Hold Fast to Your Faith

Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We're at Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 through 39 all about assurance of salvation and What do we do? With those who have trampled underfoot the blood of Christ, so apostasy versus assurance. So let's have some coffee We'll pray we'll get into God's Word Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word. God, we need your Holy Spirit. Lord, we need you to instruct us, to train us, to encourage us. Please help us, Lord, to understand your word. Please apply it to our lives. You are so good. You're gracious to us, Lord. You meet us in our weaknesses. You lift us up by your strength. So, Father, please help us. Care for us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, here we go. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 26 through 39.
For if we sin willfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. for yet a while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry and the just shall live now the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back my soul has no pleasure in him but we are not those who draw back to perdition, but those who believe to the saving of the soul."
Wow, what an amazing passage. We need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So what's this about? Well, this is two different groups got going on here, right? You have one group, people who are going back to perdition, and then other people who are clinging onto the promises. So, what's this first part talking about, verses 26 down through 31? Well, 26 down through 31, is talking about.
For if we, and I'm going to kind of help smooth out this translation a little bit that I think will help us. For if we are sinning intentionally after we receive the knowledge of the truth, Right. This is this is saying if if you had the blood of the covenant, right, you were you were marked with baptism. You may have even taken the Lord's Supper by all outwards appearances. It seemed like you were in the covenant, but you were really just in the outward side of the covenant. You were like those Israelites who were circumcised, maybe even ate the Passover, but didn't actually believe in the promises.
He says there's there's no hope. Because there's no faith. He says this is a problem, right? This led to what later, there was a group of people in the early church called the Novations, and what they said is that, oh, hold on, because of passages like this, if you sin at all after baptism, then there's nothing acceptable to you. You're lost.
Actually, this would take such hold that people would wait until they were on their deathbeds to be baptized. And that's not what this is talking about, right? This is talking about that unpardonable sin, that sin that John says that we're not to pray for. that there is a sin. But I'm not telling you to pray for that, right?
There are people who have trampled the blood of Jesus Christ, people who have heard to know it seemed like their lights were illuminated. They saw the path. They know the way of Jesus Christ. They saw the blood of the covenant and they have trampled it underfoot. These are people who are willfully saying, I don't give to rats. I just don't care. I don't care about Christ. I don't care about the word. I don't know. I don't care about this at all.
I mean, this is one of those sad things that we see even today in our culture that's becoming more and more popularized as people are deconstructing their faith. Right, as there's even coaching classes that people can pay for on deconversion. People who once seemed like they loved Christ, but the world seems to have taken hold of their hearts. And sadly, I mean, there's even examples of this with really famous Christian pastors and their children, their children who grew up in godly homes where their parents prayed for them and tried to love them and nurture them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And now those same children are who had once been communicant members in the church now have tick tock and Instagram followings and stuff that.
Are purposely. Trying to get people to not be Christians. That's that's the type of people that this is talking about here. And he says, no, no, this is this is the Lord's area. The Lord handles that. For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. The Lord will judge his people.
And it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I've talked to these parents. Wept a thumb as their children have known better. And they've apostatized and walked away. Seen it happen. That's a sad thing. It's a scary thing, because it is a scary thing to fall into the hands of a God who judges justly. And so we should be pleading and praying that God would protect people in the church.
This is exactly why he had said just before this, right? Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, right? As is the manner of some, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approaching, right? There's going to be a judgment day. And so we need to be provoking each other towards love and good deeds. We need to be encouraging each other, exhorting one another, keep the faith, keep going. Remember the blood of Jesus Christ. Don't give up. And he says, but that's not you. He gives them a contrast. He says, but that's not you.
You don't need to go back to the Old Testament sacrifices. You don't need to go back to the temple. You don't need to go back to the priest. You don't need to go back to all that. No, no, you had something better. He says, remember what it was like for you? You were illuminated. You endured great struggles. You suffered. You were made a spectacle. You went through tribulations. You had compassion on me and my chains. You fully accepted the plundering of your goods.
So don't cast away your confidence. I think that's the heart of this. Verse 35 and 36. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. And then he quotes Habakkuk 2, 3 through 4. And then he ends with these words. But we are not those who draw back to perdition, but those who believe to the saving of the soul. I'm just going to jump straight to seek calling. I want to encourage you to endure to the end. You're not one of those who's turning back.
You can look at your life and you could see the evidences of faith. And I want to just provoke you, encourage you, exhort you towards love and good deeds to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, your great high priest. To not let your eyes grow dim and dark, but to look to Jesus with more and more faith, more and more love to endure. And I pray for you and I'm going to be praying right now that the Lord would bless you with strength, with a faith that hopes for and is the substance of things not seen. that you would have the evidences clear in your heart and in your mind why you love God and follow in the new covenant and that you would endure to the end.
Let's pray. Father, we do grieve. We confess to you that there are people who we know and love who have walked away from you. And Father, that is a grievous thing for it is It's a heavy thing to fall into the hands of a just God without Jesus. But Father, we pray that you would let us endure to the end. Lord, we pray that you would let us walk in your ways, follow in your paths, hold firm to your promises. Lord, you are good, very good. And so, Father, give us faith. Let us walk by faith. Give us strength, Lord. We need your Holy Spirit. Help us, we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.
May you know that the chief good shepherd loves you. Carries you like a lamb in his bosom. and is with you in the near darkest of hours, leading you beside the still waters, into the green pastures, and will even be with you in the valley of the shadow of death. I'll see you next time. Bye.