By Which He Was Sanctified

You all were wondering, and now you already know. Let's turn again to Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews chapter 10.

And once again, as we take up this very important text, let us ask the Lord to bless our time together. Our Heavenly Father, once again, as we open these words of warning, we would ask that you would help us to hear, to understand, and to see how these words fit with the rest of your truth.

We confess that without the ministry of your Spirit at this time, we truly cannot understand and we cannot handle it aright. So be with us now. Minister to us, we pray, by your Spirit.

In Christ's name.

Amen. This morning we began looking at a text that, while it frequently has been preached, normally is not preached in the way that we addressed it, that is, as part of the overall thrust of the book of Hebrews.

The Warning Against Apostasy in Hebrews 10

That is the warning message, the warning of a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. We placed it within the context, hopefully, that makes it understandable to us, and that is that these great warnings and the great judgment that would come upon a person comes because of the tremendous blessings that we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ and that, therefore, to know the truthfulness of these things, to have received the knowledge of the truth, and to, as a result, willfully and purposefully blaspheme the work of Jesus Christ and the cross of Calvary will undoubtedly bring tremendous judgment upon an individual.

Now, I realize that that message is extremely unusual in evangelicalism today. What I mean by that is an evangelicalism that, in essence, presents to us a God who is somewhat like our great-grandfather or our grandfather figure, someone who is just happy to have us along, feels lucky to have us indeed, and Christianity is just something that we can... you know, it's all of our free will to get into it, and therefore it could be our free will to get out, and just like we have no-fault divorce in the United States, you can have a no-fault apostasy as well.

But that is not the case. Certainly, when we are talking about what God has done to glorify Himself in the person of Jesus Christ and the cross of Calvary, to have knowledge of what He has done, and then to, in essence, say, I do not care, I will not honor Him, I will not bow down in amazing thankfulness for what has been done by God.

He did not simply destroy me, but look what He has done. He has proven His love, but I don't care. To take that kind of an attitude indeed is a tremendous evil. It is a sin. It is described here as sin.

In fact, it would be ongoing sin. Normally we think of apostasy as a one-time thing. You just make the break, and then you're on your way. But did you notice something? When we look at, if we go on sinning, Hebrews 10, 26, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving knowledge of the truth, it's an ongoing thing.

This sin is something that's ongoing. You cannot be a one-time apostate. In other words, when you commit the sin of apostasy, yes, that is a sin, but every day that you live in that continues that sin.

There is a continued rebellion. There can be no neutrality in this situation. It's not, well, I was there, now I'm not, and so I'm back in a position of neutrality. No, that is continued rebellion. And of course, in the context of the book of Hebrews, in light of the fact that the sacrifices had to be offered repeatedly, you couldn't just offer one sacrifice and be done with it.

You had to go back under the old system where the sacrifices would be offered over and over again. So what are you doing every time you offer one of those sacrifices? You're continuing on in that sin.

You continue to trample underfoot the blood of the Son of God. Let's look at this text once again and make sure we have followed it accurately and then make some application to some very important issues this evening.

Beginning at verse 26,. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and 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. 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?

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 God. 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.

For 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. 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.

For yet in a very 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. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

And then you'll notice the very next chapter is the great faith chapter. The great examples of obedience and faith by people in the past. And so here you have the last warning passage. We've already looked at the beginning and we were in verse 29 and we were looking at an a fortiori argument.

That is, if this, then how much more this? And we saw the first part of that argument in verse 28. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies of mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve?

Who has done what? Well, he has trampled underfoot the Son of God. Not just the reputation, but the Son of God himself. He has committed an act where he is showing tremendous disrespect and disregard to the very Son of God.

Now, there can be no question here that the term Son of God is being used in its fullest sense. Not just a Son of God, not just an angelic creature, but this is in regards to the Son of God. And it's literally the Son of God trampling underfoot or showing great disrespect toward.

