Hebrews chapter 10, I want to cover the end part of the chapter.
Let's start in verse number 16, but the Bible reads,
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, sayeth the Lord.
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin, having therefore
brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
And having a high priest over the house of God, 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, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering.
For he is faithful that promised, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love
and to good works.
Now in this passage, he is using Old Testament teachings and things from the law of Moses
in order to illustrate New Testament truths.
And that's really what the book of Hebrews is about.
It uses a lot of symbolism and a lot of things from the Old Testament and shows how
they relate to things in the New Testament.
Now a lot of scriptures in the book of Hebrews are misunderstood, and a lot of that
misunderstanding would be cleared up if we would just turn back in the Bible and
look at what is being quoted.
Now a little bit later in this passage is one of the scriptures that is often misunderstood
or misapplied, and it's beginning in verse number 26 where it says,
For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden
under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done to spite under the spirit
of grace.
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And there's a lot of confusion about this passage.
Some people will try to use this passage to say, hey, you can lose your salvation if
you sin willfully.
Other people will say, this isn't even talking to believers.
It's talking to the unsaved, or all different ways that people will apply or misapply this
passage.
So I want to go through and show what this passage is actually teaching, because
it's a very important biblical truth that we need to apply to our lives, that we
need to get into our mind.
This is an important passage, not to just figure out how to explain it from a doctrinal
perspective so that we know, hey, you can't lose your salvation.
Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand.
But also, to understand what is God warning us about, or what is God admonishing us
about here.
Now, first of all, let me just make it very clear to you from this passage that
this is speaking to believers.
There's no question about it.
Because if we get the context leading into it, he talks about people being saved.
The verses that we just read in verse 16.
It says, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
And then he says, where remission of these is, talking about the remission of sins,
there is no more offering for sin.
Now, you have to get the context.
Earlier in this chapter, he talked about the fact that they used to continually bring
sin offerings and trespass offerings, but that now Jesus Christ is the lamb slain
once for all, one sacrifice for all of our sins, that doesn't need to keep being
offered, but was just offered one time, and it's a done deal.
So he says, now that our sins are completely forgiven and completely remitted, there
is no more offering for sin.
We don't do animal sacrifices any longer because of this, okay?
Look what it says next in verse 19, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he had consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
He's saying, look, in the Old Testament, in the tabernacle, in the house of God,
there was a most holy place that only the high priest could enter.
He can only do it once a year where he sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat, but when Jesus
Christ died, the Bible says that that veil was rented too, and that veil represented
the body of Jesus Christ, and the Bible says now, we can have boldness to enter
into the most holy place.
There is no longer that veil of separation there.
So the Bible is saying, look, no more animal sacrifices, no more most holy place
that we don't have access to.
Then he says this, verse 21, having a high priest over the house of God.
Earlier in the book of Hebrews, he explained that that high priest in the New Testament
is Jesus.
It's not Aaron, it's not the sons of Aaron, it's not Caiaphas or Annas.
It's Jesus Christ himself.
He is our high priest, and the Bible says, because we have a high priest over the house
of God, verse 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.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful, that
promise.
What is he referring to there?
When he talks about our hearts being sprinkled, that's because in the Old Testament, he sprinkled
the blood on the people when the tabernacle was consecrated.
He said, we weren't sprinkled physically, but our hearts were sprinkled with the blood
of Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, they had the laver outside the tabernacle, and if they were going
to approach unto the house of God, they would wash up first.
They would wash themselves with water.
And God is saying, baptism is symbolic of that, because before you head it into
the house of God, you wash up.
We're baptized into the body of Christ in the New Testament.
So there's a lot of parallel there, and he's going through all these different things
in this passage.
And he says in verse 24,
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.
So he's gotten through saying, look, we're saved, we're washed in the blood, we have
our sins forgiven, Jesus is our high priest, we have access to the holy place now.
We can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in
time of need.
And we've had our bodies washed in water, we've been baptized, that gives us entrance.
And he lists all that, and he says, look, now that we're saved, now that we're washed,
he says, now let's consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.
We want to motivate each other to do that which is right, and exhort one another.
Look what he says next, in verse 25.
Not forsaking.
Is that how you start a sentence, not forsaking?
No.
This is a continuation of the same thought.
He says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
So that's the work that we need to provoke each other to.
That's one of them.
He says, provoke each other to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much
the more as we see the day approaching.
Look at the first word of verse 26, for.
For means because, it's a conjunction.
He's saying that we need to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together because
if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
Notice it says, for if we, we who've had our sins forgiven and remitted and have been
sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ, if we sin willfully, by doing what?
One example would be forsaking the assembly, but he says, if we sin willfully, after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which
shall devour the adversaries.
Now a lot of people misunderstand that, and when it says there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins, people will think, oh, that means Jesus' sacrifice is not applicable.
No, that's not what he's saying.
When he says there's no more sacrifice for sins, it's basically the same statement
that he was making back in verse 18 at the end there when he said there's no more
offering for sin, okay?
