Join us as we dive deep into the tenth chapter of Hebrews, exploring one of the most profound warnings in the scripture. Discover how faith is portrayed differently across the Old and New Testaments and the significance of this in the context of grace and salvation. As we examine the new covenant presented in Hebrews, we unravel the transformative power of faith in Christ and what it truly means to walk in righteousness. This episode will leave you with a renewed understanding of God’s grace and how it applies to our daily lives.
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.
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Open up your Bibles right now to chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews. What we have here is, and we’ll get into this in just a moment, we have in verse 26 there probably the greatest warning that is in the scriptures from God. And probably the most stringent warning in the midst of the grace of God is in those passages of Scripture. And we’ll go over those once again very briefly today. You see, at the end of chapter 10, you’re then going to see illustrations of people in the Old Testament that were credited as walking by faith, even though, as we mentioned last week, there’s only two places in the Old Testament where the word faith is used. which is a surprise to some people. But I believe that God preserved that word, faith, in such a way that it could not be misconstrued with faith in anything except the ultimate expression of our faith, who is Christ Jesus. And I believe that there’s almost a protection of that word until such time that the finality of the cross and the reality of the resurrection had taken place in human history. And then throughout the entire New Testament, the word faith is used continually, but twice only in the Old Testament, basically referring to the fact that the people had no faith and then the fact that faith is the only thing that pleases God. Now, if you’ll take a look here at the end of chapter 10, I would put a parenthesis around chapter 11. And what I mean by that is these are illustrations. He’s given us doctrinal truth. And then he’s going to give us an entire chapter of illustrations and then pick up where he had left off at the end of chapter 10 in chapter 12. So in essence, as you would be reading at the end of chapter 10, he who is coming, he who is coming and will not delay, but my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Go right over to chapter 12. Therefore, since we’re surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw everything off, everything that hinders and the sin. Singular does not say sins, but the sin. Now, what did Jesus identify as the sin of the world? unbelief in him the sins of the world have all been put behind the back of god never to see them again are we together god put all sins on christ jesus no man will ever go to hell because of his sins only the sin singular of the rejection of the son of god and so we’re going to deal here for just a moment i want us to back up once again to chapter 10 And I’m going to, in review, give again this warning. In chapters 9 and 10, the author of Hebrews introduced to us this new covenant, a covenant of grace. It is not that the covenant had not been in existence prior to the writing of Hebrews. But for some reason, God felt that it was important to set aside an entire book of the Bible. And interesting enough, we do not know for sure who was the author of the book of Hebrews, but to set it apart in such a way that there’s no doubt that this book came from God. It starts out talking about how Jesus is superior to all things, superior to Abraham, superior to Moses, superior to Joshua, that the covenant that he represents is superior to the old covenant, that his priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood. It shows the superiority of Christ Jesus in all things. And then goes ahead to introduce to us this covenant of grace that we’re in. And so he’s talking about that this is a covenant that I’ll make with him after that time, says the Lord. I will write my laws, and that’s the laws of Christ. Jesus said two laws. He said, what’s the greatest of the law? He said to love your Lord, your God, with all your mind, heart, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. And upon these two hinge the fulfillment of all of the law and the prophet, meaning the whole Old Testament. It fulfills it. Love fulfills the law. And so he’s not talking about the law, singular, of Moses. Whenever the law of Moses is mentioned, it’s singular, law. Here he says, I will put my laws, those are the laws of Christ, in their hearts. And I’ll remember them no more, and I’ll write them in their minds. And then he says, their sins and lawless acts, I will remember how often? No more. And where these… will be forgiven. Is that what it says? Have been forgiven. That’s past tense, folks. There’s no more sacrifice for sins. Guess what? It’s finished. What did he cry out from the cross? It’s finished. How come? Because it’s finished. There’s no more sacrifice for sins. There’s no more shedding of blood for sins. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. So the forgiveness issue has been dealt with one time by God. And for how long? Forever. And for how many people? The entire world from back to Adam forward to eternity. That’s why no man will ever go to hell because of his sins. Only the sin of the rejection of the Son of God who came to provide that for you and me. And so you have the work of Christ. You see, guys, we get into this thing where people say, I believe in Jesus, and we don’t have a clue what he’s done. Or if we do, it’s superficial. I believed in Jesus for 36 years of my life until I came to know him. They’d say, do you believe Jesus died on a cross? Sure, I believe that. Do you think Jesus was raised from the dead? Yeah, I believe that. But so does Satan. He was there. You say to Satan, did you believe Jesus died on a cross? Unfortunately, yes. Do you think he was raised from the dead? Yeah, unfortunately, I saw that too. Do you believe he’s seated at the right hand of God? Yeah, I go talk to him all the time. Well, how come you’re not saved? Because he didn’t believe what he knew to be true with faith. He didn’t accept what Jesus had done for him. And there are many Christians today sitting in our pews in the same boat. We say, oh, yes, Jesus cried out, it’s finished. But and we’ve become a bunch of billy goat Christians. But you’ve got to keep short accounts with God. You’ve got to keep your sins forgiven. It’s up to you. And God says, I am not going to accept that. I came to this earth to take away the sins of the world, and I’m not going to accept your religion. I’m not going to accept your religion that says you have to go to a priest to keep your sins forgiven. And I’m not going to accept your Protestant religion saying you got a first John one nine to keep your sins forgiven. I’m not going to accept that. I love you too much to water down what cost me my life to do. I’m not going to accept that. A warning came to us. And folks, as I say, this is the most stringent warning I know of in the New Testament. It’s a warning from God that says in verse 26, If you or we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of truth, what are we sinning against, folks? The knowledge of truth. What is the truth we’re sinning against? The fact that there’s sins and lawless acts, I will remember how often? No more. And we’re these sinners. will be or have been, have been forgiven. There’s no longer any sacrifice for sins. Put aside Jew, Jewish people, your sacrificial system. There’s no more day of atonement. There’s no more going and getting your sins forgiven through an animal sacrifice because there’s been a human sacrifice and his name was Jesus. not a blood of a bowling goat but the blood of God himself and when he went to the cross as the final sacrifice for sins God cried out from heaven propitiation has taken place in other words I am satisfied that the blood of my son was of such quality that it was able to take away the sins of the entire world back to Adam And forward to eternity. Propitiation. Has taken place. I am satisfied. With this offering. Now it says if you continually deliberately. Keep on sinning. Now folks. We have people. And they take these passages out of context. I imagine that if you’ve grown up in certain denominations, you are beat to death of this verse. If you keep on sinning, you’re going to go to hell. How many have ever heard that? Boy, you keep it up. I had a lady on the radio the other day. She said, well, now, what about these people that keep on sinning? I said, you mean like you? And she kind of giggled. I said, no, no, I mean like you. How long have you been a Christian? You know, 30 years. How long have you continued to keep on sinning? 30 years. That’s pretty consistent. If you want to pray that you’ll stop sinning, pray for death. Because that’s the only time you’re going to stop sinning. As long as you have this old flesh called the flesh, you’re going to keep sinning. Maybe not as much as you used to, but you’re going to keep giving in at one time or another to this flesh. Am I right or wrong? This old deal that you’ve got to stop sinning, that’s true. You will stop sinning. But when you do, you’re not going to be here. You’re going to be someplace else. And so it’s saying, if you deliberately keep on sinning, this isn’t talking about sinning. This isn’t talking about the nasty nine, the dirty dozen. This is talking about the sin of unbelief, the sin of sinning against the knowledge of truth. Sinning against the knowledge that Jesus has taken away your sins forever. And if that’s the case, why are you still 1 John 1, 9? Because that’s out of context. That isn’t even what the verse means. But we’ve made it to mean what our little theology we think means.
