Christ or Judgment?

Joel Hayworth

Hebrews: Jesus is Greater • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Hebrews 10:26–39

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Notes

Transcript

Introduction

We live in a world of “either-or” - either you are a dog person or you’re a cat person. Either you’re an introvert or you’re an extrovert. Either you’re a Pepsi fan or you’re a Coke fan. Either you’re a Cardinals fan or you’re a Royals fan. Either you attend church or you don’t. Either you’re Christlike or you’re Christless. What does it mean to be Christlike? Simply it means to live like Christ did. Certainly we know that we cannot do this perfectly because we are sinners, but we can strive to be like Christ and to share the love of Jesus with others. We can strive to have joy in the midst of adversity. We can have confidence in our God. We can live by faith. All of these things demonstrate Christlikeness. You can either live this way, or you can live a Christless life. A Christless life is one without Christ and sadly we know many people who live this way day in and day out.

If you were to go up to someone and ask, “Would you rather receive judgment or blessing” which do you think people would say they’d rather receive? Everyone would say that they would rather receive blessing than judgment. Whenever you throw Christ into the equation, though, people say that they don’t need Him and that they can make it on their own or that they’ll do that later. They don’t understand the question. Either you’re in Christ or you’re awaiting judgment. The choice is up to you right now! Will you continue to live in unrepentant sin or will you repent and turn everything over to Jesus Christ?

To quote Spurgeon, “Sin and Hell are married unless repentance proclaims the divorce.” We are all sinners and the Bible shares that we deserve separation from God as a result of our sin. Yet, Christ offers us eternal life for all who repent of their sin and place their faith in Him.

Many people will say that they’d chose Christ over Judgment because we hate judgment… Not because we love Jesus Christ. Choosing Jesus Christ in this example requires more than a one time decision, it requires a lifetime of devotion and daily action. It requires us to turn from our sinful ways and thoughts and to stop living in them! Today we will consider this choice and evaluate both options and how crucial it is that we continue to live for Christ today and every day for the rest of our lives!

Hebrews 10:26–39 CSB

26 For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people. 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way. 34 For you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession. 35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.

Consequences for Christlessness (26-31)

In the beginning of our passage we see that there is a very strong warning for people who continue to sin deliberately after they hear the truth of the Gospel. This is the 4th warning passage in the book of Hebrews and it is describes the hopelessness associated with being an enemy of God. Think back to your time as a child and whenever you disobeyed your parents. There was always a difference when you did something bad and you didn’t know better versus whenever you disobeyed and you did know better!

One such example was whenever a little boy found himself playing baseball with some neighbors outside on a summer afternoon while his parents were working around the house. The parents went inside to clean up and get ready for dinner only to look back outside and not see their son or the other boys! They looked everywhere for their son but they simply could not find him. They began to call some of their neighbors and still didn’t have any luck. About 20 minutes later their son came back into the house through the front door soaking wet. The parents were relieved but curious as to where the boys had gone. There was a new boy whose family had moved into the neighborhood a few weeks ago and he had invited the other boys to his house because he had a pool! The parents were upset, but the boy simply thought that he was doing something fine. He was hanging out with his friends - he just went to a house that his parents didn’t know about. There is some innocence in this situation, right? Sure, the boy broke a rule and terrified his parents, but he wasn’t deliberately trying to break a rule by any means. Contrast that story with the story of the teenage boy who has a 10pm curfew on school nights who decides to stay out with his friends until 2am and ignore all phone calls and text messages from his parents. We would say that he deliberately disobeyed his parents’ rule and he broke his parents trust by not returning any text or phone call.

The Bible shares with us that when we choose to live in sin after hearing the Gospel, there is only judgment awaiting us. This isn’t good news, is it? We don’t like thinking about such a passage of Scripture because it’s hard to wrap our minds around. This is a difficult passage! Think of the seriousness of our sin, though. Sin is what separates us from God and we are commanded to repent of our sin and trust in Christ. Whenever someone learns about the Gospel and how Christ died for our sins on the cross and we continue to live in sin, we reject what Christ has done for us. We say, “Thanks Jesus, but this way is more fun” or, “Thanks Jesus, but my way is better” as Christ said Himself, “wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many walk on it, narrow is the path that leads to eternal life and few find it.” Whenever you reject Jesus Christ and trust in yourself, you turn your back on Jesus and there is no forgiveness for a person who does this. Now, praise God for grace and 2nd chances, but we are not guaranteed a second chance - we’re not even guaranteed tomorrow. As a result, we must do business with God now when the opportunity still presents itself.

For the person who hears the truth of God’s Word, perhaps because they grew up in church or because they have it explained to them by a Christian, and who rejects it there only exists the expectation of judgment and fire rather than forgiveness. Do you hear how strong this language is? It’s harsh and it rattles our ears and minds in the Western Church because we don’t like thinking that people would rather live in sin than repent and live for Christ, but we know it’s true, don’t we?

