The Great Sin of Apostasy - Receiving Jesus and then Falling Away - Part 1

Well, if you would, take your Bible and turn back to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, I did say we would be in verses 26 to 31, but we will not cover all that we have here. So if you see me skip over a portion or miss a portion or not reference a portion, just know we'll come back to it next week. I promise we're going to try to get to the bottom of this, although we never will. Now I think most of you know that we have moved into the practical portion of this letter. Of course, this letter was written to a Jewish congregation. That's why it's called the letter to the Hebrews. The practical section starts in chapter 10, verse 19.

But from verses 19 to 21, we saw and studied the great privileges that we possess as a result of the new life that we have in Christ Jesus, which is the new life in and under the new covenant. We have the privilege of confidently entering into the presence of God. We have the privilege of the new and living way through the blood of Christ and the torn and broken body of Christ. We have the privilege of possessing a great high priest, Jesus, who rolls over his people and who can take us into the very presence of God. Now I ask us a question here. Are we living according to our privileges? Are we living according to our privileges?

And then from verses 22 to 25, we saw the great responsibility that are ours as a result of the new life we have in Christ, which is the new life in and under the new covenant. We are responsible to draw near to God. We are responsible to hold tightly to our confession of Christ and our hope in Christ. We are responsible to one another in our church in many wonderful ways. We are responsible to carefully consider one another so as to provoke one another to love God and love one another more and to provoke one another to good works in life and especially in the church.

And we are responsible to faithfully meet together so as to encourage one another in the Christian life and also just in life in general. And another question along the same lines, are we fulfilling our responsibilities as we should? And Luke Church, make sure you hear me right here. The key to living according to our privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus, the key is love. And the key to fulfilling our responsibilities that are ours in Christ Jesus, the key is love. Christ first loved us and redeemed us. And because he has saved us, we love him. He has actually deposited his love into us.

Romans 5, 5 says, "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." So we are motivated by God's love in us to live according to our privileges. And we are motivated by God's love in us to fulfill our responsibilities one to another. And if we try to live out these things out of duty, it will be nothing but rules. It will be nothing but legalism. It will be nothing but empty, flesh-filled religion. And that always leads to frustration. It never leads to joy and true Christian happiness.

As a matter of fact, this past week I had a great, great conversation over lunch with one of the men of our church just talking about what motivates us and enables us to do these things. It all comes in and through God's love in us. Now this morning we come to more practical teaching and right off I want to say that the teaching of verses 26 to 39, some of the most important teaching in all the Scripture. Here we have the fourth warning that the author gave to this church. And this fourth warning is all about the great sin of apostasy. Let me repeat that. The great sin of apostasy.

The author explains what apostasy is and the horrible results of apostasy. He explains what those who apostatize actually do in their great sin. And then he finishes by giving some encouragement not to apostatize and to persevere in true saving biblical faith. But a question we must ask before we go any further, what is apostasy? Apostasy is purposefully falling away or leaving behind. Apostasy is intentional abandonment or an intentional defecting or forsaking. And when applied to Christ and Christianity, apostasy is a purposeful falling away from Christ and Christianity. Apostasy is a willful defection from Christ and the Christian faith.

So an apostate is one who professes Christ and professes Christianity, yet they come to a decision or a series of decisions when they willfully abandon Christ and the faith. So they walk away from Christ, they walk away from the Christian faith, and they walk away from the church. And when one becomes an apostate, they actually become another Judas Iscariot who is arguably the most infamous of all the apostates seen in the Scriptures. Judas was one of the twelve chosen disciples of Christ. And for three years he lived with, talked with, and experienced on a deeply personal level the very Son of God in the flesh.

Judas heard firsthand the perfect preaching of Jesus. He saw with his own eyes the powerful miracles of Jesus. For three years he interacted with too many people to count who were truly saved by the soul saving power of Jesus. And he saw many who had come to believe in Jesus grow in their newfound faith. Think about what he saw just in the lives of the other eleven disciples that he knew in a very intimate way for three years. And look folks, Judas looked so good that they made him the keeper of the money bag. We can put it in our language, they made him the church treasurer. Yet Judas made a conscious choice.

Or he made a series of choices to willfully abandon Jesus and abandon the faith. Judas is the quintessential apostate. Now before we get into our verses and our message, I want to revisit something I just said a moment ago. I said that this is some of the most important teaching on all the Scripture. Now think about the boldness of that statement. How can I say that this is some of the most important teaching on all the Scripture? It is because here we come to grips with the fact that someone can profess Christ as their Savior. They can be baptized and be a member of a church. They can serve in the church for years.