He's saying that if we sin willfully, after that we've received the knowledge of the truth,
we don't have the animal sacrifice where we offer a sin offering and everything's fine.
That's what he's saying, and I'm going to get to that in the Old Testament.
Just remember that, but we're going to turn back to that passage and I'm going to show
you the parallel with this passage, but he says, but instead of a sacrifice for sins,
there's a certain, verse 27, a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation
which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden
underfoot the Son of God, and, watch this, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified.
This is somebody who's been saved.
An unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace.
For we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge his people.
Again, we're talking about God judging his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
You normally wouldn't associate that verse, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God with believers, but guess who that verse applies to?
Believers, the saved.
You say, well, how can this be, you know, is this teaching we can lose our, no, it's
not teaching you can lose your salvation.
It's not saying you're going to go to hell.
A lot of people see the words punishment, judgment, fiery indignation.
What's fire indignation?
It's anger, okay?
Fiery anger is what that is.
It's not saying you're going to the fires of hell, it says fiery indignation.
And when they see these words, they think, oh wow, that sounds so bad, these people
can't even be saved.
But look at 1 Corinthians 11, because these type of words are often associated with believers.
Just because you're saved doesn't mean that God does not chasten and chastise you.
The Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth.
And a lot of people will say, well, he chastens you, but he doesn't punish you.
First of all, chastening is punishment, number one.
By number two, God uses the word punishment about his own people in many places, about
believers.
And if I told you I punish my children, you wouldn't think there was anything strange
about that, would you?
How can you punish them if they're your children?
Of course, you know, punishment, chastening and chastisement are synonymous.
Now look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11 about God's people.
He says in verse number 30, he's talking about things that they're doing wrong and
sin and so forth.
But he says in verse 30, for this cause, many are weak and sickly among you and
many sleep.
And when he says sleep there, he's saying they're dead.
Look at the next verse, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned
with the world.
So he talks about people being sickly and even sleeping as a judgment or a chastening
from the Lord.
That's the same type of language that we saw in Hebrews 10 when he said the Lord
shall judge his people.
Or of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified,
and an unholy thing, and hath done despite under the spirit of grace.
Look, even back in the Old Testament, King Saul, who was saved, who was a believer,
was killed in battle as a result of disobeying the Lord.
Also Josiah was not supposed to fight against the king of Egypt, yet he fought against
the king of Egypt anyway, and God allowed him to die in battle.
Even though God had promised him that he would be preserved and safe and protected
and be blessed, but when he just went against what God told him to do, all bets were
off, and he's killed in battle.
Now let's understand this passage better by going back to the Old Testament passages
and understanding.
See, it's a mistake when you're reading Hebrews 10, and we just had this long litany
of verses that are all about things that are symbolic, one after the other.
Symbolic, symbolic, symbolic, symbolic.
We need to understand that this part is also symbolic, because he's talked about,
you know, the blood and the altar and the holy place and the high priest and the washing
with water and the sprinkler.
Those are all symbolism from the Old Testament being applied to the New Testament, and that's
what this part is too.
So let's go back to the Old Testament to Numbers 15, and if we go back to the scripture
Numbers 15 and put it side by side with Hebrews 10, you will see how clear it is that
God is talking about punishing his children, chastening his children, when they sin willfully,
and I'm going to explain what that means.
But look at Numbers 15, you can keep a finger in Hebrews 10 if you want to compare things
a little bit, but Numbers 15, it says in verse 24,
Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance, without the knowledge of the congregation,
that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a
sweet savour unto the Lord, with his meat offering and his drink offering, according
to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children
of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it is ignorance, and they shall bring
their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord, and the sin offering before
the Lord for their ignorance.
So what's the Bible saying?
And we could read the entire chapter of Leviticus 4 and Leviticus 5 and get the same thing,
where he goes on and on about all the different offerings for when we sin by ignorance.
Look, you mess up, you do something wrong, you weren't setting out to just defy the
Lord, but no, you made a mistake, you didn't know that what you were doing was wrong,
or you didn't realize that you had done wrong, and it comes to your knowledge, and
you realize, I've made a mistake here, I've done wrong.
Then what do you do?
You take the animal to the priest, and you offer a burnt sacrifice as an atonement for
your sin, and it'll be forgiven you.
This isn't talking about salvation.
This isn't talking about your entrance into heaven by bringing an animal.
The Bible says it's not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away
sins.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It's salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
It's not of works lest any man should boast.
It's not by making an offering.
You don't buy your way into heaven with the fat of rams and lambs and so forth.
But this, you say, well then what was the purpose of the animal sacrifices?
Here was the purpose, to repair the relationship between you and God.
You've done wrong.
God's going to cloud up and rain on you.
He's going to chastise you.
He's going to come down on you for sinning, but when you come to him with an offering
and make a peace offering, a trespass offering, a sin offering, you come to him and you're
showing that you're sorry and you're making things right with God.
And then when you bring that animal, then God will forgive you for that.
And again, we're not talking about salvation.
Salvation's a one-time thing, but aren't we constantly confessing our sins to God
as believers and constantly going to God and saying that we're sorry?
