Now our lesson is going to begin
in verse 26, but let's read verse 25 to see how this in context
as we get into verse 26. We ended last week with this
verse. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more
as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins. but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries."
Now, for years, religious people have used these verses to scare
people to death. And what they've used them for
is, you know, they tell them, well, if you willfully sin after
you've been baptized, after you've confessed to believe the gospel,
You do these things willfully, then you're going to lose your
salvation. You'll lose your fellowship with the church. I imagine it's
verses like this that get people, you know, getting other folks
up to publicly confess their sins in front of the church.
I don't know what they do, re-baptize them or bring them into the fold
or whatever. If you sin willfully or lose
your salvation, they're just using that to try to scare people
into living life. That's what they're doing, and
it's horrible. They're putting an unfair burden on people. And
that's not the gospel. That is not what this Scripture
means at all. Believers are not motivated by
fear of punishment. They're motivated by love. By
love for Christ and thanksgiving for the unspeakable grace that
the Lord showed to us. What He's done for us and what
He's done in us. And if we're honest with ourselves,
and we may as well be, all of our sinful acts have a degree
of will willingness. I mean, we just, you know, that
old sinful nature that we're born with is willing to sin. And there's just a certain willingness
in that. So this is not what this means.
If you sin willingly, you lose your salvation. You have to remember
what he's saying here in context. What he's teaching is if someone
would embrace the gospel, they profess to to trust and believe
in Christ. They would profess to believe
that is what Paul's been talking about here. The only sacrifice
for sin is the sacrifice of Christ. They profess to believe that
the only high priest that we have is the Lord Jesus Christ
is what Paul's been talking about here. That they would confess
that the only hope to have their sin put away is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. If after all that, they would
profess to believe those things, then willingly, obstinately,
stubbornly, they would turn away from Christ, turn to another
sacrifice. They turn to some other way,
some other hope of salvation. The only thing that that person
could have to look forward to is the fear of judgment. Because
in judgment, anyone who's outside of Christ will be destroyed. Scripture plainly teaches that. If a person denies salvation
by Christ, then there's no hope of any other salvation. That's
what he's teaching. Because they've denied the one
and only way of salvation. Look over in Acts chapter 4. In Acts chapter 4 verse 12. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. And if anyone turns away
from this one way, this one name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
then there's no hope of salvation for them. That's what scripture
is teaching. Now, let me say this, anyone who does turn away. from Christ. If they make some
sort of profession of faith and they turn away from Christ, they
turn away from the Gospel to some other message, some other
hope of salvation or religion or whatever it is that they might
turn to. If they turn away from Christ, they only had a head
knowledge. You can teach anybody the doctrines
of grace. You can teach anybody in the
head what Scripture is teaching for the most part A human being
can understand what this is saying. You can understand the concepts
and what it's saying if you teach it in simple enough terms. Somebody
can understand it up here. But then now, there was a lady,
I remember Janet, she gave a bunch of tapes to and the lady listened
to them. She mailed them all back to her
in the mail. And she said, I understand what he's saying. I just can't
believe that. I couldn't accept that. That's
what I'm saying is if they turn away from this, they understood
in the head, they may have been some fascination of what this
is in the head. It might have made some sense
to them in their natural mind, but it was never in the heart.
This is almost a hypothetical statement Paul is making here,
and we'll see this as we get to the end of the lesson. Here's
our confidence. No believer, no one that Christ
has saved will ever turn away from him. Now you write that
down. No one that Christ has saved
will ever turn away from Him. And that's where we'll get to
at the end of the lesson. But this is where He's beginning.
