The Apostle writes, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot? counted the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace. For we know Him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge His people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
Amen. Well, let us pray. God Most High, we thank you for this Lord's Day. We thank you for this house that we can gather in.
We pray to you, Father, through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, that God would be all in all in this place, that you would be glorified and exalted and praised and worshipped, and that in your mercy and in your kindness and in your grace you would send forth the Holy Spirit, that we may receive with thanksgiving your word. We pray that He would guide us and illumine our minds and our hearts, that He would show us the things of Christ, and may we indeed praise and honor You as a result of this study. We also ask that You would forgive us for our sin and our transgression. Whenever we consider the holiness of our God, the majesty of our God, we see our own sinfulness and our own waywardness.
So we confess our iniquities now, thanking You that we have an Advocate at the right hand of the Father, even Jesus Christ our Lord. And for any and all who have come here this morning outside of Christ, those who are in unbelief, we pray that you would do what is impossible with men. We pray that you would bring the conviction of sin and show sinners the glory of Christ and the fact that He alone saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through Him. Do this for your honor, for your praise, and for the good of men and women and boys and girls.
And we ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, as we considered last week,
Introduction
specifically in verses 19 to 25, we made the observation that the largest block of doctrinal teaching is from 5.1 to 10.18, and that section deals with the high priestly office of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that section, 5.1 to 10.18, is bookended, both in chapter 4, verses 14 to 16, and then the section we looked at last Sunday morning, chapter 10, verses 19 to 25. And essentially what the author does is he provides encouragements to the people of God, and then he sets forth exhortations. Look at verse 19.
Again, parallel to what we see in Hebrews 4, 14 to 16. Notice in verse 19 of chapter 10, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil that is His flesh. This is an encouragement for the people of God. We have access to the presence of the Father.
We now can enter into the holiest, the Holy of Holies, that place reserved for the High Priest in Israel alone, one day out of the calendar year. And then the second encouragement is found in verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God. So those two encouragements, access into the presence of the Father and the fact that we have the priest, Christ. And then he gives us these three exhortations, let us draw near.
In other words, you've been given this privilege, you've been given this benefit, use it. Draw near unto God. He then says in verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope. And then in verse 24, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.
So encouragement, exhortation, and now in verses 26 to 31 we find warning. And there are several warnings in the book of Hebrews. In many respects, verses 26 to 31 here parallels what we find in Hebrews chapter 6, and we'll identify that as we move along.
Three Observations Introduced
So we'll take up 26 to 31 this morning under three observations. First, the particular sin in view. Verses 26, 27, and then we'll pull from verse 29 as well. So the particular sin in view.
Secondly, the covenantal comparison made in verses 28 and 29. And then the terrifying punishment proposed in verses 30 and 31. Now if I were to ask you as believers in Jesus Christ, if you have ever read Hebrews 10, 26 to 31, and been stricken with fear, I suspect many of you would raise your hand. In fact, oftentimes persons read Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10, and they're weak saints, or they're struggling saints, or they're agonizing saints, and they see themselves in these particular passages.
Believe it or not, this exposition is born out of a desire to encourage the people of God. It doesn't sound like it on the front or the face of it, but that's the purpose this morning. I think that if we understand what the Apostle Paul, as I understand, is dealing with in Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10, then it ought to produce comfort for the souls of God's people. As well, it does issue a warning for those who are in unbelief.
Those who persist in their rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But let's look at the particular sin in view.
The Particular Sin in View
Notice, the willful sin in verse 26, for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth. Again, persons stumble here because they reckon or they conclude or they think, well, what I did yesterday when I raised my voice at my little baby, or I raised my voice, hopefully not at the baby, at the two-year-old, that was willful. Nobody put a gun to my head. Nobody put my arm behind my back.
No one told me to shout at that blessed, wonderful gift from God. It was a willful sin. And so persons see this particular statement, and they conclude, this is me. I'm the man.
I'm the woman. I'm the boy. I'm the girl. In verses 26 to 31.
Well, whatever this particular sin is, we have to realize the sin in view is not or cannot be those dealt with by Christ. Look at Hebrews 2.17 for just a moment. I think we're going to look first at what it isn't, what it doesn't mean, before we define what it is. Notice in Hebrews 2.17, the glory of the gospel is that we have a great high priest.
The glory of the gospel is that that great high priest deals with our sin. Not just our present sin, but our past sin and our future sin. Verse 217, "...therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." So if Christ accomplishes that, then whatever verse 26 means, it does not fall under that particular application. As well, the sin in view cannot be those which we, by God's grace, confess and forsake and find mercy for. 1 John 1, what does the Apostle tell us?
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In 1 John 2, he says, my little children, I write these things so that you may not sin. But, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. What does John assume?
He assumes that the believing people of God will continue to sin. And when those believing people of God plead the advocacy and the merit and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, they are forgiven. So verse 26 in Hebrews 10 cannot invalidate that reality. It cannot invalidate Psalm 130, verses 3 and 4.