And the Bible says his mercies are new every morning.
And if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
It's just like if my children had done wrong, if they came to me and said they
were sorry and made it right, they're going to get way less of a consequence, if any
at all.
Whereas if they are stubborn about it, if they just willfully defy me, they're going
to get serious punishment.
It has nothing to do with whether or not they're my child.
So that's what this forgiveness is.
It's making things right with God so that he doesn't punish us.
I mean, look at all the punishments he set in the Old Testament on the whole nation.
When the nation would do wrong, they'd go into captivity.
And he said, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and
will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
You know, when they're being brought captive to the Philistines or the Babylonians or the
Assyrians or the Moabites or whoever was coming after them, if they made an offering
unto the Lord and said they're sorry and sought after him, then he would forgive their
sin and heal their land.
That's what we're talking about here in this passage.
Well, let's keep reading.
It says, verse 26, it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel
and the stranger that sojourneth among them, seeing all the people were in ignorance.
And if any soul sinned through ignorance, then he shall bring a she-goat of the first
year for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he
sinneth by ignorance before the Lord, to make an atonement for him, and it shall
be forgiven him.
He shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is
born among the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.
But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land or a stranger,
the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
So what's the Bible saying here?
It's saying that if you just willfully, presumptuously, defiantly go out and say, it's not through
ignorance, it wasn't an accident, it wasn't just a slip up, but you just go out and
defy the word of the Lord, the Bible says, you don't just bring an offering and just
fix that.
He says, no, you're exiled, you're cut off from among the people, you're basically
expelled from the children of Israel, you're not allowed to dwell among them.
That's what he means when he says that they'll be cut off from among his people.
And then look at verse 31, because he hath despised the word of the Lord.
Now that's exactly the word that was used in Hebrews 10, because in Hebrews chapter
10, it says, of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall ye be thought worthy, who
hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit
of grace.
Notice that word, despite.
And then a few verses earlier, it says, he that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses.
That's what this is referring back to here, when it says, hey, they've despised the
word of the Lord if they've sinned presumptuously.
Now let me just give you an illustration of this that you'll be able to understand
in our modern day, in 2015, because we're not living in Old Testament Israel.
But think about how the Catholics do it.
They have what?
The confessional booth.
And supposedly, the confessional booth is how they make things right with God, isn't it?
They go to the confessional booth, and they confess it to the priest.
And he tells them, hey, if you chant this 20 times, then I'll forgive you.
You're absolved, my son, and all this kind of crazy stuff.
So that is something that we can kind of relate to, because we've known people
who were Catholics who've done that.
OK?
Here is the mentality of some Catholics.
They would say, well, you know what?
I'm going to go out and just commit all this sin willfully, knowingly, premeditated,
just go out in sin, knowing that I'm just going to confess it later and fix it.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
That sound familiar?
Just, yeah, just go out and sin and be wicked, and then fix it later.
Go to the confessional booth and fix it later.
Now first of all, the confessional booth is a fraud.
It's not scriptural.
Who can forgive sins but God only?
And so that priest, he might as well confess his sins right back to you,
but it'd probably be so perverted you wouldn't even want to hear it.
It would be so disgusting, the sins of those perverts.
But the thing is, the confessional booth is not scriptural.
But isn't that a wicked mentality, though, to sit there and say,
well, I'm just going to go out and sin and defy God,
and then I can just go to the confessional booth and fix it?
Well, what God's saying is that in the Old Testament, when they would go and offer
an animal sacrifice as a way to get absolution, if you will,
he's saying, you know, you can't just go out and sin willfully
and then bring me an animal sacrifice
and think that it's going to be OK with me
or that I'm going to accept it from you.
I'm not going to accept an animal sacrifice from you
when you defy me and just forgive you and it's fine.
No.
You know, he said, that's for people who mess up.
It's not for people who just despise God's word
and just willfully go out and presumptuously disobey it.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
That's what he's teaching here.
He's saying this is for the one who does it through ignorance.
Now, watch this.
In verse 31, it says, because he had despised the word of the Lord
and had broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off.
His iniquity shall be upon him.
And so look, we're continuing the same story here.
Don't miss the connection.
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness,
they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day.
And they that found him gathering sticks, brought him
unto Moses and Aaron, unto all the congregation.
And they put him in a ward, because it was not declared
what should be done to him.
And the Lord said unto Moses, the man
shall be surely put to death.
All the congregation shall stone him with stones
without the camp.
And all the congregation brought him without the camp
and stoned him with stones, and he died
as the Lord commanded Moses.
Now, I don't know about you, but whenever I read the Bible
and I came to this exact story, I always just thought, wow,
that is harsh.
The guy picked up some sticks.
What in the world?
What is the big deal?
Have you ever thought that when you're reading this?
Just thought, that's a little bit hard.
I don't understand.
But here's what you have to get to context.
This guy, according to the Bible,
despised the word of the Lord.
That's what the Bible, because when Hebrews 10 says,
he that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses, it's specifically
talking about this guy.