Consider the parable in Matthew 13 of the different types of soil in reference to the different types of responses people have to the Gospel message. Some people immediately show signs of life whenever they hear the Gospel, sometimes this is called an emotional response to the Gospel. Jesus notes that this happens with the seed that falls upon the shallow soil. There are initial signs of life but it ends up dying quickly when the situation gets difficult. This isn’t what it means to be a follower of Christ, is it? To be a follower of Jesus Christ means that regardless of what happens, I’m going to have faith in Jesus and trust in Him come whatever may! The born again Christian bears fruit and perseveres, the emotional response individual might look the part for a little while but eventually they go back to their old self. As Al Mohler notes, “Hell is full of people who have a clear understanding of the Gospel but never bowed the knee to Christ as King.” Do you feel the conviction, church? Have you bowed the knee to Christ as King? If He’s not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all! If you disregard King Jesus and continue to live a Christless life, you will not receive mercy from the King of Kings, you will receive judgment and the fury of an eternal fire.

Our world doesn’t like thinking in those terms, though. Our world, and even the church, likes to soften the idea of disobedience. Oh, you disobeyed, it’s ok, at least you tried! There are so many accommodations for various conditions and our society is kind of soft. It’s the participation society, here’s your sticker or trophy just for showing up. Some people carry over the same expectation with God. I tried my best and give God the rest. Unless you’re in Christ, your best isn’t nearly good enough! You must be in Christ and then try your best to follow Him.

In verses 28 and 29 we see an argument from the lesser to the greater. Back in the Old Testament, if anyone disregarded the law and lived it up however they saw fit, they died without mercy. The example is a reference from Deuteronomy 17:6 which says,

Deuteronomy 17:6 NASB95

6 “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

If you did something wrong, such as idolatry, and there were 2/3 witnesses then you were to be condemned to death by stoning. As a side note, aren’t you thankful that this isn’t the case today? A person who values his job more than his relationship with God back in the Old Testament would be put to death for such a crime. That’s insane! The reason that we think it’s so insane is because we’d all be put to death… See, we fail to note how holy God is and how undeserving we are of grace and mercy! We think of being stoned to death as being pretty bad, but the punishment for rejecting Jesus Christ and trampling over the Son of God is infinitely worse!

If you reject Jesus Christ and regard His blood and sacrifice as profane then you insult God. The word profane rings a bell for many of us because we know that there are certain words that we consider profane. In this context all that means is that we treat Jesus’ blood as “common” or no different than any other person’s. To regard the blood of Jesus as common is to spit upon the cross of Christ and despise His death in our place. In doing this, you insult the Spirit of grace - some commentators note that this is more than a rejection but an arrogant rejection of Jesus Christ.

If you do this - if you continually and deliberately live this type of Christless life and reject Jesus, you deserve worse punishment. The preacher quotes from Deuteronomy 32:35 and notes that God will judge those who reject Him. You cannot just say that you don’t believe in God and that’s fine. That you can live your truth and I’ll live mine. The Lord will judge and this should strike fear into our hearts because God is holy and there is a constant temptation to reject Him, turn your back on Him and live for yourself. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God! So, what can we do?

Check where we stand - are we living in unrepentant sin?

Warn others of the seriousness of our sin

Encourage others to follow Jesus

Rewards for Righteousness (32-39)

The first few verses in this passage are negative and a harsh warning for all to not continue in deliberate sin. Maybe this is a wake up call for you this morning. We all are tempted to choose to live for ourselves and indulge in our sinful desires. This isn’t something that only non-Christians experience, this is a struggle for us as Christians on a daily basis. You don’t need to feel like you’re an awful Christian because you struggle with a specific sin or temptation, we all have areas of weakness. The question that we must ask ourselves is are we continuing to live in that sin and choose to sin deliberately or are we fighting against that sin? Do we fight against sin or do we simply do what is right in our own eyes? Generally speaking, when we do what’s right in our own eyes without consulting God’s Word, we’re in the wrong place!

There are consequences whenever we are Christless, but there are rewards whenever we are Christlike. The preacher shifts the tone in this second half to bring a message of encouragement to his audience and calls on them to endure whatever they are facing and whatever comes their way in the days to come - what a timely message for the church today to hear, right? As we looked at last week, we are called to persevere and have faith in the good and in the bad times. We can do this because Jesus Christ has overcome the world - whatever is thrown at us, it isn’t too big for God. Therefore we bring it to Him in prayer and trust that His plan is for our ultimate good.

