Hebrews 10:26-39 A Warning Against Willful Sin – audio

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Text: Hebrews 10:26-39

Introduction

1. Immediately following a gracious exhortation to draw near to God and hold fast the confession of our hope, we find an ominous warning

a. It is a warning against willful sin – Hebrews 10:26-39

b. It speaks of reaching a terrible state in which:

1) There longer remains a sacrifice for sins

2) There is a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation

2. Is this a warning for Christians? Some would say no

a. They believe in the doctrine once saved, always saved

b. They hold that true Christians:

1) Cannot so sin to point of being eternally lost

2) If they begin to sin to the point where they might be lost, God will intervene and take their life to prevent it from happening

3. Does the Bible teach once saved, always saved?

a. It does teach the security of the believer (i.e., those who remain faithful are secure)

b. But it also teaches that a believer can become an unbeliever, at which point a person has every reason to fear for his or her salvation! – Hebrews 3:12-14

4. The possibility of apostasy (falling away) is taught in the Bible, especially in the epistle to Hebrews

a. We have already seen several warnings implying this possibility:

1) A warning against drifting – Hebrews 2:1-4

2) A warning against departing – Hebrews 3:12-14

3) A warning against disobedience – Hebrews 4:11

4) A warning against dullness, leading to apostasy – Hebrews 5:11-6:6

b. But perhaps now, with a warning against willful sin, we learn the real danger of losing our salvation if we despise what we have received! – Hebrews 10:26-39

Body

I. WHAT IT MEANS TO SIN WILLFULLY (Hebrews 10:26)

A. COMPARE OTHER TRANSLATIONS

1. If we deliberately keep on sinning… (NIV)

2. For if we go on sinning deliberately… (ESV)

3. For if we go on sinning willfully… (NASB)

B. THE SENSE OF THE GREEK IS ONE OF REPEATED ACTION

1. Implying not an act of sin, but a state of sin

a. All Christians have moments of weakness, or ignorantly sin – 1 John 1:8-10

b. It is not inadvertent sin, but deliberate sin that is under consideration

2. A state in which one:

a. Knows the truth – Hebrews 10:26b

b. Yet chooses to deliberately and continuously persist in sin!

C. CAN A TRUE CHRISTIAN EVER REACH THIS POINT? YES!!!

1. Note the pronoun we (the author includes himself in the warning) – Hebrews 10:26a

2. He later describes one who was sanctified by the blood of the covenant – Hebrews 10:29

3. This warning is directed to those who have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus!

4. When one persists in sin willfully, they are in grave danger. This is especially true when one is a Christian!

II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF WILLFUL SIN (Hebrews 10:26-27)

A. THERE NO LONGER REMAINS A SACRIFICE FOR SIN

1. What sacrifice is under consideration here? Christ’s sacrifice!

2. What sacrifice no longer remains? Christ’s sacrifice!

3. The blood of Christ is no longer available for one who persists in willful sin!

B. WHAT DOES REMAIN?

1. a certain fearful expectation of judgment – Hebrews 10:27a

a. One can expect a judgment that is certain! – Hebrews 9:27; Acts 17:30-31

b. One can expect a judgment that is fearful!

1) For we must answer to Christ Himself – 2 Corinthians 5:10-11

2) And we will be in the hands of the living God! – Hebrews 10:30-31

2. A fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries – Hebrews 10:27b

a. A judgment involving fire – Revelation 21:8

b. A judgment involving indignation (the wrath of God) – Romans 2:5-11

c. Such a judgment will devour – Matthew 10:28

III. THE JUSTIFICATION FOR PUNISHING WILLFUL SIN (Hebrews 10:28-31)

A. WHAT WAS REQUIRED UNDER THE OLD COVENANT?

1. Death without mercy! – Hebrews 10:28

2. Such was the punishment for a particular kind of sin:

a. Sin that was deliberate

1) In which one rejected Moses’ law (NKJV)

2) In which one despised Moses’ law (KJV)

b. Sin that was open

1) It had to be seen by two or more

2) For death was not rendered unless there were two or three witnesses

c. Again, it is WILLFULL sin that is under discussion

3. While there was mercy for sins of weakness or ignorance, there was none for open and deliberate sin under the Old Covenant!

