Warning of Continual Sin

Hebrews 10:26-39

Introduction

Good morning and let me welcome you again to Hope Bible Fellowship. If we have children in the room who would like to take part in our children’s ministry time, they can be dismissed to the back doors where our leaders will accompany them to their room.

I invite the rest of you to open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 26.

According to Britannica William Wilberforce was...

...a British politician and philanthropist who from 1787 was prominent in the struggle to abolish the slave trade and then to abolish slavery itself in British overseas possessions. His advocacy was driven by the fact that He had become a Christian. There was a movie called Amazing Grace that was made about him several years ago.

Young William Wilberforce was discouraged one night in the early 1790s after another defeat in his 10 year battle against the slave trade in England. Tired and frustrated, he opened his Bible and began to leaf through it. A small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. It was a letter written by John Wesley shortly before his death. Wilberforce read it again: "Unless the divine power has raised you up... I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that (abominable practice of slavery), which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might." 

And John Wesley knew a thing or two about perseverance. There are some entries of particular interest in his diary.

From the diary of John Wesley. . .

Sunday, A.M., May 5    Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come back anymore.

Sunday, P.M., May 5     Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out and stay out."

Sunday, A.M., May 12    Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there, either.

Sunday, A.M., May 19    Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return.

Sunday, P.M., May 19    Preached on street. Kicked off street.

Sunday, A.M., May 26    Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.

Sunday, A.M., June 2    Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.

Sunday, P.M., June 2    Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.

Today, we come today to another of the difficult passages in Hebrews. We study and preach the whole council of God. When we look at scripture, we take the things that are pleasant for us and the things that are difficult for us to understand and we trust it as God’s Word. This is why we favor expository preaching here at Hope Bible Fellowship. That simply means that we want to expose the meaning of the Bible and apply it to the lives of the people.

In today’s passage we find another solemn warning from the author to these Jewish believers, likely around Rome. The author’s purpose here is to exhort the readers in their faith and affirm it based on their past perseverance. We will be looking at the dangers of continuing in deliberate sin, how we should remember the faithfulness of God in our past, and the Gospel as the foundation that holds us firmly in place.

Hebrews 10:26–39 ESV

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand and apply it to our lives.

Before we get into the first main point for today I want to point you to the context of this passage. It appears directly following the verses from last week on not neglecting to gather together for worship and an exhortation to encourage one another more because the day of the Lord is drawing near. This passage that follows is a stark warning against apostasy and ends with an urgent call to persevere in the faith.

On Continuing in Deliberate Sin…

As we look through the book of Hebrews, we see five exhortations or warnings given to the people. This passage is the fourth of the five and focuses on the rejection of God’s truth and the consequences of that rejection.

The person described in these verses is someone who has been around the Christian community and therefore, heard the truth of the Gospel. This person may be identified by others as part of the Christian community. However, their willful and continued sinning and refusal to repent shows them as never having been genuine believers in the first place.

Deliberate sin: the idea of going on in sin

This person never embraced the Gospel in a way that resulted in a changed life. They never exhibited a life of faith, obedience, and the bearing of fruit as the result of embracing the Gospel.

This is the great tragedy in this passage. There are those who will regularly be around the church, around the body of Christ. They will even see the work of the Lord in people’s lives and yet they will never truly believe and become Christ followers.

They have rejected the only possibility for forgiveness and there is therefore, no longer a sacrifice for their sins. They rejected the only thing that could have saved them. And if they never come to repentance then when they die they will spend an eternity separated from God in hell.

All people face judgement apart from Christ.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These verses function to call genuine Christians to faith, obedience, and perseverance.

If there is no fruit in their lives, this should challenge them to give fearful consideration to whether they are a genuine believer or not.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

v. 28-29 Argument here is from the lesser to the greater

It is followed by a description of a person who has deliberately, consciously, and persistently deserted “ the living God.” This person has renounced Christ and the community of faith.

Again, this is deliberate. It is something they have done on purpose. They have heard the truth and seen Christians living out the Christian life and they have shown that they are rejecting it. They are saying that they would rather have their sin. This is a serious and deadly offense.

According to the passage, this person has done three things:

1. They have trampled underfoot the Son of God.

2. They have profaned the blood of the covenant.

3. They have outraged the Spirit of God.

They have insulted God.

This person who had been identified with the community has renounced that identification. He is saying that he’s not on the team. This person’s apostasy (define) is evidence that his identification with the Christian community was superficial. He was not a true and genuine believer.

This passage should be a means by which the truly elect will be braced and provoked to persevere in faith and obedience so as to be saved.

Remember His faithfulness…

The author goes on to remind the Christians of their perseverance even in suffering. He is telling them to remember the evidence of faith in their lives displayed through their persevering in suffering.

Listed sufferings

v. 35-36

Given the endurance of the people, he urges the continuing confidence. This endurance has it’s goal as inheriting the promised salvation.

God is faithful to keep his promises. Remember His faithfulness. He will help us endure and stand up under persecution. He is the granter of faith and the one who works salvation.

Stand firm on the Gospel

The author goes on to encourage perseverance in the lives of his readers. He lets them know that the wait for the end will be short.

The righteous live by faith. Faith is required from the righteous. As those who have perfect standing before God because of the blood of Christ, we are expected to live by faith.

Romans 1:17 (ESV)

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Galatians 3:11–14 (ESV)

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

We who have heard the Gospel must hold to faith in Christ alone for salvation and for the strength to live and persevere. We cooperate in the process of sanctification as we live out the will of God through the study of the Word and other spiritual disciplines. We must stand firm on the truth of the Gospel.

Landing the plane

+ How does this impact individual lives?

It’s not about striving harder but leaning into Jesus more.

Recognizing that you can not do it on your own.

The message of the Gospel.

Genuine conversion

Perseverance - what does it look like in your life?

+ How does this impact churches - being careful about who you admit to membership and focusing on regenerate membership

Obedience to do God’s will

Last week we heard about how some had habitually given up the gathering together for worship and here in the very next passage we have someone who has gone from neglect to out and out rejecting the faith community and even the faith itself.

We should be on guard against unbelief.

Stay close. Do they things that build your affections for Christ.

Not for fear of judgement but because you see Christ as a great treasure that you would give up anything for. The call of a Christian is a call to come and die. Die to yourself, your sin, your own desires, and live… Live for Christ, by Christ, in Christ. He was so intent on this that He came and gave His life for you to experience it. Won’t you give yourself to Him today?