Keep your Confidence
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Every so often we run into passages that seem to be at odds with something that we read in another part of the Bible. This is one of those passages.
The careful reader will have come across several places where we are very clearly told that God’s people, his chosen people, his special people, will be saved. When God saves a person he is not thwarted, even by our own stupidity.
Some people mistakenly think that God’s salvation is all grace up until the part that the baptism hits, and then it’s all on you from there out. That why there was a practice of waiting till death to be baptised. There are some verses that could make you think that way if you don’t read the scriptures carefully.
Instead we find that the scriptures say things like:
Nothing can Separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus - Rom 8:39.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ - Phil 1:6.
Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.”
John 10:27–28 “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.”
Hebrews 10:14 “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
...And more besides!
Yet after we read wonderful passages like those, that assure us that God’s salvation is given by him, and secured by him and guaranteed by him, we read a passage like this today that seem to indicate - it’s all on you man. Don’t make bad choices or you’ll loose your salvation.
This seeming contradiction has caused a bunch of Christians a bunch of consternation and confusion. Is it all on me? Is God just leaving me to my own devices? I can’t even keep my New Year gym commitment perfectly, and yet it’s on me to secure my salvation?
Well you’d be un-surprised to discover that I’m going to make the case that God isn’t double-minded, and that we can have understanding and clarity around these issues. There is an explanation and it doesn’t involve ignoring one passage to accept another.
God is the author of our story. He knows the end from the beginning. In fact he wrote the story.
When you read a novel from front to back you read an unfolding story with ups and downs. Betrayals and crises.
But,
If you flip to the back of the book first you will find out how it all ends. You will find out whodunnit, if she gets together with the guy, does he survive the cancer, etc and so on.
Some of us like to read our books and movies knowing the end first, and the rest of us normal people like to go on the journey and discover the story as it unfolds, like the Author intended!
When it comes to talking about the Elect and the eternal security of Christians, we have two modes of talking about it:
Is the perspective of the Author who planned the end of the story and is writing it for that purpose.
is the perspective of the one who is in the midst of the story and seeing it unfold in time.
We live in the midst of our story. We live in time and we have limited knowledge about the future. Now, God has told us some little bits of information about the end of the story, namely that he has chosen His own people and that he will bring them into salvation and everlasting life. But he has not given the elect visible halos or some other obvious sign that will make it clear to everyone that their name is Written in the Book of Life with indelible ink.
Instead he has written you into a story so that you can experience it. So that you can live it. So you can genuinely walk through the pages of your life discovering the narrative as you go along. And in the midst of that narrative there are false professors, there are people who confess Christ then reject him. There are Judas’ and there are Simon the Magician, there are Ananais & Saphira and there are Hymenaus.
All through the story of the church, from her slavery in Egypt to this day, there is a common thread of people who are “in”, who are part of Israel or part of the Kingdom of God, who will live and act contrary to the covenant of God and eventually be cast out.
As we come to the 4th Warning passage in Hebrews this morning, that’s what we’re seeing once more. That even though God knows the end from the beginning, even though he has completely secured the salvation of his elect (he’s already written the last page, we just haven’t read it yet), here in the midst of the story there is danger and difficulty, and we must be warded to stay on the narrow path that leads to God through Jesus Christ.
Without further explanation lets look at the text itself!
Fearful Expectation of Judgement
Fearful Expectation of Judgement
This comes off the back of a section that is meant to encourage believers with Gospel and exhort believers to respond to that with seeking after God and encouraging one another in the faith - gathering regularly for such a purpose.
But now we hit this very serious warning:
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Christ has made a sacrifice for sins. When you come to Jesus your sins are covered by his sacrifice.
However, if you keep sinning intentionally you’re saying, look, Jesus sacrifice will cover my next sin and my next one. He always forgives, so I can just keep sinning that grace may abound.
This is the attitude of every christian having an affair or heading to the "gentlemen’s” club, or downloading that pirated film or having just one more glass of wine or taking one more verbal jab. I know it’s wrong, but God will forgive me.
This is high handed sin, this is deliberate sin.
This is presumptuous - treating Jesus like a credit card that someone else will pay off. I’ll just keep racking up the debts and God will take care of it.
But this is not how it works. Every sin bar one will be forgiven, but if you live as if you don;t really think sins needs to be dealt with, then eventually it will become clear that you’re not actually living under the sacrifice of Jesus, but instead making down-payments on the Judgement and wrath of God.
This is like those who escaped Egypt slavery
Sacrificed the lamb, went through the Red Sea,
But failed to come to the promised land
Only two were faithful
Parable for Salvation - many will fall even though they appear to be in Christ today
Christian: You have entered in, you have been baptised, you have partaken of Christ in this meal, you have turned away from several sins and pray and have lived Christianly, yet you must not rest on this. This dosen’t give you a free pass to go on sinning. Don’t shipwreck your faith!
If you go on deliberately sinning, then there is no longer a sacrifice for you, only expectation of firey judgement of God.
The author goes on to use an example from the OT to prove a point:
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 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?
Example of judgment: Torah
Lesser to the greater
Your unrepentant sin is trampling the Son of God, treating him and his blood as common, as nothing, as something to be tipped down the drain!
Greater knowledge leads to greater culpability.
Quoting some other places to highlight the character of God:
For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Quotes
Deut 32:35
Deut 32:36 (& Psalm 50:4)
Fearful thing! Whether you be one who has rejected God and never received Jesus, or one who has confessed Jesus and Lord then turned your back on him, either way it is a fearful thing!
You cannot have any confidence that you are part of God’s elect, his True Church, while you keep practising sin.
Get down on your knees, prostrate yourself before the living God and plead for your life!
Plundered, but there’s a better Possession
Plundered, but there’s a better Possession
The author now turns from this warning to encourage them to keep on persevering. Don’t make your past efforts be in vain, but keep pushing on like you have before!
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
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.
Keep Your Confidence
Keep Your Confidence
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
Confidence is lost when we deliberately keep sinning
For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
So what?
So what?
If you keep sinning, there’s no sacrifice for you, only judgement - So repent!
Don’t make your past labour vain - continue to make joyful sacrifices for Jesus and he will reward you!
Keep your confidence - Jesus is coming back so keep your faith and preserve your soul!
