Hold Fast

“Hold Fast”

Hebrews 10:26-31

In the Spring of 1924:

Jack Sundine was a four-year-old kid,

standing in a line with his father inside the White House,

waiting to meet President Calvin Coolidge.

As they neared him:

Jack noticed that he said something

to each visitor as they shook hands.

Soon, the thrilling moment arrived:

Jack put his small hand into the President’s.

Then the President said words

Jack will always remember: “Move along.”

In contrast:

aren’t you glad that when we come to God,

He doesn’t tell us to move along.

Instead:

He is personally involved in our lives and

He is concerned for our lives and our souls…

And when there is danger, He warns us…

Every loving parent warns their children of danger ahead…

Here is our 4th warning in Hebrews:

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Hebrews 10:26-31 (NIV)

This is written to people who have been:

presented with the gospel of Jesus but reject it.

so there is no sacrifice for sins for them.

They will be punished severely if they die without Jesus.

This is written to people who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ but:

then continue in their old sins.

They do not repent and

change their lives through the power of Jesus Christ.

Some of them were ready to throw the towel on this Christian stuff:

Their enthusiasm was fading,

they had lost their courage,

lost their zeal for their faith and

their attendance at church was falling off.

Their souls were in danger:

- they were not persevering in their faith

- they were not finishing the race they began…

The purpose of the warnings in chapter 10:26-31:

was to warn the Christians of the consequences

of rejecting Jesus our great high priest

who has secured our entry into heaven by his own blood

This warning is a call to perseverance.

For the Christian to:

keep defying God through deliberate rebellion

is sinful and puts one again under the wrath of God.

Our salvation ought:

to transform our behavior,

We are new creations in Christ

The old is gone, the new is here

We were dead, we are now

To reject God and instead to embrace sin is to:

spit in the face of the Salvation of Jesus.

But that is what some were doing.

The fair question is raised,

“If the blood of Jesus isn’t enough to save your soul, what else is there?”

First of all:

the blood of Jesus is enough to bring salvation, but

It is of no use if we throw away that salvation.

Secondly that:

there is no other hope for salvation outside

of the blood, cross and resurrection of Jesus.

There is no second salvation waiting to be found by the believer.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12 (NIV)

The book of Hebrews makes it plain:

that there is no secret knowledge to find,

All we need is found in the blood of Jesus.

Once we have salvation:

it is paramount that we

never return to the sin we just died to,

that we persevere in our faith.

Hebrews to the consequences that:

- come with abandoning our faith, and

- that is abandoning their hope of salvation.

If these Christians:

were to abandon their faith

there would literally be Hell to pay.

The cross of Christ:

- is the solution to our greatest problem

- our greatest problem is OUR SIN

- our rebellion has created a debt that earns us death and HELL

Sin brings Hell, Jesus brings salvation:

- but some have treated that salvation with contempt

- some have turned their back on the very gift that saves them

“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”