"Be Afraid" Sermon: Hebrews 10:26-31

“Be Afraid”

[Hebrews 10:26-31]

June 16, 2013 Second Reformed Church

            There is a good reason to be afraid of God:  God knows your heart.

            Last week, one of the things we saw is that as we draw near to God we must have a true heart – that is, we must have right doctrine – we must believe what the Bible says – especially about salvation through Jesus Alone, and we must have full assurance of faith – that is, we must believe what we believe sincerely.

            And we saw that there is a problem, because we must have both to draw near to God – it is possible to only have one or the other.  It is possible to know everything that the Bible says, to be able to explain all the doctrines of the Scripture and all the distinctive of our denomination and explain why we believe that our interpretation of the Scripture is the better one, and not believe that it is sincerely and necessarily true.  It is also possible to believe all kinds of things the Bible does not say – “God only wants us to be faithful, He doesn’t care what we believe,” “If we’re good enough, God has to receive us into the Kingdom,” “All religions lead to the same end – they are many paths to the same God,” and so forth – and be totally sincere in such beliefs, yet be wrong.  So, if we are to draw near to God, we must believe the things that Bible says – especially about salvation – and we must believe them sincerely with all our heart.

            Why?  Because, if we know everything in the Bible – and especially those things about salvation in Jesus Alone – but don’t believe them, we are still in our sins.  And, if we sincerely believe things which are not true, we are still in our sins.  Unless we believe the truth with all sincerity, we have not been saved – we are still in our sins.

            If we know all the right things, but don’t believe them, we have not been forgiven for our sins.  And if we believe things that are wrong, but believe them sincerely, we have not been forgiven for our sins.

            Do we understand?  Right knowledge must be combined with sincere belief.

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

If we continue in unrepentant sin – deliberate, happy, joyful sin – after we have come to rightly know the truth of the Bible – the truth of the Gospel – there is no longer a sacrifice for sins – there is no sacrifice for such a person.

“Wait a minute,” someone is thinking, “Are you saying that someone can believe the Gospel and then sin and lose their salvation?”

No.  As we go through our text, we must remember:  right knowledge must be combined with sincere belief.

What the author of Hebrews is picturing for us is someone who knows the Bible very well – who knows the Gospel very well – perhaps a pastor or a Sunday School teacher – they’re on TV, they write books, they’re on their way to General Synod, but, for as much as they can repeat all the facts accurately, they have never sincerely believed.

“Well, why would a person do that?”

Perhaps because people like to be part of a group.  Perhaps because people think having some sort of religious upbringing makes a person moral.  Perhaps because they enjoyed using their minds in understanding the Scripture.  Perhaps because they enjoyed teaching and entering into conversation with those who came to be taught.

But these are not people who “lose” their salvation – no – these are people who never had salvation – these are people who had knowledge, but never sincere belief.  These are people who participated in the life of the Church.  These are people who confessed the confessions.  These are people who in the end renounce the teachings of the Gospel – they forsake the Church – they turn their backs to Christ and say, “not for me!”

And, if that repudiation of Christ is permanent, the sacrifice of Christ which they seemed to have received is no longer available to them.  And the terrible thing is there will be people that come before the throne of God at the end of the age and say, “What do you mean we’re going to Hell?  We preached the Bible for fifty years.  We taught Sunday school for seventy years.  We participated in the Church and tithed and did everything that was right according to the book.”  But Christ will tell His Father, “These are not mine; I don’t know them.”  Because they did not sincerely believe what they knew, but continued in their sin with abandon.

“but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

If you memorize the Bible and can explain all the doctrines of the Bible, you may still go to Hell, if you don’t sincerely believe.  Although metaphors – images – are used to describe the horrors of Hell -- and that’s why the images are there – to disturb us – to frighten us – to alarm us, we are told that the judgment that such people receive is that they will be consumed by fire.  And the word, “consumed” there does not mean that they will at some point go into non-existence.  The word, positively, means, “to make a living,” and negatively, indicates a continual taking away – an eating that does not end.  And notice that God calls these people His “adversaries.”

And we might wonder:  “What if someone wrote the top hundred orthodox books, and led thousands of people to salvation in Jesus Alone each year, and pastored a mega-church, and taught through various media, inspiring other leaders and missionaries around the world – wouldn’t that count for something?”