They can look as Christian as anyone and even be a top notch Christian leader in the church, in their home, and in the community for years. And then in one decision, or through a series of decisions, that person can walk away from Christ, the church, and the Christian faith. Years ago I had a teenager in my student ministry when I was at First Baptist Church in Ellisville, Mississippi. He professed Christ. He was baptized and he became a member of the church. He was very active in the ministry and he even went into the ministry. He attended seminary and attained a seminary degree.

He was ordained into the ministry and he served on church staff. But through a series of choices, he abandoned biblical Christianity. He came out as homosexual and the last I heard he was attending a homosexual-affirming church. You may say, "Pastor Chris, he is not a true apostate because he still professes Christ." Yes, he is, but he is professing a Jesus of his own making. He is believing a gospel of his own making. He is attending a church of his own making all to suit his sinful desires. John MacArthur really helped me here.

He says, and I'm quoting, "Apostasy is determined by what you leave, not where you go after you leave." Let me repeat that. John MacArthur says apostasy is determined by what you leave, not where you go after you leave. And the young man I am referring to left or abandoned biblical Christianity and the Jesus of the Bible and he went after a Jesus, a gospel and a Christianity of his own making. He went after a Christianity of his own making that would accommodate and even celebrate his sin. And this is important for another reason.

In this teaching we have a great warning for those who are right on the edge, right on the verge of salvation, but they have not yet come to saving faith. Let me repeat that. This teaching is important because here we have a great warning for those who are right on the verge, right on the edge of true salvation, but they have not yet come to saving faith. And get this, many times the one who is on the edge of true saving faith, they have made a profession of faith in Christ. They've been baptized. They may even be serving members of the church. They are truly a professing Christian, but what can be called the almost Christian.

We see this taught in the parable of the soils in Matthew 13. In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches that there are those who receive Jesus, they receive Jesus only in their emotions, yet they are not truly saved. That is illustrated in the seed, the gospel seed that fell into the rocky soil or the shallow emotional heart. And he teaches that there are those who receive Jesus, but they refuse to repent of sin and sinfulness. They are not saved either. This is illustrated in the gospel seed that fell into the thorny or non-repentant heart or soil. So the point I'm making here is this.

There are many reasons why this teaching on apostasy is very important, but I've already mentioned two. First, we must see the fact that there are some who profess Christ. They seemingly live for Christ and even serve in the church for years, yet they make a choice or they make a series of choices to intentionally walk away from Christ, to walk away from the Christian faith and the church. They apostatize. And if we do not understand apostasy when people walk away from the faith and the church and they never come back, we won't know how to deal with it. We won't know what to do with them.

And then second, on a very personal and serious level, some of you need to see that you are right up to the edge of confessing that you are not truly born again. Some of you need to see that you are right up to the edge of confessing that you actually have an empty Christian faith. You may play the part of a Christian pretty good. You may even be good and faithful in church as a church member, but deep down you know that you are not truly born again. And you need to see that you are skating on very, very thin ice. It is a dangerous thing to be the almost Christian and to make a decision to stay there. Let me repeat that.

It is a very dangerous thing to be the almost Christian and to make a decision or decisions to stay there. You may say, "Pastor Chris, I know that I'm right on the edge of true saving faith, but I know that I will not abandon Christ, the faith in the church." Look friend, if you say that, you are playing right into the hands of your very own sinful desires, your sinfulness, and you are playing right into the hands of the devil himself.

And the flimsiness of your circumstances and the seriousness of this warning should scare you to the point where you rush to Christ for the help that only Christ Jesus can give so that you are enabled by the Holy Spirit of God to come to true saving faith. Now this leads me to the title of our message. Verses 26 to 31 are all about the great sin of apostasy, the great sin of apostasy. And I add to it by saying, "Receiving Jesus and then falling away." Now I know I mentioned this in our scripture reading earlier. This will be a part one because this is going to take two messages to get what I believe we need to get here in our verses.

But let's read our verses, all of them together. Verses 26 to 31. "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay.' And again, the Lord will judge his people." And then verse 31, "It is a fearful theme or a terrifying theme to fall into the hands of the living God." Now here the author explains what apostasy is right there in the beginning of verse 26. Then he moves quickly to explain the horrible results from apostasy, and he does that from the second part of verse 26 down to verse 31. And then he also explains what those who apostatize are actually doing, and he does that in verses 28 to 29. Now let's get started in the message. Number one, I want us to see the description of apostasy.

