The Fourth Warning Passage (Hebrews 10:26-31)

Kootenai Church

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And again in the book of Hebrews, but this time to Hebrews chapter 10, and find your place at verse 26,

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Hebrews chapter 10, and let's bow together before we read.

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Our Father, we pray that Your Word would have its way in our hearts and in our minds today. We pray that You would conform us to the image of Christ and sanctify us by Your truth.

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We pray that You would help us to think accurately and clearly about difficult issues, and we pray that Your Word would make us to think and reason and believe and have faith as You would have us to, as Your Word might dictate to us.

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We pray that You would sanctify us through our time here, and that You would glorify Yourself by the presence of Your Spirit in giving us the ability to understand and to obey

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Your Word. Be honored here, we pray, through all that is said, and may You be glorified through our understanding and our obedience to Your Word.

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We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, today we are starting the fourth of five warning passages that we find in the book of Hebrews, and when

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I use the phrase warning passage, I'm not just speaking of a passage that contains a warning, because there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of those all scattered throughout

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Scripture. But when we use the phrase warning passage, particularly in the context of the New Testament and in the context of the book of Hebrews, we're actually talking about five specific passages in the book of Hebrews that warn against the danger of apostasy, that talk about and describe apostates.

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And those five chapters, we are now entering into the fourth of those five chapters, and we have studied, obviously, the first three of those warning passages.

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And I'm going to just give you, again, the location of them, and later on here in a moment, I'm going to give you a brief survey of the previous three that we have already looked at.

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But those five warning passages are found, the first in chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. The second is chapter 3, verse 7, through chapter 4, verse 13.

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The third one is chapter 5, verse 11, through 6, verse 12. This is the fourth one, chapter 10, verse 26 through 31, though most, and I would say this is probably appropriate, start the warning passage at verse 19 in chapter 10 and go all the way through the end of chapter 10.

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And then the fifth and final warning passage is found in chapter 12, verses 14 through 29. So, we have one in chapter 2, one in chapter 3 and 4, one in chapter 5 and 6, one here in chapter 10, and one in chapter 12.

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So, these warning passages, five of them are interspersed throughout the argument of the book of Hebrews as if, almost parenthetically, the author pauses his argument at certain points to remind his readers of the dangers of drifting away or of disobeying or of disregarding the information, the truth that he has given to them as he is arguing his way for the superiority of Jesus Christ throughout the book of Hebrews.

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So, these passages describe apostates and describe the act of apostasy. Now, apostasy is the act of turning away from a truth that you know to be true.

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It's the act of seeing or knowing truth, being very close to it, being very exposed to it, and oftentimes even externally changed by that truth, but then turning away from that and walking away from it to reject it, to forsake it, and to turn your back on it.

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That is apostasy, and those who commit that sin are known in Scripture as apostates.

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So, we are not here describing somebody. When we talk about the warning passages and apostates, we're not here describing

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Christians who sin. We're not describing you accidentally sin or you falling into a sin or you sinning without even knowing about it.

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We're not talking about people who sin their way out of Christianity and into a life of unbelief and eventually into hell.

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It is not as if there is a certain number of sins, mystical number, undisclosed in Scripture, that you were allowed to commit after you become a

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Christian, and then once you have tallied up the final sin, you sin that one too many times, and that's it. You're done.

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God is done with you. You lose your salvation. You're going to hell, and you deserve it. You had your chance, but you sinned 491 times.

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Jesus said, forgive 7 times 70, right? So, you've sinned 491 times.

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That's it. That's all the grace that God has for you. That's not what we're talking about. We're not talking about Christians who sin or a

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Christian who falls into sin. We're talking about somebody whom I believe, and I'm going to argue, was never a

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Christian to begin with, but was exposed to the truth, who knows the truth, and turns his back upon it and forsakes it.

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That is what an apostate is. Now, these five warning passages are battleground texts in the discussion of whether a

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Christian can lose their salvation or not. The book of Hebrews is the go -to book in terms of having a conversation about whether or not a

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Christian can lose their salvation. If you believe in the security of the believer, or what

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I prefer to call the perseverance of the saints or the preservation of the saints, even better, or if you believe what is sometimes commonly called once saved, always saved, that is that once you are saved, there's no possibility of losing your salvation, if that is your belief, then those who believe you can lose your salvation will always point to the book of Hebrews.

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They will say, that's good that you believe that, but what about Hebrews chapter 6? What do you do with that passage in Hebrews chapter 6?

