In the book of Hebrews chapter
10, last week I majored on the last two verses of this chapter. Verse 38, now the just shall
live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul hath no pleasure in him. Now there's a contrast in this
one verse between the just who live by faith, that's the title
of the message, the just shall live by faith, and those who
draw back. They're not the same persons.
You understand that? And he says, verse 39, but we
are not of them who draw back under perdition. Who are not
of them who draw back under perdition? Perdition is destruction. We
are not of those who draw back under destruction. Who are not
of those who draw back under destruction? The just who live
by faith. Those who draw back under perdition
are not the just. They're not the justified. Because
every sinner whom God justifies shall live by faith. That's what
the scripture teaches. Now remember what it is to be
just. It means to be forgiven of all my sins. On what basis? My continuing,
my believing, my continuing, my persevering? No. My forgiveness,
God forgives my sins not because I believe, not because I persevere
or continue in the faith. God forgives my sins because
Christ died. Because of his blood that was
shed on Calvary is my surety, my substitute, my redeemer. And
he's now in the heavenlies ever living to make intercession for
his people, and he will not quit now. And the basis of his intercession
is his blood, his satisfaction to God's justice. And because
of all of that, God cannot and will not impute or charge my
sins to me. He charged them to Christ. He
can't say, well, one day I charged them to Christ, but then Bill
didn't do what he was supposed to do, so I'm gonna charge them
to him today. No, there's nothing even remotely like that in the
scriptures. God forgives us of all our sins
by the blood of Jesus. It's His righteousness imputed.
And that's what justification is, to be justified. To be justified
is to be forgiven because God has totally purged my sins away. through the blood of Christ,
through the satisfaction that he made. And so God will not
impute, charge, or account sin to me. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? We looked at it last week over
in verse 17 of Hebrews 10. Verse 14 says, for by one offering
Christ hath perfected forever. You see it? He didn't perfect
this, whatever he completed there. It wasn't a temporary issue. It wasn't even a conditional
issue upon those whom he perfected. He perfected forever, eternally,
them that are sanctified, those who are set apart by God. And
then he says in verse 17, their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. He doesn't say their past sins
and iniquity I'll remember no more. He didn't say their present
or their future. He said their sins and iniquity
will I remember them no more. Now what does that mean? That
means he won't charge them with it to us. He won't bring them
back. They're not on our record. They're
wiped clean. They're gone. Somebody said,
well, he doesn't remember them because they don't exist. Oh,
they exist, but they're not on our record. They're not on our
tally sheet, you might say. And so that's who he's talking
about. Now the justified, who are the just? Those who are forgiven.
And those who are declared righteous in God's sight because Christ's
righteousness has been imputed to them. You see, if my sins
are not charged to me, they were charged to Christ. He was made
sin. And if they were charged to Christ
and he put them away, his righteousness is charged to me. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
And that's a forever thing, just like he perfected forever them
that are sanctified. In other words, God cannot declare
me righteous one day and then say, well, he's not righteous
now, today. Listen, when God declared me
righteous in his sight, it was through the son as my surety
based upon what Christ would come in time and accomplish on
Calvary. When I was born into this world,
I was born fallen in Adam. Fallen in Adam. And God did not
look at me legally and say, now I declare him unrighteous until
he gets it right. That's not the way it happens.
It's all conditioned on Christ. So that's the just. Now he says
the just shall live, not die. Those who die in their sins,
what does the Bible say about them? The wrath of God abides
on them. But the justified whose sins
are forgiven, whose sins cannot be charged to them, who have
been declared righteous in God's sight based upon the righteousness
of Christ imputed, they'll live because righteousness demands
life. They cannot die. Now we're gonna
die physically, but he's talking about we'll live eternally with
the Lord here. We'll live spiritually, we'll
be born again, and we'll live eternally. And how are they gonna
live? By faith, by looking to Christ. This is that faith that's based
on the word of God, it's the gift of God, it's based upon
the word of God, and its object is Christ. Now in contrast to
that, if any man draw back, that is if any man goes back, now
what does he mean draw back? We'll look at verse 26. Now this
is where I wanted to get to. And he starts out here with the
sin of apostasy and judgment that follows. And he says, for
if we sin willfully, and I dealt with that verse last week showing
some heresies that crop up about this. Listen to the whole verse. If we sin willfully, after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins. Now what is he talking about?