But that's not the only thing that he's done. He has regarded as, and we mentioned this morning, common, unclean, similar to the blood of the old sacrifices, the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and he has insulted the Spirit of Grace.

So, we have trampling regarding as common the blood of the covenant and insulting the Spirit of Grace. Truly, there can be no easy way out for a person who has made some type of a profession of faith.

For surely, there's no question, we read the rest of this text. Notice verse 30, For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge who?

His people.

Now, we know that God's judgment will come upon those who are not his people. But here, we're talking about judgment upon his people. Even verse 31, It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

That phraseology was used in the Old Testament. When David, remember, the Lord was bringing judgment upon the people, and he said, let us fall into the hands of the living God. And some people say, well, that's actually what he's referring to there.

And that's the allusion from the Old Testament. I'm not sure that that is the allusion to the Old Testament, but the point that is being made is, this is a judgment upon people who, at least at one point in time, claimed to be a part of the Christian congregation.

We cannot in any way say, oh, these were just people that were outside.

No.

These are people who have been in the congregation. In fact, I see absolutely no reason to think that these are anyone other than those who have been baptized, made a profession of faith, partaken of the Lord's Supper.

They have been a part of the congregation, just as in chapter 6. All those things described in Hebrews chapter 6 were descriptions of the common experience of people within the congregation of faith. So, these are people that we would identify as apostates.

In fact, the one, the hypothetical person here, would be the prototypical apostate. Someone who has made profession of faith. Someone who has been a part of the congregation, not just for a few moments or a few days or a few meetings, but this is someone who has been there, has made profession, and now, knowing what the truth is, has turned his or her back.

Now, some might want to argue that this particular text, because of its particular historical context, would have very rare fulfillments today, because, well, how many of us are Jewish Christians? And again, how many of us could go back to sacrificing in any way, shape, or form?

Well, while it might be true on that level that the danger of going back and offering sacrifice would be rather small, the reality is that apostasy does take place. And given how many people have asked the question of myself and others, I mentioned this morning a fairly well-known Reformed author who had become an apostate and had become a Hindu just over the past about ten days or so.

And since everybody has asked, and I'm not one to shrink back from naming names, I'm referring to Dr. Michael Suttoth, S-U-D-D-U-T-H, over in California. The last book of his that I happened to pick up was a book on the Reformed objection to natural theology, as I recall.

And so here you have an example of an individual who has made a profession of faith, and then knowingly, openly, you cannot go, Oh, well, he probably never understood, or he was just a neophyte. No, this is someone who has turned their back upon the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and is described in the words of Hebrews chapter 10 and Hebrews chapter 6.

There is another person that many of us would know, maybe better than Dr. Suttoth, who would fulfill the definition of apostate, and that is Dr. Bart Ehrman. Dr. Ehrman was a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Princeton Theological Seminary, made profession of faith, the whole nine yards, baptized, even was a Baptist pastor for a period of time, and now today he calls himself a happy agnostic.

I am not so certain about the happy part, but I am certain about the agnostic part. These would be individuals who would be described as apostates, those who once made profession and now say, No, Jesus Christ is not the only way to God.

They don't necessarily even have to say, He's not any way to God, but the very fact that they would look for another means of sacrifice indicates this kind of act of apostasy. And so as we think about this, it's not something that's enjoyable to think about, but as I said this morning, we have to deal with it for a number of things because you'll notice the chapter ends with the author himself saying, but think back.

Think back upon what God has done in your life. Think back upon when you first made profession of faith and the things that you went through and the things you were willing to suffer. Remember God's work in your life at that time?

Look back at the faithfulness of God. It will help you to grow in your own commitment and to not be in this hypothetical group that might do this, that might engage in this act of apostasy. There are promises here that the author says, We're convinced you're not of those who shrink back.

You're not of those who shrink back. The just shall live by faith. Boy, isn't that appalling text? Straight out of the Old Testament. But it goes on to say, But my soul does not take pleasure in the one who shrinks back.