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Because there are Christians within Christianity who believe that salvation, once received and once obtained by you through faith and repentance, that that salvation can be lost, that that Christian can stop believing or become disobedient or stop attending church, fall into sin, slide into apostasy, that that Christian having once been saved can send their way out of the kingdom and send their way into perdition and into eternal damnation, that they in some way can be not kept even if by their own choice.

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They might say, there's no way that God can lose us, but if we're in the Savior's hand, it's possible for us to jump out of the

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Savior's hand and thus lose our salvation. So even though if we want to stay saved, then

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God has the power to keep us, but if we don't want to stay saved, we want to go to hell instead, God doesn't have the power to keep us then.

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There are some who believe that. So these warning passages require a diligent and persistent and careful, thoughtful treatment as we work our way through the book of Hebrews.

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And Hebrews chapter 6 really is the go -to text. The go -to text is not Hebrews 10. This is one of the warning passages, but it's not the battleground text.

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That's back in Hebrews chapter 6. Now, if you have shown up here after Hebrews chapter 6, can you raise your hand for a moment?

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Pat, you've been here since before Ecclesiastes. I know that. We almost lost you during Ecclesiastes.

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If you have shown up here after Hebrews chapter 6, can you raise your hand high so we can see it?

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Okay, so there are a few. Good, a good number. It's good to see. So Hebrews chapter 6 is the battleground text.

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We've already covered Hebrews chapter 6. Obviously, you kind of get the feeling that we go through this systematically from the first verse to the last verse of a

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Bible book, and we do. So we've already covered Hebrews chapter 6. In fact, this is the passage in Hebrews chapter 6, which is really the key, the battleground text.

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This is the fault line, as it were, in this discussion of eternal security or the perseverance of the saints.

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It's Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6, and I'll read these three verses to you. For in the case of those who have been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the

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Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the

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Son of God and put Him to open shame. Now, we covered that in some detail, and by some detail,

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I mean painstakingly, agonizingly, slow, meticulous detail. We preached 18 sermons.

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I shouldn't say we. You had nothing to do with it. I preached 18 sermons on that warning passage in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11 going through the end of chapter 12.

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There were 18 messages from March 24th of 2019 to August 11th of 2019, so that's six months, a good part of six months.

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Now, if that seems like a long time to you, it's because that's a long time to spend in one passage of Scripture, but the intention was to go through that and to answer all of the questions and to be systematic in how we dealt with that and to deal with every phrase, phrase by phrase, to see the author's argument, to answer the questions that would come up in relationship to that.

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So if you have questions about the warning passages, particularly Hebrews chapter 6, you can go on the website and you can go through all 18 of those messages.

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That doesn't sound like fun at all. It's not. It's not any more fun than me preaching up here on a Sunday morning, but at least you'll have the context of Hebrews chapter 6 and what that means because we're going to come to the same conclusion in chapter 10 that we came to in chapter 6 because it is the same group of people being discussed in chapter 10 as was discussed in chapter 6.

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The author is not changing his theology halfway through the epistle, so everything we're going to learn in chapter 10 is going to be consistent with what we covered in chapter 6, and that was a long time ago, 2019, particularly because 2020 took five years to get through.

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So 2019 was a long time ago, and if you were here and you remember those messages, then there's no need for me to go through those again.

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If you were here and you don't remember those messages, then you can join those who are not here and go on the website and listen to those messages if you need a refresher.

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Now, these five warning passages are difficult for everyone, no matter what side of the theological aisle you're on, whether you believe that salvation once obtained and once granted by God is everlasting and eternal and cannot be forfeited or lost, or whether you believe that a

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Christian can lose their salvation through one sin or two sins and never again be restored to repentance.

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Whatever your perspective is, the warning passages create challenges for all interpreters on all sides of that spectrum, so there's nothing slam -dunk about any of the warning passages.

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Our goal is to interpret them in a consistent way, and this passage in chapter 10 is the most severe and the most stern and the most serious sounding of all of the five warning passages.

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I want you to look, beginning at verse 26, actually verse 27, I want you to look at the references to judgment.

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Verse 27, there is a terrifying expectation of judgment. Verse 27, the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

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Verse 28, dying without mercy. Verse 29, severe judgment. Verse 30, vengeance is mine.

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Also verse 30, the Lord will judge His people. Verse 31, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living

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God. Now, those phrases, particularly when compared to chapter 6, the warning in chapter 6, that is really strong.

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Chapter 6 is very mild. Chapter 6 mentions the thorns and the thistles that are worthless and cursed and end up being burned.

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That's a mild warning compared to what we find in chapter 10. Chapter 10 talks about the fury and the fire consuming the adversaries, dying without mercy, falling into the hands of the living

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God. You can see just from those phrases that we went through in verse 26 to 31 that the author here is describing in the strongest possible terms, a damnation that might fall upon whoever it is that he is describing in the rest of this passage.