Because look at the passage.
It's about people sinning presumptuously
versus sinning through ignorance,
not being able to make an offering for their sin
anymore, and having despised the word of the Lord.
That's all the same stuff in Hebrews 10.
So what it is, it's not that the guy picked up sticks
and that was just such a horrific thing to do,
but it didn't matter what he did.
It's the fact that he was just defying point blank,
just brazenly God said to do something,
and he's just saying, I don't care what God says.
I'm doing what I want to do.
And nuts to you.
You can't tell me.
That's what he's doing.
And that's what the Bible says about this guy.
He despised the word of the Lord.
That's why it said in verse 31,
he despised the word of the Lord,
and then it gives the example of the guy who
despised God's word.
And he dies without mercy under two or three witnesses.
That's what the Bible is showing us
in Hebrews chapter 10.
Now flip over to Deuteronomy 17.
Deuteronomy chapter 17, next book after numbers
is Deuteronomy.
Look at chapter 17.
See, now Hebrews is coming clear
when we go back and get the context and read the story
and understand what it's really about.
Not talking about personal salvation,
going to heaven or hell, but it's talking about God's people
not defying God and despising his word.
It says in verse 8 of Deuteronomy 17,
if there arise a matter too hard for the in-judgment
between blood and blood, between plea and plea,
and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy
within thy gates, then thou shalt arise and get thee up
into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.
And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites,
and unto the judge that shall be in those days,
and inquire.
And they shall show thee the sentence of judgment.
And thou shalt do according to the sentence which
they of that place which the Lord shall choose
shall show thee.
And thou shalt observe to do according
to all that they inform thee, according
to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee,
and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee,
thou shalt do.
Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which
they shall show thee to the right hand nor to the left.
And the man that will do presumptuously
and will not hearken unto the priest that
standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God
or unto the judge, even that man shall die,
and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
And all the people shall hear and fear
and do no more presumptuously.
Now what does this mean, presumptuously?
It's the same thing as when it says sin willfully.
It's the same thing.
It's when you just have totally processed the fact
that God does not want you to do this,
that the Bible says that you are not to live this way,
and you just say, you know, I'm just going to do it anyway.
I'm going to just sin because I've just
decided that what God says is not going to dictate to me,
and I'm just going to do it anyway.
And God says there's a serious punishment
when we do that.
And here he talks about defying the word of the Lord,
and also even defying God-given authority.
You know, the priest and the judge
that God had given them, and they
weren't to defy that authority.
You know, OK, how do we apply that today?
How about your parents, children, defying your parents,
despising the word of your parents?
Because you know what?
The Bible commands you, children,
to obey your parents.
The Bible says, children, obey your parents and the Lord,
for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother, which
is the first commandment with promise,
that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest
live long on the earth.
What's that mean?
That if you don't, you're going to die.
Because he says if you do it, you're going to live long.
What's the opposite of living long?
Dying sooner.
And what's the opposite of going well for you?
Going ill for you.
So when he says, obey your parents,
honor your father and might, that it may be well with you,
and that you may live long on the earth,
that's a warning there.
Yeah, it's a promise of God's blessing if you obey.
But it's also a warning of what's
going to happen if you don't obey.
And you know, God-given authorities in our life,
like parents unto children.
And by the way, husbands are the authority over their wives.
And I'll say it till I'm blue in the face.
And you say, oh, you're going
to upset the feminazis and the women's lib
and everything like that.
Look, I will say it till I'm blue in the face.
I'll never back down on this.
The Bible teaches that wives are to obey their husbands.
And the Bible calls the husband the Lord of his wife.
I said, Lord.
That's what it says.
It's the Bible.
It's the word of God.
Get out of here.
Go find some liberal, pantywaist preacher
that will tell you what you want to hear
and tickle your ears.
But I'm not going to lie to you tonight
that if you despise the authority of your parents
and if you despise the authority of your husband,
let me tell you something.
God is going to punish you.
He's going to punish you.
You know, your parents are going to spank you.
But you know what?
God's going to punish you also.
And God said, you know what?
If you despise the word of the Lord,
if you sin willfully after that,
you've received knowledge of the truth.
Don't come to me and try to make things right with me.
He says, I'm going to come down hard on you.
You don't defy him.
He's God.
He's the creator of the universe.
And it says it's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God.
You better mind your Ps and Qs
when you're dealing with the God of the universe.
And you say, well, I'm saved.
So it's all forgiven.
It's all grace.
Yeah, but God will judge his people.
Yeah, but whom the Lord loveth,
he chases and scourges every son whom he receiveth.
And yet Christians today will just say,
well, it's all grace.
I'm just going to do whatever.
Well, go ahead and do whatever
and despise the word of the Lord.
And God says, I'll give you a sorer punishment
than was given in the Old Testament.
And this is what's so bizarre to me
is that people today think that the God of the Old Testament
was just this wrathful, angry God.
And then God just kind of lightened up in his old age.
And then Jesus came along and just kind of relaxed
everything and toned everything down.