Number one, the description of apostasy. We could say it like this. This is a description of the apostate, and here we have a short but sufficient description of apostasy, all the personal characteristics of the apostate, what he has experienced and what he does. Now the author points out two things, and I will reverse the order of the verse, and then I'll come back to the original order because the order of this part of the verse really does matter. So the first thing I want us to notice, notice the apostate has received full knowledge of the truth. The apostate has received full knowledge of the truth.

Look at the first part of verse 26 again. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth. Here the author explains that the apostate receives or takes or embraces the truth, and this truth is the truth of God's word pertaining to the gospel, Jesus as God's son and promised Messiah and the truth concerning man's need for salvation, we could simplify it by saying this truth is the truth of the gospel and all that pertains to the gospel. But notice to what degree he knows these things. Notice to what degree he knows these things.

The author uses a word here in the original which speaks of precise and correct knowledge, a full knowledge and a full understanding. But there is another layer that we need to see here. Within the Greek New Testament there are two primary words used for knowledge. The first is the word gnosis, which speaks of a general knowledge. A gnosis is used quite often to describe a general spiritual knowledge, but there is another word here, epigenosis, which speaks of a full knowledge and understanding, a precise and a correct knowledge and understanding.

If I were to stop off at Walmart or 601 Sports, and if I were to witness to someone and share the gospel with someone here in Brookhaven, I may find that that person has a general knowledge of the gospel. They may know what I call the Sunday School answers, so they may be able to give me general information about Jesus, general information about the gospel. But if I were to talk to someone in our church who was attended for any length of time and they paid attention, they would have epigenosis knowledge. They would have a fuller knowledge and understanding of the truth of God's word, the gospel, and who Jesus is.

They would have a precise and full knowledge and understanding of the truth because I have taught the gospel clearly, fully for years, and others have done that as well. So what the author is saying here is this. The apostate that he is singling out has much more than a casual acquaintance with the gospel and the truth of who Jesus is. They have full knowledge of the truth of God's word, especially pertaining to Jesus and the gospel. They can explain it. They can probably teach it. They truly lack no knowledge concerning Jesus, the gospel, and biblical salvation. The Bible scholar Kenneth Wu says this is a living knowledge of this truth.

He says this is a living knowledge of this truth. Truth has laid a hold of them and they are infused with this truth. But then second, notice the author says the apostate deliberately continues in sin. He deliberately continues in sin. Now here we can be confused, but when this is explained it will make sense. Look back at the verse. For if we go on sinning deliberately, the New American says willfully after receiving the knowledge, the full knowledge of the truth. Here the author shows us that the apostate willfully and deliberately commits the sin of apostasy. And notice just how purposeful this is.

The English standard that I'm reading from uses the word deliberately. The New American says willfully. And this deliberately or willfully speaks of a purposeful and a willful choice. And this is different than a sin or sins that are committed in ignorance or in human weakness. This is different than a sin or sins that are unconscious. Leviticus 5, 17 to 19 speaks of the unintentional sin. And in the Old Testament economy there when one committed a sin that they were unaware of they were still guilty of that sin. But there was a provision in the law for the priest to make atonement for that unintentional sin. Now this one will surprise you.

In Luke 23, 34 Jesus prayed as he was on the cross. As the Roman soldiers were gambling for his garments and as the Jewish leaders and the people were looking at him on the cross he prayed, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Now what is my point? There are times when people commit unintentional sin. They are unaware that they have committed sin. They may even be unaware that it is a grievous sin. But that is not the case with the apostate. They purposefully, willfully and with full knowledge understand their sin. It is purposeful, willful and deliberate. But look at how the verse reads.

The author says if we go on sinning deliberately. Now if we are honest this can be confusing. And this can make us ask some questions like this. Is the author somehow saying that a person can actually get to a place where they do not continue in sin? Is he somehow advocating some kind of sinless perfection? Well the answer to those questions is no. That is not what the author is aiming at. He is speaking of a habit of sin. He is speaking of willfully and purposefully going back to a pattern and a lifestyle of sin, a habit of sin, a life of sin. And this would be the habit of sin and sinfulness pertaining to unbelief.

And we see the same thing in 1 John 3.9 where John says, and I am quoting the verse, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." Again the same question but asking of John is John somehow advocating some kind of sinless perfection for the genuine believer? Well the answer is no. John is teaching that a genuine believer cannot habitually continue in sin. At conversion he repents of his sin and sinfulness. Therefore he leaves his old sinful life behind.