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Whoever this is that having received the knowledge of the truth turns away from it, this is what they get, verses 26 through 31.

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So the conclusion really is inescapable. If a Christian can lose their salvation, then the judgment described in verses 26 through 31 is what they face.

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If a Christian cannot lose their salvation, then the judgment described in verses 26 through 31 does not fall upon them.

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It must fall upon someone else, someone who never had salvation. So you either believe that you can lose your salvation or you believe that you cannot lose your salvation.

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There is no middle ground in that debate. You believe that you can lose it or you believe that you cannot lose it, there is no middle ground.

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There is no third option. Either the warning passages in Hebrews teach that a believer can lose their salvation and perish in everlasting fire or the warning passages in Hebrews teach no such thing.

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They are describing something else. Now oftentimes the debate between these two camps is categorized or sort of described in terms of the

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Calvinists versus the Armenians. That is somewhat true, it is somewhat helpful, but it is not entirely accurate and here's why.

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While all Calvinists believe that you cannot lose your salvation, that salvation once obtained is permanent and it cannot be lost or forfeited or returned or given up or anything in the description, while all

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Calvinists believe that, not everybody who believes that you cannot lose your salvation is a Calvinist. And while all

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Armenians would have to say that salvation can be lost, not all

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Armenians would believe that you can… sorry, there are some people who would be Armenians who believe that salvation cannot be lost.

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So there is between Calvinists and Armenians sort of this ugly redheaded stepchild theology in the middle.

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And if you were a redheaded stepchild, my apologies to you. There is this ugly redheaded stepchild theology in the middle where they would deny all of the

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Reformed doctrines of soteriology except this one doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, that salvation once obtained is eternal.

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And so they are kind of in this middle ground. They would say that they would deny the Reformed doctrine of total depravity, denying that man is totally depraved.

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They would say, no, man is sinful, he has fallen, he is sick, but he is not totally dead in his trespasses and sins, not totally unable to do any good or to respond by faith because man has this glorious free will, he has the freedom to choose to do this, to choose to do right.

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So they would deny that. And then they would deny unconditional election, say, no, no, God looks down through time and sees who it is that is going to accept him.

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If given the opportunity, they would use their free will to embrace him and to accept salvation, and then

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God elects them on that basis. And they would deny the Reformed doctrine of particular redemption, that Christ died to pay for the sins, not of the whole world, but of his elect.

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They would deny that. And then they would deny irresistible grace, which says that when the Father irresistibly draws all those whom he has given to the

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Son, so that none will be lost, and that that drawing is necessary for the atonement to be applied to those whom he has unconditionally chosen, because they are totally depraved, and so all of the rest of those acts of grace are necessary.

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So they would deny all of that, and then they would say, but salvation once acquired can never be lost.

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Now, if that is your theology, and you are in the middle there, if you are that ugly redheaded stepchild,

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I want you to understand that your theology is inconsistent. The Arminians are consistent.

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Man can get saved by his own free will. It is his own act that does this, unaffected by God.

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God has made salvation possible, but he has not guaranteed or predestined anything. He's just made it available, and it's up to man to choose to secure that or not, to take advantage of that or not.

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That's what an Arminian would say. That's what this redheaded stepchild in the middle would say, that that is true. But once that salvation is acquired, you don't have the choice to give it up again.

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So what you're saying is that an unbeliever who is dead in their trespasses and sins, at war with God, a slave to their sin, a slave to the devil, and in the kingdom of darkness, has more free will than a believer in Jesus Christ who has been liberated from all of those things?

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That before I am saved, I can choose salvation, but after I'm saved, I can't choose to not be saved? See how inconsistent that is?

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The Calvinist is consistent. Yes, if man is totally dead in his sins, and God has unconditionally elected him, and Christ has paid his price, and then

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God draws all those whom he has given to the Son in eternity past, then salvation is not at all a work of men.

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It's the Lord who saves. And that grace is a gift, that faith is a gift, and repentance is a gift, all of this are

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God's gracious gifts to those whom he has chosen. If that is true, then of course salvation cannot be lost or forfeited, because the same

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God who purposed salvation and planned salvation has secured it, and then he preserves those whom he saves so that none are lost.

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So the Calvinist is completely consistent, the Arminian is completely consistent, the one in the middle who denies the reformed doctrines of salvation, but wants to believe that you cannot lose your salvation, your feet, theologically speaking, are planted in mid -air.

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You are standing on nothing. There is no argument in Scripture, no theological argument whatsoever underneath of that position.

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Your argument simply is that at some point an unbeliever makes a decision that cannot be reversed.

