Chapter 10:26-31

“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

The context of a passage is so very important. One of the biggest issues that we have in many modern ‘sermons’ is that the verse is often taken out of context. The speaker/preacher is not looking to develop the text of the message and see where the scripture is going and teaches. Rather, he (or she, too often in modern churches) has a topic, and they use a verse to blame the topic on. No matter what the scripture says, they have a point to make, and context should not get in the way.

Why this preamble? Well, it is important to get the context of what we have been speaking about for weeks; Jesus is the only means of salvation. His death, burial, and resurrection are the only currency that God acknowledges, and all others are of no help. The keeping of the Law cannot help you, and any other kinds of ‘traditions or religious’ practices are useless for you or me to be saved.

This book is primarily targeted at the Hebrew people, and they had been given the Law. In the Law, they missed the entire story of Jesus, and instead of being exporters of God’s righteousness, they hoarded it and, frankly, completely hid it in traditions that made it even harder to get and understand. The purpose of the Law was to show men and women that they needed a Saviour. They needed a sacrifice to help them since they were incapable of keeping the Law.

• Willful Disobedience, verse 26

I am in the process of reading through the book of Matthew. In chapter 8, we see an encounter with Jesus and two demon-possessed men. They are dangerous, and the people of the nearby town are terrified. But these men meet Jesus, He casts out the demons, and heals them completely; however, the people of the neighboring town came, saw the men, and instead of rejoicing for them, they asked Jesus to leave. He did (see Matthew 9:1). What a sad state; they had God there, they had the healer of all manner of diseases there, the Savior of mankind there, and they asked Him to leave.

In like manner, Paul (who I think is the author of Hebrews) lays out for the last ten chapters the fact that Jesus is our High Priest and our Sacrifice and that with His own blood, He has paid for our sins. His atoning blood, His atoning sacrifice, and His atoning life are all that we have to be saved. ALL else is futile. No mere man, no mere human high priest, no mere spiritual guru can offer what Jesus offers. He and He alone as the only begotten Son of God, the one who is perfect, yet died as a sinner and then rose from the dead – that Jesus is the only offer of salvation to the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike. There are NO OTHER means of salvation. There is no other sacrifice for our sins; it is finished and done.

Those who reject Jesus’ loving and willing sacrifice are now under God’s wrath in that they have spat God’s Son and His pain and suffering on their behalf. By going back to animal sacrifices, you are diminishing the power and importance of Jesus’ blood sacrifice. The only thing left for you is God’s wrath. You, my friend, are in a dangerous place. God will allow you to deride Him, but when you deride His Son, you messed with the wrong Heavenly Father.

• Willful Reaction, verse 31

God’s reaction to your willful disobedience and willful dismissal of His Son’s suffering and sacrifice will not go unnoticed and unpunished. Once you have rejected Jesus, you have chosen to come out from under God’s grace and be subject to His wrath. There is no in-between. When you hear the Gospel, the Holy Spirit brings to light three things, John 16:8,13,

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (NKJV).

The Holy Spirit tells you the Gospel is true, and then you have the choice to follow His leading or to reject it. He reminds us that we are sinners, He reminds us of the righteousness of God (and lack of our own), and that there is a judgment to come. When He does this, we choose whether or not to accept the offer of salvation – acknowledge that it is true, that we are sinners, that God is righteous, and that we deserve judgment. When we come to this understanding, we can then call on God’s mercy and ask Him to cover us in Jesus’ righteousness, forgive all of our sins (past, present, and future), and we are born again (John 3:3).

Sadly, many reject this call; they know, they see, and they simply reject God’s gracious gift. I have seen it happen. Paul tells us that the only thing left for those that reject Jesus’ offer of salvation is God’s vengeance. I shudder just writing this. Please do not reject Jesus.

I will leave you with these two verses to ponder and maybe to share; govern yourself accordingly.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Galatians 3:13 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch
Online: https://mmbchurch.ca/
Email: seangooding@mmbchurch.ca; support@mmbchurch.ca

Chapter 10:19-25

“¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

One may ask why I have been harping so much on the salvation that we have in Jesus and constantly repeating that Jesus is the only One—repeating that Jesus is all anyone who has ever entered Heaven has ever had. There is no other way. You may look back at the last few months of lessons and wonder if I am like an old stuck record. Some of you will have to Google a picture of a stuck record. But one of the great warnings that Jesus gave us in Matthew 24, not once but three times, is to not allow ourselves to be deceived.

