The Forecast For Religious Unbelief-3

The FORECAST For RELIGIOUS UNBELIEF-III—Hebrews 10:26-31

Attention:

Although he was a qualified meteorologist, Hopkins ran up a terrible record of forecasting for the TV news program. He became something of a local joke when a newspaper began keeping a record of his predictions & showed that he'd been wrong almost three hundred times in a single year.

That kind of notoriety was enough to get him fired.

He moved to another part of the country & applied for a similar job. One blank on the job application called for the reason for leaving his previous position.

Hopkins wrote, "The climate didn't agree with me."

Likewise, ‘the climate doesn’t agree’ with those who approach our churches with the thought of making themselves feel accepted thru association with outward celebration of true religion or religious trappings.

The author of Hebrews laid out the unavoidable forecast for willful sin.

Religious unbelief(willful sin) warrants unavoidable forecast/merit(consequences).

What is the unavoidable forecast/merits(consequences) of Religious unbelief(willful sin)?

6 unavoidable forecasts/merits for Religious unbelief(willful sin) are...

In the last few weeks we discovered 4 unavoidable things that are in the forecast for religious unbelief were...

1. A FORFEITED REDEMPTION(:26)

2. An ULTIMATE FEAR(:27)

3. FORFEITED MERCY(:28)

4. EXPOSURE(:29)

5—An unavoidable forecast for religious unbelief(willful sin) is...

PERFECT VENGEANCE(:30)

Explanation: (:30)Appropriate Justice

:30—“For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.””

1. Judicial Judgment or Decision precedes & produces Vengeance or Justice.

God Himself is the ultimate & universal ‘law-of-the-land,’ authority, One we must answer to, as it were. There is no law, no boundary, no threshold to cross, aside from what He determines. There is no righteousness aside from what He has stated. His decisions stand eternally.

2. Vengeance is demanded of the judgment.

Justice is meted out from the demand of the judgment. It’s fulfillment is set in motion.

The author, as is his custom, pulls his argument from Scripture. He quotes portions from Deut. 32:35-36. His audience is familiar with & respects the written word of God. All Christians should respect the entirety of God’s revelation. If any of it contradicts our doctrine, then we must change our doctrine rather than change Scripture to match our doctrine.

Any cult or sect claiming Christian beginnings or leanings changes Scripture to match their belief.

Mormonism(Mitt Romney/Donny Osmond)/Jehovah’s Witnesses/Church of Scientology(Tom Cruise)/Kabbalah(Madonna)/Christian Science(Church of Jesus Christ Scientist)/Catholicism(Rick Santorum)

The entire audience “knows” the One who said(in Scripture) that “Vengeance is Mine.” In this, God is stating that all aspects of “vengeance” are rightly determined by Him & His directives. There is no presence of fleshly determination in God’s vengeance. There is not the slightest tinge of of sin in God’s vengeance. Such vengeance is ultimately right.

*Deut. 32:35-36—“Vengeance is Mine, & recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’ “For the LORD will judge His people And have compassion on His servants[reiterated in Ps. 135:14], When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.”

A further elucidation of the the previous statement reveals that God Himself will indeed “repay.”

*So it is not that vengeance is a bad thing, but only that fleshly vengeance includes an unintentional potential for collateral damage. This verse also records that “the LORD will judge His people.” Those who belong to Him will themselves be “judged” by Him as well. Judgment is the other side of the coin from vengeance. A determination based on objective criteria must be made.

Mat. 7:1-2—““Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; & with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Lk. 6:37-38—““Judge not, & you shall not be judged. Condemn not, & you shall not be condemned. Forgive, & you will be forgiven. “Give, & it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, & running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.””

2Cor. 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.”

1Pet. 4:14-18—“If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory & of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; & if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly & the sinner appear?””