Willful Sin and Apostasy

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

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My name is Mike Abendroth. What's our slogan here? Well, I guess we have quite a few. Don't be dumb.

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That's a good slogan. Insert athletic -induced cough.

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Always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. That's what we're after. We're after talking about things in a direct manner.

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I'm quite positive that most of the listeners of No Compromise Radio, they like direct speaking, direct talk.

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I regularly think to myself, how should I talk? No, I think in our day and age,

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I think people want women to speak like women and maybe like men and they want men to speak more like women.

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I guess we're all kind of in the middle and there's no differences at all. I was at the football game today, the

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Coast Guard Academy down in London, Connecticut. They played the Merchant Marines.

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I think if I heard correctly, that the Coast Guard lady cadets, what are they called?

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I know in Navy when I was in Annapolis, everybody's midshipman, even if you're a woman.

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I don't know what they require there, but I think in the Coast Guard, there are certain physical things that you are required to do, but less than men, so 30 % less pushups

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I heard today. You don't have to run as fast and that's just interesting to me.

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I know that if I was on the third story of a building and I was passed out because of smoke inhalation,

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I would rather have some brute of a man come and rescue me than a brute of a woman.

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That didn't sound right. No than a lady. I know that if I don't feel well,

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I don't know, I kind of have the sniffles today, you can probably tell. If I'm 14 years old and I need extra

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TLC, I don't call for dad, I call for mom. We just have different roles, as you know. If you don't think there are different roles in life and that we're different, although both image bearers both justified the same, regenerated the same, saved by the same blood of the

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Lord Jesus, if you don't think there's differences, well, that's part of our problem. I think our problem today is the men speak like women, women speak like men.

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We're all kind of in the middle and they're, frankly, it's a rebellion against God because God has made men to do certain things, women to do certain things, and I can't do what they do well,

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I can attempt it, and they can't do what I do well, they can attempt it. It's crazy.

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It's crazy. Today, the new complementarians are the old egalitarians, everything's shifting.

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If you have not read Christianity and Liberalism by Machin, J. Gresham Machin, Gresham, Gresham, Gresham, then you ought to.

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I was listening on the bicycle this week and I listened to chapter six on salvation twice, chapter five,

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Christ twice, and it was great. It was so good.

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Frank, biblical, exhorting, Christ -centered, just a man who's concerned about the way things are and who wants to give all the glory to the triune

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God for salvation. Well, not very often on No Compromise Radio am

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I super sober, solemn, I'm not talking about alcohol,

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I've never drank alcohol and done a show, grave, severe maybe.

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Those shows, talk about shows that don't sell, those are the ones. The ones that sell are

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You're Going After Ann Voskamp or The Message or in the old days

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Beth Moore, but everybody's on that bandwagon now, so I'm not really as much, plus she just keeps getting worse and worse and now a lot of people recognize that.

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Before I don't think they recognized it. But there's a sermon that I've been studying and it is very, very sober in spots.

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And the spot that I'm going to talk about today on No Compromise Radio is in fact that. Now while you might be thinking

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I'm talking about a New Englander, he was an

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American citizen when he was here, although it soon turned into be America, when he preached the sermon both at Northampton and Enfield, and I'm not a huge Jonathan Edwards fan, but you're probably thinking that that's the sermon

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I'm talking about that is sober and grave and solemn that's sinners in the hands of an angry

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God. Well that's not the sermon. The sermon I'm thinking about has these words in it and you tell me where it's from.

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For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

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Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the

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Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the

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Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine,

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I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living

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God. Quite sober, quite solemn, quite grave.

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Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 through 31, that's what we're going to talk about today on No Compromise Radio.

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Now, here's the thing. The writer to the Hebrews, the preacher, he has just gotten done offering them a picture in the first 10 chapters of the

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Lord Jesus, and he says in verses 19 through 23, through 22 really, believe in this

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Jesus. And if you do, you'll have confidence, you'll have assurance, you'll have hearts sprinkled with blood, bodies washed with pure water, clean consciences, great high priest, curtains torn, living in a new way opened, enter into the holy places, i .e.