Apostasy is something that we need to recognize does happen, but of course the big question that everybody has is, Yeah, but what was their state when they were in the church? And one of the things that bothers us is, look, we look at one another.

We naturally take encouragement from the continued work of the Spirit of God in other people's lives. And so it bothers us to think about the fact that there could be someone that, well, you know what?

There have been people who learned. Who learned about the faith, maybe even heard the gospel from someone who proved to be an apostate. And that bothers us. Of course, we recognize if we just stop and think for a moment.

You know, I heard a very, very wise man once. We were discussing some of the sub-biblical presentations of the gospel out there. And he was the first one I ever heard this from. He said, well, you know, a dog can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.

Remember that, Pastor Frank? Yes, indeed. That was the first person I heard that one from. And my hyper-Calvinist brethren do not like when I use that terminology in any way, shape or form. They get really mad at me when I use that illustration.

But when we think about it for just a moment, it's not the state of sanctity of the person who delivers the message to you that saves you. It's the message itself. It's the gospel that saves, not the person it presents it to.

I know atheists that could more accurately define the gospel than some Baptist preachers I know of who are so enticed in their tradition that they can't break out of it. So it's the gospel that saves, not the person.

But I know we're attached to those individuals. I mean, there are people we might identify as our fathers in the faith. And when we see people walking away, it concerns us, and it should. We should never be so hard-hearted as to look at apostates and not have our own hearts broken by, well, the judgment that will be theirs.

We can never look at them and go, oh, well, that's, you know, show you.

No, I'm not better than you.

But the real question, I think, is behind all of this. And I think we've looked at this, and we've honestly looked at what the sin is. The sin involves, in the original context, this rejection of the uniqueness of Christ by going back to the old ways, the offering of sacrifice, it's the act of apostasy.

I'm convinced it's the same thing that John warns about. There's a sin unto death. I'm not even saying you should pray for the person. Once you make that break, once you become an apostate, that is not something that we're supposed to sit around with apostates and chat with them over cups of coffee.

It is a, it should be unnatural for us to even think about doing something like that. It amazes me there's so many people today that think that we should, you know, they're embarrassed by Paul and Paul's attitude toward the Galatians.

He was just so mean to them. He was just so harsh to them. If he had just sat down with them, maybe things could have been better. Ever had anybody express that kind of, I get, believe me, I get that all the time.

All the time. Oh, you should be, you shouldn't call people apostates. Well, it's not an insult, it's a fact. It's a description of someone who's once had a position, now doesn't, and what they've done, it's a description, it's biblical.

But, oh, you should, you know, if you just sat down with them, you just talked with them, maybe you could, And I look at the New Testament and I see the apostles didn't do that. Why didn't they? Because they refused to think like modern man thinks.

We don't think about the honor of kings anymore. We got rid of ours.

Well, probably did anyways.

We got rid of ours and we're not supposed to have people who think they're kings. People who think they reign over us. And as a result, we're like, I don't like that attitude. But you see, fundamentally, God is king.

His rights, His glory, His honor, the demonstration of His power and His rulership, it's right there in the text of Scripture. It's something He's concerned about and for some reason, so are His followers.

But today, what's the most ultimate important thing for us to be worried about?

People's feelings.

We don't want to offend. And so you end up with a milquetoast Christianity and people who are willing to dishonor the very name of God to sit down with apostates and have a little chat. What an amazing day we live in.

We've looked at the text. We've seen that this hypothetical apostate tramples, regards as unclean, and insults the spirit of grace. But what is the big controversy? I mean, this fits with everything else we've seen in Hebrews.

It fits with the glorious gospel of what Christ has done and what the Father has done. And Christ has entered into the holy place and the fulfillment of prophecy and types and shadows and the once-for-allness.

It fits with all that. If you're going to ignore the once-for-all sacrifice, there isn't any other sacrifice to find out there. It all fits together. It makes perfect sense. But why is it such a controversial text?