The preacher of Hebrews tells the people to remember the earlier days whenever they struggled and were facing opposition. We don’t like persecution and opposition, do we? As the age old adage says, “Why can’t everyone just get along?” Christians have always been on the receiving end of persecution and opposition from the inception of the early church to 2020. In the 1st century world persecution looked like death or at very minimum economic persecution and suffering. In 2020 America sometimes people say that the church is a place where close minded people attend and we call that persecution. We have it so good, even right now! It can be hard for us to even imagine moments when we suffered for our faith in the past. Maybe you have, but likely you haven’t endured much when compared to what Christians in other parts of the world suffer each and every day. Because of this, we must consider the context of this letter and how its different than our context today. In the 1st century world many Christians would have suffered for their faith, yet they didn’t cower down, they continued to tell others about their faith in Jesus Christ and to identify with Him even in times of suffering. As Christians, we must be willing to endure persecution. These Christians endures economic and relational suffering, we must be willing to endure the same! Are you willing to remain faithful to Jesus Christ rather than trying to conform to worldly patterns that go against the clear teaching in God’s Word? We will be mocked, picked on and possibly even worse than that, but we will always stand upon the solid rock which is Jesus Christ. Whenever we stand upon the solid rock everything might change around us, like our culture right now, but we will stand solid because our God is faithful and He doesn’t change!

Are you willing to suffer for Jesus Christ? Many people will instinctively say yes to this, especially in church. But are you really prepared for this? Are you willing to be tossed in prison for the Gospel? John MacArthur was interviewed last week and asked about the possibility about facing prison time because his church is going against governmental restrictions in California. He said in the interview that it is interesting that Paul didn’t check out the hotels in cities that he was visiting and planting churches in, rather he checked out what the jails were like because he would be spending a whole lot of time there. MacArthur went on to say that if the government was going to toss him in jail then he would begin a jail ministry. Are you willing to suffer for the cross of Jesus Christ?

Not only are you prepared, but are you willing to do so with joy? We see that these believers did exactly this in verse 34. They were not upset or jealous or frustrated, they were joyful even though they were suffering and having their things taken away. How on earth was this possible? Because they knew that they have a better and more enduring possession. What is this possession? Matthew 5-7 shares with us that the things that truly matter are the things of God and the things that have eternal value. What awaits us is everlasting so church, don’t throw away you confidence, don’t live a Christless life, instead be Christlike! We can lose all sorts of things this side of heaven, jobs, possessions, titles, friends, comforts and even family, but from an eternal perspective we love nothing at all! We have it made! Therefore, what must we do? We must continue to be Christlike - what do we need to be able to do this? We need endurance. As we talked about last week, we need one another in this thing called life! We need community. We need to bear one another’s burdens and encourage one another right now!

Look with me in verse 36, we see that we are to obey God’s will and then receive what was promised us. Some people believe that our promise is in this lifetime. Our blessing and prosperity will come whenever we have “faith” in God and speak things into existence. When do we, as Christians, receive our great reward? In heaven! What must we do according to verse 36, though? We must obey and do God’s will faithfully! As we will look at in Hebrews 11, we don’t always receive God’s promise this side of heaven. This doesn’t mean that God isn’t faithful, rather it means that the ultimate blessing and promise that we receive is an eternal one that we get in heaven.

Think about this for a moment, how many of you have ever been told if you do something then you will receive a reward at a specific point in time? Example. If you get an A in a class, you will receive a reward after the school year. This is how some people look at Christianity, sadly even some Christians. If I am faithful to God in this trial or situation then He will give me blessing after blessing immediately afterward because His Word says so. Where does the Bible say that after every time we are faithful we deserve a pat on the back? Our ultimate reward will come, but it won’t come until heaven. God chooses to bless us sometimes this side of heaven and praise God for those times, but He doesn’t “have” to do so. We don’t obey and live a Christlike life just so that we can get an earthly blessing, rather we obey God because we are a new creation and we want to live in such a way that whenever we pass away we hear Him say, “Well done My good and faithful servant!”

Again, Christ is coming back! He will come back soon and we must live by faith rather than drawing back and cowering down. If we do that, verse 38 tells us that He takes no pleasure in us. This is not a good place to be in, church! As Habakkuk 2:4 says, we must live by faith. We press on and we follow after Jesus Christ regardless of the situation. If you don’t do this, if you fall back and live in deliberate sin and you never repent, you are living a Christless life and verse 39 notes that you are facing certain destruction.

Conclusion

How do you stand today? Are you living a Christless or a Christlike life? It’s easy to say that we’re living a Christlike life, especially in a setting like church, but evaluate yourself today. At home, at school, at work, at the baseball field, is your life such that people would look at you and see Jesus Christ or would they simply see you? As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to look and live differently. We place our faith in King Jesus, we endure through persecution and we have confidence that one day we will receive our reward whenever Christ returns.

Encourage others to consider where they stand and invite them to stop living in sin! To repent, place their faith in Jesus and follow after Him. In all things, friends, have faith in God - don’t fall back, don’t backslide, heed this warning so that you don’t have to fear the judgment of falling into the hands of the living God. Persevere. Choose joy. Have confidence. Love God. Love others!