New Salem Baptist Church

Fearful Expectations

Oct. 27, 2024

NO VIDEO 

Read Hebrews 10:26-39.

We come today to one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament, that is our first two verses, 26 and 27. By God’s grace we will understand the passage this very morning. I am entitling this sermon, Fearful Expectations, because those are the words of the author in verse 27. When preaching through an entire book of the Bible, one cannot avoid the hard verses nor the negative verses. But, I will gladly remind you that for the past six Sundays you have been hearing positive, uplifting messages. This is because what Paul (who I believe is the author) has been writing uplifting things for the last few chapters. But now we take his admonitions and warnings when he presents them, because they are inspired!

The author is writing to those who possess genuine faith. The proof of this has been presented before, and we will take note of more proof from the longer passage this morning. As a reminder, he calls his readers holy brothers in 3:1. And:

• They had received and accepted the elementary teaching about Christ (6:1)
• Had repented from dead works (6:1)
• Were beloved (6:9)
• Worked for Christ’s name (6:10)
• Loved Christ (6:10)
• Possessed a hope that was an anchor for their soul (6;19).

One of my favorite expositors is Robert Govett from the 19^th century. Regarding those who assert that verse 26, and those following, applies to false believers, he has this to say:

Such labor with all their might to deaden and divert the solemnity and directness of the Holy Spirit’s warning. “It is addressed to professors only. Hence, if you know yourself sincere, it is not meant for you. Pass on !”[1]

Of course, since it is addressed to believers, it is for us.

²⁶ For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ^[2]

The first thing we should observe is that Paul writes, “if we sin…” He includes himself in this warning. What more proof do we need that this is a warning for genuine believers? Even if Paul is not the author, the author is still inspired and includes himself in the warning.

The next matter to note is that he distinguishes the sinning as “sinning deliberately.” One way to distinguish between kinds of sin is by motive. Thus, one category of sin is what has been called “sins of passion,” also called “occasional sins.” These are sins that a person falls into in a moment of weakness, when passions or emotions arise.

And then there are sins of ignorance. Those are sins that a person commits but they are not even aware that those acts are a sin. Remember when Abraham lied to King Abimelech and told him that Sarah was his sister? He took her into his house as a wife, but God warned him in a dream not to touch her or he would kill him. Abimelech replied that he didn’t know she was married. Then God says, “That is why I kept you from sinning.” In other words, even if he had slept with her in ignorance it still would have been a sin (Gen. 20:6).

When Paul writes, “sinning deliberately,” he means willful or pre-meditated sins.

So, the author is referring to deliberate sins. However, it seems as if he is not just referring to deliberate sins in general. Of course, those are bad enough as they are. They are the most egregious of the three kinds. But, it appears that he has a more specific kind of sin in mind, which will become more evident as we proceed through the whole passage. Context will reveal it.

He writes that if we sin deliberately then “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” What does that mean? It does not mean that if we deliberately sin then the blood of Christ does not cover that sin and we will end up in hell (meaning the Lake of Fire). That would contradict what he had just written earlier in the chapter, that we have been perfected for all time (vs. 14) and that he remembers our sins no more (vs. 17).

One of the themes of the book is that the Hebrew believers were being rejected and persecuted by their fellow Jews and, because of this, they were tempted to return to Judaism. This is one reason he addressed the superiority of Christ in chapter 7.

Verse 27 is a frightening verse!

²⁷ but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.^[3]

What is this judgment? It will be a fury of fire, but what is that?

In order to see this we must read everything in the passage in context and this context includes the old testament passages that he references. There are two passages, both from Deuteronomy. The first one is alluded to in verse 28:

²⁸ Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.^[4]

This is in reference to Deut. 17:2-6, and the sin in this passage which requires death as a penalty is gross idolatry. The perpetrator in view is one who has abandoned the covenant with Yahweh and is caught up in idolatry.

Paul had just written, in verse 4, that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. But this is all that is left if a person returns to Judaism. The author is implying that to go back to animal sacrifices is equivalent to idolatry.

²⁹ 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? ^[5]

Notice from this verse that he writes that the one who is going to get this punishment is one who “was sanctified.” Another proof that this is about genuine believers. They have been sanctified by the blood of the new covenant, which is the blood of Christ. But what is the punishment?