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you have access to the Lord God himself. You don't have to duck, you don't have to grovel, you can just, because of Jesus, walk right in as it were.

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And he offers that. Well, now he understands, like any good preacher, that there are people in the congregation who won't do that.

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And in this particular case, they're getting persecuted, and so it's hard for them. They're Jewish people, they don't want to believe in the

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Messiah, they've heard the claims of Christ, and they're just not going to.

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So, therefore, he's going to tell them, if you won't believe, if you're not going to believe, if you're going to stiff -arm the

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Lord Jesus, if you're going to reject him, then there's absolutely no hope for you.

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And then he gives these verses. So he gives what we might call, it's not an altar call, like with Just as I Am played 50 times, or Mood Music, or Every Head Bowed, Every Eye Closed, No One Looking Around.

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Whenever anybody says that, I always look. I always disobey the guy and just look all around.

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I see that, I see that hand. I should just raise my hand, but I'm too proper for that.

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Don't you think of No Compromise Radio as proper etiquette, right? Emily Barnes etiquette.

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Is that her name, Emily Woodhead? That's Woodhead Speed Reading. He offers the

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Lord Jesus. He gives the altar call. He gives the call to salvation. That's the way we talk about it around here, the call to salvation.

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And then he gives the warning. If you won't believe, then this is what's going to happen to you, right?

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This is going to be your life. Be very careful.

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Be careful. What's going to happen? Those who are listening today most likely believe in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. This warning isn't for you. This warning is for people that won't.

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This warning is for people that profess, they don't really believe, they don't really, you know, when push comes to shove, they don't have saving faith.

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There is a faith that doesn't save. When you die, you're going to need a mediator, an advocate to stand before God.

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You're going to have to have your sins forgiven. You're going to have to have your rebellion taken care of, your self -righteousness, your unrighteousness, your sins.

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They need to be dealt with through this Jesus that Hebrews says is a wonderful advocate, a perfect mediator.

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You're safe in the arms of Jesus. Forgiveness can be found in Him. When you approach the

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Holy Creator on that day, that day that you will certainly meet Him on Judgment Day, you'll need a mediator.

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And if you'll turn your back on this mediator, Jesus, there are no other mediators. A million angels can't help you.

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All the money in the world can't save you. You're going to die and then stand before God, and then what?

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No wonder John Owen said that Satan tries to obscure, tries to dim the work of the high priest, the high priestly work of Jesus, because this is so important.

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If you had to overthrow a concept, high priest of Jesus, the priestly work of Jesus would be a good one to overthrow.

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He, the writer, He, the preacher of Hebrews, will not let you off the hook and say, well, maybe there's another way.

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Maybe God is love and He has no other attributes. This is not a game He's playing.

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He understands that everybody He's preaching to, and I understand everybody that I'm preaching to, has a soul, eternal soul, an eternal soul, and you're going to stand before God one day.

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And while there's great assurance and confidence and the promise of the gospel for those who have trusted in Jesus, verses 19 through 22, when you turn your back from sin and look to the

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Lord, you're fine, repentance. When you turn your back to the

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Lord Jesus and you think you're going to just own your own sin on judgment day and take your chances and hope the good outweighs the bad, hope that the baptism you had, you know, water sprinkled on you when you were a baby works, when you got dunked in the tank three times by immersion, that that worked, the writer is not going to let you think that way.

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Now there's not a particular sin in this list if we go on sinning deliberately, verse 26.

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Many people have read this and then they've said, you know what? I thought

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I was a Christian, but I'm sinning deliberately. I'm willfully sinning. I just wanted to do something

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I did. How could I ever be saved? And they've gotten confused.

