Hebrews Lesson 171 September 3, 2009
NKJ Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
We are in Hebrews 10 starting in verse 26. We come to a problem passage. We come to this warning passage that comes at the end of each of these teaching sessions. The result of this is that we have a difficult passage because there are some that go to these passages (especially Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10) as indicators that we can lose our salvation, or that a person's salvation is really indicated and evidenced by their perseverance in terms of some sort of external standard or external pattern of spirituality or spiritual life or something of that nature.
We've all fallen into that trap at some time or another. We'll look at somebody and we'll say, "How can that person be a Christian?" or "That person can't be a Christian. Just look at their life." They can be a believer; and they can be a rebellious disobedient believer and a rebellious disobedience ignorant believer from the time that they are first saved. They just never ever get passed that.
So we have to recognize that grace means that all you need to do to be saved is to believe Jesus died for your sins. That is it. We understand what sin is, and when we really understand what Jesus' death accomplished in terms of the fact that it was completed. It's finished. John says that when it was completed in John 19. Then two versus later Jesus uses the same form of the verb teleioo. He says, "It is finished." It is a perfect tense form that indicates the absolute completedness of what Jesus did on the cross, that there's been nothing subsequent to it that is there to take care of sin. What Jesus did, did everything. Jesus paid it all. As the hymn writer entitled his hymn Jesus Paid It All. That means we don't do anything.
That's the same message that the writer of Hebrews is emphasizing in Hebrews 10. When he makes this statement that there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, that's what he is saying is that that sacrifice of Christ was sufficient and completed; and it was once for all. As we go through Hebrews 10, there are these statements which are made such as in Hebrews 10:10.
NKJ Hebrews 10:10 By that will we have been sanctified
That is positional sanctification.
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hapax in the Greek indicating it's a one time completed finished work. Everything else that the writer of Hebrews is saying in this passage is just bringing to our attention the implications of that completed act; that it's over with.
It's in contrast to the fact that verse 11 of the chapter says that the priest stood ministering daily. That's the contrast. In the Old Testament system under the old covenant it was continual, daily, repetitive. There always had to be another sacrifice because none of those sacrifices really dealt with the problem of sin. But what Jesus did on the cross truly actually finally ended it. There remains no more sacrifice. That's the emphasis at verse 18 that no more sacrifice exists.
NKJ Hebrews 10:18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
That's a good thing. Now the reason I'm reminding you of that is because that's the same statement that's made at the end of verse 26, as we'll see in just a minute. It is that failure to really comprehend that that causes a problem in understanding and interpreting these particular passages.
So let's look at our verses coming up – verses 26 to 29. The writer of Hebrews says:
NKJ Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
That's pretty strong language in verse 29. So we'll have to take a little time there.
Now the first thing we have to do is understand what I was pointing out last time. This was this hermeneutical principle that I call the Sherlock Holmes principle of hermeneutics. I just love reading Sherlock Holmes. Any kind of mystery whether it's Agatha Christie or whether it is Dorothy L. Sayers in her Lord Peter Whimsy novels or whether it's any of the other classic mysteries that you can you can get and read where there are all kinds of clues peppered throughout the narrative except for the key clue that the detective observes and somehow that's the key that unpacks and organizes all of the other information.
Well, that's the same thing that happens when a student of the Scriptures is studying the Bible because what a detective is doing is basically the same things that anybody does in Bible study or any other kind of study. First of all there's observation and that is just looking at all the data, all the facts, all the information. What do the words mean? What doe the grammar indicate in relationship to the passage? What does the surrounding context tell us? What is the flow of thought? What is the writer's logical thought flow here? All of these things tell us what the writer's talking about.
Sometimes people say things or write things in a way that doesn't translate as easily over into another language and adds another layer of complication.
But when we organize the data sometimes we're saying, "Well does he mean this or does he mean that?"
Sometimes it can be more complex. There could be five options that are legitimate options depending on word meanings or syntax or things that nature. So we have to go through this process of elimination. It could mean a, b, c, or d. If it means a, what are the implications? How does that relate to other passages in Scripture? If it means b, what are the implications and how does that relate to other passage of Scripture and so on. You go through each of your options looking at it that way. Sometimes you look at a passage and say it really looks like this is saying X. But X you know contradicts very clear statements of Scripture in other places; for example, passages related to eternal security.
