Exhortations and Warnings About Christ’s Sacrifice
Isaiah 26:20–21; Habakkuk 2:3–4; Hebrews 10:19-39
March 19, 2017 • Download this sermon (PDF)
Congregation of Christ: One of the most reassuring and comforting doctrines of the Bible is what is called “perseverance of the saints.” We believe that all true Christians who have been chosen by God will never lose their salvation after believing and trusting in Christ alone. We have life eternal, so that we do not lose and find salvation repeatedly. But many evangelicals resent this doctrine, saying that it would lead Christians to be negligent and lazy, and to licentious living.
In response, we believe that a true Christian is chosen by God to be “holy and blameless” (Eph 1:4), is a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17), and “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph 2:10). Anyone who professes faith in Christ without bearing good fruits is most likely not a genuine believer. The saying is true, “If you lose it, you never had it.” Paul sums up this doctrine, “He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it to the end” (Phil 1:6).
Our text is the end of a long doctrinal exposition of the superiority of Christ over all things prescribed in the Old Testament law. He is the superior High Priest, over a superior new covenant, serving us from a superior temple, because he himself is the Temple. This long exposition began in Hebrews 4:14-16, which is closely parallel to verses 19-23 of our text:[footnote]George H. Guthrie, Hebrews, The NIV Application Commentary Book 15 (Zondervan: 1998), Kindle Edition, Kindle Location 7002.[/footnote]
In the New Testament letters like Paul’s epistles and the Book of Hebrews, the writers usually start with explanations of doctrines related to the problem in the church at hand. This doctrinal explanation is then followed by exhortations arising out of the doctrine. Correct doctrine is useless without faith and good deeds. For example, in Hebrews 4, the writer explains that the Israelites in the wilderness failed to enter their rest in the Promised Land because of unbelief and disobedience. Then he exhorts them, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (verse 11).
So here in our text this morning, the Preacher launches a long series of exhortations. These exhortations are based on two things: (1) we have confidence to enter the holy places because of Christ’s sacrifice; and (2) we have a great High Priest who serves us in the heavenly temple. These exhortations end in a promise of a reward by God to all who persevere in the faith.
In addition to these exhortations, our text also has a warning that they and us must not shrink back from the faith even in the face of severe persecutions and sufferings.
Be Confident to Enter the Holy Places
To better understand why we are to be confident to enter the holy places, let us go back to the day that Jesus was crucified. Matthew tells us that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” What is so important about this seemingly insignificant event that compelled Matthew (also Mark 15:38 and Luke 23:45) to tell us about it?
Access to the Holy of Holies is given by God only to the high priest as he enters it once a year on the Day of Atonement to sprinkle the sacrificial blood on the ark of the covenant for the people and for himself (Heb 9:7). As he fearfully enters the Most Holy Place through the curtain, he enters the dwelling-place of God amid his people Israel. The veil served as a warning to all God’s people, including the high priest, that any unauthorized entry into the Most Holy Place meant death.
The writer tells us that this curtain of separation represents the body of Christ broken on the cross for our sins. In his death, his body was torn and “broken” for the complete forgiveness of our sins. When God ripped open the inner veil of the Temple, he showed the Jews that the way into God’s most holy dwelling-place, heaven itself, is not through the Temple anymore.
Therefore, he says, a “new and living way” was opened for God’s people to enter the Most Holy Place. It is a new way because the old way through a high priest performing animal sacrifices has ceased, and the new way through Christ the Eternal High Priest offering himself as a sacrifice was inaugurated. It is a living way because the entrance into God’s presence is not through dead animals but through a Lamb slain and then raised from the dead (Gen 3:15; Rev 5:12). Christ the High Priest is a priest forever (Heb 7:23-24), having the power of an “indestructible life” (Heb 7:16). He now lives forever!
So we are to be confident in drawing near to God because he has forgiven all our sins in Christ’s sacrifice. The word “confidence” means “a state of boldness, courage, fearlessness, in the presence of a person of high rank.”[footnote]Bauer, W., W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., rev. and ed. by Frederick William Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 781.[/footnote] In our text, we stand before the presence of God himself. As people who have been privileged to enter into God’s presence by the work of Christ on the cross, how are we to respond to this blessing?
First, draw near to God. How? Not with presumption and pride, but “with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22). Our faith is a “conviction” or “certainty” that God’s forgiveness is real and trustworthy. It is not “blind faith” based on feelings, but objective because Christ really lived and died for us in history. Drawing near to God is also not just going to church, as if the church building is where God dwells. Rather, it is praying to God continually, whether in public or in the privacy of our homes.
As God’s people who have been cleansed of sin, we have confidence to draw near to God when we need mercy and grace, forgiveness, strength in faith, and help and perseverance during trials and sufferings. We also have confidence that we are not under God’s wrath when we enter God’s heavenly places (Exo 19:12-13), since those who are clean and perfect—in Christ—can enter.
Second, hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. When we draw near to God, it means that we want to hear him speak and then respond to his word. God has spoken in these last days through his Son. And our profession of faith is the word of his Son in the Scriptures read by us and preached by his apostles and now his ministers. Just as the Hebrews were exhorted to be firm in the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3), we too are to hold fast tightly to this confession without wavering, without slipping even in the midst of false teachings, persecutions and sufferings.
Third, stir up one another in the church. Apparently, some of the Jewish Christians were not attending the regular gatherings of the church, especially on the Lord’s Day. They might have been fearful for their lives because of persecution. Or it was just a case of mere apathy, and being entangled with the world’s pleasures?
