Hebrews 10:26-39
(10:26-31)
There is much debate among Bible scholars concerning to whom these words
in Hebrews 10:26-31 are addressed. Are
they addressed to Christians who are in danger of turning their backs on
God? Or, are they addressed to people who
have been exposed in some way to the gospel but never made a faith commitment
to Christ? Strong arguments can be made
for both points of view. However,
whether you view the paragraph as having been written to Christians or
non-Christians, in the paragraph are some basic principles about God's judgment
which we all need to understand.
God's judgment is a certain reality
1. There are two extremes of thought concerning
the concept of God's judgment...
--on one hand there are those in the
church who simply don't want to hear or think about the judgment of God... they
prefer to think of the God of wrath and judgment as being confined to the OT
and that the God of the NT is the God of love, compassion, and forgiveness and
that judgment is not part of His nature...
--on the other hand there are those who
want to hear nothing but the judgment of God...they think they've not heard a
sermon unless the preacher pounds the pulpit and threatens them with a mean,
angry God whose primary desire is to do them harm...
2. As is true in the case of most extremes, both
of those views miss the mark...the thrust of the entire Scripture is that God
would prefer to relate to us with redemption and grace...it's God's heart
desire for us to turn to Him and trust our lives to Him...but if we refused to
do that, the inevitable result is that we will stand under God's judgment...
1. This passage makes it clear that God's
judgment is a certain reality...v.27 speaks of a "...certain
terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume
the adversaries."...and in v.31 is that famous statement that
Jonathan Edwards, the colonial American preacher, used to spark one of the
great spiritual awakenings on American soil... "It is a terrifying
thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
2. Point is we must not forget the reality and
seriousness of the judgment of God...
1.
In reading came statement which is at the same time both
challenging and disturbing...written by Foy Valentine about this
passage...think it's worth sharing with you... referring to this paragraph
Valentine writes:
"This is strong medicine. It must be remembered, however, that God is
not an indulgent granddaddy and that the gospel of God in Christ is not a soft
and shallow thing. It is a solemn matter
which has to do with birth and death, blood and fire, heaven and hell, time and
eternity. Here is a corrective for the
bumper sticker piety and T-shirt theology which has beset us in this time of
doctrinal flabbiness. A morally
frivolous age, bent on pasting up posters that insist we are all OK and that
confound the faith, confuse the
faithful, and comfort the faithless, would do well to hear this prophetic
warning, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God" (v. 31). There is in life and
in the very nature of reality an element of unremitting judgment. God's promises of judgment are as certain as
his promises of grace, and we had better not forget it." [LBC, p.51]
2.
If we see nothing else in this paragraph, should see the certainty
and reality of God's judgment...
If we
experience God's judgment, it is because we brought it on ourselves
1. That's the basic thrust of v.26 which says, "For
if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there
no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins."...there are several
things about that statement which are particularly significant--
--the phrase "go one
sinning" is not referring to one particular act of sin...it's
referring to an attitude which results in continuous, repeated
disobedience...this is not the picture of someone who occasionally slips and
falls...it's the picture of someone living a life of habitual rebellion against
God without regard for the consequences...
--the word "willfully"
which is placed first in the Greek for emphasis, underscores that the lifestyle
being described is a deliberate decision of one's will...the person knows
he/she is out of God's will, but just doesn't care...
2. Verse 27 says the certain result of such an
attitude is God's judgment and verses
28&29 contain an illustration of this principle...in OT times anyone who
turned his/her back on the law of Moses was subject to death...writer asks in
v.29 how can we expect to escape judgment if we disregard the sacrifice God
made for us in Christ?...
3. If we choose to reject Christ or if we choose
to rebel against God, the sure result is God's judgment...and when that
judgment comes, we bring it on ourselves...
1. That's the principle which permeates this
paragraph and it applies both to non-Christians and Christians...
--in the case of non-Christians, when
people fail to respond to God's offer of salvation through Jesus, the result is
eternal separation from God in hell...some people have asked, "How can
a loving God send someone to hell?"...I think a better question is "How
can a just God allow anyone into heaven?"...and the answer to "How
can God send anyone to hell?" is that He doesn't!...those who go there
choose that for themselves by refusing to accept Christ as their Savior...the
Scripture makes it clear that our destiny is either eternal salvation or
eternal damnation... which it will be is up to us...and we make that decision
in this world...
--there is also an application of this
principle to those who are Christians...far too many Christians have somehow
gotten the mistaken notion, "Now that I'm saved and my eternal destiny
is secure, doesn't really matter what I do in this world."...if you
think that way, better read this paragraph again...when we willfully,
habitually, continuously disobey God...chose our way over God's way ...we bring
upon ourselves the judgment of God...it's not that God takes our salvation
away...if you're a genuine Christian you can't lose that...but you can lose the
joy of your salvation...you can lose your intimate fellowship with God ...you
can lose your purpose for living, your meaning in life...think reason so many
unhappy, unfulfilled Christians in this world is because they are under God's
judgment for being disobedient to Him...
The OT book of
Ecclesiastes ends with a wonderful piece of advice...after exploring a number
of different things in an effort to find meaning to life, the preacher of
Ecclesiastes reaches this conclusion:
"The conclusion, when all has
been heard is: fear God and keep His
commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment,
everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil." [Eccl.12:13-14]
And because
the judgment of God is a certain reality and because our actions will determine
how we are judged, we should do what the preacher says..."...fear
God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person..."
