The Great Sin of Apostasy - Receiving Jesus and then Falling Away - Part 2

I was thinking about a line we were singing earlier, "Gracious Savior of my ruined life." I know that my life was ruined by sin and self-rule and God in His good grace redeemed me, saved me, and He's been helping me wrestle with my wretched ruined life ever since. If there's any victory in me and in my life, it's all by His grace. It's all by His goodness. Nothing good about me. I'm thankful for our Redeemer. Well, if you would take your Bible, turn back to Hebrews 10. I did say earlier we will be in verses 26 to 31, but really we will camp out and stay in verse 29 later on in the message. But just have your Bible turned there.

We'll get to that passage a little later on. Now last week we covered quite a bit of verses 26 to 31 in what I call the great sin of apostasy, receiving Jesus and then falling away. Of course, with my title, I am certainly applying this teaching to our day and our Bible-belled Christian culture where so many receive Jesus, but so many, sadly, fall away. This morning I will explain more of what apostasy looks like in our day and time, but I will certainly speak to how this applied to this time in this original audience. Now I have said this many times, and I always have to explain this statement, but context is king.

Understanding the original audience and the context of all Bible teaching is king because when we understand this teaching in its original context applied to that original audience, then we will be able to accurately understand what the author is saying here, what God is saying here, and then we'll be able to accurately apply it to our day, our time, and to us. But here we have the fourth great warning found in the letter to the Hebrews, and this warning is all about the great sin of apostasy, the great sin of apostasy. Now last week I explained thoroughly what apostasy is.

Apostasy is simply a purposeful falling away from Christ in Christianity. Apostasy is a willful defection, a walking away from Christ in the Christian faith, but from our study in verses 26 to 31 we clearly saw that an apostate is not someone who associates with believers in the church on the surface level, and then they just unassociate. We saw that an apostate is not a person who casually assimilates into the church, and they stay for a while, and then they just casually unassimilate. Biblical apostasy, as taught right here before us, is much, much more than that.

Biblical apostasy is when one professes Christ in Christianity, and they really seem to possess a legitimate profession of faith. In our day and time, this person would be a baptized and serving member of the church, yet they make a decision or a series of decisions to willfully abandon Christ in the Christian faith. And sometimes they do this after years of being in the church. So they turn from Christ, and they turn back to sin, and the life of sin associated with unbelief. And last week I pointed out the classic biblical example of an apostate, and that is Judas. Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus.

I said that Judas is the quintessential apostate. Being a quintessential apostate means that Judas is a type of apostate. In every way, Judas is representative of the true apostate. Just like Judas, the apostate is one who has professed belief in Christ Jesus, has come into very close proximity to Christ. They truly know the truth of God's Word concerning Jesus and the Gospel. They know what God's Word says about salvation for men and mankind. They are infused with the truth of Jesus and the Gospel. So truth is taken ahold of them, and even in an experiential way. But they're not born again. I call this individual the almost Christian.

That term, you kind of have to think about it. The almost Christian, and they may even be a respected leader in the church. But with one decision, or through a series of decisions, they willingly walk away from Christ in the Christian faith. Again, sometimes this happens after years of appearing to be true and legitimate. Years ago when I first started seminary, I had a class with a guy who became a good friend. As I got to know him, I heard how he came to faith in Christ. It really seemed that God was working in his life in a great way. During those days, he was a truck driver, and he served in a large church as a ministry intern.

Look, this guy was really a fireball for Jesus. He had great zeal for evangelizing the lost, and as a truck driver, that put him in a place where he shared the gospel with a lot of lost men. And his ministry position allowed him to minister to a lot of teenagers. He was a high school football team chaplain, and it really seemed that God used him to impact young people for Christ. Later on, he left his secular employment, and he served in a full-time capacity on church staff, but he went through some difficult circumstances while serving on church staff. I do not think he was sinful in any way.

