation, we need it to forge stronger and stronger links with our Lord Jesus.  We need it to remind us of the greatness of the sacrifice that has been made, and we need it to bring us into the fulness of the blessing that God has in mind for us.  There should be no deficiency with us.  Paul says to hold fast to it.  He had announced the word to them and it seems that they believed, but then this question comes up among them as to resurrection, and he says, “unless indeed ye have believed in vain”.  If you think there is no resurrection, “if Christ be not raised … ye are yet in your sins”, 1 Cor 15: 17.  He is saying, ’Hold fast to the word which I announced to you’.  Every week, every moment, let us hold fast to the gospel and that will give us the enjoyment of our salvation.  There are few things more sad than knowing a believer and seeing that believer not in the enjoyment of his salvation.  Knowing you are saved is wonderful; it is a great thing and, young people, I would like to encourage you all to know that you are saved, commit your heart to Jesus, know what it is to put your faith in that glorious finished work.  Do we then carry on with our lives as they were before?  No; we are to continue in the full enjoyment of our salvation as proving it, as conscious of our deliverance, conscious also of all we have been brought into; not what we have been delivered from, but what God would have in mind for us.  I believe that is involved in holding fast to the word of the glad tidings; let us be encouraged.  The preaching goes on in our rooms - or our homes if we meet in homes.  God is good to us and He speaks to us through the gospel; let us hold fast to the glad tidings, and hold fast to that word.  Dear friend, it will be an anchor point for you, it will be one of those things that keeps you stable, it will help you when you go to school, to college or university, when you go out to work; the conviction that you can hold fast and go back to the glad tidings, that is an anchor point and it is something that will deliver us.

         I refer to this verse in Proverbs.  The writer says, “Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go: keep her, for she is thy life”.  How much instruction do we receive?  There are those who have gone before who have instructed us.  There is instruction in the ministry books that we have.  Hold it fast; man’s mind would question the truth.  There was a scientist just this past week who made some assertion about creation, that it did not need God.  Well, hold fast the instruction we have received.  It says, “let her not go: keep her, for she is thy life”.  It is interesting to me that this is not commandment, it is instruction; it is more than just rules and regulations, this involves understanding.  There are many of our young people at the moment doing exams.  What is needed for that is instruction, not just to know what is the answer, but you need to understand it.  You need to understand how to find the answer; that is instruction, and we receive instruction from one another.  We receive instruction when we are together; we receive instruction from the Lord.  He could say “one is your instructor, and all ye are brethren”, Matt 23: 8.  The Lord Himself is our great Instructor and as He has instructed us, as He has taught us, and as He has guided us, we need to hold on to that.  I believe it is vital and critical at the present moment.  Man’s mind is an inventive mind and it would seek to bring doubts, queries, questions as to the truth, and as to the Scriptures.  That was the first challenge of Satan, “Is it even so, that God has said”, Gen 3: 1.  A question was raised as to what had been said and what had been given.  Beloved brethren, let us hold fast the instruction that we are given.  We are intensely privileged in having so much light as to the Scriptures, so much light as to the truth, but that brings responsibility; a huge responsibility, that we have to hold it fast and keep it.  That instruction will preserve us.  If you receive anything, if you have received a nugget, if you have received something of the truth, that is an instruction: hold it fast and it will be an anchor point for you.  It will hold you; it will keep you in the area of the truth.

          In Hebrews it says, “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession”.  I think this links with what we had in Sunbury: “be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord”, 2 Tim 1: 8.  This is the confession; this is everything.  I think this is more than just confessing the name of Jesus, although that is a very great thing to do.  This is more than that; it is not just what we say but who we are.  This is what we do, where we go: let us hold fast the confession.  Hold fast to what we know to be true, hold fast to what has been given, everything in relation to the Lord Himself and proving His presence; let us hold fast to that. 

         We often speak of Peter’s denial of the Lord Jesus.  We speak of it as Peter failing and he did fail; he knew what was right but he got himself into a place that he was not able for.  He ended up in the palace court and it says, “Peter was standing with them and warming himself”, John 18: 18.  How many times have we done that; how many times have I done that?   How many times have I found myself seeking the resource that I need, but not in the right place?  The world would seek to give its warmth, seek to reach out to you.  Satan would do that and seek to draw you in.  Peter found himself in that circumstance, found himself in a condition and a place that he was not able for and he denied the Lord three times. 

