Introduction
A key verse from this section of Scripture today is “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?” (Hebrews 10:29 NIV).
The story is told of a great scientist, a naturalist, who one lovely summer day, went out in the Highlands of Scotland to study under his microscope the heather bell in all its native glory. In order to see its perfection, he got down on his knees, without plucking the flower, adjusted his instrument, and was reveling in its color, its delicacy, its beauty, lost in "wonder, love, and praise." How long he stayed there he does not know, but suddenly there was a shadow on him and his instrument. He waited for a time, thinking it might be a passing cloud. But it stayed there, and presently looking up over his shoulder saw a Highland shepherd watching him. Without saying a word the scientist plucked a heather bell and handed it, with the microscope, to the shepherd that he, too, might see what he was beholding.
The old shepherd put the instrument up to his eyes, got the heather bell in place and looked at it until the tears ran down his rugged face like bubbles on a mountain stream. Then handing the microscope back to the scientist, he said, "I wish you had never shown me that. I wish I had never seen it.” "Why? asked the surprised scientist. "Because," was the reply, "This rude foot has trodden on so many of them." Even so, when once you look through God's telescope – the Word of God – and see the marvels of His love displayed at Calvary's Cross, you, too, will accuse yourself for having ever treated Him badly for a single moment. The Lord open our eyes to see the exceeding sinfulness of any light-hearted regarding of the sacrifice He made there for our salvation.”
Transition
A couple of weeks ago spoke to you on a precious doctrine – eternal security. I spoke to you of how a man may not lose that which he cannot earn. Salvation is the gift of God’s grace alone by faith and consequently it cannot be lost. The question naturally and rightly arises, “What about passages like this in Hebrews?”
CIT / CIS: Salvation cannot be lost but it can be proven invalid. In other words, there those professed believers who profess faith but it isn’t genuine. There are those who look, act, and talk like disciples but their heart is far from Christ. And the truth eventually and often does come out.
You cannot lose salvation if you are in Christ but some prove themselves to never have actually been in Christ through their continual, willful, and sinning. A lot of folks today come to church to be entertained not disciple. A lot of folks today come to Christ for what they think He can give them but are unwilling to pay the price, to give the cost of discipleship.
Exposition
(1) A New and Living Way (19-25): When Jesus died on the Cross the veil in the Temple was torn in two. “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:44-46 ESV) In this the law was fulfilled in Christ.
Christ had become the sacrifice that saves God’s covenant people. The fulfillment of the law laid aside the way of death and the slaughter of animals for the atonement of sin. It brought into fullness the living way of God. The Christian life is new in that we walk in newness, freshness, the brilliance of the new birth.
It is also new in that the old system was done away with. Now the law is fulfilled in Christ and you and I are found alive in Christ. The way of Jesus and consequently the way for His followers, is “A new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.” We are no longer separated from God.
Listen, this is too easy to overlook; take for granted for familiarity with the terms.
I remember once when I was about twelve falling asleep for a nap on a Sunday afternoon while my parents thought I had left with a friend to his baseball game. I fell into such a deep sleep that when I awoke I thought I had slept all afternoon, into the next day, and everyone had left for work or something. I fell into a panic that I had overslept for school. Then I thought that surely they would have woken me for school so something must have happened to them! They were all gone.
I called my grandmother and once she figured out why I was so worked up she explained to me that it was Sunday afternoon and after piecing it all together she comforted me that everything was ok and they would be back. They must have just all gone somewhere. Soon they all returned and all was well. But for those several minutes I really thought I was cut off from them. I really thought they had been taken or kidnapped or something. I thought I would never see my family.
Before Christ came into the world the free sinners from slavery to Satan through sin we really were cut off from the Father. Before Christ set us free from guilt to the law we really were never going to live in relation to our Heavenly Father.
When the veil was torn in two we who had been kidnapped by Satan were ransomed back to the Father! We who were afar off were brought near to God by the blood of Christ that was paid as a ransom for our lives!