If someone would turn away from Christ, then there's no hope
of salvation because He's the only way of salvation. So look
at verse 28, back in Hebrews 10. He that despised Moses' law
died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much
sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done to spite unto the Spirit of grace." Now, under
the law of Moses, people who were guilty of committing certain
sins were put to death without mercy, without thought, without
any further ado. If they were guilty, two or three
witnesses could give witness that this happened, then they
were put to death. If someone violated the picture
of Christ and the sacrifices and the ceremonies, those were
just pictures. But if they violated that picture, the law said put
them to death. Well, if they violated the picture
and God's judgment came on them, how much worse is it to actually
trod underfoot God's Son? Oh, much worse. You cannot possibly
expect any better treatment. If God's judgment came on someone
that violated the picture, You know his judgment will come on
someone that trods underfoot his son, his beloved son. And
this phrase, trodden underfoot, means to have a deep contempt
for, to despise and have bad treatment of. Well, how can we
do that? How can a person do that to the
Lord Jesus Christ, to trod him underfoot, to have deep contempt
for him, to have bad treatment of God's son? Well, first, it's
to deny his deity, to say, well, he's not God. He's just another
man. He's a great prophet, but he can't be God. How can a man
be God? To deny his deity. It's to despise
his righteousness, to try to have some sort of righteousness
that we can produce, to think that we can do something to add
to, that we have to do something to add to Christ's righteousness
in order to be accepted. It's to trot underfoot the blood
of Christ. To think that it takes more than
the blood of Christ to pay for my sin. That I've got to do something
to make it effectual. I get up on Sunday mornings.
I make my coffee and I flip on the TV. I watch, you know, whatever
I can find to watch. Interesting. Well, I'm drinking
my coffee. And what came on the TV this morning when I turn on
the TV is this fellow and he's walking around. Everybody's saying
he's screaming And before I could turn, he started saying something,
and I waited to hear what he was saying, because it sounded
good. He was talking about God, who
created the heavens and the earth, who has all power. He makes the
lightning flash from the sky. He's the one that makes the thunder
rumble. He rules this earth. He does
what He will, when He will. And I thought, wow, that's good. He took one breath after making
that statement. And he said, he's just waiting
on you to do something. That is heartbreaking. How awful
of a statement. That's to trod underfoot God's
Son. I wanted to scream, He is not
waiting on us to make a move. God will come to His people.
He'll move you. We're waiting on Him, aren't
we? Oh, and to believe otherwise is to trot Him underfoot. To
trot Him underfoot, to count the sacrifice of Christ as just
another ceremony. Like a ceremony of slaying the
bulls and the goats. To count His blood just as a
picture of God's justice. Like the blood of those bulls
and the goats. That's to trot underfoot God's
Son. It's just to think that's just
a picture of God's justice. That's to trot underfoot God's
Son. Well, verse 30, Paul says, For we know him that has said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Now, anyone
who chooses something other than Christ can only expect God's
wrath. You know that. That's so plain.
You see, as you read through the Old Testament, how many times
did Israel Start worshiping idols and they start to turn away from
God. And always, God's wrath would fall on them, wouldn't
it? It's a fearful thing what happened to them. They were carried
into bondage. So many of them were killed by heathen kings.
Jerusalem has got to be, have been destroyed more times than
any city in the history of this earth. Destroyed and rebuilt.
Destroyed and rebuilt. Pestilence came on them. Famine
came on them. God's wrath fell on them as they
turned to idols. It's a fearful thing for a criminal
to be brought into human court of justice before the judge and
you've been caught red-handed. That's a fearful thing. Well,
how much more fearful is it for a sinner to be brought before
the bar of God's justice? God the judge and be brought
there without an advocate. To be brought before Him naked
with no righteousness to be clothed in. Naked to have our sin exposed. And no, you're guilty. You've just left speechless before
the judge. That's a fearful thing to know.
His wrath for sin is going to fall on me. That's a fearful
thing. But listen, there's no fear for
the believer. Now, the Lord will judge His
people. He'll correct His people. Now, He will. But there is therefore
now No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. There's
no fear of condemnation for God's people. There's no fear of the
judgment. Punishment for sin belongs to God. All sin is against
Him, so all punishment of sin is going to come from Him. And
we saw the proof of that at Calvary. When Christ took the sins of
all His elect unto Himself, He assumed our guilt. He took our
place. And what happened? God killed
him for it. Punishment for sin belonged to
God. Yes, the Jews yelled, crucify
him, crucify him. But it wasn't the Jews that crucified
him. It was God's justice. The Roman soldiers beat him,
nailed him to that cross and stuck it in the ground. But it
wasn't the Roman soldiers that killed him. It was the Father.
