Don't Throw Away Your Ticket

2 Timothy 4:10 ESV

For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

2 Timothy 4:10

Scripture Introduction:

We read through a verse like this on the tail end of a book of Scripture and don’t give it the emotional weight that it really would have created.

But I can replace the name Demas with others—those who have abandoned the faith. I’m not talking just a bit of a change in theology on some minor or third tier issue or even something as massive as a staunch defender of Baptist thought decides to begin baptizing infants. I’m talking people who have been proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified, who professed faith in Jesus, who even showed a bit of fruit, who at times seemed passionate about the Lord, have now abandoned Christ.

And when I do that...Joshua Harris, in love with this present world, has deserted us and gone elsewhere…it breaks my heart. How do you get there? How do you get to the spot where you go from passionately following Jesus to trampling on the son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant, and outraging the Spirit of God.

Joshua Harris, in love with this present world, has deserted us and gone elsewhere.

But adds a bit of a ripple to this. Here you have a whole class of people, “many will say to me on that day”…who are confident of their standing with Christ and then they hear the words from Jesus, “Depart from me I never knew you.” You know what that means don’t you? It means that outwardly they hadn’t fallen away. They still very much looked the part. They picked up all the religious language, talked a good game, did all the stuff that would make everyone say, ‘this guy is a follower of Jesus’, they never outwardly fell away but inwardly they NEVER knew him. How does that happen?

Or consider Esau. The dude sells his birthright for a pot of stew. I mean I get being hangry, I get being tired and making poor decisions... my wife makes amazing soup, so I get really wanting that soup. But basically turning your back on the promises of God and the blessings of God. That had better be some eternally good chicken and noodles or potato soup. What in the world is going on there?

Before his conversion John Newton—that’s the guy who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace—had a dream.

In this dream, his night-watch was interrupted by a man who appeared on the ship’s deck. The stranger offered Newton a ring to protect carefully. With this ring, the man said, he would have happiness and blessing. He went on to say that if it was lost, however, Newton would experience trouble and misery.

A second man followed, only to argue about the benefits of the ring. He soon shamed Newton for believing that such a gift could be so important. The man coaxed Newton into flinging the ring into the harbour where the ship was anchored.

No sooner had the ring been submerged in the sea, than the mountains surrounding Venice exploded into flame. As he watched the fire move through the mountains into the city, closing in on the ship, Newton’s hope for the blessings of the ring were consumed.

In Hebrews our author is likely speaking to a similar situation. We do not know the specifics of his audience but what we do know is that their abandoning the faith is a very real temptation for them. What we have here in this passage are some of the most encouraging words as well as some of the most hard-hitting words.

Before I read the text I want to set it up for you. You’ll notice a word that appears twice in our reading this morning—that word is confidence. I think I need to fill out that words a little more for you. It could easily be translated authorization but it isn’t because boldness before the Lord is the right word, it’s a word often connected with prayer. But I think we need to understand the idea of authorization a bit as we read this passage.

Think of it this way…and all analogies break down at some point so don’t stretch this too far…do you know the difference between having a ticket in your possession and the difference between really hoping that they’ve got an extra one you can buy at the gate? Quite some time ago I went to a concert—drove a bit of a distance—my friends had tickets, but I didn’t. It was one of those, “i really hope they’ve still got some tickets available”. When I showed up there I didn’t have much confidence. I didn’t just come up to that arena with boldness—flashing my ticket—I’ve got access, I’m good to go. No, I was timid. I sure hope I can get in. Keep that in your mind as you read this and see that word “confidence”. Translating it something like “since we have happy authorization” wouldn’t be that far-fetched.

And think of Newton’s ring, Esau’s birthright, Demas’ apostasy, that fateful moment in , as we read this text.

Sermon Introduction:

What I see the author of Hebrews saying here is essentially, “don’t throw away your access key”. Again, when we come to one of these warning passages in Scripture I have to say that my job is to let God speak to us through this text. I know that questions about whether or not someone can lose their salvation always comes up in a passage like this one. I wholeheartedly believe that those whose hearts are changed by the Spirit, those who are in union with Christ, will persevere to the end. But I also firmly believe that you MUST persevere to the end. And I believe it is a text like this that the Lord Jesus uses to keep us until the end.

But I say all of that to say that I really don’t want our doctrine of eternal security to be used to neuter this text. Let the text speak. Let God say to us what he is saying to us here. Feel the full weight of this text. It is saying “Don’t throw away your access key”…to take a warning like that and wink at it and say, “ah, I’ve prayed to receive Christ, I’m gonna be fine” is perilously close to the attitude of the person in . So let us take this text serious.