From Deut. 17 it is capital punishment, that is, physical death.

Verse 30 reinforces this:

³⁰ For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”^[6]

Both of these citations are from Deut. 32. But look at the very next verse after verse 35 in Deut. 32:

³⁵    Vengeance is mine, and recompense,

for the time when their foot shall slip;

       for the day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly.’

³⁶    For the Lord will vindicate his people

and have compassion on his servants,

       when he sees that their power is gone

and there is none remaining, bond or free. ^[7]

Verse 35 is referring to his own people who have forsaken the covenant. “Their calamity” is his own people’s calamity. But then verse 26 says he will have compassion on them when all their power is gone.

Verse 37: ³⁷     Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,

the rock in which they took refuge, ^[8]

You see, his people took refuge in other gods; they were guilty of idolatry.

Verse 39: ³⁹     “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

       I kill and I make alive;

I wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. ^[9]

Yes, he was going to kill some of them. He would wound some of them. But he would also make alive and heal. So, the vengeance of God is terrible. But this vengeance is to bring them back. Also, this vengeance and this judging all takes place in this physical life, here on earth.

With this background we can better understand verse 31:

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ^[10]

For anyone in the new covenant, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! If we fall into idolatry and fail to trust in Christ, then we can expect the severest discipline in this life. Even death! Remember Ananias and Sapphira in the early days of the church who lost their lives.

What is the outcome that God is seeking, both back in the days of the old covenant and still today, and that the author of Hebrews is likewise seeking? It is that his people will repent.

Repentance is a wonderful thing. It restores our relationship with the Living God and lifts his severe hand of discipline. It brings us from a place where we have lost fellowship with the Lord to a place where our fellowship is restored. God hates sin, especially idolatry. This is why he must be severe at times. So we will flee sin, renounce it, and live for him.

After I had been a Christian about nine years, I fell into a sin. I was 29 years of age at the time. Even after I had ceased from the sin, I was angry with the Lord because I had been praying for a certain outcome but the Lord wisely did not answer. I started sensing that the Lord was very far away. The distance that I perceived between the Lord and I troubled me greatly. I began to think that I was not saved and that, if I should die in my present state, I would wake up in hell.

 I had never acknowledged my sin and this was the reason for my rebellious condition. I knew things were very wrong between the Lord and me and that I needed deliverance. I grabbed two gallons of distilled water and headed up to a cabin in the woods by a lake in Northern California that was owned by my best friend’s parents. I was alone at this cabin because it was winter. There, I fasted and prayed non-stop for three days. I repented of my sins. When I repented, the concrete wall that seemed to be between the Lord and I became like tissue and blew away with the breath of the Lord’s mouth.

Repentance restores what was lost and delivers us from the displeasure of the Lord.

If we do not repent during our time here on earth, then we will not enter the kingdom that is coming. If we do not respond to the discipline that we experience here, then we will get even more severe discipline in the age to come.

Some of us know people that were once a part of this fellowship but who fell into sin and refused to repent after pleadings from those who knew them well and also by the leadership of the church at those times. If they continue in their unrepentant state then they will not enter the kingdom of God that is coming. And, it could even be that they were never saved to begin with.

[Application and Conclusion] See how the apostle concludes chapter 10:

       “Yet a little while,

and the coming one will come and will not delay;

³⁸    but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back,

       my soul has no pleasure in him.” ^[11]

The Lord is returning! We must live by faith, that is, trusting in God’s deliverance both from the enemies of the gospel and even from our own remaining sins. If we do not repent and trust in his deliverance then, when he returns, we will shrink away at his coming. If we shrink away God is sorely displeased.

The apostle John warned of this same thing:

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. ^[12]

See that the apostle John holds out two possibilities for the follower of Christ. Either they can have confidence or they shrink away with shame at his coming. He even uses the pronoun “we.” This indicates these are the possibilities for every genuine follower.

This is precisely what the author of Hebrews has presented. But he ends on a positive note:

³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. ^[13]

This is Paul’s hope and anticipation. That, as a result of his writing, his fellow believers will hold onto their trust in the Lord and they will preserve their souls.

Is there deliberate sin in your life? If so, now is the time to repent. Because it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!