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That's your theological argument. That's not how Scripture argues for the perseverance of the saints. Scripture argues the way

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I've been arguing over here, that man is dead, that God has chosen, that Christ has died, that the

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Spirit draws, and that therefore we are preserved perfectly. That's how Scripture argues. If you want to be the red -headed stepchild, and I'll stop using the term ugly, if you want to be the red -headed stepchild in the middle, just understand your theology is completely inconsistent and there's no theological grounding whatsoever.

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You might agree with me on this point, but you cannot make a theological argument from salvation, from the elements of soteriology that would undergird that theology.

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All right. Now, typically, when a passage like the one that we're going to be looking at, and we haven't gotten there yet, but we will, when a passage like the one that we're going to be looking at is handled in your average evangelical church in America, here's how it is handled.

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The pastor will get up and he will say something like this. Now, this is a very controversial passage, and we don't like doctrines that divide, and we don't like doctrines that draw clear lines, and people are going to disagree on this, and so you might believe you can lose your salvation, and you might believe that you can't lose your salvation.

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There are good arguments on both sides of this debate, and people disagree with this over the centuries forever, and so since we are just really interested in the unity of the body and the harmony and the bond of peace and all of that, we want everybody to sort of just go along to get along.

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Since that's the case, I'm really not going to take a position on this. I kind of lean toward this direction or this direction, but we're just going to read the passage.

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I'm going to leave it up to you to decide, and we're going to move on to chapter 11. That's how it would be typically handled. If you came here expecting that today or in the coming weeks, you are going to be sorely disappointed because I will lay all of my cards out on the table and confess to you that I am going to aggressively argue for the position that you cannot lose your salvation.

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So just to make it clear exactly what my position is, if I have not been clear already, here it is.

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I do not believe that a genuinely saved individual can be lost. I do not believe that a genuinely saved

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Christian, one who has been born again by the power of the Spirit and had their sins forgiven and has been justified can be lost because here's the reasoning.

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Christ cannot fail to save any of those whom the Father has given to Him. He cannot fail to do that because our

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Savior is not a failure. He is not trying to do anything. He's not trying to save as many people as He can.

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He has come with an intention. He fulfills His will. He accomplishes all of His good pleasure. Salvation is not our work.

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It is entirely the work of God. Our repentance is a gift. Our faith is a gift, and our perseverance in that faith is also a gift.

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Since we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians chapter 1, and since we are predestined to adoption as sons,

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Ephesians chapter 1, and since we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, Romans chapter 8, we have been given by the

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Father to the Son as a love gift. That's the language out of John chapter 6. And since the

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Father in eternity past has given to His Son a people, the Son has come into the world to die for those people, to pay their price on a cross, to give them

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His righteousness and take all of the wrath of God for their sin, so that having once been saved, there is no condemnation to those who are in Him.

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The price having been paid and having been perfected for all time by that once and for only all -time sacrifice of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, their debt has been paid, their condemnation has been washed away, the wrath of God has been propitiated and satisfied, so that now the

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Spirit will draw those whom the Father has given to the Son to the Son, and the Son, having promised that He will give them eternal life, causes them to believe, grants them the gift of repentance and faith, brings them to Himself, gives them eternal life, saves them, the

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Spirit of God then sanctifies them, and then the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit glorify them for all of eternity.

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That is what Scripture teaches, that the Father has planned our salvation, the Son has procured our salvation, and the

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Holy Spirit applies our salvation. And since the Father has willed our salvation, and the

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Son has willed our salvation, and the Holy Spirit has willed our salvation, there is no possibility that the will of the

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Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are all one in this purpose of redemption, can ever be thwarted or not fulfilled.

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It must happen because God has preordained it to happen exactly as it will cash out, and it is impossible for God, having started this work, to give it up.

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It is impossible for God to fail, because it is impossible for the Son to fail to save or even to lose one whom the

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Father has given to Him, because that would dishonor the Father, if the Son should fail to do that work.

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But Jesus promised, all that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. And this is the will of the

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Father who sent Me, Jesus said, that of all that He has given to Me, I give eternal life to them, and I raise them up on the last day, and in that process not one of them is lost.

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So that the Father intends our salvation, Christ intends our salvation, the Holy Spirit intends our salvation, so that the triune

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God, being one in purpose, one in the work of redemption, and one in all of His works, accomplishes exactly what

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He intends. So He cannot fail, and ultimately our salvation is a deliverance from sin, and we are safe and secure in Him, for God has willed it,

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He has purposed it, He has procured it, and He has promised it, and He will preserve us in it.

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That's my position. Now, this does not mean for one moment that I am vouching for any false converts.