If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who can stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Certain Psalms just sound better in the King James Version. As well, the sin identified in verse 26 cannot be those sudden, surprising sins, Owen's language, such as befell Peter.
Peter denied his Lord, didn't he? Peter denied Jesus Christ. Peter denied Jesus to a servant girl. And yet, by the grace of God, he found repentance.
By the grace of God, he found forgiveness. So whatever we say about Hebrews 10.26, we must conclude that it didn't apply to Peter, and as well, the sin in view cannot be to the large and vile sins. Now, I'm not justifying any sin. I don't want you to conclude that from our study this morning.
Don't sin. Be holy. Pursue those things which are pleasing in God's sight. But don't necessarily conclude you're outside the grace of God because there's remaining corruption in your life.
Paul says such in Romans 7 and Galatians 5. The Spirit lusts against the flesh, the flesh lusts against the Spirit. These two are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you want. There is the doctrine of remaining corruption, so chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse 26, does not invalidate that.
But when we think of large sins, when we think of benchmark sins, have you ever asked anybody, or have you ever talked to anybody, or shared the gospel, and you say, you know, I want to try and tell you that you're a sinner. People love that, don't they? Oh yeah, just tell me how bad I am. I want to try and convince you that you're a sinner.
Or do you think that you're a sinner? Well, no, I've never committed murder and I've never committed adultery. Raised as a papist, that was my go-to line. Whenever anybody tried to evangelize me with the truth of the gospel, I concluded and I told them, well, I've never killed anyone and I've never committed adultery.
So therefore, had no concept whatsoever of perpetual, exact, entire, and personal obedience to the law of God. Had no concept of that. But ask people. Tell them.
You're a sinner. Ask them if they believe you. And then they'll say stuff like, well, I've never done those big things. It's always intrigued me that those big things were atoned for by God with the case of David of Israel.
David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and in order to cover it, he murdered Uriah. And yet, he's in heaven, brethren. So whatever 1026 means, it does not mean that David and Peter are excluded. He says the occasion, the sin's occasion, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, that's the occasion wherein this sin is committed.
And he highlights this in Hebrews 2, 1 to 4. If we take Pauline authorship, 1 Timothy 2.4, 2 Timothy 2.25, 2 Timothy 3.7, this whole idea of the word of truth, the knowledge of the truth, the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth that God is holy, we are sinful, and that Christ is the only mediator between God and man. If we receive that truth, and then we engage in this willful sin described herein, then we are in a bad condition.
Owen says, "...they were such as unto whom the gospel had been preached, who upon conviction of its truth and sense of its power had taken upon them the public profession of it." You can go back to Hebrews 6 for just a moment to flesh this out in a little bit more detail. Hebrews chapter 6. Again, the language here causes the saint to stumble at times, but we need to realize that in Hebrews 4-6, he's not describing genuine believers. We're going to get to this in just a moment as to what it is.
But notice what he says in Hebrews 6-4. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, they had come under the power of the gospel, not savingly, but perhaps in a church context, in a church setting. They have tasted the heavenly gift. They haven't eaten it.
They haven't swallowed it. They haven't devoured it. They haven't been sustained by or provided the nourishment of it. They taste it.
They have become partakers of the Holy Spirit. Again, not savingly. It's not as if they are born-again believers in Jesus Christ. They come into the church, the gospel is preached, the Spirit is at work, and they are somewhat brought nigh.
And then he goes on to say, "...and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come." They come close, they make a profession, they hear the Word of Truth, and they affirm it at least to some degree. And then he goes on to describe in verse 6, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. So you see, there is this category of sin, not like what we've already described, David, Peter, those things we can confess and forsake and find mercy from God through Christ for, but there is those sins, or there is this category of sin. Persons hear the gospel, they make a profession of faith, they continue for a time, they look like the genuine article, they look like the real deal, but they turn away.
Note the sin's finality. He says, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
Apostasy Defined
I'll argue in just a moment, the particular sin in view is apostasy. It is a repudiation of the sacrifice of Christ. So you see the Apostle's argument. If the sacrifice of Christ is that once for all offering for sin, and we repudiate it, and we reject it, and we just disdain it, and we continue in obstinacy, there's no other sacrifice that exists out there.
There's no bull, or bullock, or lamb, or goat, or bird, or anything that we can bring. that can indeed atone for our sins when we have taken our stand against Yahweh and against His Christ, specifically at the cross. He says there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. The sin in view cannot be atoned for by the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ because the sin in view is an utter rejection of that once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. Therefore, there's not another sacrifice out there.
This is it. You've got a sin problem this morning. If you're not a believer, you've got a sin problem even if you are a believer. Your problem is real.
You turn on the television, or you flip on the Internet, or you look at the papers, and they're going to tell you what your problem is. You don't have enough money. You don't have enough good looks. You don't have enough wisdom.
You don't have enough skills to compete in the marketplace. All those may be issues, but your problem is alienation from God. Your problem is that God counts you an enemy, and you count Him an enemy. And if you reject the one sacrifice for all offered by Jesus Christ, if you continue in unbelief and continue to repudiate that, there's no hope for you elsewhere.