NKJ Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
NKJ Romans 8:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There you have a clear statement of eternal security. Jesus said that the Father holds us in His hand. He holds us in His hands. We have a double grip on us from the Father and the Son. Nothing is more powerful than God. The use of the divine hand is often a metaphor in Scripture for power. Nothing is greater than the power of God, so nothing can break His grip on us once He has us in His hand.
The problem with sin is a problem that is so debilitating that we can't do anything to solve it. We can't contribute one little thing in order to affect our salvation. Jesus Christ had to do everything. Therefore it was the power of God and the justice of God that solves the sin problem and changes us from being an unregenerate sinner under the condemnation of death to a regenerate righteous (by imputation of Christ's righteousness) and justified believer. We still have a sin nature though. But it's that power of God.
So theologically speaking based on our clear statements of Scripture, we know that the believer cannot lose salvation because for someone to do something to lose salvation implies that he must have done something in order to gain it, something meritorious. But all the merit is in Jesus Christ.
So therefore when we look at some passages that seem to suggest a certain interpretation, but we have very clear statements in other places of Scripture that shows the opposite; then we have to bring in this particular principle that when we've eliminated the impossible – in other words it's impossible that this passage could indicate it could mean that we lose our salvation or that we could commit some sin after salvation where there was no sacrifice for it. So when we have eliminated the impossible whatever is left – that means we have to look elsewhere for meaning. We have to dig a little more into our understanding of the context, words; all of those things because we didn't dig enough if we come to a conclusion that this must suggest that there is a sin that we could commit that wasn't covered by the sacrifice of Christ.
If you just think about it logically that sort of doesn't fit because God is omniscient so there's nothing that is going to happen in human history that's outside His realm of knowledge. He knows everything: everything that will be, everything that could be. He didn't just forget that you commit some sin. He knew it all and therefore when He imputes all to Jesus at the cross judicially, He didn't drop anything. Nothing got left out. So there's no sin that's committed in human history that is outside the knowledge of God and that wasn't paid for by Jesus on the cross. That this is a fantastic reality because that indicates that this one sacrifice is complete, total. It takes care of everything. Nothing is left out and we can just rest and relax and not even worry about sin again. That's really what the writer of Hebrews is saying.
When he says there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin what he's saying is, sin isn't an issue anymore because the sacrifice was finished on the cross. So sin's just not a problem anymore. It was dealt with finally and totally at the cross and because at the cross (as we studied when we looked at those passages in Colossians 2:12-13) because that certificate of debt that was against us was nailed to the cross. When did that occur? Last week? When you got saved? No, it happened in 33 AD when Jesus was on the cross. That's when the certificate of debt was nailed to the cross when the sin was paid for. That's when it becomes a non-issue.
So the issue isn't sin. The issue isn't something you've done even though you're so guilty over it that it bothers you the rest of your life. The issue is the grace of God and, are you willing to accept the grace of God and relax in what He has given you?
It's just amazing and we all have this happen to us some time or another - that we have difficulty accepting free gifts. And some people have more difficulty with that than other people do. But people do at all times…
One of my favorite stories that George Messinger has told many times occurred when he was a seminary student. He and his wife Sandy were down in Houston and he was doing his pastoral internship at Berachah Church. As part of what he was doing that summer, they were living with Pastor Thieme, with Bob and Betty. Bob and Betty were going on vacation. Bobby was about 12 or 13 years old. They were headed off to Arizona. They had the car piled up. They were all off on the road trip and just Bob got in the car he stopped and came back.
He said, "You know you're going to need some money to take care of some things." He reached in his pocket pulled out a wad of bills – hundreds. This was about 1964 so you know a hundred dollar bill just isn't worth what it used to be. He peeled off about five or six of them and handed them to George.
George said, "No, no, no. I can't accept that. I can't take that."
