Who Do You Hold Fast To?
Last Friday when I was driving to witness downtown, I noticed the name of the bar at the corner of East Trafficway and Kimbrough. It’s called Hold Fast Brewing. Hold fast reminded me of the Christian song He Will Hold Me Fast by Keith Getty. Then I thought, I really don’t know what hold fast even means. Do you know what it means to hold fast? According to Dictionary.com, hold fast means to continue to believe in or adhere to an idea or principle. So on one hand we have a brewing company called Hold Fast Brewing. Evidently, they are going to hold fast to their commitment to make beer (or maybe they want you to hold fast to their beer). The Christian song He Will Hold Me Fast talks about Jesus holding believers secure.
This message tonight isn’t about whether it’s right or wrong to drink alcohol. The Bible is very clear that we are not to get drunk. Drunkenness is a sin. (Proverbs 20:1, Galatians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 6:10 are just a few verses that show drunkenness is sinful). But whether to even drink alcohol or not isn’t the question. No, the real question is: Who do you hold fast to? Who or what are you holding fast to?
Do you look for relief in alcohol? Do you hold fast to beer? Is this what you look forward to when you aren’t already drinking? Or maybe you hold fast to a spouse or to your significant other. Maybe the love of money occupies your mind. Maybe you are hooked on pornography. Who or what has your heart? What do you spend your time, talent and money on? Really think about it tonight: what or who do you hold fast to?
Jesus Holds Me Fast
As a follower of Jesus, it is very comforting to me that Jesus will hold me fast. Deuteronomy 31:6 says: Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus also said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:7-11).
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe.
The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:22-30).
Comforting Words From Jesus
Jesus gives His followers eternal life and we will never perish. No one, absolutely no one can take us out of Jesus’ hand nor the hand of God the Father. Oh, what comforting words from Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. No one can take me out of the hand of Jesus and the Lord will never leave me nor forsake me. Hold fast to beer or anything or anyone else? Not on your life! I will hold fast to my Lord – Jesus Christ. He is my Rock, my Redeemer, my God in whom I trust. I will hold fast to Him.
Jesus holds fast to me and I hold fast to Jesus. I wouldn’t want it any other way. So how about you? I ask you again: What or who do you hold fast to? What are you committed to? Seriously, what do you love more than anything else? What are you holding fast to? What has a hold of you? Drugs, alcohol, the love of money, sexual immorality, pornography? What are you holding fast to and what is holding on to you? That has you snared, hooked or addicted?
I am holding fast to Jesus because He is the only Savior of mankind. There is no other. Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Christ Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). Why hold fast to Jesus? Because He saved me from my sins and from eternal damnation. Yes, I hold fast to the Lord Jesus and to my faith in Him. You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him (Deuteronomy 10:20). But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope (Hebrews 3:6). For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end (Hebrews 3:14).
Let Us Hold Fast
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession (Hebrews 4:14). Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23). Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you (Revelation 3:3).
Yes, I hold fast to Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior and He is holding fast to me. How do you hold fast to Jesus? First of all, like Jesus said, His sheep hear His voice. You have to be one of His? Have you ever seen your need for a Savior? If not, please recognize that you are a sinner, a rebel who has said no to God and yes to your own way.
All sin is rebellion against God. King David said that sinners go away from God from the womb. The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies (Psalm 58:3). Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden and all of us mere mortals have sinned since then. David also said that he was conceived in iniquity (Psalm 51:5).
So, we have all sinned against God. If everyone has sinned, then what’s the big deal? The big deal is that God is Holy, righteous and just and He cannot tolerate sin (rebellion). Sin separates you from God. If you die in your sins, in other words die outside of Christ, then you will be separated from the love of God for all eternity. Hell is very real. Not only are unrepentant sinners (who have died), suffering the torments of Hell, but they will do so for all eternity.
Are You Headed For Hell?
If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, then Hell is where you are headed. Don’t go there. Do not die as a rebel and suffer God’s righteous judgment for all eternity. Instead, repent and surrender your life to Jesus. The Lord suffered, bled and died on a cruel cross to save His people from their sins. While Jesus hung on the cross, God poured His anger over sin out upon His own precious Son. Want to know how much God hates sin? Look to the cross. Want to see how much God loves His children? Look to the cross.
The only way to be one of God’s children, is to repent and put your faith in Jesus. The Lord Himself said that you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him daily (Luke 9:23). Oh, there is no earthly pleasure worth dying over and spending eternity in Hell for it. Nothing is worth that cost. Even if you live to be 100 years, your life is nothing, it is but a vapor compared to eternity. We are here today and gone tomorrow.
Don’t foolishly hold fast to the wrong thing or the wrong person. Don’t hold fast to the pope or any false religion. Instead, hold fast to Christ Jesus. The only way to do that is to repent of your sins and surrender your life fully and completely to Him. Oh, come to Jesus and be saved. Alcohol, sexual immorality, power, money, whatever you are holding fast too, will not save you. There is no redemption in any of these things. Holding fast to the wrong thing(s) only leads you to Hell. Jesus said, Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13-14).
Put Your Trust In Jesus And Hold Fast To Him
The Lord also said that there are few that are saved. Be one of the few. Swallow your pride. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Humble yourself like the tax collector who said, God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13). Oh, recognize that you are a sinner and that God is Holy. Confess and forsake your sins. Cry out for God to save you. Repent and put your trust in Jesus. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Trust Jesus. Surrender your life to the Lord. Then hold fast to Jesus and He will hold fast to you. Again, He will never leave you nor forsake you, when you repent and believe the Gospel. Why hold fast to anything less than the Lord of All? Why hold fast to anything less than the One who gives you eternal life? Turn to Christ and live.
(This message was lifted up in downtown Springfield, MO on August 21, 2020)