31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. (Heb. 10:31 ESV)
Sometimes
when we look at the Sunday readings side by side interesting questions can come
up. Our epistle reading begins with the
words I just read about it being fearful to fall into God’s hands. But Psalm 16 ends saying “in your presence is
fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Our Gospel reading speaks of judgment and
Tribulation. The Gospel and the extended
reading in Daniel both warn of the Abomination of Desolation standing in the
Holy Place.
Focusing on
the contrast between Hebrews 10:31 and Psalm 16:11 we can find important
truths.
I.
First of all any contradiction between these
two verses is superficial.
a. They speak of different situations.
II.
Look at the context, the Hebrews reading begins in the middle
of a thought – Hebrews 10:26-31
a. Verse 31 is addressed to professors
who are not possessors!
i.
People
who profess faith but do not possess it.
ii.
They
deliberately go on sinning.
1. This is not periodic sin due to
weakness even though we love Christ and are seeking His grace to change.
2. It is not even struggling over and
over with a sin that trips us up over and over.
3. This is deliberately choosing sin
over and over with no real repentance and no heartfelt remorse and a core
belief that we really have a right to live this way.
4. By naming the name of Christ while
they live like this verse 29 says they “trample underfoot the Son of God” and
“profane the blood of the covenant” and “outrage the Spirit of grace”.
5. This is mighty fearful language!
6. As a young believer these verses
rightly terrified me!
7. Despite my best efforts and sincerity
I still sinned.
8. Was I trampling Christ under my feet?
9.
Richard Phillips addresses this with great precision, “ What this verse
describes is not believers who are struggling with sin, or even those who have
besetting sins which plague their spiritual life and displease the Lord. Rather,
this refers to those who reject God’s authority to tell them what to do, and
who flagrantly continue in their sin.”
iii.
After
coming into an intellectual understanding of the Gospel and outwardly
professing Christ but lacking true heart faith, they come to choose living to
please their appetites over submission to God.
1. They never truly say from the heart,
“Jesus is Lord” but by their lifestyle they proclaim “my pleasure and my desire
is Lord!”
2. It is a willful, intentional
rejection of the authority of God to tell us how to live.
3. It is an arrogant choice to do it my
way with wanton disregard of God’s right to demand we do it His way.
4. One writer says “What the author has
in mind is a deliberate, sinful lifestyle of high-handed rebellion against the
gospel. If a person keeps on sinning in
this way after receiving a knowledge of
the gospel, no sacrifice for this kind of sin remains.” (Guthrie, NIV App. Comm p. 355)
5. This is apostasy!
6. Understanding the Gospel, making a
superficial profession of faith, but then choosing pleasing self over pleasing
God.
7. Centuries ago, Matthew Henry wrote of
this, “The sin here mentioned is a total and final apostasy, when men with a
full and fixed will and resolution despise and reject Christ, the only
Saviour,-despise and resist the Spirit, the only sanctifier,-and despise and
renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life;
and all this after they have known, owned, and professed, the Christian
religion, and continue to do so obstinately and maliciously. This is the great
transgression: the apostle seems to refer to the law concerning presumptuous
sinners, Numbers 15:30, 31. They were to be cut off.”
iv.
V. 29 shows 3 core elements of apostasy:
1. Rejecting the person of Christ –
“trampling underfoot the Son of God.”
2. Rejecting the work of Christ on the
Cross – “profaning the blood of the covenant”
3. Rejecting the influence of the Holy
Spirit – “has outraged the Spirit of grace.”
a. Cf Luke 12:10 Blaspheming the Holy Spirit,
the “Unforgiveable sin” – rejecting the Holy Spirit’s testimony about Jesus.
v.
For
those who do this it will be a truly horrendously fearful thing when they fall
into the hands of the living God at the last judgement!
1. They will be facing a righteous
Judge, not a loving Savior!
2. All the philosophical arguments
against hell will go up in the flames of
reality.
3. Their arrogant assurance that they
can live as they please and there will be no accountability will dissolve as
they face the painful wrath of a holy and loving God toward their sin.
4. Beloved, I say painful wrath because
I believe God takes no pleasure in seeing souls enter the damnation they chose
in this life. AND WE SHOULD NOT EITHER!
5. But in His perfect justice and love
He must punish each and every sin.
6. Every act of sin must be punished
either at the Cross or in eternal hellfire.
