If you would turn to the book
of Hebrews, one of the things that has always
interested me from the book of Hebrews is what I count to be
five warning passages in the book. that are very serious warning
passages to Christians to be diligent about carrying on with
the Christian faith. And so I thought we'd look at
them today and maybe talk a little about what they do and don't
teach us. Hebrews is a book of better things. And we learn from it that our
Lord Jesus is a better priest, and we have a better sanctuary,
that being in heaven now, and a better sacrifice from Christ. And it's just a book of all of
the better things that we have as Christians in the New Age
against the Old Testament, where they were just giving us shadows
and types of what was to come. So there's a lot of encouragement
in Hebrews because of all the better things we have, but there's
also along with that some serious warnings to us because along
with the better things comes a greater accountability to us.
So what I'd like to do is I'd like to run through briefly These
five warning passages, there's one of them in chapter two, one
in chapter three, chapter six, 10, and 12. I'm gonna skip six
and leave it for the very end because to me it's the toughest.
And I'd like to leave it to the end. So let's turn to Hebrews
2. Each of these warning passages
has kind of a formula to it. It has a challenge, first of
all, to move forward in the Christian life, and it has along with it
a warning to not fall back or not diligently pursue ahead,
some kind of warning that goes along with the encouragement.
Some of them have a third thing, not all of them do, and that
is some assurance that we are not in that second category of
falling back. So, I'd like to go through these
with you. And what they do is they all
look back in some way or another to an example, in most cases,
to the Old Testament. All right, let's read Hebrews
2, 1 through 4 and talk about the first one. For this reason,
we must pay much closer attention, and remember what he's been doing
thus far in chapter one. He's been telling us that Christ
is better than the angels, and so he now says, for this reason,
because we're looking at better things now, we must pay much
closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift
away from it. For if the word spoken through
angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect
so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken
through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God
also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, and by
various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according
to his own will. So here, right off the bat, in
the second chapter, the author, probably Paul, as far as I can
tell, but I don't know, he doesn't say, he goes right into the first
warning passage. And he says, for this reason,
people, because we have such better things, don't let yourself
drift away. This word is literally that,
to pass on by, to drift, the image is like a ship or something,
drifting away from its mooring. So the first warning is for us
to give, warning from the Old Testament, if the word spoken
through angels And that's Mount Sinai. Now, you wonder, like
I did, what do angels have to do with Mount Sinai and the giving
of the Ten Commandments? There's a couple of passes we
won't turn there, but you can look up concerning the role of
angels in the giving of the law. Galatians 3.19, Acts 7.53, and
actually Deuteronomy 33.2, where evidently it was angels, of course
God, Jehovah himself, but the angels were the intermediary
in delivering the law in some way or another. So, the writer
says, If the word spoken through angels was so seriously punished
when people disobeyed it, how are we going to escape if we
neglect so great a salvation right now? So this is the first
image, and it's one of drifting away. And the challenge is for
us to give more earnest heed to what we've heard. So remember
that. The first one involves more earnest heed, and it's a
comparison to Mount Sinai. The second one, let's turn to
Hebrews, the third chapter. And it runs all the way from
312 to 411. And I think we better read it. If I could turn the page here. 312 to 411, let me set the stage
a little bit. This is one which is going to give the analogy
back to the rest of Canaan, the rest that they were seeking in
the land of Canaan. And that generation, because
of their disobedience, did not get to go into that rest. They
did not get to, but their children did. And so the picture here
is, that we should make sure that we go all the way into the
rest of Christ and not fall short like they did in the Old Testament.
That's the analogy. So let's read 312 to 411. Take
care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But
encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called
today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin. For we have become partakers
of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm
until the end. While it is said, today if you
hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked
me. For who provoked him when he
had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt,
led by Moses? And with whom was he angry for
forty years? Was it not with all those who
sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did
he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those
who were disobedient? So we see that they were not
able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, Let us fear if, while
a promise remains of entering his rest, any one of you may
seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news
preached to us, just as they also. But the word they heard
did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in
those who heard. For we who have believed enter
that rest, just as he has said, as I swore in my wrath, they
shall not enter my rest. Although his works were finished
from the foundation of the world, for he has said some work concerning
the seventh day, and God rested on the seventh day from all his
works. And again in this passage, they shall not enter my rest.
Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who
formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because
of disobedience, he again fixes a certain day today, saying through
David, after so long a time, just as he had said before, today
if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, for if Joshua. Now that in the King James is
Jesus, but that's the Greek Iesus, which is back to the Hebrew Yehoshua,
which is the same as the word Jesus. Jesus got his name from
Joshua. So, for if Joshua had given them
rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that, so
there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the
one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from
his works as God did from his. Therefore, let us be diligent
to enter that rest, so that no one will fall through following
the same example of disobedience. Here we get a little more serious
about the warning. And here for the first time,
more so than in chapter two, you start wondering, is it possible
for a Christian to lose his salvation? Because he's talking about turning
back, and he's talking about being hardened, and things like
that. Well, we're gonna see through
these passages that no, of course he's not saying that, but he's
still encouraging us to press forward and to enter that rest.
So diligence on our part is not works. We're not earning a salvation
or anything, but it's just what God does in us when he saves
us to make us diligent to press to the end, to enter that rest.
So in this warning passage, this is comparing itself to the Canaan
rest. And the encouragement is that
there is a promise remaining to enter his rest. And what he
said through Moses was repeated through David is now repeated,
that there is still time today for people to enter this rest
through faith in Christ. But he says, beware brethren. Notice he does say brethren.
So he is talking to Christians and he knows that. But he's given
a little bit of the fear of God in us, to us, by warning us to
not depart from the living God and to not be hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin. So that's a warning. and to not
come short of entering the rest, the faith rest of believing totally
in our Savior. Hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast to the end. Be diligent to enter that rest. All right, that's the second
warning passage. So the comparison is, don't be
like that first generation of the children of Israel. that
they didn't believe God, they grumbled at all the food he provided,
and they turned back and he punished them. And he did not let them
enter into Canaan. So don't be like them, is what
the writer's saying. All right, now, let's skip chapter
six. We'll come to it last. Let's
go to chapter 10. Chapter 10, verses 19 to 39. I don't believe we'll read all
this this time, but we'll get the gist of it. Chapter 10, verses
19 to 39, is citing back to Moses' law and how under Moses' law
you could die and be executed if you did something wrong on
the word of two or three witnesses. So now the warning is going to
be that we need to heed or draw near even more so now. So let's start reading. Chapter
10, verse 19. Therefore, brethren, since we
have confidence, we can read this whole thing, we need to.
We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through
the veil, that is, his flesh. And since we have a great priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. There's
the encouragement and the challenge. For he promised is faithful and
let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds, another part of the challenge. not forsaking our own assembling
together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,
and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. For if
we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the
truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Remember that when we get to
chapter 6. "...but a terrifying expectation of judgment, and
the fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has
set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony
of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do
you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son
of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by
which he was sanctified, and has insulted 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's a terrifying thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. That's the passage the pastor
recorded this morning. But remember the former days
when after being enlightened, now here's one of these passages
that's saying, look, I know this is not going to happen to you
because of this. But remember the former days
when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict
of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through
reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with
those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the
prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property,
knowing that you have for yourselves a better position and a lasting
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 was promised. For yet in a very little while
he who is coming 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. Now, key verse in all these warning
passages. But we are not of those who shrink
back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving
of the soul. All right, there's our key to
unlocking all of these warnings. They are serious warnings, but
it will not happen, the warning part, to true Christians. They will not draw back. They
will not apostatize. They will not turn back on the
faith because God has saved them once and for all. So this warning
passage has several encouragements in it. Draw near. to the Holy
of Holies, that's the Lord Jesus for us, hold fast the confession,
consider one another to stir up each other, not forsaking
this assembling together of each other, and exhorting one another.
That's what we do when we come together. So that's our challenge. The warning is forsaking the
gathering together. The warning is if we sin willfully
and trample the Son of God underfoot, a true Christian will not trample
the Son of God underfoot, period. So the encouragement is to recall
the former days, their conversions, and all that they've been through,
because the writer knows that they are Christians. Notice he
says, better things of us in that 39th verse. We are not of
those who shrink back. So he's including himself with
the people he's writing to and saying, it's better for us. Okay. Let's go to chapter 12. Now chapter 12 kind of shifts
gear, but it's still a warning passage. And in this chapter,
verses one through 29, we get into the chastening of the Lord.
And the fact that if we are true Christians, we will experience
some chastening. But it's a warning passage also.
And it's in the terms of a race to start off with. Look at verse
one. Therefore, since we have so great
a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every
encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let
us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing
our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for
the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." So
there's our encouragement. Run this like a race. And you
know, Paul talked about it being a race, and he had finished his
race. And then he goes on, for consider him who has endured
such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not
grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to
the point of shedding blood. He goes on to say, that you have
not experienced anything like the Lord Jesus did. And then
it goes into a discussion of discipline. And he says, look,
you're going to be disciplined as Christians, so just live through
it. And it is for discipline that
you endure, and God deals with you as with sons. And then, so
he says in verse 12, therefore strengthen the hands that are
weak and the knees that are feeble, make straight paths. And then
the warning part in verse 15, see to it that no one comes short
of the grace of God. that no root of bitterness springing
up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. There be no
immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright
for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards,
when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He
found no place for repentance, so he sought it with tears. Okay,
then he goes on in the next paragraph and talks about, you haven't
come to a mountain with all this thunder and lightning in Sinai,
but you've come to Mount Zion, a better mountain, and so pay
attention to that. See to it that you not refuse
him who is speaking. And then he talks about how God
is a consuming fire. So the whole point in this warning
passage is to lay aside the weights we have on us, our besetting
sins, and run with endurance, endure chastening from the Lord,
and don't fall short of the grace of God, and let a root of bitterness."
