Hebrews 10:26-31
Worse Than Death
Introduction
The Blob. Do you remember that movie? It was a 1958 film starring Steve McQueen. It’s about an amoeba-like alien that invades a small community in Pennsylvania. And then there was the 1931 movie Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff. It’s about a monster that terrorizes a village. It’s a classic.
Now, those two movies—along with other early sci-fi films—created nightmares for thousands of people. But when you watch those movies now, they seem insultingly tame. They seem innocuous compared to the horror films that are coming out of Hollywood now. The fact of the matter is that we have become desensitized. It takes a lot to frighten us.
And I think that is true as well when it comes to the Word of God. We are so used to verses that speak of love and peace and joy that we forget that the Bible also contains some frighteningly stern passages that speak of judgment. One such Scripture is our passage for consideration today. It’s found in Hebrews chapter 10.
When we started our study of the Book of Hebrews, I mentioned that the letter contains 5 encouragement passages. We’ve already considered three of them. The first one was 2:1-4 where we are encouraged not to drift from the Word. The second is 3:7-4:13 where we are encouraged not to doubt the Word. The third is 5:11-6:20 where we are encouraged not to be dull toward the Word. And now we come to the 4th encouragement passage found in 10:26-39. Here we are encouraged not to despise the Word.
It might take a lot to scare people today, but our passage for this morning has plenty of firepower. And I would summarize Hebrews 10:26-31 by this statement: A believer who abandons the faith will face the temporal discipline of God.
Let me say that again: A believer who abandons the faith will face the temporal discipline of God.
With this summary statement in mind, let’s examine the passage. In Hebrews 10:26-31, the writer of Hebrews presents 3 issues: the people, the problem, and the punishment. First, let’s consider …
1. THE PEOPLE
The writer of Hebrews starts out in verse 26 by saying, “If we …”
Now, it’s important to stop right there and to identify the “we.” Who is the writer referring to? Well, in the immediate context, the writer has been talking about people who are …
· called “brothers”—verse 19
· have been positionally made holy, perfect, sactified and experienced forgiveness of sins—verses 10, 14, 29, 17 and 18
· called God’s people—verse 30
So, who is the writer referring to—believers or unbelievers? I think it’s pretty obvious that he is talking about a believer in this passage.
And that’s why I started the summary statement with the words: A believer.
A believer is simply someone who has trusted in Jesus Christ as his Savior. And probably the best-known believer in America today is Billy Graham. Everyone has heard of Billy Graham. Graham preached the gospel in the US and around the world for over 50 years. But he wasn’t alone in doing mass evangelism. When Graham was ministering at Youth For Christ rallies in the 1940s, there was also a good friend of his by the name of Charles Templeton that was also preaching the gospel. As a matter of fact, most people thought that Templeton was a more gifted speaker than Graham was.
Chuck Templeton became a believer in 1936 at the age of 19. He was ordained a minister of the gospel through the Church of the Nazarene. In the 1940s, Templeton was holding mass evangelism in stadiums. Tens of thousands of people would come to hear him preach. At one Easter Sunrise service, he preached to 50,000 people at the Rose Bowl. Hundreds of people would receive Christ as Savior at each night at his crusades. Chuck Templeton was an extraordinary believer that God used in an extraordinary way.
So, in Hebrews 10:26, the writer of Hebrews is describing a believer. A believer who abandons the faith …
Now, that phrase leads us to the second issue that the writer of Hebrews presents. Namely, …
2. THE PROBLEM
Look at verse 26 again: “If we deliberately keep on sinning …”
The writer of Hebrews is not referring to occasional sin or even a habitual sin that a believer wrestles with. Rather, I think he is warning against deliberate apostasy—a determined, intentional, willful abandonment and rejection of their Christian faith.
He goes on to describe this sin in verse 29: “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot.”
An apostate is a believer who has “trampled the Son of God underfoot.” That is to say, he rejects the person of Christ—he denies who Jesus Christ truly is. He once acknowledged Christ’s superiority, but now he denies the uniqueness of the Son of God. He regards Jesus as just another man—nothing special about Him.
Not only does an apostate deny the person of Christ, but he also denies the work of Christ. Verse 29 says that he “has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him.”
An apostate is a believer who turns his back on the work of Christ. He no longer considers the sacrifice of Jesus as a complete, final, unique work. It’s nothing special.
And the apostate is one who has also, according to verse 29: “insulted the Spirit of grace.”
He wants nothing to do with the workings of the Holy Spirit in his life. He has turned his back on the things of Christ. He has deserted the Christian faith. And it’s possible for a true believer in Christ to do that—to abandon the gospel that he once embraced.
I mentioned that Charles Templeton was a preacher who was more popular than his good friend, Billy Graham. Well, even though Templeton was a successful, established, much-in-demand evangelist, he felt the need for formal theological training. Doubts were creeping into his life, and he began to question his faith. And so in 1948 he decided to enroll in Princeton Theological Seminary. And while he was there, his doubts became more acute. He graduated from Princeton and continued in the ministry. But slowly his confidence in the Word of God began to erode until finally he got to the point where he no longer believed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Templeton renounced his Christianity and became an agnostic. He even wrote a book in 1995 entitled Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith.