He's talking about sinning willfully in this context now, the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back. Okay, there's
the contrast. He's talking about sinning willfully
in direct correlation with sacrifice. If we sin willfully after we
receive the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more
sacrifice for sin. Now what is the one sacrifice
for sin that works? The sacrifice of Christ. So the
sinning willfully here has to do, not with all sin in general,
And I may mention somebody who told me one time said, believers
will sin, but they won't sin willfully, willingly. Well, we
do a lot of things willingly we shouldn't do. That's not talking
about, he's talking about the specific sin of rejecting the
sacrifice of Christ, which leaves us in this position. There's
nothing else. There's no more sacrifice for
sin. And if you'll look over at verse 17 again, now look at
verse, he says, there's sins and iniquities, will I remember
no more? Verse 18, now remission of these
is, where remission, pardon, forgiveness of sin is, by the
blood of Christ, there is no more offering for sin. In other
words, if I don't have Christ as my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer. There's nothing else I can do.
I can go to church. I can go seven days a week. I
can wear out the knees on my pants praying. I can be the best
I can be, but there's no more offering for sin. If I don't
have Christ, if I'm not washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness, there's nothing else I can do. I'm doomed. But now the justified shall live
by faith. They look to Christ. They believe
in Christ. They rest in Christ. They plead
his blood, his righteousness. They sing from the heart what
can wash away my sins. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And that's the only thing. That's the justified. But when
he talks about, verse 26, those who sin willfully, after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth. After you've heard
the truth. Now you've heard this truth.
Everyone of you here this morning, everyone on livestream, they've
heard this truth. Most of you have heard it for years. Over
and over again. And if you come here, you can't
get away from it. You've heard this truth. Many
claim to believe it. Claim to believe it. But there are some who after
they've heard it, heard the knowledge of it, claim to believe it, and
I don't know of anybody in our congregation who has done this,
well, I may know some people, but I ain't gonna mention names
on that issue. But after you've heard this knowledge,
and claim to believe it, then for whatever reason, you turn
against it. You totally forsake it, reject
it. There's no more hope for you.
There's no more sacrifice for sin. No matter what you do. Because it's all of Christ or
it's nothing. Isn't that right? And that's
what that Matthew chapter 12 passage was talking about, the
unpardonable sin, not the unpardonable sin, just flat unpardonable sin. Without Christ, it's all unpardonable. There's no more sacrifice for
sin. There's no more offering. God says it this way, Christ
is it or nothing else. That's a narrow gospel, isn't
it? That's why it's so important that we understand the true gospel
as opposed to counterfeits. If any man come unto you preaching
any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let
him be anathema. That's why people who preach
conditional salvation, conditioned on the sinner, there's nothing
else you can do. And I'll say it this way, if
Christ died for everybody without exception, all right, even for
those who perish in hell, How are you gonna look at a verse
like it? There's no more sacrifice for sin. You say, well, they
didn't do their part. That's not what this says. It
says he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, and
the justified will live by faith, looking to him alone for forgiveness,
for righteousness, for life, for glory. Now those who heard
it, heard the truth, claimed to believe it for a while, but
they left it. Why would they leave? Persecution,
ridicule. And what does the Bible say about
those who leave? Well, they were saved, but then
they're lost. No, now turn to 1 John 2. We
could turn to a lot of verses here, but I'll just give you
this one that settles the issue. What we have to understand is
that people can claim to believe the gospel and then leave it
for different reasons. And what it shows about them
is that they never truly believed it to begin with. They were never
truly saved. You see? Or they would never
leave it. Remember I told you, if the Holy Spirit has brought
you to believe in Christ under the preaching of the gospel.
You cannot deny it, you cannot ignore it, you cannot leave it,
it'll never leave you. Christ said this, he said, I'll
never leave you or forsake you. That's why we can't leave it.
