"Do Not Throw Away Your Confidence"

Hebrews 10:26-39

Passages like this are sometimes difficult for us.

We don't like to think about the fact that sometimes Christians apostatize.

But I suspect you've all seen it-

someone you knew and trusted,

someone you thought was sound in faith, hope and love,

turns away from Christ and rejects the faith.

What is apostasy?

And how can we avoid it?

Hebrews clearly distinguishes between two kinds of Christians:

"those who shrink back and are destroyed"

and "those who have faith and preserve their souls." (v39)

Some would prefer to say that "those who shrink back" aren't really Christians.

But a Christian is one who professes Jesus as Lord.

A Christian is one who has been baptized into Christ and his church.

If you have been baptized, then you are a Christian.

And there are two kinds of Christians...

the faithful and the apostates;

those who hold fast their confidence,

and those who throw it away.

Introduction: What Is Your Confidence?

What is your "confidence"?

Hebrews has used this language before:

3:6-"Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.

And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence

and our boasting in our hope."

4:16-because of what Christ has done, "let us then with confidence

draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help in time of need."

This was the language he used to open our section in 10:19:

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places

by the blood of Jesus..."

Our confidence is that Jesus has paid the price for our sins in his once-for-all sacrifice.

Our confidence is that our conscience has been cleansed by his blood-

our sins have been washed away!

Our confidence is that Jesus sits at God's right hand

having brought us to maturity and completeness in himself.

In other words,

"My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness."

Your confidence is not grounded on yourself, but in Christ.

1. What happens if you throw it away? (10:26-31)

But verse 35 warns us against "throwing away your confidence."

And verses 26-31 warns us of what happens if we throw it away.

Verse 26 uses the language of "sinning deliberately."

What does "sinning deliberately" mean?

The language of "if we go on sinning deliberately"

suggests that the sin in view is already understood-

and the only sin in 10:19-25 is not drawing near, not holding fast,

and not stirring each other up to love and good works-

all of which can be summarized as "neglecting to meet together" in verse 25.

"Sinning deliberately," then, is synonymous with "throwing away your confidence" in verse 35.

It is apostasy.

After all, what do we do when we meet together?

We draw near to God in faith (verse 22).

We hold fast the confession of our hope (verse 23)

And we stir each other up to love and good works (verses 24-25).

So the heart of apostasy is neglecting to meet together:

it is refusing to draw near to God in faith,

letting go the confession of your hope,

and ignoring and abandoning each other.

To put it simply,

apostasy is refusing to worship God.

Hebrews 10:26-29 functions as the other bookend to Hebrews 6:4-6.

These two exhortations open and close the central exposition of Hebrews 6-10.

And 10:26-29 echoes the same principles of 6:4-6

"For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened,

who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

and have tasted the goodness of the word of God

and the powers of the age to come,

if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again

the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt."

In both cases the effect of apostasy is irreversible.

To reject the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is to reject the final, once-for-all sacrifice.

If you will not hold fast to him, then there is nothing to hold fast to!

The basic difference between 6:4-6 and 10:26-29 is the sacrificial language of chapter 10.

Having worked through the better priesthood, the better covenant, and the better sacrifice,

Hebrews is now able to state the same point of 6:4-6 in different language:

If rejecting the old covenant was bad-with its weak and futile sacrifices,

then how worse is it to reject the new covenant?!

When you were baptized you were marked with the blood of the covenant.

But when Hebrews speaks of apostasy,

he speaks of more than just rejecting your baptism.

Some of you were baptized as infants-but never came to a knowledge of the truth.

You were baptized in Christian churches,

but churches that did not do a very good job of teaching you.

Hebrews 10 isn't talking about people who were only half-taught.

"If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth."

You have heard the Word of God proclaimed,

you have received the knowledge of the truth.

These are people who understand exactly what they are doing.

They are not ignorant or confused.

This is wilful, prideful, deliberate rebellion.

If you then set aside the sacrifice of Jesus,

then there is nothing left for you but the wrath of God.

In Numbers 15:22-31 God distinguished between intentional and unintentional sins.

The "defiant" sinner was to be cut off from his people-put to death.

There are some who sin wilfully and defiantly.

Calculated, persistent renunciation of the truth results in

"a fearful expectation of judgment,

and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries."

Contempt for the blood of Christ will receive retribution more terrible

than the death penalty of the old covenant.

Wilful contempt for Moses's law brought death.

Wilful contempt for Christ's sacrifice brings nothing less than hell itself.