The Colonel looked at him with those gray eyes just pierced him right to the soul and said, "If you can't accept a gift gracefully, you will never understand grace."
That is such a great point – that accepting a gift is as much of grace orientation as giving. Both are part of grace orientation, being gracious towards people in giving them, treating them in an undeserved manner as well as receiving.
The other story that I always like to tell with that because they go together was not long, about ten years later. Jim Myers was down and he was over at Berachah and they were moving all the books out of the library to make room for other things. They were giving these books away. Jim Myers came in, and he was talking to Bob.
Bob said, "Well, we're going to give all these books in the library."
I remember that library. I used to go in there and check books out when I was in high school. Jim went in there and Bob said, "Go in there and take anything you want."
Jim went in there and he got about a box worth of books. He told me one day, "I just wasn't grace oriented enough to take the whole thing."
See we have to learn to receive as well as to give. So people just have trouble accepting the fact that Jesus did it all. They just feel like they somehow they have to help Him. That's just arrogance. I don't care how you sugar coat it, what your circumstances are, what your background is, why it's difficult for you to accept something for someone else. It's just a matter of arrogance and pride rather than humility. Humility goes along with grace orientation.
So when we study a passage like this one and we look and we say, "It looks like this means something," but that's something doesn't fit with each other passages or other doctrines; it can't mean that. So that's when we have eliminated the impossible, it's impossible that this talks about losing salvation. Then whatever is left has to be the answer no matter how improbable it may seem.
See when we look at things in the English, we often come up with a problem. For example when we look at 10:26 we read that first line;
NKJ Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully
That really stands alone. I talked about that last time as a genitive absolute. That's not what I'm mentioning this time.
after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
That phrase all it necessarily indicates a believer. We'll look at that a little more in a few minutes. That last line we read:
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
See that next word in English? It's that little word a. In the English we call that an indefinite article and it indicates here the idea that there no longer remains any sacrifice for sin. That's the implication in English. The trouble is in Greek there's no such thing as an indefinite article. Sometimes we'll inadvertently say referring to the article in Greek as the definite article. Because there's no indefinite article, you can't say that Greek has a definite article either. It has an article, but when the article isn't there, it doesn't necessarily mean that the noun is indefinite or that you can translate into English as "a" something or other.
That's the same mistake the Jehovah's witnesses make in John 1:1 when it says:
NKJ John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
There's no article with theos and so they translate it, "The Word was a God." Because they don't understand Greek grammar, they go from God being an internally definite word to making it an indefinite a God. They come up with a totally different interpretation making Jesus something less than genuine true 100% deity. So grammar is very important.
So when you look at this and the writer says there no longer remains sacrifice for sin, he leaves it indefinite because he's already nailed it down all through this chapter that Jesus Christ finishes that work. It is a pregnant sense of the anarthrous noun there that indicates the principle that there's nothing more to be done to deal with sin. It's all done. It is completed so this statement is just as important and means just as much of a good thing as it did earlier.
So anyhow when we come to this passage and we see that verses 26ff are just as much a part of 19 through 25 as they can be because verse 26 starts with that little word "for" meaning it's an explanation of the previous section. The previous section is 19 to 26 which in turn is a conclusion to 11 to 18.
Well, in the verse 19 we read:
NKJ Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
So he's talking to brethren and brethren is a key word indicating the second category, that he's talking to them as a as members the family of God in a vertical sense, using it in terms of the spiritual sense of the family.
So last week I pointed this out that brethren shows he was talking to fellow believers, members of the royal family of God. He's not talking using it in a horizontal sense in terms of talking to fellow Jews; but it's clear from all the ways in which he uses that that he's talking to them as believers.
The second line of evidence is in verse 26 which says:
NKJ Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Receiving the knowledge of the truth is something that only believers have. Only believers can receive the knowledge of the truth.
Just look down a little bit to verse 32.