You can't go down to the Buddhist wherever, or to the Shinto temple, or you can't go to the Muslim imam and find another pathway to avail with God. You see, if you reject the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. It's a terrifying thing, and that's why the passage speaks in such stark warning. Calvin says, but Christ's sacrifice is efficacious to the godly even to death.
See, Calvin knows that he's not dealing with genuine believers here. He says, Christ's sacrifice is efficacious to the godly even to death, though they often sin. Nay, it retains ever its efficacy for this very reason, because we continue to sin, because they cannot be free from sin as long as they dwell in the flesh. The apostle then refers to those alone who wickedly forsake Christ and thus deprive themselves of the benefit of His death.
In other words, what the apostle is dealing with is apostasy. That is a defection from, that is a rejection of, that is an obstinate repudiation of the Christian gospel, of the truth as it is in Jesus. Now, note how he goes on to describe the apostate in verse 29.
Three Marks of the Apostate
He gives us three particulars concerning this particular category of sin. He says in the first place, the apostate has trampled the Son of God underfoot. Notice verse 29. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot?
That's powerful language, isn't it? It's very powerful. Notice what he says in Hebrews 6. We already read it in verse 6.
"...if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame." Here he describes it as trampling underfoot the Son of God. Now, it doesn't speak to the fact that they genuinely do this. It's not the case that a sinner can actually pull Christ off of His throne and trample Him underfoot. Gil explains, could they, the apostate, have had their will of him, they would have pulled him from his throne and trampled upon him.
It is a phrase expressive of the utmost scorn, contempt, and ill usage, and which such are guilty of who deny his deity and eternal sonship. who render Him useless in His offices, undervalue His sacrifice, despise His righteousness and strip Him of the glory of His person, office and grace. They trample Him underfoot in their rejection of, in their repudiation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, when they obstinately deny, when they turn to some other path, when they go after some other means, they are, as it were, trampling Christ underfoot. Notice the second description that He gives us of this apostate in verse 29.
Comfort for Struggling Saints
Just before we move on, I want to encourage the saints of God that oftentimes struggle. It's interesting, the commentators, when they come to this passage, acknowledge the people that are most affected by Hebrews 10, 26 to 31 are weak saints. It's not the apostates. Apostates aren't in churches right now concerned for their souls.
Apostates don't go to Bible studies learning about the crucifixion so they can, by God's grace, come to Christ. Brethren, there's a huge difference between spitting in the face of the high priest and agonizing over your sin, confessing them to God and pleading the advocacy of the high priest. Do you see that? We're not dealing with the former.
We're not dealing with the saint who is exercising 1 John 1.9, who is confessing his sins and asking for forgiveness. We're dealing with somebody who tramples underfoot the Son of God. Notice what else he does according to verse 29. He counts the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing." Now, there's a false idea here that the he involved is himself.
The idea seems to be that, well, he's sanctified, me, the believer, or me, the professing believer, is sanctified by the blood of the covenant. It really sounds like somebody can lose their salvation. The he in this particular statement is Christ. He is sanctified.
He is set apart. He is the high priest of God, for service unto God. So what the apostate is doing, according to verse 29, he counts the blood of the covenant by which Christ was sanctified a common thing. It's nothing that demands my attention.
It's nothing that deserves my focus. It's not something that concerns me whatsoever. It's not the idea that the sinner himself was sanctified and somehow lost that sanctification. It's that Christ was sanctified for performance as priest before the living God according to the eternal covenant, and it's in that light that this apostate counts it as an unclean thing.
And then notice the third thing the apostate does, and he insults the Spirit of grace. He insults the Spirit of grace. The Spirit is referred to in the other warnings contained in the book of Hebrews. The Spirit, according to 9.14, is the one through whom Christ offered up His sacrifice.
And the Spirit is active in the proclamation of the gospel. Owen notes the two particulars characteristic of these men, these women, these boys and girls, these apostates, is that they deny and reject and repudiate the blood of Jesus Christ, and they deny and reject and insult the spirit of grace. He makes the sideline application, such were they who fell off from the gospel unto Judaism in those days. Remember we have argued at least last week and several times at least that I remember that the Apostle Paul is most likely the author of the book of Hebrews, that it was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and that it's specifically directed to Hebrew Christians.
That's why it's got the name Hebrews, those of the Jews who professed faith in Christ, those who, of the Jews, made this profession and now are being tempted to turn back. Leave off this Nazarene and come back to Moses. Leave off this spiritual sacrifice and come back to the Levitical system. That's why the author takes pains to highlight the superiority of Jesus Christ, to exhort, to encourage, to challenge the people that have made this profession, to endure, to hold fast the confession of their hope, to not let go.
Much of this epistle is written in that particular context. Doesn't mean it doesn't apply now to those who apostatize from profession of faith and, you know, join Islam or join Hinduism or just become an atheist or whatever. Certainly applies to that category as well. But as Owen notes, it did have relevance in the first century.
