Hebrews: Chapter 10b
November 16th, 2008
Pressing On
It is not about how you start. It is about how you finish. Have you ever seen a young couple in love? It can be one of the most beautiful things to watch. Seeing these two young people that are absolutely captivated by each other is inspiring. At Ozark I had a good friend named Vince. Our freshmen year he met this girl Joy. They started by hanging out together in groups then they began to see each other in smaller settings with more personal time. When Joy was around Vince would glow. I used to tease him because even thinking about Joy or the mention of her name would bring this huge smile to his face. They really were perfect for each other. I remember one night in the dorms he came back from spending time with her and he was on cloud nine. It was hard to talk to him he was so happy. I was sitting in my room and he came with all the energy of a little squirrel having found a treasure cache of acorns. When he calmed down to a point where his words were audible I asked him what he was so excited about. He said he spent the whole evening with Joy at Dioko’s which used to be a coffee shop on Main Street. I nodded and was like: “Yea….so….” That was it. He was ecstatic because he spent the evening with Joy at a coffee shop reading. They had just read sitting next to each other. I said: your such a chic. But he didn’t care. They have been married now for almost three years. Everyone who has sees them together up to this day always comments on how cute they are as a couple.
Young love is sweet but it hasn’t been through the trials. It hasn’t endured the hardships. Young love for all its beauty has never had to endure. Seeing a couple in love is nice. Seeing a couple in love after 30 years is breath taking. There is nothing like seeing that couple that has gone through the gauntlet and come out the other side. Life is not always easy in fact it usually isn’t. Enduring a world full of so much hardship it can be difficult to say the least. Nothing truly shows love like a couple that has endured through all the problems life has thrown at them. I am not impressed with couples that are in love after being married for a few years. But I am captivated by the ones that have gone through this life together.
You see it is not about how you start. It is about how you finish. As we go through this race of life we must learn how to endure the hardships of this world. If the life of a Christian is a race do you ever feel like quitting? Have you ever felt like everything in your life was falling apart and you just did not have the strength to go on? Do you ever feel like there is just too much to do? Do you feel worn out like you can’t go on? Do you ever feel like quitting? Do you ever feel like giving up? How do you get through those times? We need something to hold onto because accomplishment means nothing without endurance. So this morning I want to talk about enduring.
The Hebrew people were having a hard time. They had suffered some persecution for their faith and they had been through a lot for the Gospel. As a result many of them were considering giving up. Life was just too hard and they were not sure they could make it. Now we have dealt with a whole lot of issues in our study on the book of Hebrews but how do you deal with someone who wants to quit? What do you say to someone who is at the end of their rope and considering giving up? How do you encourage them to endure? In Hebrews 10:19 our author tries to show them the importance of pressing on. He reminds them of the hope that they have so they can carry on. Look at what he says:
Heb 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, Heb 10:20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, Heb 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, Heb 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Heb 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Heb 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Heb 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Drawing near to God is an essential part of our Spiritual lives. He is the one who gives us strength and sustains us as we endure hardship. He is the one who rejuvenates our spirits and gives us rest. We can draw near to God. This alone is encouraging. We are told we can enter God’s presence not with fear but with confidence and with assurance. Not only do we have the privilege of being allowed into God’s presence but by the blood of His Son we can do so without fear of His wrath. With sincere hearts we draw near to God having been made new by the blood of the lamb.
Let us hold on unswervingly without drifting away. Draw near to God with confidence and hold on to Him with everything you have. Do not lean away or drift off but hold on tight as if your life depended on it. We draw near to God and hold to Him for without Him there is no life. As long as we cling to Jesus He is faithful to give us life but if we let go of Him. If we walk away we have nothing. We must hold fast to Him or we will have no hope for life. Endure! When the world around you gets tough hold on tight, do not be driven away from God by hardships be driven toward Him. Hang on and keep hanging on.
We must not walk away from the faith or turn back to our life of sin for if we do verse 26 tells us:
Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, Heb 10:27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Heb 10:28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Heb 10:29 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?