B. WHAT IS REQUIRED UNDER THE NEW COVENANT?

1. One is worthy of much worse punishment! – Hebrews 10:29

a. What could be worse than physical death?

b. Only fiery indignation! (hell)

2. Why? Because a Christian who sins willfully has:

a. trampled the Son of God underfoot

1) It denotes contempt of the most flagrant kind

2) Such a person treats Jesus who died for him like dirt!

b. counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing

1) The blood of the covenant clearly refers to Jesus’ blood – Hebrews 9:14-22; Hebrews 13:20

2) It is by this blood one is sanctified

3) Such a person considered Jesus’ blood a common thing!

c. insulted the Spirit of grace

1) A reference to the Holy Spirit

a) Through Whom the message of salvation was given – John 16:13-14

b) Through Whom our sanctification takes place – 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5-7

2) A person who openly and deliberately sins insults God’s grace!

3. This passage clearly teaches two things:

a. That a Christian can so sin as to reach this point of open rebellion against Jesus!

b. That the punishment reserved for such is worse than death!

C. IS THIS CONSISTENT WITH GOD’S NATURE?

1. Isn’t God a God of love? Of course! – 1 John 4:8

2. But He is also a God of justice, One who judges His people – Hebrews 10:30

a. To who much is given, much is required – Luke 12:47-48

b. Those who despise His love, set themselves up to be recipients of His wrath – Romans 2:4-6

3. Therefore it truly is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God – Hebrews 10:31

IV. THE SOLUTION TO AVOIDING WILLFUL SIN (Hebrews 10:32-39)

A. REMEMBER YOUR EARLY CONFIDENCE

1. The writer reminds his readers of their former days

a. Those days after they were illuminated (enlightened) – Hebrews 10:32

1) Shortly after their conversion

2) In the days of Justin (ca. 167 A.D.), this term was a synonym for baptism

b. Those days in which they were made a spectacle – Hebrews 10:32-34

1) By their own sufferings

2) And by sharing in the sufferings of others, including those of the author

a) In whom they had compassion in his chains

b) In which they joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods

3) Knowing that they had a better and enduring possession in heaven!

2. It is such confidence they must be careful not to cast away – Hebrews 10:35

a. To cast away is the opposite of hold fast

b. Only in holding fast our confidence is there great reward – Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14

3. Likewise, we need to rekindle the fire of that newfound faith we had when we first responded to the gospel! – Revelation 2:4-5

B. ENDURE TO THE END

1. Endurance is needed to receive the promise – Hebrews 10:36

a. For the Lord is coming – Hebrews 10:37

b. And the just lives by faith – Hebrews 10:38

c. If we draw back (become unfaithful), the Lord will not be pleased! (My soul has no pleasure in him.)

2. The author speaks of his own confidence – Hebrews 10:39

a. He is not of those who draw back to perdition (who cast away their faith)

b. But of those who believe to saving of the soul (who remain faithful to the end)

3. We too need to believe to the saving of the soul, or to put it in the words of Jesus, be faithful unto death – Revelation 2:10

Conclusion

1. We can look forward with great anticipation to the saving of our souls, if we:

a. Remember (and rekindle) that confidence early in our conversion

b. Endure to the end with the faith that saves

2. But with a warning against willful sin, we must never forget that one can

a. Fall from grace!

b. Fall into the hands of the living God!

c. Which is a terrifying thing!

3. How much better, though, to be upheld by the hand of God, as the Psalmist wrote: The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand. – Psalm 37:23-24

4. Such is the case of those who remain strong in their faith and trust in the Lord. Are you believing to the saving of your soul…?