His old sin is no longer his practice, his habit, although he will certainly continue to commit sin. So in the beginning of verse 26 the author gives us the description of apostasy or the description of the apostate and their great sin. But what about the order of the verse? I said earlier this is important. You see in the original the first word in the verse here is this word translated willfully or deliberately. And the author does this to emphasize that the apostate willfully, deliberately, and purposefully goes back to their sin and sinfulness.

After receiving full knowledge of the truth of Jesus and the gospel and even professing to believe in one decision or in a series of decisions, he abandons Jesus, he leaves the Christian faith, and he goes back to sin and sinfulness pertaining to unbelief. Now before we get into the results of the apostasy and the apostate, we need to do some digging here so as to more fully understand who the apostate really is. Let me ask you a few questions here. Is the apostate the man in the jungle who has had no contact with the outside world? And he worships the creation, his ancestors, and some kind of a great spirit in the sky?

Well the answer to that is no. Another question. Is the apostate the man in India who has never heard of Jesus and the gospel and he isn't about Hindu or maybe a Buddhist? Well the answer to that question is no. A little closer to home. Is the apostate the man or the woman in our community who has heard very little of the gospel and they are a very active Mormon in their church? Well the answer to that is no. Is the apostate the man or the woman in our community who has really never heard the gospel and their church is the great outdoors and their spiritual renewal is found by being in their quiet place on the lake or hiking in the woods?

Well the answer to that question is no. Now look church, you need to get this. I have thoroughly explained who and what the apostate is, but we must understand that the apostate is born and bred under the faithful preaching and teaching of God's word. The apostate is the very very close friend of solid believers even for years. The apostate knows the Bible, they know the gospel, they know and understand proper Christ ology. The apostate has been in the church for years. They've served in the years, in the church for years, and many times they can be the most respected church member.

John MacArthur made another comment here that really helped me. He says, "Apostates are not made in the absence but in the presence of Christ." You see that? Apostates are not made in the absence of Christ but in the presence of Christ. Remember our friend Judas, who is the quintessential apostate? Do you know the meaning of the word quintessential? Quintessential means perfectly typical representative of a particular kind of person or thing. Let me repeat that. This word quintessential it means perfectly typical representative of a particular kind of person or thing. You see Judas is a type of apostate.

This is representative of a particular kind of person, the apostate, one who has professed Christ and come into the very close proximity of Christ. They know the truth of God's word, especially concerning Jesus and the gospel and especially concerning salvation for men and men, but they are not truly born again. They are the almost Christian. And then by one choice or through a series of choices, they willfully, deliberately and purposefully abandon Christ, leave the Christian faith and they go back into sin and sinfulness that is attached to unbelief. In Luke, Grace Life Church, in time there will be one or maybe a husband and a wife.

They'll be one of us and they will apostatize. They will leave the church, they will leave the faith and they will not come back. And if you do not know and understand this teaching, you will not begin to know how to deal with it. And look, it is a guarantee that that will happen. It always does. And I promise you it hurts. It's confusing. It's difficult. Even though we may know the teaching and we may see it happening in someone's life, we will know them, we will love them, we may even respect them, but it will be painful and it will be hard, but it is a reality. So the description of apostasy and the apostate.

And next week we will go a little further here. And then number two, the author gives us the results of apostasy. He starts in the second part of verse 26 and on down to verse 31, the results of apostasy. We can say it like this, the results when one apostatizes. Matthew Henry calls this the doom of the apostate, the doom of the apostate. Let's read the verses and see if you can pick up on the doom of the apostate.

Verse 26, "For if we go on sinning deliberately, willfully, after receiving the knowledge, the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversary." Some translations may refer to enemies. "Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses." How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace?

For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay.' And again, the Lord will judge His people, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Now here the author moves from his two-part description of the apostate to quickly moving to their doom. And he names four things that come to the apostate. First notice he says, "No sacrifice for sin remains for the apostate." Now this is simple. It's brutal, but it's simple. When one willfully abandons Christ, the gospel and salvation found in Christ, there is simply no sacrifice for sin and salvation for that person.

Jesus and His sacrifice for their sin was before them, but they deliberately abandoned Christ for unbelief. I like how the Bible scholar Tom Shriner explains it. He says, and I'm quoting, "One can't receive forgiveness through the once for all offering of Jesus if one defiantly rejects Him. This only belongs to those who continue to trust in Jesus for forgiveness. So when one apostatizes, there is no sacrifice left for their sin." Let me pause here and ask you a question. If you do not possess saving faith, if you do not possess salvation in Christ Jesus, are you trusting in for the sacrifice of your sin? You ever thought of that?