Well, it's easy. The big question that everyone wants to answer is, well, is it possible for a person who has been truly in Christ, not just truly in the congregation, because there's no question these people were in the congregation.

I mean, we accepted three folks into the congregation, right? Now, what did the elders do? We sat down and we talked with them. Now, did we use sodium pentothal? You all don't know what goes on in that room.

Did we have a lie detector? Did we have a special light that we put on them? Is it possible that one of those three deceived both Pastor Fry and myself? We can't look into hearts. We ask direct questions.

We listen to the answers. Sometimes we ask another question to try to clarify the question.

But you know what?

We don't have some gift of infallibility. There are some folks that claim those things.

We don't.

And so sometimes people enter into the congregation, and we just simply have to trust God. When someone makes a profession of faith, all three made a profession of faith. When they make a profession of faith and are obedient, welcome in.

But we all know that sometimes some people come in, and you have to address the entirety of the congregation. And clearly, whoever this is in this text was in the congregation. So point number one is there's no dispute that we're talking about someone here who is an external member of the church.

That is, from the outside, they look like they're a member of the church. The real question is, are they in Christ? The text isn't necessarily addressing that. The author is addressing the entire group.

And the warning passages we've already seen demonstrate for us it's necessary pastorally to warn the entirety of the congregation, knowing that the Spirit of God will use those warnings in two different ways.

One, in the hearts and minds of his elect, these warnings bring sobriety and concern about the subtle encroachment of apathy into our lives. In the lives of the elect, the Spirit of God uses the warning passages to make us concerned.

Because if you're a believer, if you've been a believer for almost any amount of time at all, you know what I'm talking about, about periods of dryness, spiritual coldness, and apathy. How many times has the Spirit of God used a text like this to in essence slap you upside the face and say, are you playing games with God?

Are you playing games with things that are holy in God's sight? So God uses the warning passages in that way. But he also uses those warning passages to stir up the apostate. How dare God put limits upon me?

It may not be sudden, it may take a long period of time, but eventually, as 1 John 2 says, they do go out from us. That it might be demonstrated they are not truly of us. So he uses these warning passages.

But still, the big question remains, but what if a person is truly in Christ? Well, what does it mean to be truly in Christ? We would say that would be to be one of the elect. But there are some people who would actually have come up with a theory that you can truly be in Christ.

And this is a theory that's been propounded down through church history, in fact. You can truly be saved in the sense of united with Christ and on your way to heaven without being one of the elect. One of the ways that people have dealt with this is to say that only the elect are given the gift of perseverance.

And so there are people who are actually united with Christ, and they are really justified, and they are really forgiven of their sins. However, they're not given the gift of faith unto perseverance, and therefore they will fall away.

There are people who make that presentation. And then there are others who would say, well, what you've got going on here is they are covenantally in Christ because of their membership in the church, which is the body of Christ.

They're covenantally in Christ, and these are covenantal curses that are coming upon them when they sin against the covenant they made in triune baptism, in baptism in the Trinitarian name. A lot of this comes down to the question that I mentioned to you briefly this morning.

And that was, how do we understand the phrase, by which he was sanctified? By which he was sanctified in verse 29. And I mentioned two possibilities. Grammatically, it can refer to the theoretical apostate.

So, it would be, as regard as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he, the apostate, was sanctified. Now, the term sanctified has appeared earlier in this chapter. It's the same term used above to refer to the result of the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

But then I mentioned another to you. And that was that, while it's the apostate who has done the regarding as unclean, the phrase, by which he was sanctified, is a description of the blood of the covenant.

And by which he was sanctified refers to the closest antecedent, which is the Son of God. By which the Son of God was sanctified.

Now, it's interesting.

I hope you won't mind if I mention a little historical issue here. How many of you have read John Owen's The Death of Death and the Death of Christ?

A few folks here.

Now, if you read that book, you may not have been aware of the fact that this was one of the first books John Owen ever wrote. And he was very young when he wrote it. Which tells you that he was verbose at an early age.