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If you are somebody who grew up in a Christian home, and you prayed with Mom and Dad, and you got baptized when you were four years old, and you stood up in front of the church, and you dedicated your life to ministry, and you wanted to go to the mission field, and you committed yourself there, but you are not truly born again, you've never been regenerated, you've never repented of your sin, or understood the gospel, and trusted

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Christ, I'm not vouching for you. You're not the one I'm describing here. And if you are somebody whose heart was warmed by a camp meeting, or a revival that your church had when you were a kid, and you walked forward,

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I'm not describing people who check a box, raise their hand during a service, yes I prayed that prayer, prayed some magical prayer, walked the aisle, prayed at the altar, were baptized,

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I'm not talking about any of those things. I'm not talking about frauds, or fakes, or false converts, or professors of religious fervor.

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I'm talking about a group of people who are genuinely, truly born again and saved. Those can never be lost.

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Now the warning passages, as I mentioned, have difficulties in them for all, and these warning passages are not unwelcome intruders into the theology that I just gave you.

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So if you might disagree with everything I just laid out about the sovereignty of God, and election eternity past, and the scope of the atonement, and all that, say man

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I disagree with all of that Jim, I don't like any of that. I don't know how it is that you read the book of Hebrews and still believe that. I want you to understand that the book of Hebrews, and all that it teaches, is exactly consistent with the theology that I just laid out for you.

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There's no disharmony there whatsoever. I don't fear these warning passages. They're not unwelcome to me.

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I don't have a problem dealing with them at all. I'm going to lay out for you, just as I did in chapter 6, how I think that the welcome passages, the warning passages can and should be understood in light of the argument of the book of Hebrews.

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Because people who believe you can lose your salvation, they'll typically say, what do you do with Hebrews chapter 6? And my response is, what do you do with the rest of Hebrews?

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He has perfected forever all those for whom he died. What do you do with that passage? You understand that all the teaching about the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ, and his sacrifice, and his offering, and the finality of it, and the perfection of it, all of those arguments that we have covered throughout the entire book of Hebrews, all of that militate against the idea that one can lose their salvation.

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You wonder what I do with Hebrews chapter 6? You wonder what I do with the warning passages? I wonder what do you do with the rest of Hebrews?

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Because the rest of Hebrews does not teach that you can lose your salvation. The rest of Hebrews teaches that Christ has perfected forever all those who are sanctified.

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If you've been set apart by the Father to the Son, he has perfected you in that sacrifice, and thus you are glorified.

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That's what the rest of Hebrews teaches. So our task here today, now that we've just gone through the introduction to the introduction, because this message is really not, this message is really not, we're not going to get into the text in detail today.

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This is an introduction. So now we've gone through the introduction to the introduction, here's what we're going to do for the rest of our time.

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I'm going to review the previous warning passages, all three of them, and you say, it's not as bad as it might sound at first.

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And then I want to give you an overview of this passage, beginning at verse 26, and then a brief survey of the interpretive options.

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And this is sort of to theologically set the table for us for the weeks ahead, as we work our way through this fourth warning passage.

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So a preview, or a review, of the previous warning passages. The first one is in chapter 2. And it's easy to kind of catch the idea of what's going on in each of these warning passages, if you can just remember three words.

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The passage, the warning passage in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, is a warning against the danger of drifting.

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And the imagery there is of one who drifts by. Before I get into that, I would just remind you, all of these are online, so if you want to listen to those messages, you can.

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And I'm not going to go through this in meticulous detail for the sake of those who already suffered through it the first time. So, Hebrews chapter 2, the imagery is one of a boat that is drifting past a safe harbor, and the author uses that word and that imagery to describe one who sees the refuge off, the anchor, the shore, off the safe harbor in a distance, but he does nothing.

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So it is a warning against apathy, against indolence, against not caring. It's sort of the image is one of just sitting in a boat, and you see, you understand that there is danger that you are facing, and you see the harbor and the safety that it provides, and rather than doing something to direct yourself into the harbor and take safety in it, you just do nothing, and you let yourself drift by and thus drift away.

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So it's the danger of drifting that is described in Hebrews chapter 2. That is not somebody who is saved, it is one who sees the harbor at a distance, and then just allows himself because he does nothing to take advantage of the provision of safety, just drift by.

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And of course, the imagery there is easy for us to see in Christian terms that we are in danger because of sin, and the harbor is the safe harbor that we find in the person of Jesus Christ.

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And if you do nothing to lay hold of the promises of the gospel, and you are just indolent and apathetic and negligent, then you will drift by and eventually perish.

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That's Hebrews chapter 2. The second warning is in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 7, through chapter 4, verse 13.