It is possible for a believer to abandon the faith. It happens today and it happened 2,000 years ago. I remind you that the writer of Hebrews is addressing a congregation of Hebrew Christians who were tempted to jettison their faith in Christ. The threat of persecution caused them to seriously consider returning to their former religion of Judaism.
But if they did that, the writer of Hebrews tells them at the end of verse 26, “ … no sacrifice for sins is left.” In other words, the Levitical sacrifices that they were thinking of going back to won’t do them any good. Animal sacrifices won’t forgive their sins. And they surely won’t take away their sin of apostasy.
Well, if a Christian does renounce his faith in Christ, what will happen to him? What can he expect?
A believer who abandons the faith will face the temporal discipline of God.
That last phrase leads us to the third issue that the writer of Hebrews presents. Namely, …
3. THE PUNISHMENT
Starting in verse 26, we read: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
If a Christian renounces the faith, he can expect God’s discipline in his life. But what kind of discipline?
Well, I don’t believe that the punishment is a loss of eternal salvation. God will never send a Christian to hell—even one who is an apostate. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
Even if a believer renounces his faith, God will keep His promise. God gives eternal life to everyone who believes in Jesus—even if that person later becomes an apostate. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
You say, “But wait a minute. Verse 27 calls God’s judgment a ‘raging fire.’ Isn’t that talking about hell?” No. I don’t believe so. Remember, the writer of Hebrews is writing to Hebrew Christians who are steeped in the Old Testament. And often the Old Testament uses the imagery of fire to convey God’s temporal judgment. Actually, verse 27 is a reference to Isaiah 26:11 which refers to God’s physical destruction of His enemies.
Verse 28 also shows us that God’s physical discipline is in view here. “Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
The Jews practiced capital punishment—physical death. If a person disobeyed certain Old Testament laws, he would forfeit his life—physical death.
Look at verse 28 again. “Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
If a man who broke some Old Testament laws faced immediate death, how much more severely will a believer be punished who renounces the Son of God?
You say, “What can be worse than immediate physical death?” Well, many temporal judgments are worse than immediate physical death. Lingering and unrelenting mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual anguish—that can be much worse than immediate physical death.
I think of King David. After his sin of adultery and murder, he suffered through one loss and calamity after another. The fact that God spared David’s physical life doesn’t necessarily mean he received a lesser punishment.
After the death of Absalom, David cried, “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place!” And I believe David meant that. Physical death would have been better than the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual suffering he experienced because of his sin.
After Charles Templeton left the ministry and renounced his faith in Christ, he returned to his home in Canada. And there he pursued a number of paths. He …
· became the editor of a newspaper
· ran for political office
· ran an advertising business
· became the host of a radio show
· became a TV anchorman
· became a magazine editor
· tried his hand at writing and inventing
It seems that nothing in life gave him a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction or purpose.
In his book The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel tells of an interview he had with Templeton shortly before his death. Templeton was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, but Strobel caught him on a day that he was quite lucid.
Templeton recounted his path from belief to agnosticism. He told Strobel that he thought Jesus was only a man, and that there was nothing special about his death. But Templeton did say that he admired Jesus. And that he tried to follow Jesus’ example and ethics.
Let me read to you Strobel’s words at this point: “Abruptly, Templeton cut short his thoughts. There was a brief pause, almost as if he was uncertain whether he should continue.
‘Uh … but … no,’ he said slowly. ‘He’s the most …’ He stopped, then started again. ‘In my view,’ he declared, ‘he is the most important human being who has ever existed.’
That’s when Templeton uttered the words I never expected to hear from him. ‘And if I may put it this way,’ he said as his voice began to crack, ‘I … miss … him!’
With that, tears flooded his eyes. He turned his head and looked downward, raising his left hand to shield his face from me. His shoulders bobbed as he wept.”
How sad. How tragic.
But as it says in verse 30: “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
The writer of Hebrews is quoting Deuteronomy 32:35 and 36. And he is warning us that: A believer who abandons the faith will face the temporal discipline of God.
He may experience mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual anguish. But there are other ways that God can discipline an apostate. There can be shame and rebuke at the Judgment Seat of Christ, a loss of rewards, or forfeiting the privilege of ruling and reigning with Christ in His earthly kingdom.
Conclusion
You know, the problem with hearing a message like this is that we are tempted to say, “Oh, Pastor Lyon’s talking about somebody else. That could never happen to me! I could never reject the faith!”
But the Bible says, “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.”
Don’t be deceived. Any one of us is capable of walking away from the faith. Any one of us can become an apostate.
So, how do you guard against that happening to you? What can you do to protect yourself so you don’t follow the path of spiritual defection?
We’ll discover the answer to that next Sunday morning.
Let’s pray.