The descriptions of what the apostate does are graphic:

he has "spurned the Son of God"--

contrast this with Hebrews regular call to "hold fast" to Christ.

He has "profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified"--

in other words, he has treated holy things as common and vulgar.

And he has "outraged the Spirit of grace"--

the same Spirit that was poured out upon the church at the day of Pentecost,

he has now deliberately insulted.

The apostate had once "held" to Christ-since they had "received the knowledge of the truth."

But they have not "held fast."

The apostate did believe-in some sense-they had, as Jesus put it,

"received the word with joy" (Mt 13:20).

But the word did not take root.

In the end, the apostate did not hold fast to their confidence,

and as Jesus put it in Mt 13, that was because they had no root in them!

Likewise, the apostate had been sanctified by the blood of the covenant.

To sanctify means to set apart, or consecrate.

All those who are baptized are set apart and consecrated to Christ.

All those who participate in the life of the church are participating

in the sanctified (set apart) people of God.

The sacrifice of Jesus, after all, established a new covenant-

and that covenant is fleshed out in history.

And in history, all sorts of people become part of that covenant.

But those who treat the sanctifying blood of the covenant as a common thing

face God's judgment without hope,

because in the end, they do not have Christ.

As our confession puts it, there are those who have "some common operations of the Spirit,"

but "never truly come unto Christ." (Confession 10.4)

The Holy Spirit worked in them for a time.

They were sanctified by the blood of the covenant.

But they do not, in the end, draw near, hold fast,

or stir each other up to love and good works.

Because in the end, they forsake the assembly-

they wilfully and defiantly reject the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And because of this, Hebrews warns (read 10:30-31)

The quotations from Deuteronomy 32 in verse 30

originally emphasized the vindication of God's people,

but here they are used to remind us of the implication of that vindication:

that when God vindicates his people,

he will also bring vengeance against the wicked.

We may have confidence that God will take vengeance upon apostates.

Why is that a good thing?

Think of the recent sex scandals in the Roman Catholic church.

Priests who abused those who trusted them.

How many of Christ's little ones are still angry at the church,

because of what happened to them?

Remember what Jesus says:

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,

it would be better for him to have a great millstone

fastened around his neck

and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Mt 18:6)

The Lord will judge his people.

And while we take comfort in that-that God will vindicate us one day-

we must also heed the warning.

2. Remember the roots and fruits of your confidence (10:32-35)

Having provided this terrifying warning,

Hebrews then turns to comfort (just as in chapter 6).

He starts with the fruit of confidence:

Read 32-34

Apparently his hearers had endured through persecution.

And so he calls them to remember the past-

remember how you endured through suffering.

You endured so much:

don't cast away your hope now!

If God has forgiven your sins in Jesus Christ,

if God has forgiven all of your sins in Jesus Christ,

if God has forgiven all of your sins through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ,

then why would you throw that away?

The confidence that we have in Christ is a confidence that bears rich fruit.

If you have peace with God, then you can endure anything.

You may not be facing persecution right now.

But you are facing suffering.

Several of you have recently moved to a new city,

leaving behind family and friends.

Others are preparing to move, with all of the attendant worries and concerns.

Some face illness, challenges at work or at home,

and some of you are discouraged.

Remember that you yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one!

Because the fruits of your confidence grows out of the root of your confidence.

What is that root?

You have a better and abiding possession-v34

What is the "better possession and an abiding one"?

What is this promise that you receive?

6:12-be "imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises"

9:15-those who are called receive "the eternal inheritance"

What is this promised eternal inheritance?

We sometimes call it "eternal life."

We could also call it eternal fellowship with God

Your confidence has a great reward.

And that reward is God himself.

There is no greater reward-no greater inheritance.

3. Doing the will of God (10:36-39)

Therefore "you have need of endurance,

so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised."

What does it mean to do the will of God?

We saw that Jesus sang Psalm 40, "I have come to do your will, O God,"

where God's will was that he become the perfect sacrifice.

Obviously, that is not our calling.

What does it mean for us to do the will of God.

This is what we saw last time from verses 22-25:

"Draw near"

"Hold fast"

"Consider how to stir each other up to love and good works."

We draw near to God in worship.

We hold fast the confession of our hope-even in the midst of trials.

And we encourage each other daily.

We need endurance as we do the will of God.

We are constantly tempted to take the "easy" route

and throw away our confidence.

But notice that "doing the will of God" is not the root of your confidence.

Your confidence is what Christ has done.

