The Dangerous Offense and the Dreadful Judgment

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:26-31
• Sermon
• Prayer of Closing

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Sermon Title: The Dangerous Offense and the Dreadful Judgment

Scripture: Hebrews 10:26-31

I. Introduction: Context and Background

A. The "big therefore" of Hebrews 10:19 follows the heart of the letter (Hebrews 4–10:18)

B. Two possessions of the believer established in Hebrews 10:19-25

1. Confidence to enter the holy place
2. A great high priest

C. Three "let us" exhortations in Hebrews 10:19-25 — drawing near, holding fast, stirring up one another

D. The message of Hebrews: wooing and warning — wooing us to Christ and warning us against leaving Christ

E. Four warning passages in Hebrews

1. Hebrews 2:1-4 — warning against drifting from the gospel
2. Hebrews 3:7-19 — warning against falling into unbelief
3. Hebrews 6:4-8 — warning of the consequence of falling into unbelief
4. Hebrews 10:26-31 — the crescendo and final warning of the book

II. The Nature of the Dangerous Offense

A. Deliberate sinning (v. 26)

1. Not occasional sin, but a continual life pattern — a chosen path viewed from a higher vantage point
2. Scripture distinguishes intentional from unintentional sin — Numbers 15:30 warns that the one who sins with a "high hand" shall be cut off
3. Proverbs 2:14-15 describes the deliberately sinning person as one who rejoices in evil and walks in crooked, devious ways
4. This is not a believer struggling with besetting sin, but one who rejects God's authority and flagrantly continues in sin (Phillips)

B. Deliberate sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth (v. 26)

1. The writer addresses a mixed congregation — a community like Israel in the wilderness, containing both true believers and unbelievers who profess outwardly
2. These have received the knowledge of the gospel, sat under the preached word, and enjoyed fellowship in the covenant community
3. Their going on in deliberate sin ultimately amounts to apostasy — manifesting outwardly what was always their inner state
4. 1 John 3:9 — no one born of God makes a practice of sinning; by this it is evident who are the children of God
5. The offense is made more serious by proximity to and profession of the truth — illustrated by Cain in Genesis 4, who was warned by God directly yet went on to murder his brother

C. Trampling underfoot the Son of God (vv. 29-30)

1. A vivid picture: Christ, to whom all things are subject, is treated as beneath one's foot — a denial of his lordship and a declaration that he is an impostor (Brown)
2. Profaning the blood of the covenant (v. 29)
   • Hebrews 9:13-14 — the blood of Christ purifies the conscience from dead works
   • The apostate was outwardly sanctified by profession (cf. 1 Corinthians 7 — the unbelieving spouse made holy by the believing spouse)
   • By rejecting Christ's blood, the apostate desecrates and holds it in contempt — treating the most valuable blood ever shed as worthless
3. Outraging the Spirit of grace (v. 29)
   • Ephesians 4:30 — do not grieve the Holy Spirit
   • Isaiah 63:10 — Israel rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit in the wilderness
   • The Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead who can be grieved, mocked, and insulted; he is the Spirit who applies the grace of Christ to believers
   • This person has rejected the Spirit of grace and said "I don't need it"

III. The Nature of the Dreadful Judgment

A. An end to the sacrifice for sins (v. 26)

1. The apostate has openly declared that Christ's sacrifice is no sacrifice for them
2. There is no other sacrifice that can atone — if Christ's sacrifice is rejected, there is no other hope
3. A final and dreadful pronouncement: nothing further can be done to deal with their guilt

B. A fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire (v. 27)

1. Many Christians have a low or distorted view of God's holy justice and just wrath — the danger of imagining a soft and squishy God; confusing "God is love" with "love is God"
2. This is not a purifying fire — not purgatory or universalism
3. Revelation 20:10-15 — everlasting judgment; the lake of fire where the wicked are tormented day and night forever
4. The consuming fire burns continually but never burns up — this judgment is the only expectation for those who reject Christ

C. A fearful repayment of vengeance by the living God (vv. 30-31)

1. God's just repayment is his personal vengeance against those who have made themselves his enemies
2. God's wrath is not capricious or self-indulgent as human anger often is — it is a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil; God is only angry where anger is called for (Packer)
3. v. 31 — "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" — he neither sleeps nor slumbers, is ever living, ever seeing, ever knowing, ever just

IV. Application

A. These warning passages are part of the way God keeps his own people — like the crook of a shepherd's staff pulling us back from danger

B. For those who are not God's people, these warnings are part of their condemnation; for the elect, they are a means of perseverance

C. Practical exhortations

1. Take care of your confession of Christ — do not stop believing; hold fast (Hebrews 10:23)
2. Keep watch on yourself and your doctrine (cf. 1 Timothy 4:16)
3. Stir up one another to love and good works — the outworking of faith (Hebrews 10:24)
4. Rest in Christ who has entered behind the curtain as our great high priest — approach with confidence