No one can pluck them out of my Father's hand. Christ said
to the disciples, the Holy Spirit will be in you and he will never
leave you. That's what he said. But look here at 1 John 2 and
verse 18. He says, little children, it
is the last time. And as you have heard that Antichrist
shall come, Even now are there many Antichrist whereby we know
that it is the last time. This is what John is saying. This kind of behavior, this anti-Christian,
all right, this is a significant sign of the times. We're in the
last days. Verse 19. They went out from
us. They left. but they were not of us. You
see that? They went out, but they were
not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have
continued with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. their leaving,
their apostasy, their sinning willfully, rejecting the Christ
they once professed, simply evidenced that they were not of us. They
were never truly a child of God. Never truly in the church of
God. Never truly brethren or sisters
in the faith. Never truly members of his household
and family. In verse 20 there he says, but
you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things.
Now who's he talking about there? The just who shall live by faith. Now go back to Hebrews 10. That's
who he's talking about. They've rejected the sacrifice
of Christ. They heard about it. For a little
while they agreed to it, but then they sinned willfully. They
rejected it. Now I told you, I know of one
man in my life who claimed to believe this and then totally
rejected it to the point of apostasy. And he now claims to be an avowed
atheist. And so these verses would describe
him. Verse 27, look. But a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall
devour the adversary. That's all they gotta look forward
to, the wrath of God. He that believeth not the wrath
of God abideth on him. John 3, 36. What a terrible,
terrible situation to be in. And he compares it to the law
of Moses. Look at verse 28. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. If you broke the law
of Moses back in Israel and two or three witnesses testified
against you and proved your guilt, it was capital punishment. Look
at verse 29, of how much sore punishment, how much greater
punishment. Suppose ye shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God. That's what a
person who's heard this message claims to believe it and then
turns against it They're counting the blood of Christ. Look, trodden
under, they counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he
was sanctified, wherewith Christ was sanctified. That's who that's
talking about. Christ himself was sanctified. He, Christ, Christ as the surety,
the substitute and the redeemer of his people was set apart to
be the one and only sacrifice, the one and only sin offering.
The one and only surety, redeemer, and substitute. There is no other. And it's by that blood that he
himself was sanctified. He said it himself in John 17. We won't turn there. He sanctified
himself. He set himself apart in the everlasting
covenant of grace to die for the sins of his people as their
surety, their substitute, and their redeemer. And you mean
to tell me you've heard about this? And you claim to believe
it? And now you're totally rejecting
Him? Going another way? Essentially
calling Him accursed? Well, you're trotting underfoot,
the Son of God, and counting the blood of the covenant, wherewith
Christ Himself was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done
despot Damage unto the spirit of grace that now what that means
is you count him to be nothing. That's who that's talking about And look what he says in verse
28 Well In verse 30 now here we
come to the Lord is known by the judgment he executes, you
know, the psalmist said that We're talking about judgment
The psalmist said in Psalm 9 and verse 16, listen to this, the
Lord is known by the judgment which he executed. The wicked
is stared in the work of his own hands. You see, if you reject
the blood of Christ as being your only hope of forgiveness,
your only righteousness before God, his blood is my righteousness.
This is all my hope and peace, this is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Do you believe that? I do. And
I know it's only by the grace of God that I believe it. The
just shall live by faith. That's what we believe, that's
how we live. This is our life. Well? He says here that the psalmist
said, the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand. If
you don't have the blood of Christ, what do you have? The work of
your own hands. Your works, your will, your religion, it won't
do. And so he says in verse 34, we
know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense,
saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. There are two ways in which the
Lord judges his people and by which
we can know the Lord by his judgment. Number one, his judgment against
us in our sins, which results in eternal damnation and death.
Number two, His judgment for His people in Christ who took
our judgment, who took God's wrath in our place because our
sin was imputed to Him. Now how do you want to be found
at judgment? Paul said this in Philippians, oh that I may know
Him and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law. but that which is through the
faith or the faithfulness of Christ. That's how I want to
be found. How about you? Look at verse 30 again. He says,
vengeance is mine. It belongs to me. I will recompense. God must punish all sinners.
Listen to this. God must punish all sinners to
whom sin is imputed, to whom sin is charged. And that's why
our only hope is to be found at judgment before God, not having
our sins imputed to us. Well, who's that gonna be? The
justified, who live by faith. Not those who sin willingly or
willfully, rejecting his blood. That's why we need Christ. Why we need to be found in Him.
