How To Interpret The Warning Passages In Hebrews

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

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. 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 King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

Preaching to Believers While Warning Unbelievers

My name is Mike Abendroth. We do have some new videos that will be populating the YouTube channel. There�s a channel, No Compromise Radio, and Ben Mercedes has been directing those projects and filming them.

The newest one is COVID -19 related. I tried not to do much with that, but I did have to do one. Is fear of COVID -19 the beginning of wisdom? Of course, we know that�s not true. It�s fear of the Lord, but we live in a society where it�s fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.

You ought not to fear sickness. I�m not saying you shouldn�t be responsible, etc., etc., but fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I�m going to talk a little bit today about kind of a strategy that pastors have or should have when preaching, and so that if you�re a pastor, I hope I can remind you what you already know.

If you�re a congregant, you can go, �Oh, that�s why he does what he does and it�s through the template of the sermon called the Epistle to the Hebrews. As Hebrews 13 .22 tells us, that this sermon, in fact, this letter, in fact, is a sermon letter, a letter sermon, an epistolatory sermon, a sermonic epistle.

If you understand that this sermon was preached to an existing congregation, and it�s the only one we have like that in the New Testament, right? You have Peter preaching in Acts and Paul preaching in Acts, but do we have a real sermon?

You�ve got a letter to be read, Ephesians, Colossians. Read those to the churches. Of course, all the New Testament books would be read, but here we have this sermon. It sounds like a sermon. It reads like a sermon.

It�s the length of a sermon, if you preach 40, 45 minutes. When I was younger, I�d always think, �Oh, I�ve got to preach 55, 60 minutes, because I can do that. I�m great at that. The people are sleeping after about 40 minutes.

But if you�re and even, by the way, today, if you�re a Bible teacher, you�re teaching your children the Bible, what�s the approach? And of course, overall, the approach that Hebrews would have would be, it�s a sermon about Jesus.

And what are the ethical implications of that sermon? I don�t mind any of those, right? It�s a law-gospel-law kind of thing. And I don�t mean double portions of law and one gospel, but we have, you know, law shows us our need of the Savior, then we hear about the Savior, and then the law that showed us the need of our Savior still norms our behavior, directs our behavior, guides our behavior.

And you can think about first and third views of the law, or uses, rather. Paul said in the first chapter of Colossians, �Him we proclaim. Talking about Jesus, �warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. As a present tense, we regularly talk about the Lord Jesus. And so, I think Colossians 1, 28 would be a perfect fulfillment of, you know, its response, but Paul once, the writer of Hebrews, did.

Anyway, I get up to preach, and since this is a gathering of saints, I know there are people who are not believers who attend, and maybe who are members, but I mainly need to be preaching for the believers, for the saints.

Remember, Jesus said to Simon Peter, �Do you love me more than these �Yes, Lord. Feed my lambs. Then he said a second time, �Do you love me �Yes, Lord. You know that I love you. Tend my sheep.

Third time, �Do you love me �Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Feed my sheep. Therefore, when the pastor is preaching, he, me, we, we ought to be preaching in such a way that we're talking to the sheep, mainly.

Of course, there are unbelievers there, and if you want to say, and I regularly say, maybe every week, if you're not a believer here today, if you're not a Christian, these promises are not for you. The presence of God with a mediator is something that you'll never know, and so you're going to have to stand before God without a mediator on that day, that horrible day.

I regularly talk that way, but the bulk of my sermons tend to be trying to encourage the people of God and tell them about who Jesus is, the mediator. Yes, goats will be present, but am I mainly trying to preach to the sheep or to the goats?

For years, I think it was the opposite for me. I would try to make sure that there were no unbelievers sitting here, and I would really try to hold the law up to them and to give them no relief. Well, what does that do to a bunch of Christians who hear that week in and week out?

Maybe that makes them want to evangelize, maybe that gives them gratitude that they're no longer that person. But I just want you to know that you can preach to Christians and tell them about who Jesus is and assure them of His love for them without being some type of non-Lordship, you know, Ryrie Zane Hodges kind of person.

I know that if I preach the Lord Jesus and the implications of His Lordship, everything will work out. When the Son of Man comes in glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And therefore, I don't have to manipulate or change anything for that fact to happen.

That is going to happen. So I preach for the sheep, mainly, to edify them, to build them up to the glory of Christ Jesus. I know unbelievers are going to be here, and I know some of those unbelievers are children, small children, some are self-deceived, some are willfully deceived, some profess Christ and they don't possess Christ.

And therefore, I mainly preach to the Christian, and I throw in some warnings to the unbeliever. Now, that's six minutes and 45 seconds leading up to this. Doesn't that sound like the book of Hebrews?

It's a sermon from a preacher, from a pastor, and he does the exact same thing. If you can grasp that idea that I've talked about for the past six minutes, you will understand Hebrews. There are warning passages, five of them, and we're going to look at the one in chapter 12 today.

The warning passages are not given so that Christians might worry if they're saved or not, so that Christians think maybe somehow they can lose their salvation. There are assurance verses throughout the book of Hebrews.