All punishment for sin belongs to God. So for the believer,
There's no fear to be in the hands of God, is there? There's
no fear in that whatsoever. Because God has already dealt
with Christ in justice. So now there's no fear. Look
in 2 Samuel chapter 24. David here had broken God's commandment,
numbered the people. The Lord always told him, don't
number the people, don't count them. David did. Look at verse
10, 2 Samuel 24. And David's heart smote him,
after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the
Lord, I have sinned greatly, and that I have done. And now
I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant,
for I have done very foolishly. For when David was up in the
morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's
saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord. I offer
thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that
I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told
him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto
thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months
before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? Or that there be
three days' pestilence in thy land? Now advise, and see what
answer I shall return to him that sent And listen to David's
answer. And David said unto God, I'm
in a great strain. Let us fall now into the hand
of the Lord, for his mercies are great. And let me not fall
into the hand of man. Now, one of God's children can
say that. Because his mercies are great. Because he's already
dealt with my sins and my substitute. Let me fall into the hand of
God. Because his mercies are great. But now outside of Christ,
That would be fearful to fall into the hand of the living God. Now, verse 32, back in our text,
Paul says, "...because remembrance of the former days, in which
after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions."
Now, Paul's going to encourage these Hebrew believers to continue
in the faith, to persevere in Christ. And he reminds them of
the price that they'd already paid. You count the cost. There's
a price to following Christ. And he reminds them of the price
they'd already paid. He reminds them how the Lord
had brought them through every trial from the beginning, right
up to now. He brought them through every
trial, apparently right after they were illuminated, right
after the Lord saved them. Almost immediately, they began
to suffer persecution, affliction. They had a great fight of afflictions. Well, why? Why from the very
beginning did this happen to them? They were illuminated. They were illuminated in Christ,
the light of the world. And darkness will always oppose
light. They're opposite and they'll
always oppose. And in every fight, the Lord has delivered them up
until now. So what Paul is encouraging them is you keep trusting in
the Lord. He's delivered you in the past. He'll deliver you
now. And He'll deliver you in the
future too. You keep trusting in Him and you'll never be sorry.
Verse 33, He says, partly whilst you were made a gazing star.
both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions
of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me and
my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that ye have made in heaven a better and an enduring
substance." Now, every believer knows something of what he's
talking about here. These children of God were made
a gazing stop, made a reproach of the world. They didn't have
anything in common with the world anymore. But instead of quitting
the faith, instead of just running and hiding, they publicly joined
themselves to others, to other believers, to other of God's
children, even when they were suffering for the sake of the
gospel. Very publicly. They didn't hide. They didn't
pretend they weren't friends. They joined themselves to them.
And they join themselves to them because all believers in all
generations, they have a family bond that cannot be broken. It's just a bond. It can't be
broken by trials. It can't be broken by distance.
It can't be broken by different circumstances. It's a family
bond. It's the bond of the love of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over a page in Hebrews chapter
11. Moses found this out in Hebrews 11 verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, with
his brethren, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. He was going to identify with
God's people. And if we're one of God's people,
we'll do the same thing. That's that common bond that
you cannot break. And these Hebrews, they lost
all their worldly possessions. I'm sure they lost their reputation
in the community. They lost all their former friends.
Because they didn't have anything in common with them anymore.
Now they're different. Something's happened. And that was ok. That was alright with them. Whatever
we lose, for Christ's sake, we will always gain more in Him
than what we've lost here. Always. When you lose friends,
our former friends and companions, we'll lose them. But that's nothing
compared to the family that you gain in Christ. You've gained
a family that you can't count. We might lose position. You know,
job position or our position in the community or place or
some fame in the world. You know, people forget about
you and don't want to hear from you anymore. But that's nothing
compared to being adopted into God's family. I might lose my
name and my reputation. That's just fine. If I gain His
name. Oh, to wear His name. That's
my heart's desire. You gain a whole lot more in
Him than we ever lose in this world. Henry said this in his
outline. The comforts, pleasures, and
fame of this world are soap bubbles. How fragile is a soap bubble? And it's gone forever. You can
have a whole bathtub full of them. and they're just gone.
