The word is hekousios, which means, “voluntarily, of one’s own accord.” It is opposed to sins committed inconsiderately, and from ignorance or weakness. 38BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. The Hebrew legislator had said to Jehovah: "I beseech thee show me thy glory." (3) The third charge was that the apostates had “insulted the Spirit of grace.” (This is the only time this phrase is applied to the Holy Spirit; but see Zech. How can I have assurance of my salvation? Can that faith save him? And even after he began to drift from Biblical truth, during the 1950s and ’60s, Templeton preached to crowds of 10,000 to 30,000 nightly. Andrew Murray. x. 26, 27 For if we sin wilfully, after that we have received the Knowledge of the Truth, there remained, no more Sacrifice for Sin: but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment, and fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries. Like Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, upon the preaching of the Word, the Spirit of God breathed life. As His grace (ED: cf Spirit of grace - Heb 10:29+) strengthens our hearts and minds (2 Ti 2:1+), we can overcome our own worst inclination to make foolish choices. I called attention to this glaring omission and made the point: If you do not put your trust in Christ, you will perish! The present tense this indicates this is their lifestyle, their habitual practice. Let all who believe that it is indeed God who, by His Spirit speaks in this word, listen with holy fear. Briefly …Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872, Christ ExaltedThe Apostle shews here the superiority of Christ's sacrifice over that of every other priest. After a great earthquake, the sun turns black and the moon turns blood red. When the author says, “if we go on sinning willfully,” he is not talking about the “normal” sins that every believer commits. Retail: $39.99. He sits down, and He will not rise for any further sacrifice. As Spurgeon said “Think lightly of hell, and you will think lightly of the cross”. We sin because we choose to sin! (4) The correct explanation, as I understand it, is that the passage is warning those who have made a profession of faith and have associated themselves with the church, of the danger of God’s eternal judgment if they turn back to Judaism. Dennett and LaScola’s work chronicles five different preachers who over time were presented with and accepted heretical teachings about Christianity and now have completely fallen away from the faith and are either pantheists or clandestine atheists. They reject that Christ mediated a new covenant that totally replaces the old covenant, and that He ratified its excellence by His atoning death (Heb 8:6-13; Heb 9:11-28). This verse does not, in context, apply to other sins of a true Christian (He 10:39). ); neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God (unbelievers).11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. In 1945 at Winona Lake, Templeton met with other your fundamentalist leaders including a young Billy Graham to found what we now call Youth For Christ International. Each individual's victorious Christian life depends on the other members of the body caring for him and holding him accountable. Over half of those ministers said that they had visited those sites more than once. Had he believed, he would have become an apostle. “Insulted” has a nuance of arrogance or insolence (“hubris” comes from the Greek word). If you wanted to use this verse to scare people, there are a couple of angles you could take: 1. Let all who have entered the Holiest of All turn round and look to the hole of the pit--the horrible pit--whence they have been drawn up. He inaugurated the new covenant, which is better than the old (Heb 8:6-13). He will suffer justly throughout eternity. x. He knew the Lord intimately. It has been said had Templeton continued as an evangelist, we would be asking ourselves “Billy who?” Such was his power and influence. A thought is never secure until it has passed from the mind into the heart, and has become a desire, an aspiration, a passion. Do not be deceived (Stop being deceived)! Note carefully who is most in danger of committing this terrible sin of turning away from Christ: it is those who knew the truth and who had associated with God’s people! Though now it may seem low; Apr 13, 1997. Such a person, regardless of outward appearances, had never truly committed his faith and life to Christ in the first place (1Jn 2:19+). The opinions I have advanced ... are the effect of the most clear and long-established conviction that the Bible and the Testament are impositions upon the world, that the fall of man, the account of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, and of his dying to appease the wrath of God, and of salvation, by that strange means, are all fabulous inventions, dishonorable to the wisdom and power of the Almighty; that the only true religion is Deism, by which I then meant, and mean now, the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of what are called moral virtues – and that it was upon this only (so far as religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of happiness hereafter. You don’t dare stop thinking about the most important question in life. One of the most significant problems churches face is the problem of false converts or apostates. As we have seen before (Heb 3:7; 8:8; 10:15), for this author what Scripture says, God says. Just think at what an expense the provision