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That's the danger of disobedience. And the author quotes heavily from the Old Testament, citing the wilderness generation.

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That generation of people that came out of Egypt, they saw the plagues, they saw the Passover sacrifice, they saw the firstborn die in the land of Egypt, and then they came out of that and they saw

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God's deliverance through the Red Sea, and they entered into the Sinai Peninsula. Then they saw God's provision of manna, and His provision of water, and His provision of protection, and providing everything that they need.

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And in spite of all the miracles that they saw and all the truth that they were exposed to, that generation of people remained hard -hearted and disobedient.

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That knowledge was not coupled with faith in those who saw those miracles. So instead of believing, they were just disobedient, and they hardened their hearts by rejecting that truth and turning away from the truth.

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The second warning passage does not describe Christians who lose their salvation. The second warning passage describes people who don't just see safe harbor presented to them and drift by, but somebody who sees and understands the truth in a close -up way.

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They see for themselves these spiritual realities, and so they know the truth, and they are disobedient and harden their own hearts toward it, come up with an excuse or a reason to reject it, and so they turn from the truth.

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The third warning passage found in Hebrews 5 -11 -6 -12, that is the danger of departing, the danger of drifting, the danger of disobedience, and then the danger of departing.

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Those are the first three warning passages. I hope that I can come up with some clever word that starts with D for the fourth one, but don't put any bets on that.

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The danger of departing. So this one's not about drifting, and this one's not necessarily about the kind of disobedience that's described in the second warning passage.

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This warning passage describes somebody who is close enough to spiritual truth and close enough to spiritual reality, not just to see miraculous things, but to themselves experience them on some superficial level.

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This is the one who has become a partaker of the phenomena of the Holy Spirit, and has tasted of the good word of God, and has embraced these things in their heart as Hebrews chapter 6 describes them as enlightened and tasted, and then they fall away.

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That one who has experienced those things not at a distance, like drifting by a safe harbor, and not just by seeing those things, but they have actually experienced them in a phenomenological way, an outward way, an experiential way.

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They have tasted these things. They've become partakers of these things. They have enjoyed these things. These have become very close.

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This is somebody who is so close to the truth and so close to the Christian community that outwardly speaking, there is no discernible difference between them and the genuine

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Christian. And there is one event that transpires that identifies them as an apostate, somebody who was never saved to begin with, and that is when they turn from the truth and they walk away from it.

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They depart from it. They fall away from the truth, not because they have never been exposed to it, but they understand it and they are so close to the genuine article that you can't tell the difference between them and a true

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Christian until they turn away. That indicates to us what kind of ground they were, a ground that brings forth fruit or a ground that brings forth thistles, and the ground that brings forth thistles deserves to be burned because it is cursed.

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So those are the three warning passages that bring us now up to chapter 10. So the third one describes apostates who had known and experienced the truth but turned away from it.

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That is a departing, the danger of drifting, the danger of disobedience, and the danger of departing. This fourth warning passage found a beginning here in verse 26 through verse 31.

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We'll read it together, and as we do, I want you to mark a few things. But before we do, again, putting off the inevitable, before we do,

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I want you to notice that many people mark the beginning of this warning passage a little bit earlier, and I'm totally sympathetic to this.

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They mark it at the beginning of verse 19, and they see it as going all the way to the end of the chapter. And I would be sympathetic to that and I would accept that as a demarcation of this warning passage.

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I think that if we do that, then it really follows the same pattern as the previous warning passage, in terms of warning against apostates and then turning the focus back to Christians and describing something that is true of them, because the author here in chapter 10 seems to make a distinction between those he is describing who perish and those whom he is writing to who are not in danger of perishing.

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There's that distinction, and we find that after verse 31, beginning of verse 32. But let's take a look at it.

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Beginning of verse 19. Yeah, let's back up and begin at verse 19. So this is just to quickly review. This is where most people think that this warning passage starts.

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Verse 19, therefore, brethren, since we have, and I'm not going to read the whole thing to you, but remember, since we have this bold and direct unfettered access to God, and since we have a high priest over the house of God, we are to therefore to do three things.

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We are to hold fast, sorry, draw near, we are to hold fast, and then we are to encourage others to do the same. So the author there is warning people, here's something that is coming up, but here's what you must do in order to not be the type of person mentioned in verse 26.

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And the warning passage probably actually does start in verse 19, which is why as we've been going through this,

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I've been reminding you that verse 26 is the verse that begins this description of apostasy, because verses 19 and 25 give us a prescription to prevent apostasy in the lives of God's people.