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They've gotten confused with the rest of the book of Hebrews that preceded it. They've gotten confused with other books of the

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Bible. No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus with Romans chapter 8. No one's going to snatch you out of the

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Father's hand. The Lord Jesus said that he is the shepherd of the sheep and he's going to guard you.

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They take this and they're like, I've sinned deliberately and so there's no hope for me. And they misuse this text almost like Hebrews chapter 6 and probably some pastors use this as well.

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Believers are secure in Christ. Believers, those trusting in Jesus, they're safe and secure.

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They are guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

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First Peter 1, 5. They have been delivered from the present evil age,

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Galatians chapter 1, 4. They will not be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus, the

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Lord. There's no possible way. This is a rebellion of the apostasy kind.

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This is not an isolated sin. He doesn't even give you what the sin is. If there's a particular sin that you commit enough and deliberately enough and you would lose your salvation, don't you think he would list it?

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The context is, see the first word there in verse 26, for. For if we go on sinning deliberately, therefore if you're reading this and you're thinking, you know what,

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I think I've committed the unpardonable sin, it's blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, this is the sin that you're not supposed to pray for and I'm smoked because as a

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Christian I've committed sins and I've done it deliberately and I've received the knowledge of the truth and I've done that.

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Then you're misunderstanding this. You need to go back to the word for. For and you need to see that like any pastor who's preaching and he's preaching to the church, he's preaching to the sheep, he realizes there are some people sitting there that look like sheep on the outside.

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They know how to do the Christian talk, but they're goats on the inside.

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Then he calls the goats to be born again. He calls the sheep to believe and to keep believing and serve one another.

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And then he calls the goats to repentance. That's what this is.

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And so we're going to look at this little section here in verses 26 through 31, and I'm going to give you some ultimatums from the text that are true, that whether you like it or not, will come to pass.

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Maybe you want to dream these things away. Maybe you want to hope they're not going to be true. I get all that.

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Bang. Wow. What is going on here? Now, you're not supposed to drink any liquids when you do radio shows, but what about shaking your protein shake?

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Wow. NutriShop, my new favorite place. It's a chain,

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I think, across the US. So I think they should be sending me some protein powder for this ad.

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You know, there are hundreds of thousands of people listening to this. People ask me sometimes, how many downloads do you get?

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You know, early on, we ran into quite a few downloads throughout the years.

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And once we hit over a million downloads, then I kind of stopped counting.

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So that was kind of interesting. I don't know what a typical download is. I'm not exactly sure.

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I don't know how many people listen in Alaska. A lot more than I deserve. That's all I should probably know.

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If 10 of you listen and are benefiting, great. Would I do it for 10?

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Are there 10 righteous people in this no -co city? I was fine today.

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I went to the game. It was freezing cold. Everything was okay till I sat down. And now I just want to yawn and yawn and yawn.

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There needs to be something in this NutriShop drink that has got caffeine in it.

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That's what I need. When I do this show, I'll stop. I'll go get some. We'll do another show.

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First ultimatum found in verse 26 and 27. There will be a payment for your sin.

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There will be a payment for your sin. Every sin that you've ever committed will be punished.

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It just depends if Jesus is going to accept that punishment. If Jesus accepts a punishment for you because you're trusting in Him, or it will be on you yourself.

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What does the text say? For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

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Sins of defiance. I think he's got numbers 15 verse 30 in mind here.

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These people knew who Jesus was. Life as representative.

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Death as substitute. Risen Savior as high priest interceding.

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And they're like, you know what? I'll take my sin instead. I'll take my boyfriend or girlfriend instead. I'll take my own ways instead.

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My own religion. I'll do it my own way. And I don't want to have anything to do with this.

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Willfully, by the way, deliberately stands in the front of this Greek sentence. It is emphatic, deliberate, willful.

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Something that's done intentionally. Now, the Old Testament, you had sins that were committed unintentionally and sins committed intentionally.

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The first unintentional sins, those could be forgiven. Intentional sins, here's what it says in Numbers 15 verse 30.