Isn't that what people believe?
It's bizarre.
Because if you actually read Jesus' sermons,
everything's stricter than the Old Testament, everything.
Everything.
I mean, everything was more lenient.
I mean, if you read the Old Testament, it's lenient.
In the Old Testament, these guys have multiple wives.
And God's just, you know, he doesn't like it.
But they're getting by with it.
And in the Old Testament, you know,
they're worshipping God in the high places.
He told them not to.
In the New Testament, God's saying, no.
The times of this ignorance God winked at,
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
You know, you've heard that it was said, thou shalt not kill.
I'm saying don't even be, you know,
angry with your brother without a cause.
Don't even hate him in your heart.
Don't even lust in your heart.
They, you know, it's not just don't commit adultery.
It's not even lust in your heart.
And he says, look, if he that despised Moses' law
died without mercy under two or three witnesses,
but now God has just relaxed everything.
Is that what it says?
No, it says he that despised Moses' law
died without mercy under two or three witnesses
of how much sorrow or punishment,
suppose ye shall ye be thought worthy.
That's the New Testament version,
sorrow or punishment, why?
Because unto whom much is given,
of him shall much be required.
God has a higher standard in the New Testament
because we've been given more in the New Testament.
In the New Testament,
we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
that they did not have in the Old Testament.
We have the complete Word of God
that they did not have in the Old Testament.
We have our local church,
which is more helpful than what they had
in the Old Testament.
Look, we have been blessed and given more knowledge.
We've been given more of the Holy Spirit's blessings.
So why would God expect less of us?
It doesn't make any sense because it's not true.
And if God's so relaxed,
then why is the most vengeful book in the whole Bible
Revelation, the last book?
I mean, if he was really gonna take it easy and relax,
wouldn't it be by the last book, book 66?
That's the one where he's giving people blood to drink
and burning them and scorching them
and sending all kinds of wrath and plagues.
I mean, what Bible are people reading?
Oh yeah, it's because they're not reading the Bible.
It's because they're listening to liars
and these TV evangelists who tickle their ears
and preach unto them smooth things
and prophesy deceits.
No, the book of Hebrews in the New Testament,
chapter 10 says that God will punish us more severely
when we defy him in the New Testament
than he did even under the Old Testament.
And he wasn't playing games in the Old Testament,
and he's dead sure not playing games now.
And we need to not sin lightly and think to ourselves,
well, look, I've heard it so many times
where people just say, well, I know it's wrong,
but I'm gonna do it anyway.
I mean, major sins, big sin, stuff like fornication,
stuff like divorcing their spouse,
stuff like committing adultery,
stuff like drunkenness, whatever.
Well, I know that's what the Bible says,
but you know what?
I'm not perfect, and I'm just gonna do it anyway.
But you know, that angers the Lord.
It displeases him.
Fiery indignation from the Lord
when we have that attitude.
Go to Psalm 19, right in the middle of your Bibles,
the book of Psalms, Psalm 19.
Psalm 19.
Psalm 19, the Bible says in verse number nine,
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
yea, than much fine gold,
sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is thy servant warned,
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
So it's a two-edged sword, the word of God.
There's a warning, and then there's a reward.
You know, if we do it right, we get the reward.
If we do it wrong, there's a warning of God's punishment.
There's a blessing to those who obey their parents.
There's a curse on those who disobey their parents.
And then he says this, who can understand his errors?
Now what does that question mean?
Who can understand his errors?
What the Bible's asking is,
does anybody really know every time they make a mistake?
I mean, if I asked you, okay,
write down every sin you've committed in the last week,
you'd be like, oh man, I don't even know.
If I said write down every sin you've committed today,
we don't even know a lot of times,
because we sin all the time without even knowing it.
That's why the Bible says, who can understand his errors?
Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
What are secret faults?
Sinning through ignorance.
Secret faults, stuff that I'm doing wrong
and I don't even realize it's wrong,
I don't even know about it.
And then he follows that up by saying,
keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.
So notice, the presumptuous sins
are different than the secret faults.
The secret faults is like the Bible went on and on
in Leviticus four and five, numbers 15, Deuteronomy 17,
where he talked about sinning through ignorance.
Secret faults, you're constantly making mistakes,
you're constantly sinning.
But he says also,
keep thy servant from presumptuous sins.
Let them not have dominion over me,
then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent
from the great transgression.
What's the great transgression?
The great transgression is when you sin presumptuously.
Secret faults, they're bad.
I'm not condoning sinning through ignorance.
I'm not condoning messing up and sinning
and it's still wrong.
We should still seek to avoid it.
But what's the big transgression?
What's the big sin?
What's the great,
it's when you willfully know what the Bible says
and just say, I don't care, I'm doing something different.
Says in verse 14, let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight,
oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Listen to this scripture, Proverbs 29, verse one.
He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck
shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.
Hardeneth his neck.
Basically, the rebuke comes,
the correction from the word of God comes,
the preaching across the pulpit comes
and you harden your neck and say,
well, I don't care what that preacher says.