Such were they who fell off from the gospel into Judaism in those days. So he deals with the particular sin. It's a willful sin. But before we move on, note the certain expectation of verse 27.
If you do this, then this is essentially his argument. If we willfully sin after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. But notice, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. There is a fearful expectation of judgment for those who reject Christ.
If, as I've said, your problem isn't that you're not handsome enough, or your problem isn't that you're not rich enough, or you're not well-educated enough, your problem is sin. You know what the end of sin is? Wages of sin is death. God Most High cuts off sinners on that day of judgment, and He sends them to hell.
The apostle alludes to this reality. He may also allude to the destruction of Jerusalem, which came via burning, fiery indignation from God.
The Certain Expectation of Judgment
But note as well what verse 27 indicates about our interpretation concerning apostasy. It confirms it. Look how he addresses the people in view. but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fire and indignation which will devour the adversaries." Now certainly, every sin you commit is adversarial in the sight of God. But if we confess our sins, we forsake our sins, we plead the merit of Christ vis-Ã -vis 1 John 1.
We're not adversaries. You're not an adversary if you don't spit in the face of the high priest, but you plead with him. To point you to the sacrifice, to point you to the merits and the mercies. See, I was thinking about this.
I don't know that high priests did this in Old Covenant Israel. They meet, you know, people for coffee at the local Jerusalem Starbucks. Did they, you know, hang out and, you know, talk about soulish matters? Well, if they did, that man, that woman who comes to meet with the high priest and says, I'm struggling with sin, I've got these issues, I've got this remaining corruption, I've got this evil in me that I don't want to do, and the good I want to do, I don't find myself doing.
That's a different scenario for him to go to the high priest seeking out help and therapy and some sort of treatment, rather than him spitting in the face of the high priest. God doesn't count us as adversaries in Christ. We've got issues, we've got challenges, we've got problems, but we are not opposers of the living God. We are in Christ.
The Geneva Bible makes this comment in this place. For it is another matter to sin through the frailty of man's nature, and another thing to proclaim war, as it were, to God as an enemy. The Apostle isn't dealing with us in our frailty. He's not dealing with us in our remaining corruption.
He's dealing with the adversaries who have raised their fist at God Most High, who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have counted the blood of the covenant an unclean thing, and who have insulted the Spirit of Grace. Those are the adversaries of Jehovah. Not the Saint of Christ who goes before God and says, be merciful to me, the sinner. You see, how many times have you read this passage of Hebrews 6 and found yourself here and described and gotten shaken?
Again, I don't want you to be comfortable with sin. I can go home and sin now because Butler said that doesn't apply to me. You continue in rebellion and wickedness against God. That's not good for your soul.
But brethren, one of the glorious aspects of the glorious gospel is the priestly office of Christ. The 1st John 2.1 reality, and if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Or this Hebrews 10.21 reality, and having a high priest over the house of God. Five bleeding wounds, he pleads, received on Calvary's tree.
This is a blessed reality. So the passage does not speak concerning David, Peter, or those who confess their sins and seek mercy from God on the basis of the priestly office of Christ. I don't believe God will ever send a sinner to hell who actually sings and means it from the heart. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame. Moat knew us, didn't he, when he wrote that hymn. Aren't we inclined to trust sweet frames? Well, I feel especially good today, so I'm happy in my relationship with the Lord.
I feel especially accomplished this week, so I'll participate in the supper. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, because when that sweet frame ends, when that sweet frame banishes, what will be of my soul? I'll be in panic, I'll be in confusion, I'll be perplexed. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
You see, brethren, if by the grace of God, that's you. You're not the apostate in Hebrews 6 or Hebrews 10. Now note, secondly, by way of a larger concern, and we're going to not spend so much time in this section, because I wanted to hopefully identify who's in view here.
The Covenantal Comparison
Note the covenantal comparison made, verses 28 and 29. Now, this isn't a detailed, systematic, you know, comparison and contrast of the two covenants. He's giving us a specific understanding in terms of the crime or the sin of rejecting the offer of grace in Christ. Notice, the penalty in the Old Covenant Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
You've all read the Old Testament, you've participated in our studies, and Wednesday night when we went through in detail the book of Deuteronomy, probably behind the Apostles' words here is Deuteronomy 17, wherein a transgression of the covenant as a whole was in view. The comparison seems to be that if you reject the offer of God in Christ in the New Covenant, that is akin to engaging in idolatry, to transgressing or violating the entirety of the covenant in the Old Testament. And he says specifically, you understand this, and he's writing again to Hebrew Christians or those who professed faith who were Jewish. They would understand what he's talking about.
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Now note, he speaks of a greater penalty in the New Covenant. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose? I mentioned just a little while ago what one of the concerns of the author is in the book of Hebrews.
It is to demonstrate the superiority of Christ. It is to demonstrate the supremacy of Jesus. He is over the angels. He is the definitive word.
God spoke to us by the prophets, but now He has spoken to us in the Son. He's over the prophets. He's over the angels. He's better than Moses.
He's better than Joshua. He offers up these several lines of evidence to confirm the reality that Christ is superior. What's the implication according to verse 29? If He is superior and you reject Him, how much worse punishment?