Now Esau, so he cites Esau. Esau was not a Christian. He
was not chosen. He's the classic example of someone
not chosen, as the pastor said earlier. Jacob and Esau, Esau
wasn't chosen. So if this is not a passage teaching,
you can lose your salvation. It's a teaching of the elect
versus the non-elect and how they both behave. And then the
heavenly Jerusalem. So chastening implies that we
have been saved. Now, back to chapter six, and
let's finish with that tough one. This one will really get you
going, and some people really will get you going on it. So
let's talk about it. Chapter, in light of all these
others, which none of them are really saying that anyone's gonna
lose anything, they really have. Let's look at chapter six, verses
one through 12, and let's do read that slowly, because this
is a tough one. Therefore, leaving the elementary
teaching about Christ, let's press on to maturity, not laying
again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith
toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands
and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this
we will do if God permits. By the way, that's an interesting
Greek word, permit. We'll talk about that some other
time. He's talking about, he's saying to them, guys, you've
got to go on past this elementary stuff. You've got to stop drinking
all this milk and get on to some meat because you need to get
with it. We don't want to lay these foundations
of all these elementary things every time we get together again.
For in the case, and here's where it gets tough. For in the case
of those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly
gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again
to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son
of God and put him to open shame. All right, stop right there.
And then we'll read on in a minute. What is, at face value, this
is talking about someone who has tasted of salvation, been
somewhat enlightened, and turns back, falls away. But what is
it really saying, even just on the surface? It's saying, if
that could happen, what is it saying? It can't be saved again.
Why? Because he'd be crucifying the
Lord Jesus again, and you can't have that. So, is that what this
is teaching? That if you're saved, really
saved, and fall away, forget it forever, and you're done?
No, it's not teaching that. This, I really believe, is a
hypothetical example, and it is given to prove the fact that
we can't fall away. Because what it would mean is
when we came back, we're just crucifying the Lord again and
again and again. It's just, it's like these poor
assembly of God people who go down and get saved every Sunday
because they sinned during the week and they gotta get resaved.
And it's so sad because there's no assurance. There's no permanent
situation. Whereas I really believe, and
here's why I believe that. Let's go on. just a weak belief. Okay, we got down through six. Now, continue it with the thought.
Four, ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it
and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is
also tilled receives a blessing from God. But if it yields thorns
and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and
it ends up being burned. So here's the example, the good
and bad soil, just like in the Matthew parable. So he's saying,
because, guys, you're one of two types of soil. You're either
the good soil, who drinks in the rain and produces a good
crop, or you are bad soil and you're going to be burned. So
that just gives ammunition to the fact that you cannot be genuinely
saved and then lost. And then finally, in verses nine
through 12, but beloved, now here again, this was another
proof of what he's talking about. That was a hypothetical example.
But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you
and things that accompany salvation. though we are speaking in this
way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the
love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered
and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each
one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance
of hope until the end." And that's really what he's doing in all
these warning passages, is he wants us to show the same diligence
so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. So that
you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. So that final warning
passage was a hypothetical double crucifixion example and a proof
of what the situation is with election. So, in conclusion,
we all know about the perseverance of the saints. We firmly believe
in passages like John 10, 28, and 29 that we have eternal life
and it can't be snatched out of his hand. Now, you notice
he says his hand and then the Father's hand. He's talking about
Jesus' hand or the Father's hand. We cannot be snatched out of
His hand once we're in it. Then in Hebrews itself, look
at 7.25, which is, therefore He is able to save forever those
who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to
make intercession for them. And then Hebrews 10.14, one of
my favorites, For by one offering he has perfected,
and that's in the perfect tense, for all time, those who are being
sanctified, that's in the present continuous tense. So there's
a present aspect, but we're perfected, we're already perfected. And
once you perfect someone, you can't unperfect them. So this
is a done deal. The last verse I'll leave with
you is 1 John, 219, which is the real situation when
someone turns back, supposedly turns back. 1 John 219 says,
they went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if
they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they
went out so that it would be shown that they are all not of
us.