Persevering In Your Faith

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Introduction

Big Idea - God wants you to persevere in your faith, even when things get bad, do not walk away from it

Main Text

Hebrews 10:26–39 ESV

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. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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.

Background - This passage mirrors a passage we dealt with in Chapter 6. These warning passages get more and more stern as you go through the book of Hebrews (there are four total), but the most famous of these is the passage in Chapter 6. So, you might consider this sermon as a companion sermon to that one. If you’d like to go back and listen, the message was entitled “Can You Lose Your Salvation?” and it was preached on May 31st of this year.

I want to share with you the final verdict I came to in preaching that passage, as it applies here as well. I ended with defining our question. If we ask, can you lose your salvation and what we mean by that is…If I sin too much, will I be saved? Or, Is there a point where I could sin too much that God’s grace couldn’t cover it? No. There’s not. We believe there’s a fountain that’s filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, that when sinners are plunged beneath that flood, they lose all their guilty stains. That fountain will never run dry.

If we ask…Can a Christian lose his Salvation? And what we mean by that is…Can a person appear to be a Christian, can they come to church, make a profession of faith, get baptized, take communion and then reject God’s gift and renounce their faith and expect to get to heaven? I don’t think so. And I would say that person was likely never a Christian to begin with. Even though they heard the word, received it with joy, by the simple fact that they fell away, their actions prove that they were never Christians to begin with.

Context - This passage, while admittedly a very stern passage, comes on the heels of what we talked about last week. And in context, it’s the reason for his encouragement in verses 19-25.

Because we can draw near to God and because we have this great of a salvation, where we receive the grace of God through the blood of Jesus, let us continue to meet together in churches and stir one another up to do love and good works and encouraging one another. And we should do that all the more as we see the Day of the Lord approaching.

The author then jumps into our text which is a…

A Final Warning Against Apostasy

Hebrews 10:26 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…”

This Text Out Of Context Is Scary - Let’s face it all of us have sinned and I’d say all of us have sometimes sinned deliberately. And we have done this after we became a Christian. On the surface this sounds like a death sentence for most of us.

Look At The Whole - We must read the context and if we do, we find out that again, our author is concerned with apostasy, not Christians who sin. He has his sights set on those who have or may desert the faith.

What is Apostasy?

The essence of apostasy is changing sides from that of the crucified to that of the crucifier. - John Stott

How Does The Author Of Hebrews Define Sinning Deliberately? (v29)

Trampling Underfoot The Son of God

Profaning The Blood Of The Covenant

Outraging The Spirit Of Grace

Clearly, he is pointing his statement towards those that are rejecting Jesus as the messiah, after coming to knowledge of Him. This is very similar to the warning we spent time on in Hebrews 6. He is warning people to not abandon their faith.

This is not warning people to stop lying or stealing. This is about apostasy. If you turn from Jesus, there’s no other sacrifice for sins that will help you. You are on your own. So the author issues this warning. Don’t turn back. Don’t turn away.

What’s the warning? If you go down this path, something worse awaits you, because…

Jesus Offers A Greater Judgment

Hebrews 10:29 “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?”

If You Rejected The Law Of Moses, You Were Stoned. In Deuteronomy 17, we see that anyone who turned their back on the Old Covenant, setting aside the law, they were to be taken out to the city gates and stoned to death.

If You Reject Jesus, The Punishment Is Worse - The point the author is making is this…because this covenant is so much greater, because it’s priest is so much more righteous, if you reject Him, there awaits a greater judgment. You will be judged more harshly in the New Covenant, even though the promises of this covenant are greater!

This is the opposite of what some people claim. They would say that since Hippie Jesus came, God’s all about love and doesn’t care about justice anymore. That’s simply untrue. He sent Jesus because He is Just. It’s His Character. Jesus is our propitiation because He is Just. Jesus appeased the wrath of God by giving his life in exchange for ours on the cross. If you reject that…there’s a punishment worse than stoning.

Matthew 10:28 ESV

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus Tells Us To Fear God. God has the ability to justly send people to hell. If they reject His son, his sacrifice, that is where they are headed. Because the good news is so good compared to the Old Covenant, the punishment must be greater than the punishments of the OC.