NKJ Hebrews 10:32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings:
Only believers are illuminated in the truth. So it's very clear in context he can only be talking about believers. So we see if Hebrews 10:32 to 36 cannot refer to unbelievers and Hebrews 10:19 to 25 cannot refer to unbelievers; then it's very clear that the same people are part of the subject in 26 to 31. Therefore he's talking to believers. He's not talking to believers about losing salvation; but he's talking to believers about the fact that something else might be lost and it is a very serious thing to treat the grace of God after salvation in a light or licentious manner. I know I'm repeating a lot of what I said last time, but it's so important to get this down. In verse 18 and verse 26 you have two very similar statements in the Greek. They are very similar in the English as well. The only difference is a trade out between two synonyms (offering and sacrifice) which are used synonymously throughout this chapter.
NKJ Hebrews 10:18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
"Remission of these", meaning remission of sin. That is forgiveness of sin, aphesis. That's the same word that's used in Colossians 1:17 and Ephesians 1:7 that in Him we have forgiveness of sin, the complete obliteration of any obligation for sin. There is no longer an offering for sin. That's a great thing.
In verse 26 then:
NKJ Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
That's a great thing.
Now people want to make say like, "Ah. Well, you committed this willful sin (like the sin of the high hand in Leviticus 15)". In the Old Testament there were no sacrifices for the willful sin because they had that and it's explained in a context because the person who commits the willful sin has been so arrogant towards the Law that he just completely disregards it. But that has to do with the ritual system under the Mosaic Law and we're not under the Mosaic Law. That's the whole point of this section in Hebrews. We're under the New Covenant and the New Covenant completely covers and deals with all sin so that if you sin willfully -- remember sin's not the issue anymore because there's no more sacrifice for sin – it was taken care of at the cross. Does that mean you can just go out and sin licentiously? You can use 1 John 1:9 as a license to sin and just confess your sin, rebound or pre-bound? Let's just do it ahead of time.
"I know what I'm going to do today. I'll just confess it this morning and then I don't have to worry about it anymore."
We laugh, but we've all wanted to do that sometime or another. We know people who acted that way. As I've said many times I think that is characteristic of any immature person who hasn't been quite learned responsibility yet. We all did that when we were kids. We took the freedom our parents gave us and we used it in any inappropriate way. We often found out why we weren't supposed to do that.
So when we look at these statements (There is no longer an offering for sin), this is just the Greek and this time I go the transliteration in there. You can see that they both use the same phrase: euketi peri harmartia, euketi peri harmartion, depending on context, a little different ending. Butprosphora the word for offering and thusia the word for sacrifice - those are interchanged and you have a stated verb in the second line. But they're saying the same thing.
If it's a good thing in verse 18, it's an equally good thing in verse 26. So now when we apply the Sherlock Holmes principle, we've eliminated the impossible and whatever remains, even though it may seem (looking at the English) to be a little bit of a convoluted interpretation; it has to be the right meaning because every other possibility must be eliminated because it's impossible. When we look at it this way it clearly fits the context because from Hebrews 1 to the end of the book he is challenging them not to bail out on their Christianity because it's going to have consequences at the Judgment Seat of Christ and that is exactly where he is headed in this particular section and this particular argument.
So let's go down and look at verse 26.
NKJ Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
"If we sin willfully" sets it apart as a grammatically unrelated statement in the Greek. But it's designed to grab our attention and the writer uses this structure called a genitive absolute in order to state the principle that they're then going to negate or refute. He's going to refute the idea that there is such thing as an unforgivable sin or willful sin that there's no coverage for. He states again that there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin because the once for all (the hapax for sin) and he's going to use that word hapax again a couple of more time before the chapter is over with. It has completely dealt with the sin. However that doesn't mean you are getting off Scott free and can sin to your heart's content without consequences.
NKJ Hebrews 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation
Oh, oh! That's got to mean hell, doesn't it?
which will devour the adversaries.
Well, if that's talking about us, we're going to be devoured by flame. So that must mean we lose our salvation and go to hell, right? Wrong.
So we have to review though that there are the judgments. There are 8 different judgments in Scripture. Whenever we see the word judgment like this we have to say which kind of judgment, which judgment is being addressed?