The specific punishment in Deuteronomy 17 was to take them out and to stone them to death. There's a worse punishment for trampling underfoot the Son of God, for counting the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified as an unclean thing, and by insulting the Spirit of grace. There's a worse thing than being taken out today and stoned in the parking lot of the Free Grace Baptist Church. He will develop this in just a moment.
It is to fall into the hands of the living God. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
Unbeliever Versus Apostate
Now, before we move on, I want us to consider that not every unbeliever is an apostate. Every unbeliever and an apostate share a common bond. They do not believe the gospel. These apostates had come under the word.
It looked as if they were the real deal. They had made a profession of faith. They had made some sort of a confession or self-identification that they were one of God's people, and then they sin willfully. They deny the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
They repudiate the work of Christ on behalf of sinners. So again, all unbelievers have that in them, that they are like the apostate in that they do not believe the gospel. But not all unbelievers have reached that particular point. where there's this obstinacy and where there's this rejection. In fact, in his comments on Hebrews chapter 6, Owen makes this very valid observation.
He says, Nor does he, the apostle, teach anything whereby the conscience of any sinner who desires to return to God and to find acceptance with Him should be discouraged or disheartened. So before we move on, if you're an unbeliever here this morning, do not necessarily conclude that you're an apostate. But if you continue in your unbelief, you get closer and closer to that precipice. You get closer and closer to that edge.
You get closer and closer to that hardened heart and that state of soul wherein you cross over. And you can be considered as one who tramples underfoot the Son of God. You can be considered as one who has rejected all things Christ. But if you're not that apostate, you're still under the sound of the Gospel, You're still under the preaching of the Word.
You still have that concept of God, and Christ, and man, and His sin in particular, and the need for atonement, the need for redemption. Take Owen's encouragement to heart. There ought not to be anything whereby the conscience of any sinner who desires to return to God and to find acceptance with Him should be discouraged or disheartened. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
See, that's always the answer for us, isn't it? It's what you hear, I hope, every Sunday when we gather together here, in the morning and the evening, at least in one form or another. That's what we exhort. That's what we call.
That's what we encourage. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of saying this morning, am I that guy? Look and live.
Am I that girl? Look and live. Believe on Him. Turn from your sins by the grace of God and know the joy of being found in Him.
Not having your own righteousness, which is from the law, because you ain't got none, but that righteousness which is from God through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Believe. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. We've gone through this many times.
When that serpent was lifted up and that bitten Jew was, you know, struggling in his pain, the call wasn't, drag yourself over and kiss that brazen serpent. Drag yourself over after having sucked out the poison. It was look and live. You know what God's word to you today is?
If you are in your sins, look and live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved as the testimony of Holy Scripture.
The Terrifying Punishment Proposed
Notice in the third place, the terrifying punishment proposed, verses 30 and 31. The vengeance of God. He says, For we know Him, verse 30, who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Now that word vengeance causes us to suspect that God is sort of like us.
We, you know, stub our toe on the coffee table and then we give it a kick with our other foot. There's a vengeful spirit in us. We want to exact punishment and we want to bring, you know, our mind and our hearts to bear on a situation. So we hear that word applied to God, we start to suppose that perhaps He's like us.
Is He lashing out in this fiery vengeance wherein He, you know, He cannot contain Himself or control Himself? Gil explains this well. He says, Vengeance belongs to God, not as to the affection, as if there were any such passion in Him, but as to the effect, there being that produced by Him, which answers to the effect of such passion among men, namely punishment. By this phrase, wherein God says, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, we are to understand properly concerning God, His holiness, His righteousness, His justice.
In other words, when you continually reject the offers of grace proposed to you in the gospel, there is proposed to you a terrifying judgment from God Most High. And then notice, before we move actually, your problem this morning, if you are in sin, and by that I mean you're not a Christian, you haven't believed, your problem isn't with your converted spouse. I mean, that may cause some friction and tension when light and dark try to dwell in the same, you know, habitation together, same house together. There may be some friction and difficulty.
If you're unconverted as a child this morning, your main issue isn't your parents. They're going to be so upset when they find out that I've been living this life of lies. They're going to be so upset when they find out. If they, you know, look at my search history on my computer, or they seize my phone and they go through it, they're going to be so upset.
The problem is the living God. It's what the apostle says here. Again, not to minimize parental authority and those sorts of social relationships that we thrive on and flourish in and hopefully will try and maintain with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but note what he says. Your problem is with God.
For we know Him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge his people. And he summarizes, he concludes with this statement in verse 31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The absolute contrast with the believer, right?
Do the believers say it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God? No, that's exactly where believers want to be, isn't it? Don't you want to be in the hands of the living God? Don't you want to know the nearness of God is my good?
We considered Psalm 67 last week. How does the psalmist pray? God be merciful to us and bless us and cause His face to shine upon us, echoing that Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6. This is the apex of the Christian faith.
We have access to the holiest. The believer loves to fall into the hands of the living God. But remember, we're not dealing with the believer in this passage. We're dealing with the adversary of God.