I don't care what that judge says.
I don't care what that priest says.
You know, if it was the Old Testament,
I don't care what the Bible says.
You know what?
I'm not doing it.
You know what?
When that comes and you harden your neck,
you will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.
That's like where he said, you know,
there were made of no more offering for sins.
I'm not interested in making peace with you.
You're just gonna be punished.
You're just gonna suffer.
You're just gonna reap that which you've sown.
And so God is merciful to us.
He is loving unto us and he really gives us
a lot of leeway, especially when we sin through ignorance.
But there's one thing that God doesn't put up with
and that's despising his word.
And despising his word is defined as
hearing the commandment and saying, I'm not doing it.
That's what the Bible, he said, you've despised my word.
When you hear the commandment
and you learn what is right and you say,
well, okay, that's what the Bible says
but I'm not doing it.
Be prepared to be destroyed without remedy.
That's what the Bible's teaching here.
And this is a New Testament teaching in Hebrews 10.
Flip over if you would to Hebrews 10.
And we'll finish up over in Hebrews chapter 10.
Defying the Lord is what I'm talking about tonight.
Defying his word.
Defying legitimate God-given authority.
Defying the commandments of God.
And look, the Bible says, if we sin willfully,
look down if you would at verse number 26,
for if we sin willfully,
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth.
Now what does he mean there
after we've received the knowledge of the truth?
He's not just talking about being saved.
When he says after we've received the knowledge
of the truth, it's when we know that something's wrong
and then we do it anyway.
Because there are a lot of things that we've done
in our life, we didn't even know they were wrong.
You know, and as you read the Bible,
you find stuff where you're like,
wow, I didn't even know that was a sin.
Because you're not always taught growing up.
And I guarantee you that there are a lot of ladies
who grew up in a church that didn't preach
the whole word of God,
that have been dressing in a sinful way their whole lives
and just didn't even know what the Bible taught
about clothing.
They didn't even, you know,
the Bible told the church at Laodicea,
you don't even know that you're naked.
He said, he said, thou knowest not
that thou art wretched and miserable
and poor and blind and naked.
You don't even know that you're naked.
There are people today walking around naked
and they don't even know it.
Because what the Bible teaches is nakedness
is from your loins to your thighs.
And so if you have, you know, women out there
who, or men for that matter, you know,
God forbid men in short shorts help us all.
You know, they wear these little,
with the three stripes on the side or whatever.
I hope those never come back into style.
But, you know, when you're out there
in the short skirt and the shorts,
and they don't even realize that they're naked,
but God defines that as nakedness.
God doesn't look at you in a string bikini
and say that you're clothed.
God doesn't look at you in a bathing suit
and think that you're clothed.
That's not what God considers clothing.
God said your loins and your thighs should be covered.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And so if you're gonna go out in your colored underwear,
you know, and you wouldn't come to church
in your underwear.
Would you come to church in your underwear?
No.
Would you go to the store in your underwear?
Just walk into Walmart at 2 a.m.
Well, maybe you would do that.
But anyway, you know, walk into Walmart at 2 a.m.
in your underwear or what?
No, you wouldn't do that.
So why does digging a hole in the ground,
filling it with water, and instead of white,
it becomes a color, and then all of a sudden
it's not underwear anymore.
All of a sudden it's clothes.
It's a bathing suit.
You know, God forbid that men would ever wear,
if you go to Germany, which is, you know,
unfortunately Germany is a pretty heathen place.
You know, they need the word of God over there.
But you know, you go to Germany
and all the men are wearing Speedos.
Go to the, well, you don't wanna know what it is.
It's like what women wear,
except men are wearing it on the bottom, okay?
Does that help?
You go to the, ask my wife, you go to the beach,
you go to the pool in Germany, and it's all men.
They're all in Speedos.
It's bizarre.
I mean, thankfully our culture still thinks
that that's a little weird, right?
I mean, please tell me that I'm right.
Don't they?
I mean, if a dude shows up in a Speedos,
everybody's like, what in the world, you know.
At least today, at least today most men wear
like knee length shorts when they go swimming.
Thank God.
But over there, it's just a Speedo.
But you know what?
It's obscene whether it's on male or female.
Okay, it is not acceptable.
But our society says it's fine.
Now, don't you think it'd be possible
for a girl to grow up in a Christian home
and be taught, oh, just wear the one piece bathing suit,
and it's still totally exposed of her thigh.
Don't you think it'd be possible
for a girl to grow up in a Christian home
and love the Lord and love Jesus
and be going out and wearing that stuff
and never even been told that it's wrong
or never even thought that it's wrong?
Don't you think?
I mean, you see Christian girls all the time
and even Christian teenage girls wearing shorts
and wearing bathing suits and wearing short skirts
and the thought's not even crossing their mind
that it's wrong.
Because they're being told,
oh, as long as it's fingertip length, it's modest.
And unless you're an orangutan, it's not a modest.
Fingertip length is not modest
unless you are like a knuckle dragging Neanderthal.
So the bottom line is that people sin through ignorance.