So first I'm going to put a timeline. From the cross, then we have the resurrection and ascension. When the Holy Spirit descends fifty days after the crucifixion, the Church Age begins. The Church Age ends with the rapture of the church. All believers, living and dead, receive their resurrection bodies, meet the Lord in the air, and after that we have our first judgment, The Bema Judgment, the Bema Seat. The Judgment Seat of Christ is for believers only. You don't get there unless you have eternal life. You don't get there unless you're justified. You don't get there unless you're saved—phase one salvation. But a lot of the believers that end up there are going to be believers who did not do anything with their new life to Christ who were disobedient and rebellious. They're still going to face an evaluation at the Judgment Seat of Christ for how they've lived their life, how responsibly or irresponsibly they used the gifts and the information and the knowledge of Scripture that God gave them, the grace that God gave them. So the Judgment Seat of Christ is an evaluation. It's report card time and we're all going to go through this report card time and get an evaluation of how well we did after we were saved; not for the purpose of where we're going to end up in eternity, but what role we're going to have, what responsibilities were going to have in the coming kingdom.
This takes place during that time known as the Great Tribulation, the seven years we have on the earth. This ends with the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. The church will return with Him, and it is at that time that we have been next judgment. At that time there are two things that happen at the same time. The Antichrist and the False Prophet are sent to the Lake of Fire.
Then there's a judgment of those believers who made it through the tribulation. This is called the Sheep and the Goat Judgment. The first judgment is for the surviving Gentiles. The second judgment of that is for surviving Jews. The next judgment is Old Testament saints. Then the next judgment is tribulation saints. So that gives 5 different judgments now. The first one is the Bema Seat for believers only; Church Age believers. Then the second is related to the judgments, the Sheep and Goat judgment of surviving Gentiles, surviving Jews, Old Testament saints, tribulation saints, then the Antichrist and False Prophet.
Then there's the period of the Millennial Kingdom which ends with the Great White Throne Judgment. All of the unsaved dead are judged at that point, and they are then sent to the Lake of Fire. Then Satan is sent to the Lake of Fire.
So those are your 8 judgments. Some people say well that's 9 judgments – the Antichrist and False Prophet should be separated. It doesn't matter. You don't get picky about numbers. But that's the basic breakdown. You have these 8 different judgments.
So when we look at a phrase like verse 27, "a certain fearful the expectation of judgment", we have to decide if this is going to be the Bema Seat, or is this going to be the Great White Throne Judgment? That's why it's important to understand he's talking about believers. All through here he's talking about believers. So therefore can't be the Great White Throne Judgment because that's for unbelievers. So it has to be talking about a judgment for believers. This takes us to the Bema Seat.
Now let's go back and look at our key passages on the Bema Seat of Christ.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Now I want to take a look at the context here in 2 Corinthians 5. This is just a tremendous chapter (tremendous passage, the first part of it), and one that I normally read and go through at a funeral or memorial service. Verse 10 focuses us on that ultimate direction we go when we are before the Lord. But we see the key word there in verse 10 – "we". In verse 9 Paul uses "we" there.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
Prior to that he says:
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Now go all we back to the very first verse:
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
Who's he talking to? He's talking to the believers, "we". He's doing this as believers. It can't apply to unbelievers because they don't have that destiny. He's talking only to believers, members of the royal family of God. So it's clear as you go through this whole section that he's talking about the kind of attitude that believers should have and the believer's destiny. Right now we are at home in the body. We're absent from the Lord, but we would rather be absent from the body and face to face with the Lord.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present
That is in phase 2.
or absent,
That's phase 3.
to be well pleasing to Him.
That's not legalism. There are a lot of people who think that when you start going through the Scriptures and emphasizing the fact that Christians actually are supposed to do many of these things (have these virtues and behavior characteristics) that we have in the Scriptures; that that's legalism. Legalism is when you think what you do, pleases God in the sense it gains points with Him and you're trying to get His approbation and approval for blessing. But that's misplaces the point.
We are obedient out of gratitude and because this is the right thing to do. That is how we're to live when we are abiding in Christ and walking by means of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 1:9 means that when we trip and we stub our toe there is a recovery process. But it's not a license to stay out of fellowship and just do whatever we want to whenever we feel like it.