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If we draw near, hold fast, and encourage others to do the same, and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, these things help hold together the body of Christ and assure the salvation of all those who are making a profession of faith in Christ.

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So beginning in verse 26, four, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth,

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I want you to stop there for just a second, I'm just giving you an overview here. If we, and you'll notice the author uses the word we there, and so it is assumed that since the author is a

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Christian, and he is then using the term we, he must have in mind here his entire audience, which would be a mixture of both

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Christians and non -Christians. And so if the author is describing himself who is a Christian with those to whom he is writing as also being

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Christians, and then he says that it is possible for us to have this knowledge of the truth and then to turn away, therefore it must be possible for Christians to turn away.

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Do you get the flow of the argument? He includes himself with the we. He says that if we, having received the knowledge of the truth, and they would say,

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Arminians would say, that that refers to salvation. That describes repentance and it describes faith. It describes genuine salvation.

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If we, having received the knowledge of the truth, sorry, if we go on sinning willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

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But, this is what you get instead, a terrifying expectation of judgment. Now you'll notice the strong language that's being used here.

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Verse 27, the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

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How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace?

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So he includes himself with those to whom he is writing. He is warning them of the possibility that they would perish. And if they are

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Christians as well as he is a Christian, then it is believed that they also would be at the risk of losing their salvation and falling away.

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If we go on sinning willfully, has anybody in this room ever sinned willfully after you received the knowledge of the truth and were born again?

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I won't ask for a show of hands. I'll give you my hand and here's a dirty little secret.

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Every sin you commit is a willful sin at some level. You wouldn't do it if you didn't want to do it.

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There wasn't something in you that wanted to do it, you wouldn't do it. So have Christians willfully sinned or go on willfully sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth?

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Yeah. Well, if you do that, there remains no longer a sacrifice for sin.

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So the argument goes, if you sinned after you became a believer, then there is no sacrifice that will make up for those sins that you commit after you have become a believer.

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And the more egregious those sins are, the more likely you are to experience the punish and damnation that results from that.

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The author in verse 29 describes the seriousness of this act of sinning willfully. Whatever is meant by sinning willfully in verse 26, he likens it in verse 29 to trampling underfoot the son of God, regarding as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace.

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And there's a phrase there in verse 29 that is key. This one who goes on sinning willfully has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified.

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What does the he refer to? Who is it that is sanctified? Those who believe you can lose your salvation would say that the one who was sanctified is the

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Christian. You were sanctified by the blood of Christ. Does not it earlier in chapter 10 say that Christ has perfected forever all those who are sanctified?

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And is not the sanctified group there Christians? And if are we the sanctified ones, and if we are the sanctified ones, then we are the ones who have the ability as those who are sanctified to trample underfoot the son of God and to regard as unclean the blood of the covenant and insult the spirit of grace.

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If you go on sinning willfully, you've trampled underfoot the son of God, you have regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which you were sanctified.

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So that is the argument that would say that those of you who have been sanctified and set apart by the blood of Christ, this can happen to you.

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This judgment can fall upon you. You're the sanctified ones, and this is a real danger that you would lose your salvation and experience the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries, that you would die without mercy, that you have a terrifying expectation of judgment, that it is a fearful thing for you having sinned willfully to fall into the hands of the living

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God. That's how the argument goes. But if in verse 29 the he who is sanctified is

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Christ, if somebody, an apostate, regards as unclean the blood of the covenant by which

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Christ himself was set apart, his own blood, if he is the one who is sanctified, then it is not believers who are being described here at all as being those who experience this wrath.

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Verse 30, for we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living

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God. Now you'll notice in verse 32 that the author switches and takes up a whole new tone.

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I mean those are somber, sobering words, verses 26 through 31, beginning in verse 32, but remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated?

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You showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.

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Therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.

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For yet in a little while he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back my soul has no pleasure in him.

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But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith in the preserving of the soul. The author seems to, in verses 32 through the end of the chapter, make a distinction between those who shrink back to destruction and those who continue with endurance to the persevering and the preservinging of the soul.

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It's a whole new note. He's contrasting two people. He's not describing one whole group of people, many of whom are going to fall away.

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He is describing two groups of people, those who have an everlasting and eternal reward, and those who turn away from that as apostates, who never possess that at all, and instead they are destroyed in the language of this entire passage.

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So verse 32 to 39 describes those who are living godly lives. They're suffering persecution. They're producing the fruit of righteousness and salvation.

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They have a lasting possession and they themselves will experience and enjoy and receive everything that is promised to them.

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Now let me give you a brief summary of the ways that this passage is sometimes interpreted. These are three options and mine is at the end of this, or the one

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I prefer is at the end of this. First, some people say that this is genuine Christians who lose their salvation and perish in hell.