And obviously very brilliant and insightful at an early age. And when he dealt with Hebrews chapter 10, it was a little torturous. It was a little difficult to follow him.

Because he struggled with this.

But you may know that toward the end of his life, he published what might be called his magnum opus. His great life's work. The multi-volume, multi, and I mean multi-volume commentary on the book of Hebrews.

I had a conversation with another Reformed Baptist pastor just the night before last. And he said, I think John Owen wrote Hebrews. And I responded, that's absolutely impossible and I can prove you wrong.

And he said, how?

I said, easy. If John Owen had written Hebrews, it would be 4 ,000 pages long. He said, you're right.

You win.

So, there you go.

Don't debate with me about things like that.

But when John Owen wrote his commentary on Hebrews, this was many years later. And now the mature exegete, the mature theologian comes to this text.

And it's funny.

The position he takes on it, he never even mentioned in the death of death. Because clearly he had never even considered it. Had never even thought about it at that point. It came later in his life. And here's what he has to say.

The last aggravation of this sin with respect unto the blood of Christ is the nature, use, and efficacy of it. It is that wherewith he was sanctified. It is not real or internal sanctification that is here intended.

But it is a separation and dedication unto God. In which sense the word is often used. And all the disputes concerning the total and final apostasy from the faith of them who have been really and internally sanctified from this place are altogether vain.

Though that may be said of a man in aggravation of his sin which he professeth concerning himself. So, let me stop right there. And what he's saying is, look. Even if we looked at it this way. What's being talked about here is a person being set apart.

And so it wouldn't have anything to do. We recognize they're a part of the congregation. And the only way you can be a part of the congregation is by professing the blood of Christ. So, he's saying all the disputes about this are actually irrelevant because it can be looked at that way.

But then he says, but the difficulty of this text is concerning whom these words are spoken. For they may be referred unto the person that is guilty of the sin insisted on. He counts the blood of the covenant wherewith he himself was sanctified an unholy thing.

For as at the giving of the law or the establishing of the covenant at Sinai, the people being sprinkled with the blood of the beast that were offered in sacrifice were sanctified or dedicated unto God in a peculiar manner.

So those who by baptism and confession of faith in the church of Christ were separated from all others were peculiarly dedicated to God thereby. And therefore in this case, apostates are said to deny the Lord that bought them or vindicated them from their slavery under the law by his word and truth for a season.

2 Peter 2 .1. And so he's saying, if this is talking about the theoretical apostate, then it's simply talking about the fact that by his baptism he has been set apart and he's sinning against that being set apart.

It has nothing to do with being in Christ of the elect or anything else. But he goes on. But the design of the apostle in this context leads plainly to another application of these words. It is Christ himself that is spoken of who was sanctified and dedicated unto God to be an eternal high priest by the blood of the covenant which he offered unto God as I have showed before.

The priests of old were dedicated and sanctified unto their office by another and the sacrifices which he offered for them they could not sanctify themselves. So were Aaron and his sons sanctified by Moses antecedently unto their offering any sacrifice themselves.

But no outward act of men or angels could under this purpose pass on the Son of God. He was to be the priest himself, the sacrificer himself to dedicate, consecrate, and sanctify himself by his own sacrifice in concurrence with the actings of God the Father in his suffering.

See John 17, 19. That's where Jesus says I sanctify myself. And then the other texts in Hebrew such as 2, 10, 5, 7, 9, 9, 11, and 12. That precious blood of Christ wherein or whereby he was sanctified and dedicated unto God as the eternal high priest of the church this they esteem an unholy thing or a common thing.

That is, such as would have no such effect as to consecrate him unto God and his office. Now catch that last line. Since Owen writes in long sentences, let me repeat it. That is, such as would have no such effect as to consecrate him, that is Jesus, unto God and his office.

Is that not what the apostate is doing when he goes back to offer sacrifice? He's saying that blood, that self-offering of Jesus Christ did not make him the final sacrifice. It did not make him the final high priest.