So when we come to 2 Corinthians 5:10, we have this summary statement that all of us, every believer has to appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and that each one is going to receive something for what's done in the body during phase two according to what he has done with it good or bad. The word for good there indicates that which has intrinsic value and that which is bad it's that which doesn't. So it has to do with divine good or human good, that which is produced in us through God the Holy Spirit and that which is produced in us through our sin nature. The sin nature, remember, not only produces sin; but it also produces morality: false morality, pseudo morality, the morality, the good deeds of the Pharisees and religious people. So this is further clarified in the other key passage on the Judgment Seat of Christ.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder
This is the Apostle Paul talking. He's going to use this analogy of building something, constructing something.
I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it.
Now that foundation is what he initially taught: primarily the gospel, but also other basic elements of the Christian life. The other teachers came along and taught other portions of Scripture.
But let each one take heed how he builds on it.
That is the construction of your own individual spiritual life.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
So that indicates the gospel – faith alone in Christ alone.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with
Then we have six different construction materials.
gold, silver, precious stones,
Which are virtually indestructible and they do not tarnish.
wood, hay, straw,
These are destructible. Each man's work becomes evident. So it shows that the product of our lives is composed of different elements, different quality of production. They're really divided into these two groups: gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay and straw.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:13 each one's work will become clear;
Or literally "will be made manifest." In other words we can't evaluate it now. We just look at our lives and we thing some of it is - I know I'm in fellowship some. Some I'm out of fellowship. Some of it has eternal value. A lot of it doesn't. There's no way I can tell. None of us can tell by looking at anybody else or even at ourselves what is divine good and what is human good. The only thing we can do is make sure we keep short accounts and make sure we're in fellowship and do our best to study the Word and to apply it.
So each man's work will though at some time in the future (future tense) become evident.
for the Day
That is, the day of judgment at the Bema Seat.
will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.
This is the Greek word from the verb of dokimazo, which indicates to expose that which is good. The purpose here isn't to expose sin or to expose that which has no value, because that's paid for by Christ on the cross. The sin is. It is to expose what is of value, but it's got to get rid of all the dross, wood, hay and straw that camouflages it. So the fire will test or expose the quality of each man's work.
Notice the emphasis here is not on exposing and shaming you; the focus is on giving an opportunity to expose what God has produced through you. However there are going to be those who don't have anything, and therefore they will be embarrassed and there will be shame. So the fire will test the quality of each man's work.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
So there's a gift of salvation. You don't work for a gift. It's given freely. But a reward is something that is deserved, something that is worked for, something that is in addition to that which is freely given.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:15 If anyone's work is burned,
That's the wood, hay and straw.
he will suffer loss; but
So it's not a loss of eternal life. It's not a loss of justification. It's not a loss of eternity in heaven. It is a loss though, of rewards. There's a failure to receive rewards and so the potential that we might get (the promise that is in addition to the gift) is lost. But:
he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
which indicates there is some residual negative consequence even at the Judgment Seat of Christ for failure—failure to have used what God gave us.
That is the issue in terms of judgment.
So when we are looking back at our passage in Hebrews 10, we read:
NKJ Hebrews 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment,
There should be a fearful (or "terrible" is another way of translating this) – a terrible expectation of judgment – that there will be an exposure there, an evaluation. When that time comes we don't want to be standing there with nothing to show for it revealing that we wasted our time as believers, we lived for ourselves, walked by the flesh and completely dishonored the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have this certain negative expectation out there that is to motivate us today.
We're motivated by two things.
Some people think, "Well, that's just terrible that we're motivated by the fear of judgment."
It can't be terrible because that's what the Scripture says. It warns us that there is expectation because God knows that because of our sin nature we would easily rationalize disobedience if we didn't know that there was some level of accountability in the future. So accountability is very much a part of God's plan for the believer because it is through living the Christian life and growing to maturity that we build the capacity and the maturity to be able to handle the roles and responsibilities God has for us in the in the future kingdom. So we have this terrible expectation of judgment.
Then we have this next phrase, and this just seems to be so difficult to understand for a lot of people. The next phrase is:
and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Now this is a quotation that's taken out of the Old Testament. This is a quote that comes directly from Isaiah 26:11.