Look folks, if you do not possess salvation in Christ, there is no sacrifice for your sin. Second, the author shows us that a fearful judgment is expected for the apostate. A fearful judgment is expected for the apostate. Look at verse 27, "But a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire will consume the adversaries." This is simply the next step. "For the one who abandons Jesus, the gospel in saving faith in Christ, they have no sacrifice for sin. Their sins cannot be forgiven." So that means that they fearfully await two things.

Now notice the English Standard says, "A fearful expectation." The New American says, "A certain terrifying expectation." And this fearful, the New American says, "Terrifying." Scholars tell us this is an unusual word that is only found here in the book of Hebrews. This speaks of an inspired fear. This speaks of a terrible terror. This speaks of one who is truly affected by fear and terror. In verse 31, we will see that it is a fearful, a terrifying theme to fall into the hands of the living God.

In chapter 12, verse 21, the author tells us that Moses was full of fear and terror when he was before God after the people had worshiped the golden calf. And notice that this fear and terror, it is a fear and a terror of two things. First judgment, and this is a clear reference to the final judgment. And then second, a fury of fire. And this fire is a picture of that final judgment. But look at who this judgment and this fury of fire is for. You may say, "Pastor, this is for the apostate." Look back at the verse, verse 27. "But a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire will consume the adversaries." The adversaries.

Here the author tells us that this judgment of fire from God is for the enemies of God. And here the author is quoting Isaiah 2611. Your Bible may note that. Isaiah 2611, as well as other verses like Zephaniah 118, Psalm 79, 5, there are many others. Those verses all speak of God's judgment as being a consuming fire against His enemies. But this leads me to a question. Why would the author call the ones who abandon Christ, lead the gospel in the Christian faith? Why would he call them God's enemies? It is because the severity of the sin of apostasy. Apostasy is the severest of sins, which deserves the severest of judgments.

Because the apostate is the one who sees fully and understands fully the gospel. They see fully saving faith in Christ. They see fully the Christian faith. But they purposefully walk away from the truth. Therefore they deserve to be God's enemies and they deserve God's consuming fire of judgment for all of eternity. So when one apostatizes, only a terrifying expectation of God's judgment of fire awaits to consume them as the enemies of God. And then third, notice the author shows us that a greater judgment is deserved for the apostate. A greater judgment is deserved for the apostate. We see this in verses 28 to 29. Look at those verses.

"And anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses." How much more or how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace? Now here we see that the author references Old Testament activities, some who abandoned the law of Moses, and then he moved into his current circumstances with the apostates. And what he was doing was this.

He was building upon what he had said, that only a terrifying expectation of God's judgment of fire awaits the apostate, the enemy of God. And how he builds his argument would have gripped this original audience. They were Jews. They understood all of these Old Testament references. But for the Jewish people, under what we would call the economy of God under the Old Covenant, the law of Moses was given to them by God, and it was the mountaintop of God's revelation to them. And the law of Moses was to be obeyed by them, period. No questions asked. So in their day, for the Jew to abandon the law of Moses was as bad as it gets.

And according to Deuteronomy 17, starting in verse 2, the Jew who apostatized, he left the law of Moses. They were to be taken outside of the city gate. They were to be stoned to death, but only upon the witness of two or three. In those verses in Deuteronomy 17, 2 to 7, it's worth our time. If there is found among you within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God in transgressing his covenant and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them of the sun or the moon or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently.

And if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses, the one is to die shall be put to death. A person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be the first against him who put him to death and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst." Wow. According to death outside of the city, that's as bad as it gets, right? Wrong.

Because in verse 29 the author says, "How much worse the punishment of those who profess saving faith in Jesus, yet they abandon Jesus and abandon the Christian faith." Leon Morris says here, and I'm quoting, "If it bad to despise Moses' law, it is infinitely worse to despise the new covenant that Christ has made in his blood. To turn away from the old revelation was disastrous. How much worse to turn away from that revelation that the Son of God and cost that son his life?" So for the apostate, the greater judgment awaits. It is one thing to be stoned to death for abandoning the law of Moses.

It is infinitely greater to endure the fiery judgment of God for all eternity for abandoning Jesus in true salvation in Jesus. And look, my friend, if you've not come to saving faith in Christ, yet you pretend to be one who has been converted to Christ, do you see the thin ice you're skating on? If you have a full knowledge of the gospel in saving faith in the life of the believer in a true biblical church, yet you choose to remain unrepentant, you're in a very, very dangerous place. And I will explain why it's so dangerous a little later. And I say this to you, please come to faith in Christ. Don't stay on your thin ice.