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But anyone who sins defiantly, that's the idea here. Willfully, whether native born or alien, blasphemes

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Yahweh. And that person must be cut off from his people. And of course, what we're seeing here in the section especially is there's a temporary cutoff there.

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Here, this is eternal. These stakes are much higher here because Jesus has come. Who else are they going to turn to if they turn their back on Jesus?

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These people, these apostates are rebelling against God. He's not saying if you've ever committed a sin, then therefore you lose your salvation.

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This is a defection. This is AWOL. This is, I'm not going to believe in Jesus. This is not some single act of sin.

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This is a renunciation. I know what Jesus says. I'm not going to do it.

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Now, it can be in the form of, I still think he's a fine guy. I still think he died on the cross, but I'm just not going to trust in him because I know he's going to require certain things of me like sexual fidelity and things like that.

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Calvin said, the apostle describes as sinners, not those who fall in any kind of way, but those who forsake the church and separate themselves from Christ.

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There is a great difference between individual lapses and a universal desertion of this kind.

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He says that there's no offering left for those who reject the death of Christ because such rejection does not come from some particular offense, but from a total rejection of faith.

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That's exactly right. People talk about stiff -arming and high -handed sinning, and what you'll see when you look at this text, if there's certain sins that you, the

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Christian, could commit and you lose your salvation, I think he'd list them. That goes against everything we know about preservation of the saints, perseverance of the saints, eternal security, whatever terminology you'd like to use.

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If it's a willful sin that you commit, how many have you committed already? We're already sunk. It's game over.

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He's not trying to tell us which sins you can commit and then have that be willful, deliberate apostasy.

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No, no, no. The sin is, you know all about Jesus and you're going to turn your back. Those sins can never be forgiven because the only one who can forgive you is the one you're turning your back on.

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He is the only sacrifice. This is the language in 1 John 2, 19, is it not?

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They went out from us, but they were really not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.

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These presumptuous sins in the Old Testament, you die physically. This presumptuous apostasy in the

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New Testament, we're talking eternal ramifications. Jesus Himself said,

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I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And if you turn your back on Him, how do you get access to the

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Father? There's no way. For you, the Christian, you sin,

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I sin. It's simple. We confess our sins and He's what? Faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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We have an advocate. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

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He is the propitiation for our sins and not only ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

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When Christians sin, they have a Father in heaven, and that Father has provided a sin bearer, the

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Lord Jesus, right? But if you don't have Jesus as sin bearer, as mediator, the

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God is not a father to you. The God is a judge to you. The only

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God is a judge to you. You can be really close to Christianity and still not believe.

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Is that true? You can see people's lives change. You can see the fruit of a life transformed by grace.

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You can see people serve and love. You can see people's testimonies of their life and their words.

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Just like Judas. Judas is with Jesus for three years.

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Judas knows all about Jesus. Judas eats with Jesus. He knows

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Jesus can do the miracles. He knows Jesus can make blind people see, deaf people to hear, multiplying fish and loaves.

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Walking on water. Giving them, including Judas, the ability to do supernatural signs and wonders and still.

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That's why you don't need more evidence. If you're not a Christian today and you say, I just need to know a little bit more proof and a few more signs.

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You have Moses and the prophets. That's all you need, as Luke would say, Luke 16. Don't be a defector.

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Don't be a Judas. My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. Today we're looking at the exclusive claims of Jesus.

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And if you turn your back on Jesus, there's no hope because Jesus is the only hope. If there's two saviors and you turn your back on one, that's one thing.

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But if there's only one savior, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, and you turn your back on him and treat him with contempt and shame, as we'll look at this next week, then this is for you.

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Fire, judgment, eternal hell and damnation. And I don't want that. So why don't you repent and believe on the

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Lord Jesus Christ, the risen sin bearer today. My name is Mike Abendroth. You can write us info at nocompromiseradio .com.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.