Hold your place here in Hebrews 10 and let's turn back to Isaiah. Psalms is right in the middle of your Bible and Isaiah is going to be to the right, four or five books, Isaiah 26.
Now the context of Isaiah 26 is that Isaiah is talking to believers. He's talking to the nation as a redeemed nation. We always have to remember that in terms of the analogy and comparison that's used that is going on in the life of the nation is analogous to what can go on in the life of the individual believer in the Church Age.
The nation is eternally secure in their position before God by the Abrahamic Covenant. They cannot lose that position of blessing as a nation. That doesn't have to do justification. It has to do with that position of blessing. But in the Mosaic Law, we have the conditional covenant that gives them requirements for obedience, prohibitions for things they are not supposed to do; that if they do and they're disobedient there are consequences for that. So there are positive mandates that they are to obey and prohibitions, things they are not to do. When they obey, there are special blessings that God is going to give the nation. When they disobey God is going to remove those blessings and He is going to discipline them.
In Isaiah 26 we have a song of salvation. Deliverance has occurred in the broader context of these sections. So in verse one, we read:
NKJ Isaiah 26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
This song that is recorded (in this verse, in this book or) in this chapter rather is called The Song of the Redeemed. So it views the nation as having been delivered, redeemed from the threat of the enemy. It goes on and talks about the peace that they have and it talks about God's deliverance.
But even in the midst of this there is the sour note of verses 10 and 11. There are those within the midst who've been disobedient among the redeemed.
Verse 10 says:
NKJ Isaiah 26:10 Let grace be shown to the wicked, Yet he will not learn righteousness;
Among the wicked, that is those among the redeemed who are disobedient, the wicked who will not learn righteousness because he is disobedient.
In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, And will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
NKJ Isaiah 26:11 LORD, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed For their envy of people; Yes,
And here's the line that's quoted.
the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
In other words, it is a statement simply of divine judgment on those who are disobedient. So it is not a statement that relates to a literal fiery end in terms of the Lake of Fire. There is a fiery part of the judgment (the Judgment Seat of Christ) when our human good is burned up and that is destroyed and then there will be shame and embarrassment for a time at the Judgment Seat of Christ. That is how this is connected, brought together.
Now he's going to make to give an illustration of this, which is going to bring it into focus just a little better. To do that, he's going to go back to the Old Testament and an Old Testament illustration.
10:28 and 10:29 give this illustration from the Old Testament and then applies (which is 28) and then applies it to us. He's going to say if the Old Testament law recognizes that a violation of the Law brings about punishment, then even more so under the New Covenant. If the old covenant which was temporary and inadequate recognized disobedience led to punishment; then even more so under the New Covenant when the grace of God is treated lightly, there is even more certainty of discipline, divine discipline.
So verse 28 reads:
NKJ Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
This is clearly stated in Deuteronomy in several different places such Deuteronomy 17:2, 6, Deuteronomy 19:15. These passages clearly state that someone who disobeys Moses' law under the testimony of two or three witnesses receives punishment. There was the capital punishment that was to be imposed upon them on the basis of those two or three witnesses…very simple statement that when the Mosaic Law (the old covenant) was rejected, there was punishment.
Then the point of comparison in verse 29.
NKJ Hebrews 10:29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose,
I love the way he puts this in a question because they all understood the principle of verse 28. These are former Jewish priests. They knew the Old Testament law. He doesn't have to belabor the point.
He says, "OK, we all understand that there's this certain punishment within the Law of the old covenant for disobedience. Now don't you think that the New Covenant which is even greater than the old covenant – the New Covenant which is superior to the old covenant; don't you think that violation of a principle of the New Covenant is going to carry with it just as certain punishment?"
But the way he expresses it is very stark. It's very harsh, and it relates to the way in which a person is really thinking about the value of what Christ did on cross, because when we sin even though we may not be consciously or conscientiously thinking, "Well we're just fine, whatever Christ did for us in our salvation is really irrelevant."