We're dealing with the enemy of God. We're dealing with the one who has squared himself against God. And this is the apostle's word of absolute terrifying warning that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You will indeed be punished.
You will indeed be cut off. You will indeed be cast into the fire that burns forever. That place that Jesus spoke of many, many times in his earthly ministry. You've got to take these things seriously.
Again, I think this transcends anything that's important in our lives. I've got to get good grades at school. I've got to maintain a good relationship with my employer. All that stuff's important, but where do you stand today before this living God?
He's not a dead god. He's not the gods of the heathen. How does the psalmist describe him? He doesn't have ears.
Or he says concerning the idols, they have ears, but they don't hear. They have eyes, but they don't see. They have noses, but they don't smell. They have mouths, but they don't speak.
God is spirit. He doesn't need ears. He doesn't need eyes. He doesn't need a mouth in order to do all those things, because he's most pure spirit.
You see, the living God, in contrast to the dead idols of heathen man, that's who you will fall into, or whose hands you will fall into ultimately on the day of judgment.
Three Concluding Observations
I want to conclude with three observations here. The first, the connection the text assumes. The connection the text assumes. We ought not to read 26 to 31 apart from 19 to 25.
I think the flow goes something like this. The apostle gives us our encouragement in 19 to 21. You have access, you have a high priest. And then he gives us encouragement.
Let us draw near. Let us hold fast, and let us consider one another. What's the emphasis now? If you reject these things, If you do not do these things, if you are not drawing nigh unto God, if you are not holding fast the confession of your hope, if you are not stirring one another up to love and good deeds, then you're in a perilous position.
You are on that precipice. You're looking over, as it were, into apostasy. Owen sees this with reference to the connection. In those verses, the apostle gives vehement enforcement of his preceding exhortation.
In those verses, 26 to 31, he gives a vehement enforcement of his preceding exhortation. Let us draw near, let us hold fast, let us consider one another. Owen says, "...from the dreadful consequences of a total neglect of it, or uncompliance with it." In other words, you're not saved because you draw near, you're not saved because you hold fast, you're not saved because you consider one another. Those are consequences of justification by faith.
When by the grace of God we believe the gospel of God, we are now enabled to draw near. We are now enabled to hold fast the confession of our hope. We are now enabled to consider one another, to stir them up to love and good deeds. These things flow from us having been saved.
So what ought we to conclude? If those things are absent, then it's questionable whether faith is there. You should appreciate the close connection between these two sections. If you continue to not draw near, you continue to not hold fast, you continue to not consider one another, You are edging closer to this 26 to 31 eventuality.
Please, please appreciate that. And please see how important it is, by the grace of God, to draw near, to hold fast, to consider one another. In many ways, this encompasses the Christian faith. Doesn't it?
And he's going to go on and give us several exhortations later in Hebrews 13, you know, we are not to be discontent with the things we have, we're not to be covetousness, we're not to defile the marriage bed. All those are several applications of what it is to live as men and women in Christ. But if we consider these three drawing near to God, holding fast the confession of our hope, Considering one another, in many respects, this encompasses the entirety. So if those things are absent in our lives, then we might conclude the absence of justifying faith.
There is a close connection between the two sections that you ought not to neglect. In the second place, I want to bring out the warning the text communicates. So we've got the connection the text assumes, the warning the text communicates.
The Warning the Text Communicates
The apostate willfully rejects the truth of the Gospel. He's heard it, perhaps made a confession or a profession of faith, now he willfully rejects it. He repudiates the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The apostate places himself in a position where repentance is impossible.
Hebrews 6. Again, I don't think the idea is a poor, agonizing sinner saying, I want to repent! I want to trust! He doesn't want to!
He's thrown it all off! He's trampled underfoot the Son of God! He's put him to hope and shame, according to Hebrews 6. He has no interest, he has no desire, there's no longing for repentance.
But if you get to this place, in apostasy, it is a dreadful position to be in. The apostate makes God his enemy and will ultimately be dealt with, according to strict justice, by God Almighty. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Just read the Old Testament.
See how the comparison is made. They died when they broke Moses' law. They were taken outside the camp and they were executed. I don't want to... you know, get to New Living translation-ish with the interpretation, but essentially what the author is saying, and how much worse, he's saying, that's a walk in the park to what's going to happen when you have willfully rejected the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. The apostate as well, we need to understand, isn't just the crack dealer that lives down the street, I think we get this conception. There are really bad people out there. They wear t-shirts that say, I hate God, or I'm the Antichrist, or something like that.
Do you realize, in this given context, if someone made the profession of faith in Christ, and then they went back to Judaism, how would those people have looked? There would have been an appearance of piety. They went to the synagogue, they went through the sacrificial system, There would have been an appearance of piety. So the apostate can't be seen because he's got horns, and he carries a pitchfork, and he's got this long tail, and he wears a robe, and he declares himself an avowed enemy of God.