         It is interesting to me that those passages in the gospels are all very slightly different, but read them together.  Peter is ultimately questioned as to where he had been: “Did I not see thee in the garden with him?”, John 18: 26.  Where do we go?  Are the places to which we go consistent with the confession, are they consistent with the stand that we take, are they consistent with the position that we know to be right?  It is quite humiliating if any of us have ever experienced this, to be questioned by an unbeliever.  ‘This is a surprise; I did not think you would go there or did not think you would do that’.  That is very humiliating.  Let us be true to our confession.

         They also questioned Peter as to who he was: “Art thou also of his disciples?”, John 18: 25.  What company are we part of; who do we identify ourselves with?  Are we true to our confession?  Peter denied that; he denied his place as being of those who companied with the Lord Jesus.  Then there is a question as to his speech, “Truly thou too art of them, for also thy speech makes thee manifest”, Matt 26: 73.  He was challenged on that point as well, what he said and how he sounded, and Peter denies. Then he is beautifully recovered; when Peter denies the Lord those three times, the cock crows and immediately it says, “he went forth without, and wept bitterly”, Matt 26: 75.  There was the look that he received from Jesus, Luke 22: 61.  Jesus had besought for him, He had already besought for him.  He knew he was going to fail and the Lord says, “I have besought for thee”, Luke 22: 32.  How wonderful!  He has besought for you, dear friend. 

         This scripture in Hebrews speaks of “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens”.  We do not have to do this in our own strength and in our own power.  The Lord would look for committal from us and He would look for definiteness from us to hold fast what we know to be right in the light of the One who has interceded for us, “always living to intercede”, Heb 7: 25.  We had a word about that in this room three or four months ago, as to the Lord’s present activities.  He is “always living to intercede”.  He has interceded on your behalf as this great high Priest who has passed through the heavens.  “For we have not a high priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart”.  How comforting that is, how encouraging it should be for us that we are not on our own in this but we have One who is our great high Priest who intercedes for us and will help us and strengthen us and sustain us if we are committed to holding fast that confession.

         I want to finish with the reference in Revelation.  It is to Philadelphia: it speaks to us of assembly conditions and of an area to which the Lord can come.  He says, “I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power”.  Perhaps that links with what we said as to the glad tidings.  “Thou hast a little power”; there is a company, a body here upon the earth, that can be credited with having a little power.  In contrast to the power in the scene that is around us, the emptiness of the world, the emptiness of everything that is of man, there is a scene that has a little power.  Then it says, “and hast kept my word”.  That is the instruction that has come from heaven, that is what has come from the Lord Himself, and the Lord credits the assembly here as having kept that word, having held it fast, having held it to this day.  Then, “and hast not denied my name”: kept that confession, the confession of the name of Jesus.  There is a company where that is proved; let us hold fast as the Lord says at the end, “hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”.  I think we could include all the things we have spoken of in the crown. I think we could include the proving and presence of Jesus in the crown.  Paul speaks of the Philippians as “my joy and crown”, Phil 4: 1.  The crown is everything that has been given by God, given to us here that is for our enjoyment and for His eternal pleasure.  We have these wonderful words in verse 11, “I come quickly”: He is soon coming.  That is the great prospect that we have before us, He is soon coming.  Think of the great moment, the great effect that this moment will have when every saint, every believer without exception (not one will be forgotten) will move in answer to that call.  Think of the greatness of that movement when the assembly will move to be with Him.  That is the great prospect that we have and, dear brethren, dear friend, it is very soon.  The Lord might leave us here for another night, He might leave us here for another day, He might leave us here for another Lord’s day.  We have the Lord’s day before us.  If the Lord leaves us here He will come to us; let us be exercised to discern His presence that we might be ready for that time, when He will come for us, come for everything that delights Him, everything that has been secured on the basis of holding things fast, not letting anything slip.  That crown then will be for Him. 

         May we be encouraged by these things; may they be for our encouragement and for our help and our sustaining in this present time.  For His Name’s sake.

Birmingham

11th May 2013