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This is the classical Arminian perspective or a Wesleyan perspective. Those who deliberately turn from the truth.

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People would believe that these are Christians who have embraced salvation, been genuinely saved after they have received the knowledge of the truth, what they say is genuine repentance and faith.

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Therefore, they are these true believers who are sanctified by the blood of Christ, set apart, saved, redeemed, but then they sin or they stop believing or they walk away or they fall away and so they are lost for all of eternity.

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And some in that camp and under this interpretation, some would believe that restoration to grace and salvation is possible.

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Others would believe that restoration to grace and salvation is not possible for those who fall into this category.

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A second interpretation, and this would be among those who believe that you cannot lose your salvation, they would say that what is being described here in verses 26 through 31 is not spiritual death but physical death.

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They would say that this is not hell that is in view here but the invasion in Jerusalem where Rome came in and destroyed the city and tore down the temple and burned the city with fire and that some who had gone back to Judaism out of Christianity suffered the fate along with those

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Jewish brethren and they were the ones who experienced the fire and the destruction. So that this is not eternal damnation that's being described but merely a physical death.

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And the quotations that he gives from the Old Testament in verse 27, in verse 30, and in verse 31, those three quotations all have to do with with incidences from the

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Old Testament that dealt with physical death and not spiritual death. So they would argue that this is not describing somebody perishing for eternity in hellfire, this is describing somebody who left the

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Christian community, went back to their Jewish way of life, and then suffered the fate with the destruction of the temple and all those

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Jews who were slaughtered because they were part of the Judaistic system. So it's physical death that's being described. Some would also say that this is not eternal damnation that's being described here, the person burning up but that the rewards are burning up and that's kind of a sketchy one that not too many people believe but I thought

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I would throw that out there to give you more than what you paid for. The third option is that this is describing non -believers who turn from the truth.

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They're never converted to begin with, they're never genuine believers, they were never truly saved and they turn away from the truth with full knowledge of what they are doing and therefore they deserve the fury of the fire that consumes the adversaries.

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They're so close to the Christian community, so interwoven with the life of the body, they have so experienced the graces and blessings of salvation in Jesus Christ that it is externally and outwardly impossible to tell them from true

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Christians. But then at some point something happens and they forsake the assembling of themselves together, they turn their back and abandon their believing

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Christians and forsake that gathering together with them and they'll pursue back to the lust of the flesh or go back to the world or go back to their

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Judaism but they were never saved to begin with. So this describes somebody who turns from the truth with full knowledge of the truth having even experienced the blessings and some of the miraculous elements of the truth and so forth, therefore they turn away in full knowledge with no excuse whatsoever for their sin and their rebellion.

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This I believe is what John's speaking of in 1 John 2 verse 19 when he says that they, speaking of apostates, went out from us because they were never with us.

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They were among us but they were never with us and they went out so that it might be revealed that they were never of us to begin with.

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That's 1 John 2 verse 19. That's what's being described here. This departure then of those who know fully the truth and walk away from it, this is a trampling of Christ.

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This is a regarding as unclean the blood that he shed to sanctify us. This is a regarding of the

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Holy Spirit as something to be mocked. It is an insult to the Spirit of grace. That's what this is, that's what verse chapter 10 is describing.

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Now you may say, okay Jim, we got the, I got all three interpretations, I know where you're at, theology settled, good, we can agree or we can disagree, whatever, just move on to chapter 11.

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Doesn't quite work like that because we haven't even really looked at the details of this and what is being described.

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So in the weeks ahead we'll do just that. We'll start next week with verse 26 and we will look phrase by phrase, word by word, going through this to show what the author is really describing here and how this is not genuine

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Christians. This is, these are apostates who know the truth and turn from it, right? It's bow our heads.

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Father, your gift of salvation to us is so marvelous. It has come at the cost of the blood of your

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Son and we thank you that by your grace you have made us to know the truth and that you have opened our eyes and moved our hearts and granted us faith and repentance.

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We thank you that our salvation is not something that was thought up in time, it is not something that has come lately, it is not a new invention, it is something that was in your heart and mind and part of your eternal plan from eternity past.

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And ultimately the salvation that we enjoy and the security that we have in that and all of these blessings are ours, not because of anything that we have done, but because of the grace of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done on our behalf and we thank you for that. And we rest in it, we are secure because of what he has done, not because we do anything, but because of what

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Christ has done. And again, we reflect upon that and now as we celebrate the Lord's Supper together, we pray your blessing upon this time and that we would be encouraged and strengthened together as we partake of this as one body in Christ's name, amen.