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Transcript 187C
Deliberate Sin and Our Salvation [Heb 10:26-31]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. I wonder if you would explain Hebrews 10:26-31.
HC: Okay. The question is raised concerning Hebrews 10:26-31, where it says, "If we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries." And then it goes on, "A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the spirit of grace?"
If we would isolate these verses from the rest of the Bible (and many people do this very thing), we could readily conclude that after we have been saved, and if we then deliberately sin, we are going to lose our salvation, we are going to be under the wrath of God. And this is strongly suggested here because it talks about receiving the knowledge of the truth, and it's speaking of the fact that we were sanctified. And so it strongly suggests that we could lose our salvation.
But before we can ever arrive at a conclusion concerning the meaning of a verse or verses, we must read them in the light of everything else in the Bible. First of all, when we study the Bible, we find all kinds of references to the fact that once we have been born again, we cannot lose our salvation. The Bible teaches emphatically, in such a passage as John 5:24, that if we believe in Him who was sent, Christ, we have eternal life. And that is a present situation with us. And if we have eternal life, it means that it's life that cannot end. It's eternal in nature. We could never lose that life.
More than that, it says we have passed from death into life, and we do not come into judgment. In John 10:27 Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice and follow Me, and I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. And no one shall snatch them out of My hand. And My Father is greater than I, and no one shall snatch them out of His hand."
And we read in the closing verses of Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God, neither life nor death, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, and so on. And we read in Ephesians 1:12 and 13 that He gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe on Him, as the guarantee, or as the down-payment of their inheritance. And we read in Philippians 1:6, I believe, that He who has begun this good work in us will bring it to completion at the Day of the Lord, or words to that effect.
In other words, the Bible is loaded with verses which say that once we are born again, we cannot lose our salvation. So we have to keep all of this in mind when we read these verses. Now the first thing that we read here is that it speaks about a knowledge of. The Bible sometimes uses the phrase to "know God" to mean that we are born again. We are a child of God. This is particularly true in a passage such as I John 2:3, where it says that "Hereby we can know Him, if we keep His commandments."
But on the other hand, the word "know" is also sometimes used in the sense that we know intellectually. We have been brought up in the way of God, but we have never been born again. And this is the way knowledge would have to be understood here. For example, Israel of old had a tremendous knowledge of God through Moses, as they witnessed the signs and the wonders in the wilderness. And yet they perished because of unbelief.
Notice that it does not speak here of having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abraham, who is named as the father of believers, is spoken of as one whose faith was reckoned to him for righteousness. And so it's talking here about someone who intellectually knows God. Satan would be one of these. We read in Mark 3 where the demons said to Jesus, "We know who you are. You are the Holy One of God."
Now it speaks here of someone who has been sanctified. The word sanctified and the word holy are the same words. Most of the time, or very frequently in the Bible, when we read the word holy, it's speaking about born again believers, as for example, in I Peter 2:9, where it says, "Ye are a holy priesthood." But sometimes the word holy is not used in that sense. It's used in the sense of being set apart to serve God, because of being corporately a member of the kingdom.
An illustration of this is in I Corinthians 7:14, where it speaks of the children of a believing parent. It says that the children are holy. Now it's not saying that they are saved. But because one of the parents is in the Kingdom of God, by virtue of being born again, then the children corporately become members of the Kingdom of God, and are very close to salvation. They have been set apart for the service of God, and if they will trust in Him they too can be saved. And this is the way "holy" or "sanctified" has to be understood in this context, because it's speaking of someone who has known the way of salvation and yet deliberately has turned away from it.
Now another truth that shines through in this awesome passage here. And it is awesome, because you notice how God is emphasizing His wrath. In verse 31 it says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." You see, the Bible teaches that there are degrees of punishment.
In Luke 12, in verse 47 we read, "And that person who knew his master's will (notice the word know here) but did not make ready (or act according to his will) shall receive a severe beating." That is Hebrews 10:26-31. But then it goes on in Luke 12, "But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much is given, of him much will be required. And of him to whom men commit much, they will demand the more."