I don't think he was involved in sin where he was disqualified in any way, but he was let go from that ministry position. Well, that led to great pain and great bitterness, which turned into disillusionment with ministry, which actually shipwrecked his Christian faith and life. Years after these events, I made it a point to see him at a funeral, and it was obvious that he was actually living a very unchristian life, and he had been very unchristian for years. And before I could say anything about how he was doing, what was going on in his life, he said something just like this to me. He said, "You know, Chris, we were both hurt in the church.

You went one way, but I went the other. You went one way, but I went the other." It is so sad. It really seems that he became an apostate. He professed coming to faith in Christ. He knew and preached the gospel very, very well. He was even a successful Christian leader for quite some time. My wife can tell you that he was a good friend to me, and I respected him and loved him. But in one choice or with a series of choices, he walked away from Christ, he walked away from the Christian life, and he went back to the sin and sinfulness which characterized his life before, sadly even worse.

He may say, "Pastor, he's not an apostate because he is not off into some false religion or denying the Christian faith." Remember what we learned here last week, church? Apostasy is determined by what you leave, not where you go after you leave. You need to hear that, folks. Apostasy is determined by what you leave, not where you go after you leave. So there's a critical lesson here for us all.

When someone apostatizes, like we are learning about here in verses 26 to 31, whether they leave Christ for a pagan religion, whether they leave Christ for no religion at all, or if they leave Christ in biblical Christianity for some kind of a weak cultural Christianity, what makes them an apostate is what they leave, not where they go after they leave. When the brutal and sad reality is this, church, we will have one or more, even maybe a family that will leave us. Maybe they could be in our church for years, but they will walk away from the church. They'll walk away from the faith.

Some of you are facing the sad reality that you have family that you love dearly who have walked away from Christ, they've walked away from the Christian faith. They were even leaders in church for years, and it hurts. It's hard for you to grapple with these things, and maybe some of this teaching helps you grapple with them properly, biblically. So let's continue with what I'm calling the great sin of apostasy, receiving Jesus and then falling away. Let's go back to our verses. I'll read all of them because I will reference all of these verses throughout the message.

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. One 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 verse 31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Now here in the first portion of verse 26, we have seen that the author explained what apostasy is. We covered this last week, but I'm going to take this teaching a little further. And from the second part of verse 26 on down to verse 31, we saw that the author explained the terrible results of apostasy. Again, we studied this last week. I will take this a little further this morning. And then in verse 29, there's a question. And the author shows us what those who apostatize are actually doing. They are actually committing three horrendous sins. This is new material.

And again, we will come back to that verse a little later on in the message. So let's get started back in this teaching so that we can understand more fully the great and horrible sin of apostasy. So let's look again at number one, the description of apostasy. Again, that side of the verse, the verse part of verse 26, the description of apostasy. Here in this short verse, the author tells us what apostasy is. And he tells us what the apostate actually does in their apostasy. And we are learning that apostasy involves two things. The apostate is one who receives or embraces the truth.

This is one who actually comes to a full knowledge of the truth. And this is the truth of God's Word, especially the truth pertaining to the gospel, Jesus as God's Son and promised Messiah, and the truth concerning salvation for men and men. But this is not a general knowledge of the truth, but a full knowledge of the truth. This is not a casual knowledge of the truth, but a full understanding of the truth of who Jesus is, the gospel, and what God's Word says about salvation. Now let me give you an example. Let me flesh this out. Many on our day have a general knowledge of what God's Word says about Jesus and the gospel.

They learned it from going to vacation Bible school as a child. They learned it from attending a church growing up. They may even profess to be a Christian and a member of a church, but probably they don't go to church. And sadly, because of the easy believe-ism that so permeates our culture, it so permeates many of our churches. Many have this general knowledge of the truth, but it hadn't changed their life. But the one who has this full knowledge of the truth, they know accurately the truth of who Jesus is, accurately the truth of the gospel, and what the Bible says about salvation from man and man.