I recently saw a short video clip about what percentage of churches are actively teaching the absolute truths of the scriptures. It was shocking to watch, frankly. There are churches on every corner in many towns and cities in North America. I live in a small town of 6,000 or so, and we have about 10 churches. The video discussed how only about 30% of churches even believe the fundamental truths that the Bible teaches. Doctrines like the virgin birth of Jesus, that Jesus was actually 100% God, that He died and rose from the dead. Doctrines like seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, like marriage is between a man and a woman, and that there is a literal Hell.

These doctrines are actually only believed by about 30% of churches in the USA ( I would think the ratios are similar in Canada). But what really got me was that upon further investigation, they found that only about 2% of churches actually taught these doctrines. That really hit me. But this is why I harp on these fundamental truths; this is why we must repeat that Jesus is the way, the only way to be saved.

• Hold fast to the Confession of our Faith, verse 23

The phrase ‘hold fast’ is a military command. When ordered, the soldiers know that they are to hold a position until death if necessary. There are countless stories of brave soldiers holding fast to an entry point to a base or fort and paying the ultimate price with their lives. The writers of Hebrews tell us to ‘hold fast’; don’t back up, don’t let the enemy through, and keep fighting until death if necessary.

There is this ‘inclusive’ push in many churches to make the Gospel more palatable to the masses. There is no talk of repentance and being sorry for our sins, no call to shame for the sin that caused Jesus’ death. No understanding that it was my sin and their sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. Just call on Jesus, and He will save you. The thief on the cross acknowledged his sin; he agreed that he deserved to be there on his cross being punished, then he called on Jesus to save him. Jesus immediately saved him, no questions asked. But the man repented at that moment and was sorry for his sin. Too many churches no longer call sin, sin. The drive to get seats in the pews is more important than the truth. More important than Jesus’ death.

Many no longer teach the truth, making the excuse that Jesus’ death was barbaric and cruel. Yes, it was; that was the point. God HATES sin, and He poured out His wrath on Jesus instead of on you and me. But the writer tells us to ‘hold fast,’ stand and speak the truth. Don’t shut up, don’t be quiet, and don’t water down the truth. Speak in love, BUT speak the truth about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection; someone needs to hear it, and like the thief on the cross, they can call on Jesus and be saved.

• Make Assembly a Priority, verse 25

The word church comes from a Greek word meaning ‘an assembly out from within a city.’ Each church is a local body; thus, we have letters in the New Testament written to specific churches in specific locations. Jesus began the assembly long before the day of Pentecost when He called out several men to ‘follow Him.’ These men and some ladies ‘assembled’ in various locations, they were taught the truths of the scriptures, and then they went about teaching and preaching even before Jesus left to go home. Many people think that the church was born on the day of Pentecost, but Jesus breathed into them the Holy Spirit as they assembled in John 20: 21-22.

“Again, Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.’ 22 When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

You and I need to be assembled with men and women who know the truth, stand for the truth, speak the truth, and hold to Jesus as the only means of salvation. And the writer tells us that as we get closer and closer to the return of Jesus, this will become more and more important. We need to find Godly churches that put Jesus first and recognize Him as the Head, not the pastor. We need churches that make the Gospel and its purity a priority. We need churches that teach the whole Bible and still believe in its infallibility.

We need churches that understand that God is gracious; yes, He is, but He is also Holy. The same God that sent Jesus to save me killed the whole world in a flood, except for 8 people in the ark. The same God that passed over the blood-covered doors in the Israelite section of Egypt killed all of the firstborns of Egypt.

We need churches, assemblies that still stand for the Gospel, preach the pure Gospel, and where people who believe these truths can find like-minded people with whom to praise the Lord and celebrate His salvation, giving Him all the glory. I pray that you are a part of this kind of church, one that is eagerly warning people that Jesus is coming soon. Hold fast; our redemption is very, very near.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch
Online: https://mmbchurch.ca/
Email: seangooding@mmbchurch.ca; support@mmbchurch.ca