To repudiate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for another religion. To reject the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our self-righteousness. If you are trusting in your ability, or in your works, or in your goodness, or whatever the supposed cause you may think will commend you to God, you're as much an apostate. It's not just the guys out there that look shady.
They can look pious, they can look holy, they can make long prayers for a pretext. What does Jesus say in His given context? The harlots and the publicans, they enter the kingdom of heaven and you are cast out, the religious ones. Who's the apostate in that particular scheme? or those two men who go to pray and the Pharisee stands there and basically, in prayer, congratulates himself.
Don't pray like the Pharisee. Nobody at prayer meeting wants to hear how great you are. We want to hear how great God is. Thank you, God, that I'm not like other men.
Thank you that I'm not an extortioner. Thank you that I'm not an adulterer. Thank you that I'm not like this wretch standing over here. I'm quite the polished, accomplished person.
I fast twice a week. I tithe of all that. We don't want to hear that in prayer. What happens with the public then?
He can't even look up to heaven. He beats his breast and he says, God be merciful to me. The sinner. Jesus says, this one goes to his house justified.
Who's the apostate in that scenario? It's the man who looked polished. It's the man who looked pious. It's the man who looked good.
You see, I think there is that in the minds and hearts of people. They think, well, I'm not a crack dealer. I'm not a prostitute. I'm not engaged in internet pornography.
I don't do all those horrific things. But you repudiate the offer of mercy. You reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You, as it were, trample underfoot the Son of God.
You put Him to open shame. You're not in a good position there. You need to lay down your opposition and believe on the Lord Jesus. And in the third and final place,
The Comfort the Text Affords
I want to look at the comfort the text affords. This may be a bit of a harder sale. I think the warning is obvious. I think it's evident.
I think as we read through this passage, we are sufficiently warned. But how does it provide comfort? Well, the text speaks specifically to apostasy. A defection from, a falling away from God.
We see it in the context. Verse 27, they're identified as adversaries. We see it in the larger context. The description of apostates in verse 29, vis-a-vis, trampling underfoot, counting the blood of the covenant an unclean thing, and insulting the spirit of grace.
We see it in larger concern of the book of Hebrews. Don't turn back from Christ. Don't go back to the sacrificial system. Christ is superior to Aaron.
Christ is the altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. Christ is the one whom you should have allegiance toward. As well, the biblical theological argument. David and Peter are in heaven, brethren.
David, when found out, after a while, Nathan comes. Nathan tells him the story. David gets upset. He's upset about the story about the man who had the little ewe lamb, and that big bully came and took it away to make dinner for his visiting friend.
David's incensed and he's outraged, and Nathan says, Thou art the man. Then God uses Nathan to say, I gave you houses. I gave you wives. I gave you, gave you, gave you.
And if this was enough, I would have given you much more. God, through Nathan, pronounces the judgment that is going to befall David. The sword will never depart from your house. I will raise up from your own house adversity, and your wives will be publicly violated in the sight of all Israel.
David does confess, I have sinned against Yahweh. And what happens? God atones for his sin. David's in heaven, brethren.
So is Peter. See, the biblical theological argument, taking Scripture as a whole, will tell us that 1026 cannot refer to those two particular men. Now, as well, I've got a historical argument. Here I'm going to lean on some of the giants of the faith that we respect and we love and we know.
I think I've shared with you before, I don't like that, not that I don't like it, but I'm really uncomfortable with whiny pastors who think that theirs is the hardest job in the world. It's not brain surgery. You brethren here work hard. I hear about some of your days, 19 hours, 20 hours.
You guys work hard. Pastors should work hard, but they ought not to whine and think. They're in this class or category all by themselves that nobody knows about, and isn't it rough to be us? There is one thing that is difficult as a pastor that I will concede.
It's giving counsel to needy souls. Because I imagine if I was a brain surgeon and I had a shaky hand and I messed something up, I'd really not like to deal with the consequences of either A. killing that person or B. rendering him handicapped for the rest of his life. There's a certain risk involved in brain surgery. There's a certain risk involved in giving spiritual counsel to needy souls. if I can lean upon these brothers to hopefully help you to see that I'm not being novel here.
I didn't just pull this rabbit out of the hat this morning. Listen to some of these other men concerning the sin of apostasy, or a falling away from, or defection from the gospel of Christ. Owen on Hebrews 10. Wherefore, the sin here intended is plainly a relinquishment and renunciation of the truth of the gospel and the promises thereof, with all duties thereunto belonging, after we have been convinced of its truth and avowed its excellency and power." All the puritanical language notwithstanding, you ought to understand, it is a relinquishment and renunciation of the truth.
Oh, and on Hebrews 6, it must consist in a total renunciation of all the constituent principles and doctrines of Christianity whence it is denominated. Such was the sin of them who relinquished the gospel to return unto Judaism, as it was then stated, in opposition unto it and hatred of it. This it was, and not any kind of actual sins that the apostle manifestly discourses concerning. You've got to understand what he says there, not of actual sins.
What does that mean? We have an advocate with the Father. When we sin, we confess, we forsake, we find mercy from God. It's a different thing to spit in the face of the high priest than to plead his merit and his mercy.