If that person did not both know the Truth and believe it sincerely, it would be as if he had spit in the face of Christ and told Him to “be gone.”  It would be no better that if he were the chief proponent of atheism and attacks on the Church.  It would be accounted to him as sin – unrepentant, deliberate sin – leaving him without the Sacrifice necessary for Salvation and facing a fearful and horrific judgment and sentence.  The reason for all he did was not the love of Christ and His Salvation – it was something else.  It may have been useful to the Church and those who came to Christ through what he did, but there would no longer be the Sacrifice available for him, because he denied the Very One he had spent his life teaching.

This is not a popular thing to talk about – I’m sure some of you are hoping I will move on to something else pretty quickly.  But I would be lax in my duty if I do not call you – and me – to make sure that we have not even fooled ourselves – because it is possible to fool yourself.

Peter wrote, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10-11, ESV).

Do you believe the teaching of the Bible that there is only salvation through Jesus Alone?  If you know and really believe that, you are a Christian.

Peter wrote, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’” (1 Peter 4:17-18, ESV).

We who believe are saved, not based on anything we are or do, but on the work of Jesus Christ – His Incarnation, Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension.  There aren’t many ways – there are thousands and thousands of ideas out there, but only One Way through Jesus.

Some of you may be doubting that there are really people like the author of Hebrews is warning – one example:  some of us will be familiar with Charles Finney.  He was a revival preacher during the Second Great Awakening – perhaps the greatest revival preacher of the Second Great Awakening.  Thousands of people believed in the Gospel under his preaching.  Do you know what he wrote in his autobiography?  “Jesus is not necessary for salvation; we are able to do enough good works to merit our own salvation.”  He knew his Bible, but he didn’t believe.  He was an apostate – and God visits apostates with expectations of His Wrath, and then the judgment.

“Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

The author of Hebrews sets up a comparison from the lesser to the greater:  first, he reminds his readers that those people who committed capital crimes against the Law of Moses received the death penalty.  How much greater – he argues – how much heavier – is the punishment of those who break the Covenant with Jesus – those who reject His Salvation?  Breaking the Law of Moses and rejecting God’s Promised Salvation through Jesus are both apostate works – it’s saying “I know what’s true, and I don’t care, I’m going to sin and sin, because I like it.”  It’s the person sitting in the pew who says, “I hear what you have to say, and I don’t care, I’m comfortable doing what I’m doing and I’m going to keep on doing it” – never believing that God’s Wrath is about to fall on him.

“How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Both the breaker of the Law of Moses and the rejecter of Salvation through Jesus will be punished without mercy, but the one who rejects Christ has committed a greater offense, which the author of Hebrews breaks down into three parts:

First, he says that the one who has participated in the life of the Church claiming to be a Christian and then proving himself not by renouncing the Gospel “trample(s) underfoot the Son of God.”  How is that so?

In this way:  rather than just rejecting Christianity, this type of person wants the benefits of the Church, but still wants to be in control of his life.  This is a person who hears the call to submit to the authority of Christ and responds, “You’re not the boss of me!”  This is the person who says he will gladly participate in the Church and say all the right things, but he will not allow Jesus to dictate how he lives and what he believes.  This person likes the Church, likes Jesus, but says he will not allow Jesus to have authority over him.  Rather than bow before Jesus, he tramples Him.

Second, he says that the one who has participated in the life of the Church claiming to be a Christian and then proving himself not by renouncing the Gospel has “profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified.”  Do we see an immediate problem?

If this person is not really a Christian, how can it be said that “he was sanctified”?  How could someone who does not believe receive the gift of becoming holy in the Father’s eyes – and at the end of the age?

The answer is found in the meaning of the phrase “he was sanctified.”  As it is worded here it can merely refer to a person’s confession, not actual, sincere, belief.  So, we could read this verse, “profaned the blood of the covenant which he said he believed, by which sincere belief and confession one is found to be sanctified.”  This is important to understand, because the author of Hebrews is not saying that this person was a Christian and then renounced his Christianity – that he sincerely believed the Covenant and was made holy, and then renounced it and became unholy again – that is not what the author of Hebrews is telling us.  He is telling us that holiness only comes through the Covenant to those who sincerely believe the Gospel.

So, what has the person who renounces the Gospel he said he believed done in this second case?  He has profaned the blood of Christ – he has considered the blood sacrifice of Jesus and said it is nothing to him.  He has said he does not need a high priest or a sacrifice; he can make himself right in God’s eyes.