In other words, those who have never heard the Gospel from the Bible still stand guilty before God because they're sinners. But their punishment will be somewhat less severe. But if we know the way of salvation, and have been brought up in the context of salvation, and then turn away from it, we are walking toward hell. And you can depend upon it, if we continue that way, we are going to be in terrible trouble with God.
In other words, if we have been taught the way of salvation, because we have parents, or Sunday School teachers, or whatever, because we've been going to church, and yet when the chips are down, when we are finally faced with the decision, maybe the decision making process arrives at the moment when we're getting married, or when we're going to go to school, or when certain tragedies happen in our house. What is it going to do? What is our decision? Are we going to say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," because we believe with all our heart that Christ is our Savior and Lord, and we don't want to live in sin? Or are we going to take our stand with the world? Are we going to repudiate the Gospel that we have known so much about?
CALLER: They can be saved if they would turn back to God?
HC: Oh, yes. If we would read only Hebrews 10:26-31, we might conclude that if someone deliberately sins after receiving the knowledge of the truth, he has committed the unpardonable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, for which there is no forgiveness. But that cannot be.
First of all, God Himself tells us what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is, in Mark 3, where it is singled out as believing that Christ was under the power of Satan. For that there is no pardon for sin. But when we look elsewhere in the Bible concerning those who knew the way, and turned against the way, now can there be pardon for them? The Bible absolutely says, "Yes, yes."
A beautiful passage that speaks to this, amongst many many others, is Isaiah 55, where God is coming to Israel, who has repeatedly turned away from Him, even they knew the way. He says in verse 6 of Isaiah 55: "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that He may have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
CALLER: This person is a new Christian, and they feel the Holy Spirit and feel that they're saved, and then in a couple of days it's gone. And they feel like they're not saved. And then it comes back. What can you say?
HC: What happens when there are those who have spiritual highs and spiritual lows? On one day they feel like they're walking on Cloud 9, and Christ feels so close to them, the Holy Spirit seems to be so prominent in their lives, and two days later they are not sure at all that they are saved.
You see, what do we trust in? Do we trust in our feelings? Do we trust in our emotions? Have you ever awakened in the morning, and it's a grey and dismal day, and you didn't sleep very well? Everything looks kind of negative, doesn't it?
On the other hand, have you awakened in the morning after a restful night's sleep, and the sun is shining as you leap out of bed, and everything looks good? These are emotions, and they're not trustworthy at all. We don't walk by feelings or emotions. We have feelings and emotions, but our trust is in the Word of God. That is the authority. That is the standard. That is the rock. That is the foundation. We read the Bible and feast upon it.
Now one of the problems of our life is that we very frequently suffer from spiritual malnutrition. Now if you go two days without eating, or maybe even skip a meal, you begin to feel that it isn't quite so good. Right? You begin to feel headachy. You feel restless perhaps. And if you would continue to go without food, pretty soon you would become physically weak. You're suffering from malnutrition. Now what's the remedy for malnutrition? Food, good food, that is properly taken.
And so it is with spiritual malnutrition. A lot of people who are born again believers wonder why they feel so cold, spiritually. They don't have the joy of salvation. They may even be wondering, "Am I really saved?" They find that even to read the Bible is hard, to get back into it. They're suffering from spiritual malnutrition. They are very weak spiritually.
Now the answer is exactly like that for physical malnutrition. Start eating. But what is the Bread and Water of Life? It is the Word of God. Start eating. There's a feast there. And spend a few hours a few nights a week, reading, and getting more and more acquainted with the Word of God. And you'll find that your life spiritually becomes more constant, more secure and stronger, because as you're reading the Word God is giving you assurances of His faithfulness. He's giving you word pictures of the nature of your salvation. You're beginning to discover more and more cause for joy. Just think, this is me that God is talking about; I'm the one who is saved.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
HC: You're welcome. Good night.