Owen, on Hebrews 6, this is the falling away intended by the apostle. A voluntary, resolved relinquishment of an apostasy from the gospel. The faith, rule, and obedience thereof, which cannot be without casting the highest reproach and harshest language imaginable upon the person of Christ himself. Calvin, on Hebrews 6.
There is a twofold falling away, one particular and the other general. He who has in anything or in any way is offended has fallen away from his state as a Christian. Therefore, all sins are so many failings." So what he says is that all sin, in some sense, is a falling away. You go home today and you yell at your two-year-old, that's a falling away.
That's not the falling away that's in view in this particular passage. He says, but the apostle here speaks, and I just don't think we would ever write this today. I don't. I don't think we're as honest as these brothers are.
Listen to what Calvin says. He says, but the apostle speaks not here of theft, or perjury, or murder, or drunkenness, or adultery. If we confess our sins, those little bitty tiny ones, then he is faithful and just to forgive us. No.
If we confess our sins, those big, nasty, wretched ones, He is faithful and just to forgive us. Again, do not go home and say, wow, I get to sin. Don't do that. But you need to understand that we have forgiveness with God that He may be feared.
Again, back to Calvin. He says, the apostle speaks not here of theft or perjury or murder or drunkenness or adultery, but he refers to a total defection or falling away from the gospel when a sinner offends not God in some one thing, but entirely renounces His grace. Again, Calvin on Hebrews 10, I read this earlier. But Christ's sacrifice is efficacious to the godly even to death, though they often sin.
Nay, it retains ever its efficacy for this very reason, because they cannot be free from sin as long as they dwell in the flesh. The apostle then refers to those alone who wickedly forsake Christ and thus deprive themselves of the benefit of his death. Gil on Hebrews 10 says it intends a total apostasy from the truth against light and evidence joined with obstinacy. And then our Sinus in his commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism in his discussion of church discipline.
He says an apostate is not one who occasionally or even often offends in doctrine and life and repents again of his sin. But is such an one who, being convicted of error and open wickedness, is still unwilling to abandon his sins and to renounce his errors? You see, what goes into this Hebrews 10.26-31 context is total rejection, a renunciation, an obstinacy, a defiance, one making themselves adversaries of the living God. If that's not you this morning, but you're not a believer, then believe. you're inching closer and closer to that place.
I think I've told you before, when our kids were little, we were reading through the Book of Exodus and the Ten Plagues. You know, it talks about God hardening Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh's heart got hard. We took a piece of bread and put it on the counter during that time that we were reading that, and we noticed that that bread just got harder and harder and harder. It didn't get softer, softer, softer.
It got harder, harder, harder. So every time you come unto the Gospel, every time you reject, every time you resist, It's kind of like that bread. You just get harder and harder and harder. Come to the Savior.
Believe on Him. You have warrant in Scripture to look unto Him and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, God says through the prophet. For I am God and there is no other.
Brethren, this text speaks to apostasy. The Gospel speaks to believers. There is remaining corruption in the heart of God's people. Again, I don't want you to be free to go out and sin, but I want you to find comfort in the Savior, comfort in the Advocate.
Romans 7 and Galatians 5 indicate this remaining corruption. Our confession said this before, if we understand doctrine, it provides comfort. If you understand the truth as it is in Jesus, if you understand the truth as it's been articulated by the church, there's great comfort. I think for any believer that is struggling, those who are frail, which is all of us, those who are weak, those of us who have remaining corruption, we'd do well to reflect upon the London Confession of Faith, 17.3.
Again, listen to the honesty and the realism that these brothers put forth in this paragraph. There's not stuff written like this today. And though they may, talking about genuine believers in Christ, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins. and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit. They come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded.
They hurt and scandalize others." Doesn't that sound like what we do? Isn't that a picture of each and every one of us at some point in our Christian life? and they bring temporal judgments upon themselves, yet they shall renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end. The author doesn't end here. The author turns a corner.
He calls to their remembrance the past as a present reminder. And then he describes genuine Christians in verses 38 and 39. Now, the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
And that by the power and the goodness of our great and glorious God. I'm not telling you to go out and sin, but when you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. God is not going to upbraid you, God is not going to reprove you, God is not going to hold you in contempt and reproach for using the mediation of Christ. That is precisely what we are supposed to do vis-a-vis 1 John 2.1.
So be encouraged, be strengthened, be helped, and hopefully be comforted by this look at Hebrews 10, 26 to 31. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for the clarity of Your Word and the consistency of Your Word and the glory of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What an amazing truth that God has sent the Son into this world to live in obedience to the law, to die as a sacrifice at the cross, and to be raised the third day. And as Paul says so wonderfully, he was delivered up because of our offenses and raised up for our justification. I pray that you would encourage your people here this morning, that you would strengthen each and every one of us and cause us to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And for any and all here this morning that have not come to Christ, we pray that today would be the day of salvation. We pray that you'd open their hearts to hear the truth, and by grace to believe that truth. We praise You now. We would ask that You would go with us, and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.