So when one apostatizes, a greater judgment is deserved and it awaits. And then fourth, notice the author says that the Lord has said he will certainly judge the apostate. The Lord has said he will certainly judge the apostate. Look at verse 30 and 31. "For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again the Lord will judge his people, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God." Here the author is continuing to explain the judgment of God upon the enemy apostate. And he does this by quoting two Old Testament passages.

The first is Deuteronomy 32, 35, which simply says that it is God's right to judge the apostate. One interesting thing here, the Bible scholar, language scholar, Vincent points out in his word studies that this word vengeance is really not the best word to use. That is because it can communicate that God is somehow vengeful. But that's not the case. God is not vengeful like a man. It is best to see this is the punishment of God, the judgment of God, the just punishment and judgment of God, not the vengeance of God. Kenneth Wust and his translation helps us see this.

He translates verse 30 by saying, "For we know the one," that's God who said, "the metting out of full justice belongs to me." And the second Old Testament passage is Deuteronomy 32, 36, which simply says that the Lord God will judge his people. So the point that the author was making here is this, he was explaining that justice and punishment is in the hands of God and God will certainly judge the enemy apostate justly.

And he caps it off by saying in verse 31, "It is a fearful thing, a terrifying thing for the apostate to remain in their apostasy and to end up falling into the hands of the living God who certainly will punish them in eternal fire." Listen to verse 31 in the Amplified. "It is a fearful and terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God, incurring his judgment and wrath." So when one apostatizes, a certain judgment awaits because justice and punishment is God's and he certainly will judge the enemy apostate.

And it is a terrifying thing, the most terrifying thing for the apostate enemy of God to come to the place where they fall into the hands of the living God. So in the second part of verse 26 to 31, we see the resulting doom of the apostate, no sacrifice for sin and salvation remains, but only the terrifying judgment of fire, which is the greater judgment, for the Lord has said that justice and punishment certainly awaits the enemy apostate.

And again, if you are not converted to Christ savingly, yet you have full knowledge of Jesus, the gospel, and you have a full knowledge of the great beauty of the Christian life and the great beauty of this church, please see the flimsiness of your circumstances and the seriousness of this warning. Please see the flimsiness of your circumstances and the seriousness of this warning, for if you do not come to saving faith and you remain in your unbelief willfully, you are setting yourself up for apostasy and the results of apostasy that we see here await you if you allow yourself to be drawn into apostasy.

And next Lord's day, we will look at certain things which lead to apostasy. And for the one who is unconverted to Christ and they remain in their unbelief, these are the very things that come along and steal people away into that horrible apostasy. So the results of apostasy and next week we will go a little further here as well. Now at this point we should be finishing up some of what we have not divided in verses 28 to 29 in what I call the sins of the apostate. Here in verses 28 to 29 the author gives us three grievous sins that the apostate commits. Yes it really gets worse. We will save that for the next Lord's day, Lord willing.

But I want to close out this morning with just a few comments and I will flesh these comments out a little more next week. We need to see that there is a difference between the true apostate and the true believer who gets caught up in sin and even the true believer who gets caught up in bad doctrine. Look church, true believers can get into sin. A believer can allow themselves to become carnal. They can even allow themselves to backslide. So the point I am making here is this. The difference between the true apostate and the true believer is this. The apostate remains in their apostasy.

While the true believer comes back from sin, they come back out of their carnality. But allowing themselves to be influenced by the apostate. A believer can be influenced by the apostate. And we need to see that there is a great mystery attached to this teaching and the apostate. What I mean is this. We cannot truly know who the apostate is. The true apostate remains in their apostasy to the end. But one who apostatizes but then later comes to faith and conversion to Christ, well they are not an apostate. Again there is a great mystery attached to the apostate. We certainly can see one deliberately abandon Christ.

We can see one walk away from the Christian faith and walk away from the church. We can see one move into apostasy but we do not know if they will remain. Only God knows, only God knows. Now what am I wanting us to see here as I close? There is a difference between the true believer and the true apostate. The true apostate never comes back to saving faith. But the true believer certainly remains in their faith even when they struggle and they will and there is a great mystery attached to these things. And again I will flesh this out a little further next Lord's Day.

So this has been all about the great sin of apostasy, receiving Jesus and then falling away.