Doing the will of God is not what gives you confidence,

it is what you are called to do on the basis of your confidence.

And "when you have done the will of God,

you will receive what is promised."

Scripture tells us regularly that the final judgment is a judgment

according to what we have done in the flesh (Mt 25:31-46; 1 Peter 1:17).

Paul tells us that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body,

whether good or evil." (2 Cor 5:10)

But as we've seen throughout Hebrews,

if Jesus Christ has taken your sins upon himself,

then all of your sins have been forgiven.

And at the final judgment,

not one of those sins will be held against you.

Therefore, when God judges you for what you have done in the body,

all he will say is "well done, good and faithful servant."

Because you have endured in doing the will of God.

Another way of saying this is in verses 37-39.

"Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;

but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,

but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

This is a quote from Habakkuk 2:3-4,

but the author of Hebrews has altered it slightly.

In Habakkuk 2 God says that 'the end' will surely come; it will not delay.

But Hebrews turns this into a statement about the coming of Christ.

This is accurate enough-the coming of Christ is the coming of the end!

But what he does with verse 4 is even more interesting.

The LXX translation said "if he draws back, my soul will not take pleasure in him,

but my righteous one shall live by his faith."

Hebrews inverts the order.

This has the effect of distinguishing between the "coming one"

and the "righteous one."

In other words,

Hebrews has taken what the LXX applied to the Messiah and applies it to us.

Jesus is the righteous one who lived by faith,

and because we are in Jesus, therefore we are called to live by faith as well

Hebrews looks at you and says,

Do not shrink back from Christ!

Believe!

Hold fast to him!

For it is only through faith that you will preserve your souls.

Passages like Hebrews 10 sometimes shake our assurance.

They are intended to do so!

Hebrews wanted to shake you.

Do not become complacent!

And do not put your confidence in yourself!

But fix your eyes upon Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith:

let your confidence be in him,

and then persevere in doing good,

endure in doing the will of God,

and when you have done the will of God you will receive what is promised.

When you live by faith you are doing the will of God,

as you draw near to God in faith,

as you hold fast to the confession of your hope,

and as you consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, you have promised to grant our requests which we make to you in the name of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and so we come before you with confidence that you hear us, and that through the continuing intercession of our Saviour, you will hear our petitions with favor, and will give us all that we ask according to your gracious will.

[pray for government/civic issues] We ask that you would give to them your Spirit and convert them to your will, that your Son, Jesus Christ, might be acknowledged as the true Sovereign King, whose government is over all earthly rulers. May they submit to his Lordship, that your name be glorified throughout this land, and your people allowed to worship you in peace and quietness.

[pray for the church/pastors/missionaries] We pray also, O faithful Father and Saviour, for your blessing upon all those whom you have ordained pastors of your holy flock. Direct and guide them by your Holy Spirit, that they may be faithful ministers of your gospel, as they seek to gather and restore all the wandering sheep to the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd. Deliver your church from those ravening wolves and false teachers who seek their own ambition and their own glory, rather than the exaltation of your holy name, or the salvation of the flock.

[pray for the spread of the gospel] We ask you O most gracious and merciful Father for all men everywhere. As it is your will to be acknowledged the Savior of the whole world, through the redemption purchased by Jesus Christ, grant that those who are still wandering in darkness and bondage to sin and death, may be brought by the illumination of your Holy Spirit and the preaching of your gospel to the true way of salvation, which is to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

[pray for the congregation] Finally, our Father, grant to us who are here gathered in your glorious name, that we might live before you in humility and joy. Never let us forget that we have been justified by faith, and are no longer under your righteous condemnation. Give us hearts full of faith and repentance, that we might be ever watchful against the deceitfulness of sin, putting to death the deeds of the flesh and holding fast to the grace which you have given us through the death and resurrection of Christ. Nourish our souls with the spiritual food of your Word and Sacraments, and sustain us by your power in the days ahead. Teach us to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and give us grace that we might love our neighbor as ourselves. Pour out your blessings upon each family, that husbands may love their wives in the humility of Christ; that wives may submit to their husbands with our Savior's kindness; that parents may train up their children with the gentleness of your grace; and that children may obey their parents with the joy that flows from your Son. May we all grow up into him who is the head, your Son Jesus Christ, encouraging one another to love and good deeds.

Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit and work in us your grace, that we may be able to resist all temptations, and persevere in our spiritual war until we shall attain the full victory, to triumph at the final resurrection in your kingdom with our Captain and Protector, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.