That is not what he brought into the Holy of Holies because if he did, if he took his own sacrifice into that holy place in heaven, then there can be no sacrifice for sins and no one could possibly be bringing that lamb, that sheep, that goat, that bull to have its blood taken into the earthly sanctuary because to do that is to say Jesus' blood, the blood of a goat, it's the same thing.

He was not who he claimed to be. And that is what brings the wrath of God. Now, I think Owen has a good argument. I think he has a good argument. But there are some who say, no, I'm not even going to look at the possibility that it's referring to Jesus.

I'm going to say this has to be the apostate and therefore that apostate was sanctified. Then I submit to you, you have in one chapter of the Inspired Word of God a blatant and clear contradiction.

You do.

Because this person is going to end up in the wrath of God and if you take sanctified here as made holy before God, then you've got to go back and you've got to deal with what was already said and you've got to deal with verse 10,.

And what is the ultimate argument of the book of Hebrews again? I mean, remember, this is an apologetic work and this is why beginning with chapter 1, verse 1, we laid this foundation. If you are struggling with the calls to come back and to go back to the old ways, how could that interpretation of Hebrews 10 .29 be anything other than a fatal undermining of the entire purpose of the epistle?

It's very much like those who say, well, Hebrews chapter 8, yeah, it talks about the new covenants and they shall all know me, but that's still in the future. That will come at some time in the future.

How is that an argument for someone who's being at that time drawn to go back to the old ways? And the same way, if such a person reads this and we're interpreting verse 29 in that way, why is he not just going to go, well, so much for your new covenant.

Right back to where we were. And sadly, that's exactly what happened during the medieval period. I mean, in fact, even during the early church, the rigorists, who didn't really understand this book of Scripture, developed a system of penances that looked, well, a whole lot like what we had already gotten ourselves out from underneath.

They did not understand, and they even took this text, took it out of its context, lost the context of the perfection of the work of Christ, and used these warning passages as, well, you better stay in line, and if you don't, then you've got to do this and you've got to do that.

And it's right back to the old penance works, looking for some way to sacrifice because there really isn't a finished work type of a system. Makes sense, by the way, because that's how people in charge of religion control other people with religion.

You control the grace of God and you dole it out to folks. That's how you stay in charge. It's part of human religion. So I suggest to you that in light of that, we have to look at verse 29, and we have to recognize the context is the apostasy of the individual who rejects the sacrifice of Christ, goes back to the ways of Judaism, and now let's make the further application.

That means it doesn't substantiate the movement in Reformed circles, not really amongst Reformed Baptists, but in Reformed circles, that talks about covenantal curses. And it says we should do evangelism, for example, of Roman Catholics by grabbing them by their baptism.

Because they've been baptized right, you know, they're baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that means they're covenanted, and so you just grab that baptism, and they all want to go back to these covenantal curses things.

That's a misunderstanding of what Paul is saying here in Hebrews. But, having said that, what then can we take from this text this evening? It's been a tough text, and I thank you for your attentiveness.

But what can we take from this text this evening? Well, I hope you've read, we'll pick up with verse 32 the next time I have opportunity of speaking. Because the writer is like a very good doctor. I was reading, I forget which of the early church fathers had put it this way, but in describing the writer they said he is like the proper physician, who having made one incision does not immediately go on to make a second, but instead he applies ointments and salves to the healing of the first before doing any more.

And the same way, the author will do the same thing. He has said strong words. He needed to say those strong words. But then there is going to be the words of encouragement beginning in verse 32. But what must we see here?

We must see that when we rejoice in the uniqueness of the sacrifice of Christ, and I hope that you have rejoiced in that.

I certainly have.

It is a tremendous thing to think about what was accomplished on Calvary's cross. I don't know about you, but when I think of the Son of God entering into the presence of His Father in my place to represent me there, I'm united with Him.

The perfection of the righteousness of His mind, the peace that I have with God, we talk all the time about coming before the throne of grace and He's opened that way up for us to the veil which was His body.