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Heard a man on the radio today about threw up, about tithing. Had a pastor friend of his say, And he wouldn’t marry somebody unless they tithed. He said, why? Would you marry a robber? That’s his reasoning. Robbing God. I think you morons. Do you know anything about the new covenant? Do you know anything about the fact that where there’s a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law and that you’re no longer under old Malachi? He’s Old Testament. You don’t tithe. Nothing wrong with tithing. That’s the way you supported the priesthood. But we don’t have Malachi as our priest. Who is our priest? jesus and to him it’s free will giving look in corinthians two chapters devoted to giving joyfully giving hilariously giving it without compulsion giving in accordance to what you do have not what you don’t have and to excel in what the grace of giving not the law of giving the grace of giving Now, some people sit and just whoopee that. Well, praise God, I don’t have to give anything anymore. That’s true, you don’t. But how appreciative are you to think you’re going to be if you’re not going to give to people who are telling you what the truth is? If you’re unwilling to give to people who are telling you truth, who are you willing to give to? And what are you willing to give to? Do you want to give to perpetuate this gospel or just let it die? And so if you’re sitting on your wallet… That too is not of God. Tithing isn’t of God. And sitting on your wallet isn’t of God. What is of God? To give joyfully. To give hilariously. To give without compulsion. And to excel in the grace of giving. Well, that’s a little sideline. Just had to comment on that. I wish I would have been in the service. I would have stood up and commented. No, I wouldn’t have been there. Now, guys, getting back to what he’s talking about here. He’s saying to us that if I came to do something and it cost me my life to pull this off and you’re playing games with this, I am not happy with you. If you’re playing games with what I came to accomplish, my life I laid down so that you could be a forgiven person and you’re still playing games with that and you think I’m happy with you, you’ve got another thing coming. Now listen to what he says. If you deliberately keep on sinning after you receive the knowledge of truth. Again, guys, people say to me sometimes, is Scripture memory good? Not necessarily. It depends on whether you memorize Scripture in context or not. If you memorize Scripture in context, it’s wonderful. If you memorize it out of context, it’ll destroy you. So when you’re memorizing Scripture, you better memorize, if you can, the whole chapter. Because then you’ll have it somewhat in context. So here’s the context. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we receive the knowledge of truth, what is the knowledge of truth he’s talking about? Your sins and lawless acts, I’ll remember no more. I don’t remember them. And where these have been forgiven, there’s no longer any sacrifice. Not only have I taken away, there’s no more sacrifice for sins. I have dealt with sin one time through my son, and I’m not dealing with it anymore. Are we together? Only one sin I’m dealing with. And it’s the sin of the rejection of the Son of God who pulled this off for you and me. Now, if you’re not going to go along with that, if you’re going to say, well, yeah, but I like my games. I like to go to the priest. It makes me feel good. I like to keep short accounts with God. It makes me feel good. You know what God says? You’re going to feel good as you’re on your way to hell. I’m telling you guys, this is one stringent warning. It’s saying, do not deny what God said is finished. When God says something is finished, he means it is finished. And I don’t want your stupid religion connected with it. It’s done. It’s over. I want you to walk by faith in that truth. Because if you don’t, here’s what God says. All you have to look forward to is a fearful expectation of the judgment and the raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. What does that mean? Hell. What can cause you to go to hell? Stupidity. Religion. Not studying what the scripture says. Just listening to what your pastor says. And not checking him out. You deliberately keep on sinning after you receive the knowledge of truth. There’s no sacrifice for sins left. I’m sorry. I’m not going to make any more sacrifices. All you can look forward to is going to hell. