Christ Or Judgment (Hebrews 10:26-39, Deuteronomy 13:1-39)
Rev. William L. Barron, January 2, 2022Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
We are warned not to fall away. This passage presents a conclusion (judgment) as a beginning. The warning is that it is not enough simply to understand what the gospel means. Now you must embrace the application. Once you have, you will never be lost. This is personal--what have your done with the knowledge of the gospel? Putting trust in Jesus is the only way of salvation; if you have not trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior, only judgment remains. Rejecting Him brings death to the soul. False religions are everywhere. We must not yield to pressure to conform to the world's idolatry. What is the unforgivable sin? The Apostle Mark defines this as blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. One who repudiates the gospel and rejects the teachings of Christ has no saving faith, no belief. If you have knowledge of the true gospel and turn from it, you are lost. Refusing is grinding Christ underfoot. You have profaned the blood of the covenant. You have rejected His shed blood. God's vengeance is mentioned 60 times in the Bible. God is the judge, not we ourselves. In Gethsemane, why was Jesus sweating blood? Because of His love for the people, many who would reject Him, bringing about God's judgment. He was there of His own free will. Rejecting proclaims Jesus' blood as unholy. J.I. Packer: God loves the righteous and hates the wicked. Judgment will come. "Recall the former days." What is the difference between recall and remember? We can't recall what we do not remember. Reflect upon the day of your salvation. Recall sufferings, or helping others through hard times. God never forsakes us in these times. Don't forget who God is. Consider what He has done in the past and how He applies it to the future.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « Our Response To The Light | None | Deception And Aquittal » |
Hebrews 10:26–39 (Listen)
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
(ESV)
Deuteronomy 13 (Listen)
13:1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.
12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. 17 None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, 18 if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.
(ESV)