of salvation has been made.". Jude cites the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah “as example of those who suffer punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7) and encourages his readers to “snatch others from the fire and save them” (Jude 1:23). The author has just shown how that Jesus is greater than Moses (Heb. As he was escorted into a cell of his own making, the contractor said, “I never dreamed when I built this prison that I would be an inmate one day.” (cp Nu 32:23, Pr 5:22-note), TWENTY REASONS NOT TO SIN! In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet. Holiness and the Will of God. Then here is, the reason upon which it is concluded that they were not of us, were not what they pretended, or what we are, and that is their actual defection: "For, if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us" (1Jn 2:19); had the sacred truth been rooted in their hearts it would have held them with us (Ed: cp "rocky soil" Mk 4:5, 6, 17); had they had the anointing from above, by which they had been made true and real Christians, they would not have turned antichrists. Come, then, first of all to THE READING, MARKING, AND LEARNING OF IT; and you will observe that in it there are three things very clearly stated. There is no new evidence or arguments to present. The Way into the Holiest. —Fitzhugh . In context these are those men and women who have heard the good news clearly presented but who have clearly rejected that news and now are in effect enemies of the Most High God. This is expressed in (1) holding on to the hope that we have in Christ, (2) encouraging each other to live the faith in practice and (3) gathering together (Heb 10:23–25). They "willfully" sinned, in calculated fashion they picked through the revelation of God in Christ and rejected precisely what the gospel reveals. Provoking Each Other to Love and Good Works. To treat this exalted Son of God like a bug under one’s foot is an indescribably horrific sin! And so what do we do? To abandon Christ’s sacrifice and to return to Judaism would show that they had never truly trusted Christ in the first place. The God of both Testaments is the same God, who is rich in mercy and love towards all who repent of their sins and trust in Christ. There are still arguments to be put forward and evidence to be shown. (Mt 8:29), Jesus describes the reaction of the Christ rejecting world when the events of the Great Tribulation begin to unfold…, "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And if it’s not true, we don’t want you. You were not deserving of God, you were a poor sinner without any claim upon Him, and yet He has been pleased to prepare a table. The word deliberate (as an adjective) means that which is characterized by or results from careful and thorough consideration. They remained stubborn and defiant, self-satisfied with an outward form of religion; playing Christian we might say, without knowing the peril before them. ), because no one has ever lived without sin after salvation! Remains (620) (apoleipo from apo = from + leipo = lack, leave, forsake) means literally to leave behind. When we, as believers, confess our sins, we receive parental forgiveness (1Jn 1:9); this maintains fellowship with God our Father. The Epistle of Hebrews was written to a group of at-risk Jewish Christians who were tempted to turn away from Christ because of severe persecution. In one of the earliest records of God’s revelation of Himself, He said to Moses. They said, “You have come to tell us that there is no hell. For if we sin wilfully, after that we have received the Knowledge of the Truth, there remained, no more Sacrifice for Sin: but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment, and fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries. But our fallen flesh is very clever and will attempt to make provision for stirring up your unforgiveness. These were people whose hearts had been warmed toward the gospel of Christ, who had made a superficial commitment of faith in Him, and had identified themselves visibly with the true church. He had to die (Nu 15:35,36). But his secret was now public and there was no turning back. If ever the devil had an agent, I have been that one. (Luke 21:25,26), Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD and the terrifying expectation…, But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. The Death of the Saviour the End of all Sacrifices. And if it’s not true, we don’t want you. What is apostasy and how can I recognize it? My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Will He pour out His blood again to bring you from the place of torment? It is those who think, “I’m a child of Abraham! Once done, you cannot tell when you will be destroyed. but those who have endured them. 15.--"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." They gave themselves to sin, indulging their desires without restraint, maybe even laughing at the thought of the law of God. It was a deliberate sin. It is a pestilent disease! Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man, The Only Atoning PriestI purpose, this morning, to handle the text thus. Wheelock reported to a friend that these "thoughtless and vain" people were changed before the sermon ended so that they were "bowed down with an awful conviction of their sin and danger. 