7. Holiness demands this.
8. Justice demands this.
9. Even God’s love demands it.
a. God will not force the unrepentant to
change.
b. And if He took them into Heaven
unrepentant, then Heaven would cease to be heaven, it would become hell!
c. Even God’s love demands that those
who reject Christ be damned.
vi.
Eternal
damnation is an uncomfortable truth.
1. It is a hard, painful teaching.
2. But it is the teaching of the Word of
God.
vii.
Looking at this verse I would fail as
a pastor if I didn’t take time to point out the fearful majesty of the living
God!
1. As C.S Lewis said in the Chronicles
of Narnia, He is NOT a tame lion!
2. One commentator writes, “There is a
wildness in his nature and he will not be muzzled.” (Guthrie NIV App Com. P. 367)
3. He is the Alpha and Omega, the
Beginning and the End.
4. He is the One who spoke and all
creation came to be.
5. He is the One who could with a single
thought cause the entire universe to cease to be.
6. He dwells in unapproachable light (1
Tim 6:16)
7. When Uzzah laid hands on this God’s
Ark of the Covenant he was stuck dead.
8. He is perfectly holy, He knows all
things, He has all power and authority.
9. Everything He decrees will be; and there
is no power that can stop it, slow it, or alter it in any measure.
10.
It
will be what He says, when He says, exactly the way He says it will be.
11.
There
is no court of higher appeal above this Almighty God.
12.
It
is an unspeakably horrible thing to fall into the hands of this God when He is
angry at our sin.
III.
Then the writer of Hebrews draws his
readers attention to suffering they endured in the early days of their faith
and how they stood with other who suffered for Christ. (v. 21-34)
a. It is helpful to remember the
spiritual battles God has brought us through.
i.
Remember
ways the Lord gave you power to love, to serve, to give generously to people in
need.
ii.
These
things are evidence of His Spirit being at work in you.
iii.
Draw
encouragement from these memories.
b.
Then he hits them and us with a
strong challenge – v. 35-38
i.
Don’t
throw away your confidence
ii.
Dig
in your heels and endure
iii.
Do
not shrink back from radical obedience to the Lord.
c.
V. 39
i.
Work to avoid shrinking back, to avoid backsliding.
ii.
Work to make your calling and election sure.
iii.
work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling,
13 for
it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
(Phil. 2:12-13 ESV)
i.
know that the God who saved you is going to give you power to persevere
to the end!
d.
Those who do not shrink back but who
have faith and preserve their souls do not need to fear falling into the hands
of the living God!
i.
For
us, there is nothing more comforting than to fall into those powerful,
protective hands!
ii.
We
can know the wonderful truth of that Psalm we read earlier –
1. 1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. (Ps. 16:1
ESV)
2.
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a
beautiful inheritance. (Ps. 16:5-6 ESV)
3. 8
I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be shaken.
9
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells
secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul
to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
11 You make known to me the path of
life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures
forevermore.
(Ps. 16:8-11 ESV)
iii. For the person who is humbly and sincerely walking in the grace of God
through faith in Jesus there is nothing more wonderful than experiencing the
presence of God!
1.
It is warm and inviting.
2.
It is life giving and brings healing and peace and
restoration.
3.
It is HOME!
4.
When a believer is in the manifest presence of God we
find a unmatchable contentment – we know we are where we belong!
5.
We know we are in the arms of the One who loves us more
than any other!
6.
In the presence of the Lord we find acceptance,
cleansing, and a sense of wholeness – Shalom!
7. Contemporary English Version, “and
you make me glad
by being near to me.
Sitting
at your right side,
I will always be joyful. [1]
8.
I
love that translation of that verse!
a.
It
is so warm and so personal.
b.
And
that is what the presence of God is to the Believer – warm and personal!
iv.
Doesn’t
that sound far different, far more glorious than the fear in Hebrews 10:31?
What is the
point of today’s message? Two things –
1. take sin and
the fearful majesty of Almighty God very , very seriously and make very sure
you are trusting in Christ and that you are ready to stand before God.
Spurgeon (in Pink, Hebrews) “Secret
sin is a stepping-stone to presumptuous sin, and that is the vestibule of ‘the
sin which I unto death.”
2. When you are walking in humble, sincere faith
God wants to meet with you in a wonderful, personal way. God wants you to experience His presence in a
way that touches the deepest part of you with love and acceptance. It may have signs like tongues or prophecy or
some other physical manifestation. But
most often it doesn’t! Signs are great,
but it’s the inner reality that really matters.
At the Communion rail, in your private prayer room, seek the face of God
and be open to the warm embrace of Abba Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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