I also know that there are often such tender hearts when we come to a passage like this—and this happened to John Bunyan—these very verses almost caused him to be undone. You see he went through a spell where he was really questioning if the gospel was true. He thought to himself, how do I know if Jesus is real. How do I know that the Muslims don’t have just as good of a grasp on truth. And he really felt like he was dismissing the gospel. And when he landed on this passage shortly thereafter he was overcome because it appeared to him that these absolutely terrifying verses were saying that once he had done what he had done there was now absolutely no help or hope for him of redemption.

So here is what we need to do this morning in order to wrestle with what God’s Word is saying to us and in order to hear God speak to us. We need to ask the question, “what is this apostasy…what’s going on here.” What does it mean for them to “throw away the access key”?

And then we need to do a bit of what we did on Wednesday night when we looked at . How’d you end up here. We need to do an autopsy report. How does this happen? What can we do to keep treasuring Christ and prevent this to happen.

But again we have to come to grips with the fact that the author of Hebrews doesn’t speak the same way that the apostle Paul does. He speaks of salvation almost entirely in the future. The author of Hebrews speaks with the language of, “keep the ring safe until the end”. And this is in Scripture for a reason and comes with the authority of the Lord Jesus and so we would do well to listen and heed this word to us.

AUTHOR OF HEBREWS DOESN’T THINK THE WAY THAT PAUL DOES. SALVATION IS ALMOST ENTIRELY FUTURE

What does it mean to ‘go on sinning deliberately’?

Look at verse 26. We’ll come back to verses 19-25 in just a moment, but here in v26 is where we’ve got our problem. What is the sin and what does it mean to do it deliberately? It’s interesting that the author of Hebrews doesn’t use the typical words here for apostasy that he has used. But we see the same concept in where he talks about the difference between the ignorant and wayward and those who are deliberately choosing to walk away from Christ. It’s a settled disposition is what it is. It’s eyes wide open walking away from Christ.

I actually really like the way Sinclair Ferguson puts this:

If I have heard the gospel but actually live with a spirit of indifference to the gospel I will die as though I had never trusted the gospel but I will be judged as someone who has actually rejected the gospel. and this is his concern..it is particularly with people who have made what we might call a “decision for Jesus Christ” they have been a part of the fellowship…heard the gospel…they are part of the Christian community—even when it meant danger to them.

If I have heard the gospel but actually live with a spirit of indifference to the gospel I will die as though I had never trusted the gospel but I will be judged as someone who has actually rejected the gospel. and this is his concern..it is particularly with people who have made what we might call a “decision for Jesus Christ” they have been a part of the fellowship…heard the gospel…they are part of the Christian community—even when it meant danger to them.

Then Ferguson goes back and says,

“now notice Jesus’ words. He doesn’t says, “I will say to them you never made a decision for me. He doesn’t say you never became a member. What he says is depart from me I never knew you. You see the thrust of what he is saying? You have professed to have been mine but you’ve lived in such a way that your whole life has said to me keep back, keep at arms length, don’t come near, you shall not master and conquer me, so we have responded to the gospel with what we might call unshared loved. He has displayed his love and we have said in return, “we will take the benefits of your love but we will not let you know us and we will not trust and love you in return.”

now notice Jesus’ words. I wills ay to them you never made a decision for me. He doesn’t say you never became a member. What he says is depart from me I never knew you. You see the thrust of what he is saying? You have professed to have been mine but you’ve lived in such a way that your whole life has said to me keep back, keep at arms length, don’t come near, you shall not master and conquer me, so we have responded to the gospel with what we might call unrequited loved. He has displayed his lvoe and said we willt ake the benefits of your love but we will not let you know us and we will not turst and love you in return.

I think it’s important for us to hear these words and to realize that this falling away isn’t just an outright and public falling away and rejection. What it looks like in Hebrews and you see this throughout and especially in verse 25 is it looks more like drifting away. Yes, there is a deliberate component to it. But I don’t believe the apostasy going on here in Hebrews is some highly public and notorious rejection of the faith that’s going to make the nightly news. It’s likely closer to a 5-10 year drift. Where one day, yeah you wake up and just stop going to church, stop pretending, but that drift happened in your heart years ago.