So what's the writer, preacher trying to do? He essentially is saying through those warnings, don't go back to Judaism, be grateful, keep believing. There's lots of things that he wants to do, but he can give warnings without you thinking as a Christian, you know what?

This warning, I could lose my salvation. I know what I've done. Maybe you're honest with yourself and your sins, and you're like, you know what? How could I? Hebrews 12, 25 to 29, it's the fifth warning passage.

Let me read this to you, and then I want you to hear it from me, knowing that this is a sermon and that pastors understand that there's believers and unbelievers, and there are professors and there are possessors.

Of course, there are people who don't even profess probably listening, but that's why probably three kinds of people listening to this sermon, those that know they're not saved, those that think they are, but aren't, and those that know they are.

Maybe there's more too. Those that are, but they don't know if they are. Are those the four options? I think those will be good to start with. Listen to this, and without the rest of the book, you might be thinking, ouch, I could really lose something here.

But of course, there are 11 other chapters, almost 12 chapters. See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking, for if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken.

That is things that have been made in order that things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

The Warning Passages in Hebrews and the Perseverance of the Saints

How do you interpret the warning passages in the book of Hebrews? To repeat, if you grasp that this is a sermon, you'll get it, because you'll realize that in any sermon, there's a mixed audience, professors and possessors.

And you will realize that sometimes the pastor will say, endure to the end to be saved. And that doesn't mean you could lose your salvation, but it's a means to the end. One writer said, the listener's perseverance is the evidence of what has taken place in the past and is an essential ingredient of what it means to be a Christian.

So Hebrews virtually defines true believers as those who firmly hold to the end of the confidence that they first had. If you're a Christian and you are not rejecting Jesus, right, you say, well, I defiantly reject Jesus.

I deliberately reject Jesus. I don't care about his salvation. I don't care about what's going to happen to me. Well, I'm not going to say that's authentic faith. That would be a fake faith. That's the wrong kind of faith.

But what about Christians? Should they read warning passages and immediately think I've lost my salvation? What about earlier chapters in the book of Hebrews that I alluded to earlier? Let me give you one section, Hebrews six, verse 13, for when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you.

And thus Abraham, having waited patiently, obtained the promise for people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he inaugurated it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

For we have this sure and steady anchor of the soul, steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus is going to lead you, Christian, to glory. By the way, that's my little, I was going to call it a trick, but it's not necessarily a trick. But that's why I regularly say Christian when I preach, because I want Christians to know they have a heavenly father that will never leave them nor forsake them.

That's Hebrews 13. But if you're not a Christian, you better not do anything except believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You think, well, I say I am, but you know, things are hard and I'm going to go back to my old life.

No, warning, warning, warning. Hebrews 2 .10, it was fitting that Jesus, for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

What is Jesus going to do? Lead his children to glory. He's not going to lose one. John chapter 10 talks about nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 8, Christ's death once for all, perfect, efficacious.

And Jesus now lives to make intercession for his people, Hebrews 7, 25, 26, and 27. He has done this as a priest who is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners. And God then has exalted him above the heavens.

Your security rests in the work of another. So therefore, when you read the warning passages in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, Hebrews 3 verse 7 into chapter 4, Hebrews chapter 6, that may be the most famous of all the warning passages.

And then in Hebrews chapter 10, going on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth. What do you expect? You should expect a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Vengeance is mine. I will repay. The Lord will judge his people. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. If you're an unbeliever, that's for you. If you're saying you're a believer and you're tempted to go back, that's for you.

Don't go back. If you're a believer, in one sense, the warning can be used of God for you because you'll realize what you came from and you don't want to have anything to do with that old life anymore and the old destiny.

So keep believing. There's a means to the end here. I find it fascinating, even in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, just before this last terrifying warning passage. It says in chapter 10, verse 19,. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

It's wonderful. It's good news. Therefore, when you come to Hebrews warning passages, A, see them in context, and B, if you understand the recipients, the audience, you're going to understand these passages correctly, rightly.

He's been talking a lot about apostasy in Hebrews chapter 12, right? It started off with Jesus running this race, and then he begins to talk about apostasy for people that don't believe in this Jesus, the author and perfecter, the one for the joy set before him.

If you're not going to believe in him, apostasy has consequences, and you need to run from apostasy and even for the believer to hear these warning passages. You don't lose your salvation, but you think, you know what?

That's right. I need to keep believing and keep moving forward. I think if you take these warning passages and you isolate them, they can end up being things that you have to do in order to be accepted by God, and the position gets mixed up with the practice.

What do you have to do in order to stand before God? Answer, obey. Do, but we realize we haven't been able to do that, right? We're sinful people, and we've fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, we need someone who is holy and blameless and who could perfectly earn righteousness, an infinite amount of righteousness for us.

I'm wondering why many people, I know I've done it in the past, would use warning passages to say, you've got to do this in order to be accepted by God. Was that to kind of keep the congregation holy?

Is that to make sure you don't give anybody any false assurance? Is that meaning you're so atomistically trying to deal with the text and you don't kind of back up a little bit and see the main context, not only of the chapter, but the book itself?