“The rejection of the greater revelation leads to a greater punishment.” - Thomas Shreiner

What is this greater punishment? It’s called several different things in Scripture, but the most common one we call it today is hell. If you reject Jesus, you are choosing hell. It’s called eternal judgment, it’s called the Lake of Fire, it’s called the place with weeping and gnashing of teeth. Whatever you want to call it, it’s clear the author has that place in mind. It’s a place of eternal torment.

Is The Author Trying To Scare People Into The Kingdom? I don’t think so. I believe He is trying to get people to realize the goodness of what they are rejecting and how rejecting God’s son is cause for a greater punishment. But with that said, this is a warning. It’s clear he wants people to turn back to Jesus and to hold fast to their faith.

His Strongest Statement Is Found In Verse 31. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.” That word fearful could also be translated dreadful or terrible. So the Author clearly wants to warn people and he is certainly not beating around the bush, but he does have an aim…perseverance. Which brings us to our big point.

Christians Are Called To Persevere

Hebrews 10:36 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Hebrews 10:39 “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 Main Point Of This Passage - The author of Hebrews wants his audience to stand strong in the face of religious persecution and to hold fast to their faith.

To Persevere means:

To Continue Steadfast In Obedience and Fidelity To Christ. To Continue In Belief In Spite Of Discouragement Or Difficulty

In our text, these meanings are seen clearly. He says, you have need of endurance. That word endurance means to persevere. The same word is used in Luke 8 in talking about the good soil.

Luke 8:15 NIV

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

The idea here is that a true Christian will remain steadfast in trials, never giving up their faith in spite of incredibly harsh or dangerous conditions. The Hebrews here are being faced with persecution and death. The Author is encouraging them to hang in there.

He does this not by telling them it will get better or that God will work it all out in the end and deliver you. He is saying quite frankly, be willing to suffer to the point of death, because when you die you will receive your reward.

What is the opposite of persevering? Apostasy. That’s your two choices. Either you hold on to the faith or you apostatize from it. I remember someone recently told me that he heard Charles Stanley put it this way, “you cannot lose your salvation, but the Scripture is clear you can walk away from it.”

What’s our application today? Here’s my one point from today…

Backsliding Can Lead To Apostasy

Here’s what I believe: Apostasy starts somewhere. We are not typically like light switches (on or off). We are more like a dimmer, our passion for God, if left unchecked, slowly dims over time until there’s nothing left.

Let me define backsliding - Backsliding is a partial hardening of your heart that you refuse to address. Are you a Christian? Sure. But you have stopped growing in your faith. Your faith is no longer growing, it is regressing.

What are some signs you are backsliding?

Little to no prayer time.

Slackening of attendance or engagement at church.

You don’t read or study your bible.

A waning passion for your own salvation and the salvation of others. You stop sharing your faith.

You have continual known unrepentant sin in your life.

Backsliding in this way does not mean you are lost. It means you are on the road to apostasy. It means you are on the road to losing your faith. Some would question if you ever truly had saving faith at that point.

If you are backsliding, can God still save you and restore you? Yes!

Ezekiel 37:23 ESV

They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

This Is The Opposite Of Perseverance! Instead of remaining steadfast, you are falling away from God.

Now, every Christian goes through tough times and seasons where they struggle to connect. If you are in one of those seasons, I’m sorry. I’m praying for you.

Remaining In A Place Of Backsliding Is Your Choice.

Revelation 2:4–5 ESV

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Where are you? Are you backsliding? If so, repent, do the works you did at first. Purify your lives. Stop entertaining sin. Give yourselves completely over to God.

“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

When we shrink back or backslide, destruction is our future.

Christians are called to persevere, not shrink back.

What Does Perseverance Look Like?

You Don’t Throw Away Your Confidence (v.35)

You are holding fast to your confession of hope (v.23)

You Endure Hardships (v.36)

You are continuing to meet together in spite of persecution and hardships in order to encourage one another to keep going. (v.25)

You Have Done The Will Of God (v.36)

We continue to love and do good works (v.24)

Decision

God wants you to persevere in your faith, even when things get bad, do not walk away from it