When we enter the Most Holy Place, we enter as the church in corporate worship of God and Christ. Therefore, God says, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (verses 24-25). There are two exhortations here. The first is to pay close attention to loving and doing good works for one another. We are to motivate each other to these good works.
The second is not forsaking or abandoning the regular assembly of God’s people to hear the doctrines of our faith, participate in the sacraments, and strengthen each other’s faith. They were not consistently present in the worship services, and not involved in the life of the church. In 3:13, the writer sees this gathering as necessary so they do not become hardened by sin. And we are to do these things until the day of Christ’s return, because sins that weaken our profession of faith will not cease until that day comes.
Do Not Shrink Back from the Faith
The Preacher then follows his exhortations with a stern warning to those who do not listen to God’s Word. If they continue willfully sinning, they will only expect a fearful judgment by fire, alluding to hell. He gives an example of a person who is condemned to death if he violated the law of Moses. How much worse, he says, will the punishment be on the one who continues sinning after hearing the truth of the gospel? If he rejects Christ later, he has nowhere else to go but hell, like God’s fiery judgment on Sodom and on Aaron’s two disobedient sons.
This judgment is much more serious than that of the breakers of the old covenant laws. Why? Because they in effect rejected the superior High Priest who offered the superior once-for-all sacrifice. God lists three charges against those who turn their backs on Christ. It is like “trampling the Son of God underfoot.” Remember what the Iraqis did to the pictures and statues of Saddam Hussein after he fell from power? In their hatred and contempt of the dictator, they violently destroyed the statues and trampled his pictures. The second charge is that they make Christ’s sacrifice as “unholy,” treating it as unclean. To them, the one who has made them “holy” is himself unholy. The last indictment is that they have “outraged the Spirit of grace.” This last charge is what Jesus called the unpardonable sin: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit! (Matt 12:31-32).
The writer then quotes Deuteronomy 32:35-36, which says that God is the avenger and the judge of those in his covenant community who have rejected him. He then gives a fearful warning, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” How much more terrible it is for those who have heard the gospel and then fell away, than those who have never heard! Those who fall away will be helpless when they fall into the hands of God and his almighty, terrifying power.
But after this warning, the Preacher again turns to an exhortation, “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” In the face of persecution, be bold in being identified with Christ by a world full of God’s enemies. Then the writer quotes two prophets. One is from Isaiah 26:20-21, when God promised that he will come to punish wicked people. The other is from Habakkuk 2:3-4, where the Lord promises that his coming is not slow or delayed. Judgment against rebels will be swift, but “the righteous shall live by faith.” Both prophets were speaking of the coming Judgment Day.
The Hebrews had two options: they can remain faithful, persevering through their sufferings, and be rewarded; or they can “shrink back” and displease God and be destroyed (v 39a). But the author, as the usual exhorter (6:9), was confident that the Jewish Christians belong to those who do not shrink back, who persevere in the faith.
Persevere and Be Rewarded
“Do you remember?” Recalling former days is a powerful tool to encourage those who are downcast. We talk happily about the past often, recalling happier moments of our lives. The Psalms often praise and thank God for his mighty acts in the past: in creation, and in redeeming Israel from Egypt (Psa 111).
So in verses 32-34, the writer encourages the Hebrews and us today to “recall the former days” when after you have heard the gospel, to endure sufferings and persecution. You are identified by God-haters as Christians by association with other Christians. The Hebrews visited their brothers and sisters in prison, while we give help and comfort to our brothers and sisters who have fled persecution in the Middle East to come to our free land. They accepted even the confiscation of their homes, because like Abraham, they looked forward to their reward: an eternal home in the heavenly city (Heb 11:10, 26). So after you persevere and overcome temptations and sufferings in this life, God promises rewards: the “tree of life,” the crown of life, your name in the book of life, dwelling in heaven with Christ the Morning Star, a part in the heavenly temple, a throne in heaven (Rev 2-3).
Dear Friends: What do you need to be persevere, to be an overcomer to the end? Is it encouragement? Warnings? A reminder of the past? A promise of reward? You and I need all of the above. We need God’s comfort in times of sorrow. We need God’s merciful forgiveness in the face of God’s wrath against sin. We need godly examples, as the examples of faithful men and women in Hebrews 11. We need to hear God’s promises.
Where do we find these things that we need? Not in the wisdom of the world, but in the wisdom of the Word, God’s Word. And Jesus warns us, “In the world you will have tribulation.” But he follows it with an exhortation, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Where do we hear these things that are needful? We hear them when we are actively participating in the life of the church. Not only in Sunday worship services, but in Bible studies, after-service fellowship, sewing group, phone conversations, and other occasions where brothers and sisters laugh and cry together.
But are you willing to pay the price for associating with other Christians? Because most of the time, the price we pay today is ridicule, harassment, lost relationships, even threats against our freedom to worship the true God. Do we stand up for Jesus in our family, among friends, co-workers, and business partners, and in publicly praying in restaurants?
Therefore, these two things are needful for persevering in the faith. You are to rest in the things that God has faithfully provided for you: God’s Word and the Spirit for encouragement, warnings, strengthening of your faith, and his promises. Also, you are to rest in the gathering together of a faithful church, encouraged by others, and an encourager to others. As you go out into the world, remember Paul’s words in Philippians 2:1-2:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