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves, it doesn’t say he will, but deserves to be punished? Who’s done what? Trampled the Son of God underfoot. Treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant. What’s the blood of the covenant? The covenant we just read. Because of my death, their sins and lawless acts, I’ll remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there’s no longer any sacrifice for sins. It’s over. It’s done. Finish. Rejoice. It’s done. Treating as an unholy thing that blood of the covenant that sanctified him and who has insulted the spirit of grace. What caused Jesus to do this? Grace, love, mercy, kindness. You can’t, but I will. And we insult the spirit of grace by saying, uh-uh. No, I don’t mind you doing some of this, Jesus, but don’t cut me out. I want to have a little part of this. I want to show people how holy I am by how I keep my sins confessed. He says, you may think that I tolerate this, but I don’t. I don’t like it. You’re insulting my son. You’re treating as an unholy thing the blood of this covenant that sanctified you. You’re insulting the spirit of grace. You think of a bigger sin than these folks? Just think about what you are so concerned about and think how that matches up with insulting the spirit of grace that God gave to you. How’s whatever sin you committed this week… Tie up with treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that’s set you apart. Friends, Jesus did it all. And there’s only one thing he wants us to do. Walk by faith in it and quit trying to add to it and quit trying to add your little deals to it. In order to make you, in your own mind, look better. And feel better. I cannot get over this feeling. It makes me feel good. To know that I’ve got all my sins confessed. Yeah, it makes you feel good. What if you forgot one? Now how good do you feel? What if through your life you’ve forgotten a bunch of them? Oh, well, grace will cover that. Okay. Now, folks, that’s the warning. It’s a big one, isn’t it? This isn’t something God treating lightly. He’s saying this is what truth is. And if you deliberately keep on sinning after you’ve received the knowledge of truth, there’s no more sacrifice you can depend upon. The only thing you can look forward to if you’re not going to depend upon that sacrifice is hell because all these other sacrifices won’t hack it. Are we together? Now we go over to chapter 12. Therefore, again, chapter 11, a whole list of people who it was credited to them as righteousness who walk by faith. And then now in chapter 12, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin. Again, what is the sin? He doesn’t say the sins that so easily entangle us, but the sin that easily entangles us. What’s the sin that easily entangles us? Not trusting Jesus. What do you think is going on when we’re trying to add to what he said is finished? What do you think that is except what it says? It’s a sin that entangles you. Why is it entangling you? Because it’s saying this is what you need to do to keep yourself forgiven. When Jesus said, it’s over. What are we doing when Jesus said it’s finished and we say it isn’t? Calling God a liar. Treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified us. Calling him a liar. You said it’s finished, Lord, but you just don’t realize how good it makes me feel to keep short accounts with God. Folks, the more that I understand these truths, the deeper it gets to me. I don’t think I could have preached this sermon five years ago today. I’m just beginning. Because I am convinced that what it says, that when Christ Jesus, that you am resisted to the point of shedding your blood, when it’s talking about us, it’s saying, if you don’t understand this, how are you going to understand what I’m getting ready to tell you? And so he says, throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for it. What is perseverance? Hanging in there. Hanging in there. You know, you have people that say, well, gee, I did it again. Hmm. Well, it’s real simple. You know, confess 1 John 1, 9 it, and then you’ll be okay. Okay, I do that. Then next day, I did it again. Is that perseverance? No, that’s just keeping up. That’s just yourself just thinking that you’re keeping up with everything. He says, I’ve done it. Keep that in your mind. It is over. You know whether you’re in Christ or whether you’re not. You know whether you’re playing church or whether you’re not. But have you come to faith, which is what this book is about, have you come by faith in the totality of the forgiveness of sins? That’s what your faith is in. Not that he forgave your sins. You could have faith in that in a bull and goat. But that he took away your sins from the eyes of God never to see them again. That’s what you put your faith in. Have you put your faith in the fact that your Jesus, that you say you believe in, has taken away my sins forever, all of them, out of the way from the eyes of God, never to see them again? Is that what your faith is in? Or is your faith in, well, he forgave all my sins up to the day that I was saved. He cleared the deck, but the rest of them were up to me. Believe that? You’re not saved. That isn’t Jesus. There’s no Jesus in the Bible that died for your sins up to the day you were saved and from now on it’s up to you. So you’ve got your faith in another Jesus.
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Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