And what fearful words here. Some might hear these words and think that they belong in the OT. Well yeah, they actually are from the OT, but that’s precisely the argument the author of Hebrews makes. If the OT carries with it such a judgment what happens if we reject Christ? What happens if we trample on his Son? What happens if we throw aside the blood of the covenant like a piece of garbage? What happens if we deliberately outrage the Spirit of God?

It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. There is no sacrifice left. That’s what he’s saying here. It’s not saying that this side of eternity repentance isn’t possible. He is saying that while you are rejecting Christ and in such a state…you are walking away from the only source of forgiveness and healing. There isn’t another fountain! You don’t drink from this one then you don’t drink. You don’t get cleansed by Christ then you don’t get cleansed. There is no other way. God has graciously provided the way of salvation. He has given you one ring. He has given you one access key. He has given you one Savior. You throw him away—there isn’t another one.

The Green Bay Packers QB, Aaron Rodgers, made news a couple of weeks ago by saying he had walked away from the faith of his upbringing. He said "I don't know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell".. And you know I get that. Hell is supposed to be a fearful and frightful thing. Of course one point I’d quibble with is Rodger’s understanding of the heart of God. But really at the core of what he is saying is, “this God of is not a God I want to worship.” Vengeance is mine. The Lord will judge his people. Fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He cannot square the idea of God’s justice or wrath with God’s love.

But what Rodgers was saying is “this God of is not a God I want to worship.” Vengeance is mine. The Lord will judge his people. Fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But think about the context of this OT quotes in Hebrews. They are both from the Song of Moses and what you see there is that God’s rescue of His people is tied up with the judgment of the wicked. In other words you want God to be a God of justice. I think Owen Strachan is correct here:

[Rodgers] tells us that he can’t believe in a God who executes justice against the wicked. Here is my response: I don’t know how you can believe in a God who doesn’t  execute justice against the wicked. When I look at our world, I see depravity of unfathomable dimensions. We live in a world where racists, murderer, genocidal maniacs, child-abusers, sex traffickers, pedophiles, spouse-killers, and liars flourish. Many evil people never come to justice, or if they do, do not receive sentences proportionate to their crimes.

Yet, Rodgers and so many others are missing the point of what God is doing here. It should not surprise us that a perfectly holy God would judge sin. When someone does some horrific thing to a child and you overhear someone being angry at this situation and this person who did this and who wants justice to happen…what kind of person would you be to rage against the person trying to put an end to such wicked thing? What kind of person would you be to say, “how dare you be outraged at this person who did the unthinkable thing to the child!” You wouldn’t do that would you? Because you know that sin ought to have wrath as a response. So that shouldn’t surprise us. But it does.

What should surprise us..and it often doesn’t..is the fact that there is a way provided. We get angry and say, “what kind of cruel God provides only one rescue. What kind of outrageous God gives his Son and says, this is the only means of sacrifice, this is the only way where love and justice can meet. there is no other way? We hear that these days and rather than marvel at grace we get angry that he hasn’t given a bunch options all for our own choosing.”

But this passage is actually filled with grace. Far from God saying I’m going to play a game with you, figure it out. What he’s doing is saying, “I have provided access through my Son. I have made him bear the punishment that every “racists, murderer, genocidal maniacs, child-abusers, sex traffickers, pedophiles, spouse-killers, and liars” ought to face. And through His shed blood you have access. And the author of Hebrews is saying, Jesus Christ is your access card—don’t throw him away. This is your great reward. That isn’t bad news it is profoundly good!

So now we have to ask the question why would you drift? How do you get to that spot?

Now, I don’t believe that his audience has gotten quite there yet. But he sees the trajectory. Let these words sink in. “Trampled under foot the son of God”. What does that mean? It means you regard it as completely worthless. Profane the blood of the covenant. Tossing it aside as if it has no value. Meh!

Compare this to verses 32-34. These guys “were enlightened” this means the gospel came to town and opened their eyes and minds and hearts and they got on the path that all Christian walk upon. The path of suffering and hardship. They quickly identified with those in prison. They publicly were exposed. They joyfully accepted the plundering of their property and notice why. Because they believed that possessing Jesus was so much better and so much more valuable. These guys are all in.

Same people. How does this happen? The dream of Newton is instructive. They start listening to the second guy. And suddenly that access key doesn’t seem so necessary or so valuable. I think John Piper is absolutely spot on when he remarks on this passage in Hebrews:

The Christian Church in America suffers from about 350 years of dominance and prosperity. What I mean by dominance is that in most of American history being Christian has been viewed by the wider culture as normal and good and patriotic and culturally acceptable and even beneficial. What I mean by prosperity is that being Christian has generally resulted in things going well for us American Christians.