Maybe there's lots of reasons, and some of those reasons I get, I understand. But remember, God justifies and he sanctifies. That's the double blessing. The duplex gratia is what Calvin called it, of the work of Christ.

He takes care of your position before God, and then your practice. He justifies, he sanctifies. He gives you the sanctifying Holy Spirit, as Scott Clark would talk about in his article about the warning passages in the book of Hebrews, which I commend to you and have drawn from in this message yet today on the radio.

Scott said, the solution for this problem is to recognize the difference between if then and do because. If I do this, then I keep my position, or do because of my position. If then, blending justification and sanctification is Roman Catholic.

Protestants said, we're going to do these things because, and we want to make sure we uphold that Christ Jesus perfectly did everything, and we stand in his place. If you look at the warning passages and you say to yourself, man, I'm so glad that's not me.

Perfect. Perfect. If you say, do you know what? I earned that curse. I deserve that curse, and Jesus took it in my place. And therefore, I want to live a godly life and a holy life. Perfect. Clark said, this distinction in the function of the threats and curses is as essential for the right use as the distinction between law and gospel.

He's right. This is a sermon. So, therefore, when it comes to a sermon, realize that there's different hearers as he's preaching the sermon. Like I said before, I regularly say to people, now, Christian, God's not mad at you.

God's not angry with you because you are united with Jesus Christ. And because of that, you want to obey. That should give you the motivation to obey. And if you're not a believer, God is a consuming God, and he's angry with the wicked every day.

And eternity is real and long, and there's no hope there. And so, your only hope now, as you hear my voice, is to run by faith to the person of Jesus Christ who obeyed perfectly, and he obeyed to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And God has exalted him, given him a great name, and put him in his rightful seat, as it were, figuratively speaking, the right hand of God the Father. You need a mediator. You need this Savior. Therefore, when you're talking to your children, and you're preaching, and you say, well, you know what?

I have a couple older children around the dinner table, and they have professed Christ. And I have some younger children that maybe they're just not even understanding abstract thoughts about who Jesus is and what he did.

Well, I just say, if you're trusting in Jesus, you're safe. If you fear believing in Jesus, you have peace with God. I can say that. I don't need to know which ones believe which, or which ones don't believe which, but I can say those truths.

I don't know why. And maybe this is just like my own kind of psych problems, but I think for too long, I just wanted to make sure I didn't give false assurance to unbelievers, and that took over my desire to give assurance, biblical assurance, from Scripture by talking about the Lord Jesus, who loves people.

He loves his bride with an everlasting love. I don't know why that is. I don't like spurious faith. I don't like fake faith. There's a faith that doesn't save. And if you're listening, I don't want you to be self-deceived.

I don't want you to be deceived by Satan. I don't want you to think, you know what, everything's good because I've done more good than bad and everything will just weigh out in the scales of eternity.

I don't want you to think that way. That's foolish. That's wrong. That's wicked. It's sinful. It's not acknowledging the depths of your depravity and why even Jesus came. Why would he come to die on a cross if everything could be fine just by our own good deeds weighed out on a scale?

So spurious faith is wrong. But I also don't want to try to convince Christians, simul justus et peccator, Christians who are justified, simultaneously, we know that they're sinful and they struggle with sin.

And actually the struggle's good. Who gave you the struggle? Actually the desire to be holy is good. Sadness over sin is good. Who gave you those desires? Who gave you that joy of obedience and the sadness of disobeying the Lord?

Who gave you those things? Satan? The world? CNN? No. The Lord gave you those. How much contriteness and sorrow do you have to have over your sin in order to be saved? Stay saved. See, we don't talk that way.

We talk about sola fide. And we talk about, when we think about sin, we use words about repentance. We talk about the Savior. We use words like faith when it comes to positional standing. And once God saves you, you'll be regenerated, right?

Once God justifies you, rather, you'll be regenerated and sanctification follows justification. It is inevitable because they're inseparable, but they are distinct. Therefore, when it comes to the book of Hebrews and you realize that it's a sermon, you're going to go, oh, now I get it.

So if you're a pastor, why don't you regularly say to people, Christian, nothing shall separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And if you're not a believer here today, you're already separated.

You're separated from fellowship with God, and there are going to be a day where you stand in His presence in eternity, and it's not going to be good. No matter what you're trying to think, it's not going to work out.

There's no way you can calculate this to come out to your favor. Why don't you just start saying that? Dear children of God, dear believer, dear weak, sinful Christian. That's the way to talk. It has nothing to do with Ryrie non-lordship, Zane Hodge's anti-lordship.

Jesus is Lord. But it has to do with the Reformed doctrine of sanctification. You ought to read, in the 1689 Our Westminster Confession, whichever is your pleasure, the categories of justification, sanctification, and of good works.

Those three sections, I think, will really, really help you. Well, my name's Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I think we've got about 10 slots left for Israel. We're still planning to go. February 24th through March 3rd of next year, 2021.

Hopefully, we'll be back having regular worship services soon. God bless you. Don't forget the NoCo video channel on YouTube, No Compromise Radio.

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

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.