Look over at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This whole chapter is talking about how God has
reconciled the sinners and sinners to God in light of the judgment. Look at verse 10 of 2 Corinthians
5. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Well now, does that mean that
God's gonna judge me based upon my works? And my good works will
get me points, and my bad works will get me demerits, is that
what? Well, the only way that you can know what this verse
is teaching is to interpret in light of other scriptures. Isn't
that right? And what does the Bible say about
our good works and our bad works, all that stuff? Well, generally
it says there's none good, no not one. And if it speaks of
goodness, like Paul did, we read this morning in our Bible study
in Romans 4, 15, when he talked about the Roman believers being
full of goodness, what was he talking about? He was talking
about the grace and the power and the goodness of God. working
in them to drive them as sinners to Christ. You see, what he's talking about
here in verse 10 is not judgment by or based on our works. What he's talking about is the
judgment of God in Christ of our works. Are they good or are
they bad? And to all who are justified,
In God's sight, the justified who live by faith, their works
are good, not because of any merit in their efforts or their
sincerity or their morality, but because they stand before
God, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness, showing
forth the power and grace of God in their hearts, looking
to Christ. They plead the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And then those who are without
Christ, It's all bad. Now how do you know? Look at verse 11. Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we're made manifest
unto God, and I trust are made manifest in your consciences.
What is the terror of the Lord? Well, if you read the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation, I can describe the terror of the Lord
this way. Standing before God at judgment without Christ. There is nothing, listen, this
coronavirus junk that's going on, this is terrible. Somebody
gets it, it's terrible. But it is not even to be compared
with the terror of the Lord at judgment for a sinner who is
not washed in the blood and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
And I know that. And he says, therefore we persuade
men. What are we persuading them to do? Now y'all straighten up,
start flying right now. Quit doing this, stop doing that,
start doing this. No, that's not what we're, we're
persuading, in the preaching of the gospel, we're trying to
persuade men and women to look to Christ, to rest in Him, to
follow Him, to believe in Him. The Lord is known by the judgment
He executes. That's his judgment. We'll look
back at Hebrews 10. Look at verse 32. Here's the
afflictions we suffer and the confidence we're given. Now,
who's it talking about here? He's talking about the just who
live by faith. Verse 31, don't forget this one.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. That's that terror. If you're found before God without
Christ, But then in verse 32, but call to remembrance the former
days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great
fight of afflictions. The illumination there is the
revelation of God the Spirit, which brings a sinner in true
faith, God-given faith, to Christ. And when you were brought there,
you had a great, you endured a great fight of afflictions. I think about the afflictions
we have with ourselves, the fight of the warfare of the spirit
and the flesh. With the world, verse 33, partly
whilst you were made a gazing stock, a public spectacle, both
by reproaches and afflictions. We've all gone through that in
some way from our unbelieving family members, unbelieving friends,
And partly whilst you became companions of them that were
so used, when you united to and identified with the people of
God, persecutions, look at verse three, for you had compassion
on me and my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance. You supported guys like the Apostle
Paul, who's out here making enemies of everybody. You lined up with what Paul was
preaching. They probably had people say,
you're all cult, and you just follow Paul. No. You know how
it goes. And he said, the reason you did
this, because you knew that what's coming in eternity is much more
valuable and important than what you have in this world. That's
what he means, in heaven, a better and an enduring substance. What
we have in this world is temporary. It's not gonna last forever.
But what we have in glory by Christ is forever and forever
and forever. So verse 35, cast not away therefore
your confidence. What is my confidence? God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross. Our confidence is in Christ,
our consolation, our comfort, which hath great recompense of
reward, and that's the reward of grace. It's not what we earned. If we had confidence in ourselves,
it would be what we've earned, or what we think we've earned,
which is nothing. But we have confidence in Christ,
and that's a great reward of grace. He is our reward. Verse
36, for you have need of patience, endurance, that after you have
done the will of God, which is what? Look to, rest in, follow
Christ, you might receive the promise, the promise of eternal
life and glory. Verse 37, for yet a little while
and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. And until
then, the just shall live by faith. Live by faith. But now if anybody draws back,
there's no pleasure in him. But we're not of them who draw
back, who, the justified, who live by faith, but of them that
believe to the saving of the soul unto final glory. May the Lord bless His word to
our hearts.