And as a result of God having drawn near to us the writer Hebrews says “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. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (22-23) Let us practice what we believe.
If we really believe what we say we believe our lives will necessarily look different today than they did yesterday. Our love for Christ and people will grow. Our disdain for sin will increase. Our love for the brethren will be ever increasing.
The kingdom happens in community. God has never called a man to His service without surrounding that man with armor bearers. Moses had Aaron. I have had and have now those who make the ministry possible. God doesn't call men; He calls churches and blessed men with the honor of leading those churches. The kingdom happens in community. It is equally true that God necessarily works through other followers of Jesus to impact your life and mine to impact the world for Him. The kingdom always happens in Christian community.
(2) Invalidating One’s Faith (26-29): The first half of this section of Scripture is about the new and living way of life in Christ. Here’s what it looks like to live the new and living way of Jesus. The second half is a warning for those who come to the knowledge of the truth, are exposed to the truth, yet go on in sin.
The writer of Hebrews is talking about people who have professed faith in Christ but bear no evidence of the life of faith. The writer of Hebrews is talking about the wheat and chaff. When wheat is harvested it had to be laid on a threshing floor and a long staff called flail was used to beat the husk off of the wheat and it, the chaff, would fly away in the wind because it was less weighty than the wheat.
Sadly churches are full of backsliders who won’t pay the price for discipleship, deceivers who have something to gain through false discipleship, and more commonly, those who are themselves deceived, having received false versions of the gospel. Oh! That the church today would proclaim the costliness of discipleship in order to win true followers of Jesus, not those who pay lip service.
The Bible is filled with warning passages to false disciples. My friend, examine the fruit of your discipleship and see what manner and flavor it is.
“By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:16-20 NIV84)
These are not in danger of losing salvation but of proving that they never had salvation in the first place because if they had been saved the joy of their heart would be to turn from wickedness and pursue the new and living way spoken of in the first half of this section of Scripture.
John the Baptist speaking of Jesus in Luke 3:17 says that “His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (NIV84) The notes from the translators of the 1560 Geneva Bible say that the Gospel is the fan of the world.
It is the Gospel of Christ, that truth, which separates the wheat of the faithful from the chaff of the unfaithful. In verse 26 the writer says that “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10: ESV) What he is saying is that the law is done way with and apart from trusting in Christ, as evidenced by a life of faith, there is no hope for covering one’s sins. Solus Christus. Christ alone.
Conclusion
I love mothers; especially the way that they’ll talk to their kids. Fathers are simple. As Bill Cosby used to say, a dad usually is just really perplexed by the things his children will do. It really is baffling when you see your two year old daughter with a dog leash on her while your 4 year old son tells her to bark. That isn’t normal. It’s unexpected and dads will tend to be at a loss for words as to the ridiculousness of the parenting experience – at least I do.
But this is not the case as often for moms. Mark Twain remarked “My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” When faced with trouble moms have a way of saying things with multiple meanings. Upon catching her child doing something that he knows he should not be doing she may say “Just what the heck is the big idea?!” A perceptive child will quickly realize that mom is not asking for a philosophical answer as to the grand scheme or meaning of life or God’s intent in the cosmos. There is not right answer to that question.
However, you and are faced with or possess actual questions as to the big idea of Christian living. We wonder how we can ever live up to a new and living way. We wonder how we can avoid trampling underfoot the blood of Christ when we are so prone to depravity, decadence, degeneracy, and disregard for our Saviour.
The big idea of the Christian life may be summed up in a Latin phrase common to theologians – coram Deo. “Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life.” This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. A fragmented life is a life of disintegration. It is marked by inconsistency, disharmony, confusion, conflict, contradiction, and chaos.”
Friends, God has called us to new life in Christ and set us on a path of overarching transformation. There is no part of our life that escapes the gaze of God. Neither is there any part of our life that escapes the care and compassion of God.
The Christian life is a life of growing abandon to God’s sovereignty and increased rest in His care. Ours is a new and living way. Amen.