You don't even have to do anything. Just sit still for a minute and
they'll be gone. Just a soapbuckle. But the glory
of heaven is eternal. The inheritance that we have
in glory far outweighs not just what we have in this world, but
everything in this world. You know the old saying, all
the tea in China. It outweighs everything in this world. If
you're still there in Hebrews 11, look at verse 26. Why did
Moses choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season? He esteemed
the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt, for he had recompense unto the reward, unto the inheritance.
Look over a few pages of 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse three. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his
abundant mercy, hath begotten us again into a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance. Now, here's our inheritance.
It's incorruptible, it's undefiled, and it fadeth not away, and it's
reserved in heaven for you. for you who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need
be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom have ye not seen, ye love. In whom, though now ye seem not,
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
receiving the end, the goal of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls." That's what you're going to receive. And it doesn't
matter about the trials and the troubles and the rough roads
we go through between here and there. It's incorruptible. It's undefiled. It's reserved
in heaven for you. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. That's our inheritance. Someone might touch our body,
but they can't touch our inheritance. They can't touch what we have
in Christ. Now, verse 35, Paul says, cast not away, therefore,
your confidence, which hath great recompense or reward. The only
confidence anyone can have is the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer's
confidence is Christ. Now, don't throw that away. Christ
is our confidence and our reward, both in this life and in the
life to come. You don't just have to wait for
that reward and glory sometime out there in the future. He's
our reward now. He's our confidence now, is what
we cling to now. I read this week about soldiers
at this time in history, and Paul was writing. It was scandalous
for them to lose their shield. I don't know if just any time
or in battle, it was scandalous for them to lose their shield.
I imagine because if they were retreating, if they ever turned
in fear and retreated, they didn't need that shield anymore. They
turned their back to the enemy. You know, the shield is to protect
the front of you. And maybe they threw that shield away so they
could retreat faster. Well, it's a scandal. Greek soldiers
were put to death if they lost their shield. Well, wouldn't
it be scandalous for a believer to cast our shield away? That's
Christ, our shield and buffer. Don't cast him away. Use your
only hope. Cling to him. Verse 36, Paul says, for you
have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God,
you might receive the promise. Now every believer, I don't care
who we are, has need of patience. There's a long road ahead of
us. We have need of patience. I was talking to a friend of
mine this week. He said, I'm so impatient. Just getting on
himself, you know. I said, well now, We all need
patience. That's what Paul says. Whoever
you are, you have a need of patience. You have a need of that patience
to grow. Because not only is it a long
road, it's going to get rougher. That's just what the Lord promised
us. And our reward is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's at the end
of the reward. What is at the end? It's Him. It's seeing His face, being with
Him where He is, being conformed to the likeness of His image.
And that reward is reserved for those who continue in the faith. Look back at Hebrews chapter
3. Hebrews 3 verse 14. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast. unto the end. That's who this
reward is reserved for, for those who continue steadfast unto the
end. Now, verse 37. For yet a little while, just
a little while, and he shall come. He that shall come will
come, and he'll not tarry. It's just going to be a little
while. You know, maybe we don't need as much patience as we think.
It's just going to be a little while. It seems like a long time
to us, doesn't it? And I thought of this this week.
It seems like such a long time to us because of our immaturity. To a child, just a little child,
Christmas seems like it will take forever to get here. We put up our tree three or four
weeks before Christmas. It's bad now, but when my kids
were little, I mean every day was an adventure in keeping them
You know, tearing into the presents and stuff, just so excitedly.