365 Days with C.H. 37FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. Returning briefly to the wrath of Hebrews 10:26-29: “[26] For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, [27] But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. An apostate, however, is well acquainted with the gospel. Sin will cost you more than you ever thought you’d pay. He described the rich man in hell as being in agony in the flames (Luke 16:24). When we trust Christ as Lord and Savior, we receive forgiveness from the penalty of sins; that is judicial forgiveness. x. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. They'll pierce us like a sword. Some early church fathers, however, mistakenly inferred from this and other passages in Hebrews that there was no forgiveness for sins committed after baptism. But Brad and Susan had a terrible secret. And yet there they stand, and behind them stand the divine realities they express. Steven Cole recognizing that the warning passages in Hebrews do not make for popular pulpit preaching introduces his sermon in Hebrews 10:26-31 with a pithy illustration…. We would therefore expect similar attitudes toward forgiveness of sin. Along with Oswald J. Smith, as well as several American evangelists and church leaders, he formed Youth for Christ International and led some of the largest weekly Youth for Christ gatherings in North America. Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Hebrews 10:26-39 “Persevere” Aux. (2 Pe 2:18-19, Pr 5:22), 2. As noted above, Paul associates the second appearance of Jesus with “blazing fire” and the punishment of those who do not know God or obey the gospel (2Th 1:8). 2, pp. When through neglect I failed to confess, or through despair dared not do so, my bones, those solid pillars of my frame, the stronger portions of my bodily constitution, waxed old, began to decay with weakness, for my grief was so intense as to sap my health and destroy my vital energy. Why not? "Let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works." He was silent as to confession, but not as to sorrow. What could one say about him except that this was a form of greatness?”. 30For we know Him who said, VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY. And again, THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE. 31It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (compare similar use of esthio in Isa 10:17). Had they received a distorted picture of Christianity there might have been hope, for one could correct the distortion. Although the Old Testament makes a distinction between deliberate and accidental sin, that does not appear to be the point being made in Hebrews, which looks at life from a perspective of Jesus’ already having come and died for sin. This view is in line with Mr. Hodges’ non-lordship salvation view, that a person can believe in Christ, subsequently deny and strongly oppose the faith, and yet he will be saved, although he will lose his rewards (1Cor 3:15). Are you playing loosely with this perilous process of deliberately turning from the gospel of Christ? I keep the Law. . 55:58. He is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His nature, and He upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb 1:1-3). KJV Study Bible, Red Letter Edition: Second Edition. Must never be ignored; A thought is never secure until it has passed from the mind into the heart, and has become a desire, an aspiration, a passion. Our Price: $27.99. My unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it authority over me greater than I understand. 39But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. THERE NO LONGER REMAINS A SACRIFICE FOR SINS: ouketi peri hamartion apoleipetai (3PPPI) thusia: REJECTION OF CHRIST'S SACRIFICE If you reject Christ after hearing the gospel and being associated with God’s people, you will fall into the hands of the living God, and it will be an eternally terrifying ordeal! 32:35, 36). x. Templeton’s body language softened. And in the third application he encourages them to endure their present persecution in light of how God has worked in them formerly and what he has promised for their future (Heb 10:32-39). It is useless to conceal it, for it is well known to God; it is beneficial to us to own it, for a full confession softens and humbles the heart. Consider Thomas Paine, the enemy of Christianity whose last hour came in 1809, finding him a disillusioned and unfulfilled individual who in his final moments declared…. There are no second chances! But His judgment is real and it is no joke! And if this is the case, are all of us who have knowingly sinned after our conversion lost? Do you think when you are in hell that Christ will come a second time to die for you? James addresses those rich with material goods in this present world warning them that…, Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. You see the superiority of Christ's sacrifice rests in this, that the priest offered continually, and after he had slaughtered …Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856, Perfection in FaithI have been turning this text over, and over, and over in my mind, and praying about it, and looking into it, and seeking illumination from the Holy Spirit; but I was a long time before I could be clear about its exact meaning. His guard seemingly down, he spoke in an unhurried pace, almost nostalgically, carefully choosing his words as he talked about Jesus. But God will repay! My sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders. O Lord, help me! After long lingering, the broken heart bethought itself of what it ought to have done at the first, and laid bare its bosom before the Lord.