Since the Christian ethos has been dominant, it has also been a pathway to success. And what I mean by suffering — that we are suffering from 350 years of dominance and prosperity — is that this has deeply ingrained in us a massively unbiblical mindset, namely, a mindset of at-homeness in this world and in this age. This has not been good for us. We are suffering from it, prosperous though we be.

We have been dominant and we have been prosperous, and therefore we have come to feel at home in this world, and have developed a deeply ingrained assumption that things should go well for us, and that this is our world and our age, that being a good Christian and being well thought of must go together, and that poverty and sickness and suffering and death is the worst thing that can happen in a land of Christian wealth and health and ease and upbeat, success-oriented vitality.

And so we have developed a form of Christianity to support this ingrained expectation of acceptance and comfort security and prosperity. This form of Christianity begins by focusing on our felt needs (not our eternal ones that we may not even be aware of), and it makes its appeal on the basis that Christianity will make life a lot better for us in this world. It has not been a call to suffer as an alien, but a call to prosper as a respected citizen — and to be very indignant and angry if someone reveals our Christianity as a liability and not an asset.

That’s how you drift. That’s how you wake up one day in hell with ringing in your ears and you realize that you never truly “let him in” but Jesus was just the means to acquiring some other thing that you dreamed of. That’s how you get to a spot where the access of Christ doesn’t seem so valuable. Persecution starts to hurt. Guys, I’ll be flat honest. I have a really difficult time reconciling what the author of Hebrews says here in 10:34 about “joyfully accepting the plundering of property” and much of what I hear from Christian leaders in regards to politics and fighting for our rights and not losing our dearly held way of life. I’m not saying there isn’t more to be said than but I’m saying there is something I believe we are missing. Joyfully accepting the plundering of your property? What does that mean? Let that sink in. Don’t run from it. I think it has something to say with how we get either lulled to sleep or lured into fighting wrong battles.

Look at verse, “not neglecting to meet together”. What that is talking about is really how you can spot this drift. The word there is a word which means abandonment. I heard an interesting phrase as I was studying for this. “Left in the lurch”. Now I only know lurch as the guy on the Addams family. So, being the nerd I am I did some research on this phrase. Some said it could come from an old English word that meant casket. So being left in a lurch is stone cold dead. But that’s not it. It actually comes from an old French board game kind of like cribbage. And because that’s all the rage these days I know that you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Not really. So just picture a board game and a bunch of pins…and one of your pins is all alone and disconnected and abandoned and left by itself with no line back to the others. That’s where the phrase left in the lurch means. And so that’s the phrasing that some older preachers from the 1600s used to illustrate this passage.

What you’ve got is someone who has abandoned the assembly of believers. And that’s what drift is. And that’s where you’ll see it first. You show me someone who hasn’t gathered with other believers in a long while and I’ll show you someone who is pretty close to apostasy. Sure, you can have someone who ends up on the experience who warmed a seat in the pew for 50 years as well. But NOT gathering with believers isn’t the antidote to fake Christianity. The antidote to fake Christianity is vibrant Christianity where meeting together actually means something, and you actually live life together and it’s about grabbing hold of Jesus and as it says in v24 stirring up one another.

What’s the remedy.

That’s the means for making it. draw near. that’s your relationship with Jesus. Keep coming back to the gospel. over and over and over again. Holding fast. And notice how this is connected to the character of God, Keep rehearsing this. Over and over and over again. Lastly, we stir up one another.

Ultimately it’s Christ.

Draw near, true heart. Full assurance.

Hold fast, for he who promised is faithful…connected to the character of God.

Meet together

Ultimately it’s Christ.

As his hope was being consumed, a third man appeared (or possibly the first man reappeared). He dived into the water and recovered the ring. The Italian fires suddenly ceased. As Newton dared to anticipate the ring being replaced, the man surprised him. He said that he would keep it for Newton, and at the time when Newton needed it, he himself would produce it for him.

would be missing the point.

But

All I Have is Christ

As his hope was being consumed, a third man appeared (or possibly the first man reappeared). He dived into the water and recovered the ring. The Italian fires suddenly ceased. As Newton dared to anticipate the ring being replaced, the man surprised him. He said that he would keep it for Newton, and at the time when Newton needed it, he himself would produce it for him.

Maybe you’ve drifted some.

Maybe you’ve drifted a bunch. Repent.

Maybe other things have grabbed your affection.

Unite with this body. Follow Christ in baptism.