That's what's going on. When we put our focus off of doing what the Lord wants is to do and doing what we want us to do, what we are basically saying in our heart is, "It really doesn't matter that Jesus died for my sins, that I have a new life to Christ and He's given me all of these blessings. He's given me the Holy Spirit and I have all these wonderful things as a free gift because I'm just going to go do whatever I want to do. The thing that matters is I want to please myself."
So in essence what we are doing is acting as if everything the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross is of no consequence and no value.
So he puts it this way:
will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,
He's using metaphoric language here because what we're doing is treating that tremendous thing the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross as if it's just a common thing. It just has no value. We just treat it as if it's nothing. So we are trampling the Son of God underfoot.
counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified
Now there's a very clear statement there. He is clearly sanctified. That is positionally sanctified. That means he's saved.
a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
It's treating this wonderful fantastic provision for us that we was secured by what Christ did on the cross and His imaginable suffering on the cross for our sin and everything that we have because of that as if it's just an everyday common thing and we treat it so lightly and cavalierly that we just want to go ahead and do what we want to do.
In their case what that means is that they are going to just give up Christianity and go back under the old covenant.
So what the writer of Hebrews is saying here is that by doing that, by committing this any willful sin, there's still a consequence because when you commit that willful sin you are saying, "It really doesn't matter what Jesus did for me. I'm going to do what I wanted to do."
That leads to judgment. That's expressed in Hebrews 10:30-31,
NKJ Hebrews 10:30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people."
So 10:30 there are two different Old Testament statements that are referenced from Deuteronomy 32:35-6.
Now we think of vengeance as a personal vendetta. In the Latin, which is where we get our word vengeance, there's a connection between been vendetta and vengeance. But the idea of vengeance in both the Hebrew word and the Greek word that's used here is not necessarily that idea of personal of retribution – "I'm going to get back at you. You hurt me so I'm going to get back at you." The root idea in vengeance is bringing about justice because an injustice has taken place.
God isn't saying, "I'm a vindictive God." He is saying, "I am a righteous God who will judge and bring about justice and you need to leave it into My hands."
But when you are willfully disobedient as a child of God, there's going to be discipline. This theme is picked up again in just a couple more chapters when we get to Hebrews 12:5
NKJ Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "
That is, family members.
My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
NKJ Hebrews 12:6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives."
There is divine discipline both in time and there will be consequences at the Bema Seat for failure to redeem the time as the writer as Paul says in Ephesians 5:16.
NKJ Ephesians 5:16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
We need redeem the time use it for the glory of God.
So in Deuteronomy 32 we have the statement that "vengeance is mine I will repay." Everything will come to account at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Again he says:
NKJ Deuteronomy 32:36 "For the LORD will judge His people
He is the judge and there will be an evaluation.
Then we have a conclusion and in verse 31. This is the principle and you can see a correlation to it in Deuteronomy 4:24 as well as Hebrews 12:28.
NKJ Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
This is why the beginning of wisdom is to fear of the Lord, because the fear of the Lord recognizes that there is accountability to God as the ruler and creator of all things and that ultimately we are accountable to Him – how we use the time, the gifts, the abilities, the grace that He gives to us.
Therefore we will all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. So even though there is no sacrifice for sin because sin isn't the issue, there are still consequences for living a libertine life and a licentious life. So none of this is justification, a rationale, for living in an arrogant self absorbed manner; but indeed it's even more of a warning to us because as believers we do understand the terrible consequences of sin. As believers we do understand what the long-term plan of God is and therefore we are being challenged here not to take God's grace lightly, but to press on. That takes is right back to the exhortations in verses 19 to 25 - to draw near with a true heart, have boldness (vs. 19).
NKJ Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
NKJ Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
NKJ Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
That is to characterize the body of Christ, not the opposite, which is sinful licentiousness.
So next time we'll come back and finish out the chapter here in chapter 10, verses 32 down to 39 which sets us then and for the next section which would be the last section of Hebrews and we'll start with that wonderful chapter (chapter 11) dealing with all of the Old Testament saints and the examples that they have given us.
Let's bow our heads in closing prayer.
lllustrations