We were assured in yesterday's passage that the Lord is faithful to His promises. But God's faithful promises are made only those who are faithful to Him. Today the author reminds his readers that they have a duty to be faithful to the Lord after hearing the gospel. Once a person has heard the gospel, he is responsible for what he does with it.
"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." (Hebrews 10:26-27) We would be better off not to have heard the gospel than to have heard it and rejected it. The author is not speaking about people who accept the gospel and still make mistakes; none of us is going to be perfect while we live in the flesh. He's not saying that if we commit a sin after accepting Christ as Savior that we have lost our salvation. He's speaking about people who have heard and understood the gospel message but have decided to do nothing about it. We know this because he refers to them as "the enemies of God", for anyone who rejects the sacrifice of God's beloved Son has made himself or herself the enemy of God. We won't find Christians referred to as "the enemies of God". This term can only be used for those who oppose God and who refuse to accept and honor His plan of salvation.
The writer now uses an example from the law. Penalties under the law could be quite severe. The people had accepted the law under the old covenant and had promised to be faithful to obey it. When they failed to obey it (as anyone human would invariably do at some point), penalties for breaking the law would be administered if there was proof that the person had indeed broken it. Penalties varied depending on the seriousness of the sin, but anyone who has read the Old Testament knows that the penalties for some sins was death. "Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses." (Hebrews 10:28)
If a person could be condemned to death for breaking the law of Moses, how much worse must the penalty be for rejecting the only sacrifice for sins that is acceptable to God? "How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, 'It is Mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:29-31) If God's view of the breaking of the Mosaic law was harsh, just think how much worse it will be for those who reject His precious Son who suffered and died in order to extend the hand of grace to sinful mankind.
But the people who whom the author is writing are not people who have heard the gospel and rejected it. They are people who accepted the gospel and have remained faithful to God in a time when being a Christian could cause them to lose their reputations, their careers, their property, their freedom, and even their lives. "Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions." (Hebrews 10:32-34) He knows these Jewish Christians are the real deal, for no one would endure what they've endured if they did not love the Lord Jesus Christ. It's difficult enough to endure hardship when we know we've done wrong; it's especially difficult to endure hardship when we know we've done right. A person who is not sincere in the faith will renounce Christ when the going gets tough.
These believers are encouraged to keep standing strong. A great reward awaits those who uphold and proclaim the name of Christ no matter what. They are to be bold in sharing the gospel even though it might mean the loss of their physical lives. The eternal souls of men and women are at stake, so they must get the gospel to as many people as possible while they can. "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded." (Hebrews 10:35)
The author believed that Christ might return for the church during his lifetime. But even if He didn't, the author knows time is short. The lifespans of humans are quite short when compared with the length of eternity, so it's vital that Christians make the most of their lives for Christ. Also the author doesn't know how much longer anyone will be free to speak the name of Christ. Anti-Christian sentiment is growing in the Roman Empire under the leadership of the madman Nero. As I've said of Nero previously, he was as much of an enemy to Christians as Adolf Hitler was to the Jews. Those who profess the name of Christ are to be about the business of sharing the gospel that saves eternal souls, and they have to take this business very seriously. "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. For, 'In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.' And, 'But My righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.' But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved." (Hebrews 10:36-39)
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