I mean, I just think that's a good example
of sinning through ignorance, right?
They've just never read that scripture,
never thought it through, and they're dressed that way.
It's not that they're just,
I mean, do you think that every girl
who's dressed that way just defies the Lord
and despises the Lord?
No.
It's just a lot of them just haven't been taught
because it's not being preached
and it's not being taught.
And they grew up in a home where the stands were relaxed.
Other things that people just grow up and do
and take for granted and don't even think about it,
you know, whether it's drinking, whatever the case.
They don't even know it's wrong.
So there's a lot of sinning
that can just take place through ignorance.
A lot of people have never been taught
that covetousness is wrong,
even though it's in the 10 Commandments,
thou shalt not covet.
When you explain to them what covetousness is,
they're like, that's wrong, really?
That's a sin?
They've been doing it their whole life
and didn't even think about it.
God is gonna be more gracious with that
when you just don't know better.
And look, new believers, when people just got saved,
they don't know much about the Bible.
They're brand new babes in Christ.
They're gonna make all kinds of mistakes.
They're gonna be committing all kinds of sins,
not because they just don't care,
but because they just haven't learned yet.
They just haven't grown.
They just don't know the truth.
So that's why we should be gracious
and patient with people as they're learning
and not just come down on them.
But let me tell you something.
When you have read it in the Bible
and the light bulb comes on and you say,
oh wow, that's wrong,
or you're in church and you hear a sermon
that nails you and you hear the word of God
and the scriptures are turned to,
and you say, wow, this is wrong.
This is a sin.
I shouldn't be doing this.
At that point, if you continue to do it,
it becomes a major sin in your life.
Now before you know any better,
God still considers it sin.
He's not gonna bless it,
but he's gonna be much more gracious and merciful
and lenient with you, which makes sense.
As you learn more though and continue to do it,
then it just becomes defiance.
Then it becomes defiance.
Now for example, think about this.
Obviously anybody should know that,
for example, when you have children
and they play in the front yard
and they make a mess of the front yard
and they have trash and stuff everywhere, right?
Now should they be leaving their trash
and junk in the front yard?
No.
Is it wrong for them to just go out there
and trash the place and be lazy and not, of course.
Okay?
Do we want them to do that?
No.
Are we gonna be happy that they do that?
No.
But think about how much worse,
if they go out and do that and we don't say anything,
but what if they actually went out there
and made a mess and we said,
look, go outside right now and go pick up that trash
and clean that up.
And they just said no.
Now wouldn't that be a lot different
than just they just weren't thinking about it?
Cause you know, kids don't think about stuff.
Just eat a Popsicle, throw the wrapper down.
I mean, kids litter trash.
I'm not an eco-warrior or environmentalist or anything,
but I don't like littering.
I don't litter.
Now it's not littering when stuff's biodegradable,
like for example, like orange.
People act like, oh, you're littering
when you throw like orange peels and banana peels.
It's like, this is going back to nature.
I'm releasing it back to nature, okay?
You know, shells of nuts and banana peels and apple cores.
Those things are just being released back into the wild
where they belong, okay?
But I mean, when you're throwing plastic and paper
and aluminum out the window,
you know, to me that's just a lack of character,
a lack of class.
It's just a derelict trashy thing to do.
Who thinks that that's just a trashy derelict thing to do,
to throw trash on the ground?
So you know, I'm one that I don't, you know,
if I see my kids throw stuff,
you know, just go back and pick it up.
You know, if we go hiking, if you pack it in,
you pack it out and everything like that.
Okay, but hold on a second.
Isn't there a big difference
between just throwing stuff on the ground
because you're a child and you don't know any better
and just unpackaged stuff?
That's what kids do unless they're taught.
That's why if you go to a derelict area
where parents are not teaching their kids,
there's just trash everywhere.
A lot of it's just kids, just not even thinking about it.
Okay, but what when I say,
don't throw that on the ground,
and my kid just looks at me and just goes.
I mean, that would be a severe,
a severe chastening that's gonna take place,
a scourging, okay, why?
Because of the fact that it's defiance.
I mean, defiance is wicked.
The Bible says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
And what is stubbornness?
Being often reproved and hardening your neck.
You know, and no contrition, no remorse,
no humility, no respect for authority,
no respect for God's word,
and no fear of the Lord that says,
you know what, I fear the Lord,
and I don't wanna make him upset.
I want him to be pleased with me.
If that's what the Bible says,
then that's what I'm gonna do.
You know, it's one thing if I don't know it,
but as soon as I see it in the Bible,
I wanna conform to that because it's God's word.
And you know what, if God told me something,
I'd do it, and as soon as I find out
what God's will is for my life,
that's what I wanna do with my life.
That's a tender heart to the Lord,
a heart that's submissive to God,
a heart that loves God,
and wants to keep his commandments.
The opposite of that is the stubborn,
wicked, nobody's gonna tell me what to do,
we will not have this man to rule over us,
just wanting to harden your neck,
and say, you know, I mean,
you know, you think of Jonah,
kind of hardening his neck when God gets on him,
where God says to him,
doest thou well to be angry, Jonah?