They cannot possibly wait until Christmas Day. And it gets to
be this time of year, and my goodness, you may as well forget
it. It's so far away. It'll never come. I'll never
live to see another Christmas. That's what a child feels like
because of immaturity. And to adults, you think, is
it time to put up that stupid tree again? It seems like I just
put that thing up. I can't believe it's time to
go shopping for Christmas presents and fight the crowds again. We
just need some patience. But it's going to be here before
you know it. Christ is going soon to return for His people. It may be in death or it may
be in His return. But He's coming. Now He is precious
in the sight of the Lord. It's the death of His saints.
Why? Because He's catered them to
Himself. They're precious to Him. And however it is, He comes
for us. It will mean the end of all suffering,
of all tears, of death. And it may seem like a long time,
but He's coming. You read this afternoon 2 Peter
3. He's coming. And people think,
oh, where's the promise of His coming? Everything stayed like
it was from the beginning of the world. He's coming. He's come for His people. Now,
verse 38. Now the judge. shall live by
faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him." The justified ones, those
who have been justified by the Lord Jesus Christ, they've been
justified by faith in Him. The justified ones, these believers,
they live by faith in Christ. It's not faith in doctrine. It's
not an understanding of the doctrine that's been taught for years
and years. It's not living by the law, living by works, or
even living by bread alone. It's by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this life of faith is all
of grace, isn't it? Faith is a gift of God. It's
a gift of His grace. And the just shall live by faith.
First of all, they live by faith because we receive our spiritual
life. by faith in Christ. Faith is
the conduit through which we receive Christ. Second, that
life is sustained and it's kept by the power of God through faith. That's why all these Hebrew believers,
they could lose their worldly possessions and do it with a
good attitude. Because life is not those things. Now, we have to have them to
live. We have to have a certain amount of food and clothing and
shelter. The Lord's going to provide those things. But our
life is not those things, is it? No matter how many of them
you have or how little of them you have, the believer's life
is in Christ. And you can only see that with
eyes of faith. Third, our life is perfected by faith. Our works
have absolutely nothing to do with it, either before conversion
or after conversion. It doesn't matter. They contribute
nothing to spiritual life. Now our works and our conduct
as God's children are important because they're evidence of faith.
Faith without works is dead. But they don't contribute anything
to our spiritual life. It's a gift that we receive from
God through faith. And God has no pleasure in anyone
who does not have faith in His Son, turns away from His Son.
And if you don't have faith, ultimately you'll turn away.
You lose interest because it's not important. It's not life
to you, so you'll turn away from it if you don't have faith. And
this word, drawback, means with a heart of pride and arrogance. It's an idea of self-sufficiency
so that you don't live by faith. You live by some power or whatever
of your own. And God can't have pleasure with
someone like that because without faith, it's impossible to please
God. The just should live by faith.
And he says in verse 39, but we are not of them who draw back
unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the
soul. A true believer will never and
can never leave the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone who has Christ
will never go back to something lesser, whether it's the law
or ceremonies or works or man-made religion They're like Peter.
They will not go back. The Lord said, you can go. Everybody
else is left. Are you going to leave? Peter
said, absolutely not. To whom shall we go? You have
the words of life. We believe and are sure thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. I'm not going to
move and expect from Him. We are sure of that. Now we're
like Peter another way. We're going to stumble, aren't
we? But never draw back. Never fall away. We'll never
draw back because we're held fast by our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Held fast by His love. Held fast
by the power of Christ. We'll never draw back because
we've been, by God's grace, united to Christ. We've been built up
on Christ the Rock. He's the foundation. We're not
going to leave the foundation. If the building leaves the foundation,
it's going to fall down. We'll never draw back because
faith lays hold on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, salvation is God
reaching down and laying hold on us. Isn't that salvation?
God laying hold on us. But in response, faith lays hold
on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're like Jacob. I will not
let you go. I won't do it. And you can't
draw back from someone that's laid hold on you, and you've
laid hold on me, and you both got a grip on one another, you
can't draw back. And a believer will not draw
back. Because by God's grace, He's
laid hold on us. And He's given us faith to lay
hold on Him. So we won't draw back.