Here is where things get scary. It is not there in the NIV but verse 26 should begin with the word ‘for’. Why should we draw near to God? Why should we hold on tight? Why should we press on in the faith? For this reason: if we keep on sinning and deliberately walk away from the faith then there is no sacrifice left for us. If we fail to press on and to do as the author says we are in danger of falling away. Remember that Jesus sacrifice is a double edge sword. The sacrifice only needs to be made once so we do not live in fear because the price for that sin has already been paid but at the same time that sacrifice is only available once and if we miss it there is nothing left for us. If we deliberately keep on sinning then there is no sacrifice left for sin. If there is no sacrifice for sin then there is no life which means if we keep on sinning we are in real danger of condemnation. This is a difficult passage to deal with because it is extremely controversial. In fact the warning here is ever stronger and more terrifying than the warning of Hebrews 6. So what shall we say? If we become a Christian and keep on sinning we can’t be saved then shouldn’t we just wait until the very end of our life to be baptized so we are not in danger? No.
The word deliberately indicates that this sin is not only intentional but defiant. Sin out of defiance is a direct rebellion against God and such sin cannot be forgiven. So what does this mean? Some would say that this is for sins we commit on purpose. So if you sin on accident then you are ok but if you sin on purpose you are in trouble. The problem is that if it is an accident is it really sin? If I am toss a baseball down the hallway and you come out of a room and the ball hits you square in the face that would be an accident. Accidents are not sin because sin by definition is done on purpose. So if this passage is saying there is salvation for those who sin on purpose then no one will be saved because all sin is deliberate. Others will say that this deliberate sin is a habitual sin. If you continue to wrestle with the same sin over and over in your life and never conquer it you will not be saved because you deliberately keep on sinning. This option seems far better but is actually saying the same thing. You see what this would mean is that you would have to overcome al your struggles with sin and be perfect by the end of your life. The problem is we do sin. We do have struggles. This is not saying that you have to conquer every sinful desire of your heart if you want to be saved. The demand is not for perfection but for repentance.
This warning is not about struggling with sin and making mistakes from time to time. This warning is about apostasy. No matter what happens or how bad things get we must never turn away from God. The pain and the hardships of this life should draw us further into His arms not pull us out of them. If we accept the sacrifice of Christ and then turn away from Him, if we understand what He has done for us but reject Him then we are treating His blood as unholy. To go back to your old way of life is turn the sacred blood of the Son of God as if it was not important. If we reject the only way that God has established for us to be saved what hope do we have? None. If the only way to get across a river is by the bridge and you blow up that bridge then you cannot across. This rejection of Jesus blood does not come from struggling with sin or even falling to sin again and again. This rejection comes from not caring about the sacrifice at all. You may endure great pain. You may have to sacrifice everything in your life. One thing is certain, it wont be easy. When you walk away from God after accepting the life that He gives, when you insult the grace He offers then there is nothing left for you to hold onto. This passage is not talking about wrestling with sin it is talking about rejecting the grace of God and making yourself His enemy.
Hell was not designed for man and it was never God’s desire for man to go there. Hell was created for Satan and the angels that followed him. However if you turn from God if you rebel against Him as Satan did how can you escape sharing the same fate? We like to think that the only people who go to Hell will be serial killers, rapists, thieves, and people like Hitler and Stalin. The truth is not only is Hell a real place but it will be full of people who chose to be there. God doesn’t send anyone to Hell that is a choice we make on our own. When we war against God we chose death over life. We have the opportunity to accept His grace it is our choice to refuse it.
Heb 10:35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. Heb 10:36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
Despite this strong warning our author concludes with a word of encouragement. I want to share that encouragement with you this morning because my guess is that every one of us has times where we feel like the Hebrews. I bet we all have times we want to call it quits and give up. So here is the encouragement: you are strong. You have stood your ground. You have been through so much already. You can finish this race. Do not now so close to the end throw away your faith. Do not toss out your relationship with God because it is hard or inconvenient but hold on. Endure. Persevere. Press on in the faith so that you may receive the prize that is waiting for you. Just hold on until the end. God is faithful to fulfill His promise and the prize waiting for you at the end of the race is one worth pushing toward. Hold on tight. Do not let God. Draw near to God and give everything to Him. Life is waiting for you. The offer is on the table. All you have to do is take hold of it and never let it go.
In the race that is the Christian life it is very important that we do not quit. We must see this through to the end. Finish the race. Keep the faith. No matter how hard it gets do not let go. We must press on whatever the cost. Our lives belong to Him.