Third, he says that the one who has participated in the life of the Church claiming to be a Christian and then proving himself not by renouncing the Gospel has “outraged the Spirit of grace.”  How does one “outrage the Spirit of grace” – that is, the Holy Spirit?

Such a person outrages the Holy Spirit by lying to Him:  this person has come into the Church, learned what the Bible and the Gospel say, acted in a proper way, taken part in everything of the Church, but said, “I don’t need Jesus, and I don’t need His Sacrifice or High Priestly work “And the Holy Spirit cries out; “Liar!  Hypocrite!”  And we know that lying to the Holy Spirit is the height of sin – it is the unforgiveable sin:

As Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31-32, ESV).

If a person – in the end – refuses to believe the Gospel, in faith, with sincerity of heart, truly, not just as an abstract truth, but as his ultimate need and only salvation, that person will not and cannot ever be forgiven.  Every other sin can be forgiven, but even if a person looks like a Christian, acts like a Christian, calls himself a Christian, knows the Bible and the Gospel inside and out, takes part in everything the Church does, but says that he doesn’t need Christ and His Salvation – His Gospel – or if he merely does not truly sincerely believe in faith that it is his only hope and salvation – he will not be forgiven – he will face the Wrath of God for his sins.

Be afraid.

Peter writes, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:20-21, ESV). 

“For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’”

For a second time, the author of Hebrews uses a comparison from the lesser to the greater, both using these two quotes from Deuteronomy 32.  They are taken from a song Moss sang and taught the people right before he died.  It is a song which accuses Israel of being unfaithful and promises that God will not stand for an adulterer to be His Bride, but He will take vengeance upon them and judge them.  And Moses warns the people not to come into a state like that – where they are calling themselves the people of Israel, knowing the Word of God, participating in Temple worship and sacrifice, yet proving their lack of belief by worshipping other gods on the side.

The same is easily put to the Church today:  are we a faithful, believing Bride?  Do we know what God has said – and all that is in the Bible – and all that is in the Gospel – we even have copies that we can read at home – and do we sincerely believe it through faith?

Do you know the expression:  “If it walks looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it’s a duck”?  It’s not true!  If I put on a duck costume, and walked and quacked like a duck, I would not be a duck, I would be an imposter – a hypocrite.

God will not tolerate hypocrites in His Church – if you are boasting of being part of the Church – of being in the Church – but you don’t believe, be afraid!  The day is coming when God will bring judgment.

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Human judgment is only for the length of this life, but the judgment of God is forever.  God brings the measure of His Holiness and Righteousness and executes vengeance upon all those who fall short.

The author of Hebrews does not write these words merely to frighten us, but to encourage us to make sure of what and Whom we believe in before the time is too late.  It’s wonderful to come to the worship service and be part of the Church in various ways, including being gifted in the Word and teaching it and preaching it to others, but if that is all it is – if there is no faith received belief at the core of what each one of us is doing, the author of Hebrews wants us to be afraid, because we are without help before a God Who requires holiness.

Is there any good news?

There is almost a mirror image of our concluding verse in the book of Second Samuel – David had disobeyed God, and God came to David through the prophet, Gad, and told him to choose one of three punishments that God would bring on the nation.  David was heartbroken – all of the punishments would bring great distress on the nation, especially as they were in the midst of war.  “Then David said to Gad, ‘I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man’” (2 Samuel 24:14, ESV).

David chose to suffer at the Hand of God rather than at the hand of his enemies, because he knew that God is merciful.

God has sent the Savior – just as He promised – we can read about it and know of the promise of the Savior and all the signs of the Savior by reading the Bible, but that does not save us.  We are saved for sincerely believing in Him through faith.

Paul summarized the Gospel like this:  “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8, ESV).

Believe in Jesus, God the Savior, and what He has done to accomplish salvation for all those who will ever believe, and you no longer have to be afraid of the judgment.  But make sure you believe.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, it is disturbing to talk about Your Wrath and Judgment, but it is necessary to warn those who believe they are right with You when they are not, and it is good for us to remember from whence we have come through the blood of Jesus.  Lord, make it clear to each on here, if we have truly, sincerely believed in Jesus as Savior by faith alone, and if any have doubts, haunt us with the fear of Your Judgment until we are sure – for the sake of our eternal life depends on it.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.