(10:32-39)
The key
phrase in that paragraph is first part of v.36 which says, "For you
have need of endurance..."...the word translated "endurance"
means the ability to stand fast, to remain in time of trial...the picture is
that of a soldier under enemy fire who doesn't break and run, but stands his
ground...and in this paragraph we are told how to develop that quality in our
lives...
To endure in
times of difficulty we must remember God's faithfulness in the past
1. Verse 32 begins with the phrase "but
remember..." need to focus on that for just a moment..."remember"
means much more than just to recall...it means to think back carefully, to
reconstruct in your mind, to re-live in great detail...what were they to
remember?..."the former days"...and the remainder of
the sentence tells what happened in that period of time described as "the
former days"...
2. Interesting author instructs them to think
back to the time in lives when their persecution most intense...
--the intensity of the persecution is
highlighted by the phrases "great conflict of sufferings"
in v.32 and "being made a public spectacle through reproaches and
tribulations" in
v.33...those phrases allude to the Roman arenas where Christians were mocked by
large crowds as they faced lions or gladiators...
--v.34 points out those not killed faced "the
seizure of your property"...
3 .When
first read vv.32‑34 couldn't help but think, "Why in world want
them remember that? Those were terribly
painful memories. Why not encourage them
erase entire episode from minds?"...and reason is because as painful
as those times were, they were also the times when God was with them in a
special way...
4. The people who initially read this letter
were the ones who made it through the persecutions being described here...they
were the survivors...and they could look back on those times and see God's hand of blessing and
protection on them...and remembering God's faithfulness in the past would help
them endure in the present...
1. This is a lesson King David learned very well...over
and over again in the Psalms see David looking back on the works of God to gain
strength for the present and future...for example, says in Psalm 143:5 - "I
remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy doings; I must on the work of
Thy hands."
2. And that's a lesson we all need to
learn...don't forget the times in the past, especially the difficult times,
when God has been faithful to you...maybe it in the time the shock and grief of
losing a loved one...maybe it was in time of financial crisis or personal
illness...maybe it was when some special relationship was lost...remembering
God's faithfulness in times like that helps us to endure in difficulty today...
To endure in times of difficulty we must anticipate God's
faithfulness in the future
1. The main thrust of this paragraph is not
backward but forward ...time and again the writer encourages us to look to
future with optimism...
--v.34
speaks of "a better possession" awaiting us...
--v.35
mentions our "great reward"...
--v.37
reminds us of the certain return of the Lord...
2. Point of all that is that Christianity is
future oriented...while the Christian event is rooted and grounded in an
historical event --the death and resurrection of Jesus-- our focus should not
be on the past but on the future...
3. And because of our confidence in the
faithfulness of God in the future, we can live lives of endurance in the world
today...
1. How do you view life?...are you basically
optimistic or pessimistic?...some people are always waiting for worst...others
always expecting the best...Christians should have optimistic view of the
future...
2. Throughout Scripture, and especially in NT,
God's people encouraged view future through optimistic eyes...most decisive
event in all history already occurred…was cross/resurrection event...because of
the victory God won for us through
cross, we can be sure that despite whatever temporary setbacks we may
experience, God will ultimately win victory in our lives as well...
1. Famous sculpture once was asked, "What
is your greatest statue?"..immediate reply was, "The
next one!"...and so it should be with our lives...as we place
lives in hands of God, knowing that God is faithful, we can have assurance that
our best experiences still are ahead...
4. And remembering that can help us endure in
times of trials today...Apostle Paul said it so well in Romans 8:18 - "For
I am convinced that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
To endure in
times of difficulty we must live in God's faithfulness in the present
1. Role of faith in living full, complete life
given prominent attention in last part of Hebrews 10...are told "the
righteous shall live by faith" in v.38 and v.39 tells us that "those
who have faith" persevere to the end...then, of course, Hebrews
11, the great faith chapter at which we will look in detail in the weeks ahead,
begins by defining faith as "the assurance of things hoped for and
the conviction of things not seen"...
2. Have heard said many times Christian life is
life of faith...but in Christian community wide diversity of opinion about what
means live by faith...some people, especially those in the neo‑Pentecostal
movement, tend view faith as some sort of mystical power God bestows on Christians...in
their thinking, if something bad happens to you or loved ones it's because
faith wasn't strong enough..conversely, if something happens it's because your
faith was strong...
3. However, believe more biblical approach is to
view faith as a conviction or attitude..to live by faith doesn't mean get
whatever will for ourselves...it means live by conviction that everything God
has told us is true..."Faith is the assurance (the foundation)
of what we hope for (and in Hebrews hope is almost always equated with
salvation)"....other words, faith is the stuff upon which our
salvation is built...
1. One person expressed it this way:
"By faith we hold clear title to the property of salvation. With faith in our possession, history becomes
filled with meaning, life's present puzzle is no longer an insolvable mystery,
and the unseen future comes into plain view in clear focus. Faith is not the gift of seeing something
that is not there, but the gift of seeing through all the haze of doubt and the
pollution of sin to the distant city of God set on the mountain of
eternity. Faith is not believing in
something in spite of the evidence. It
is living life for the Lord God in scorn of all earthly consequences."[Foy
Valentine]
2. And only as we are characterized by that kind
of faith are we able to endure in face of difficulty...