And he says, I do well even unto death.
I mean, think about that.
What have you said to your child?
Hey, are you right to be angry with me right now?
To your child, and they said,
I do well even unto death.
You know, I mean, that's just defiance at that point.
That's why God took away his gourd and gave him
a sunburn, and Jonah tapped before.
But we need to take this warning seriously.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God.
You know, God can really do a number on you.
In fact, you'd rather fall into Satan's hand
than God's hand, because if you remember,
you know what God said about Job?
He said to Satan, behold, he is in thy hand.
He allowed Job to be put in his hand,
but God restrained Satan so that Satan
could torment Job, but he could not touch his body,
only just his possessions, his family, his wealth,
but he could not touch his body.
And then later, God lifted that restriction
and said, well, you can touch his body,
but you can't kill him.
But the thing with God is, when you're in God's hand,
nobody's restraining him.
There's nobody talking him down.
When you have trodden underfoot the son of God,
and you say, well, trodden underfoot the son of God,
hey, look, in the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God,
and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
And when you despise this word, you're despising Jesus.
When you treat the word with disrespect,
you're treating Jesus with disrespect,
because he is the word.
He's the author of the word.
And so the Bible says, you know,
you've done despite under the spirit of grace.
You know, it's this attitude that says,
well, I'm under grace, so therefore,
I will continue sinning.
And the Bible says, should we continue and sin
that grace may abound?
God forbid.
God forbid that you would just say, oh, I'm saved,
and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness,
and say, you know what, well, because I'm under grace,
and I can do whatever and still go to heaven,
I'm gonna go out and do whatever.
You know what, where sin abounds,
grace does much more abound, but you know what?
That doesn't mean God's not gonna judge his people
when they sin willfully after that they've received
the knowledge of the truth.
You know what's right.
You've received the truth.
You've received preaching over the years.
You've read things in the Bible,
and you need to be sure that you're not defying the Lord.
And you can sit there and say,
oh, I would never defy the Lord.
I have such great respect for him.
Well, if you defy your parents, you just defied the Lord.
If you defy your husband, you just defied the Lord.
That's what the Bible teaches,
because God put those authorities in place,
and if you defy them, you're defying God, okay?
And just like in the Old Testament,
if they defied the judge, they got to put over it.
Remember the judges?
Basically, the judges were men like, you know,
Othniel, and Ehud, and you know,
I don't wanna say Barak, I'll pronounce it, Barak,
you know, and men like Gideon, and men like Samson,
and all these different judges that God gave them
as spiritual rulers over them.
And God gave them the high priest as a spiritual ruler
that was supposed to guide them.
And God said, don't despise their word,
but you need to listen to what the, I mean,
let me just close by reading it one more time,
because it's pretty important.
In Deuteronomy 17, you don't have to turn there,
but it said, in verse number nine,
and thou shalt come unto the priest, the Levites,
and unto the judge that shall be in those days,
and inquire, and they shall show thee
the sentence of judgment, and thou shalt do
according to the sentence which they of that place
which the Lord shall choose, shall show thee,
and thou shalt observe to do all that they inform thee
according to the sentence of the law
which they shall teach thee,
and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee,
thou shalt do, thou shalt not decline from the sentence
which they shall show thee to the right hand,
nor to the left, but the man that will do presumptuously
and will not hearken unto the priest
that standeth the minister there
before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge,
even that man shall die,
and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
God's saying, don't rebel against God-given authority,
or you're rebelling against the Lord.
And look, who's the priest in the New Testament?
Jesus Christ.
Okay, that's who you're despising
when you defy his word.
And not only that, but God has placed other judges
in your life and other authorities in your life,
and you need to treat them with respect
and not just defy them,
because who are you defying at the end of the day?
You're defying the Lord.
And so I hope that you'll take this warning to heart,
because we don't want to be guilty of this,
and we don't want God to cloud up and rain on us,
and we need to walk humbly before God every day.
And that means every day we need to get on our knees
and just tell God that he is in charge.
You know, and God, you're the boss.
I want to please you.
I want to honor and glorify you.
I'm not just going to go out and do what I want
and just not care and disregard what you want,
but I'm going to search the scripture
and figure out what you want me to do,
and I'm going to do it because you are the Lord.
You're the boss.
You are the final judge, and not have this attitude
that just says, well, you know what?
Nobody's perfect.
I know God said it, but you know what?
I'm not going to do it.
Spy Rides Never Word of Prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the salvation
that you've offered us, Lord, through the blood
and through the sprinkling and through your grace, Lord,
but help us not to think that that just gives us
a license to sin, Lord, but that rather we realize,
hey, there's nothing we can do to lose our salvation,
but that doesn't mean that you're not
going to cloud up and rain on us on this earth
and in this life.
Help no one to walk out of here stiff-necked and stubborn
and saying, well, this is too strict.
Lord, help everyone to have a tender heart
and to realize that you have the right
to tell us what to do because you're God.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.