They have a living knowledge of this truth. The truth is, lay the hold of them, and they are infused with the truth. We can say that they have an experiential relationship with the truth. This is the one who can explain the truth. They can share the gospel accurately. They may even be able to witness. This is the one that can teach the Bible, and they can even teach it well. They have experienced the truth of God's Word in the gospel. The truth seems to have laid a hold of them, and it seems like it's really inside of them.

But we see that the apostate deliberately and purposely makes a choice, or he makes a series of choices, to walk away from Christ, to leave the Christian faith. They choose to abandon what they have professed, maybe for years, and they return to a life of unbelief and sin. It's like when a man leaves his wife. Maybe he's been married for about 20 years. That man makes a choice, or a series of choices, to leave his wife, to abandon his vows that he made to his wife and to God. He makes a choice to abandon his family. So he packs up, and he moves out. And the apostate makes a similar choice.

The apostate walks away from the life they had constructed in the Christian faith. So they pack up, and they leave the church, and all of the believers who thought they were a brother and a sister. And notice how the author has been leading up to this warning against the sin of apostasy all throughout the letter. Maybe you go back and read, study, to see how this all comes together. In chapter 2, verse 1, the author called the ones receiving this letter to really, really pay attention to what they have seen and heard, and not to drift away from these things.

In chapter 3, 7, and 8, he called them not to harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit and the truth that they had seen and heard. In chapter 6, verse 4, he called these in this congregation to be very careful not to fall away from what they had been taught, what they had seen, what they had heard. And here in chapter 10, verse 26, he was calling them not to willfully walk away from Christ as the promised Messiah, not to walk away from the Christian faith. And this church, see it all builds up to this warning. And look at how this warning related to those in this original congregation.

There were three types of people in this church for those who had not professed Christ as the promised Messiah, but they were Jews, and they were associating with this church, associating with these believers. This was a warning, but mostly an evangelistic call and warning. And he was warning and calling them to come to saving faith in Christ. We have folks like that who associate with our church and around us, those who have not professed Christ, they wouldn't claim to be Christian, and we should be issuing them evangelistic calls on a regular basis.

And for those who had professed to believe in Christ as the promised Messiah, but they were not truly born again. Scholars tell us there was a group in this church like this, and this was a warning especially for them. This warning was meant to show them that they were really on thin ice. They were in a precarious place. This was a warning not to turn their back on Christ and the Christian faith and to return to the temple and all of those temple sacrifices, but this was a warning and a call for them to take that step to Christ to genuine saving faith.

So this was an evangelistic call and a warning for those almost Christian in the congregation. We have folks like that today. We have folks like that today who are on the verge of saving faith. They're almost Christian. They would profess to be Christian, yes, but they know they're right on the edge. And there were those in this congregation who were true believers. They had truly come to saving faith. They had turned their backs on the religion of Judaism. They had walked away from the temple in the old covenant sacrificial system. They had truly believed that Christ was the fulfillment of all that is seen in the old covenant.

But even though they had truly believed in Christ, the temptation to pull and go back, the temptation and the pull to go back to Judaism, back to the temple, back to those temple sacrifices, oh, that was great. And although they could have never lost their faith, although they could have never lost their salvation, they certainly could have been tempted to go back to Judaism and allow that temptation to linger on in their life and to greatly hinder their walk with Christ. So here in verse 26, we have the description of the apostate or what apostasy is. Now before I move on, I want to point out the great temptation to go back.

And all of us have this temptation to some degree in some area of life. Let me repeat this. I want to point out the great temptation for us as believers to go back. What in your life is tempting you to go back? It's different for you than it is for me. What in your life is tempting you, drawing you, tempting you to go back, to go back? Here's where I trust the Holy Spirit of God to do what only He can do. And that is to single out those things so that you would deal with Him properly as a believer. Now let's look again at number two, the results of apostasy.

This is picking up in the second part of verse 26 on down to verse 31, the results of apostasy. Here the author lays out the results when one apostatizes and he names four things that come to the apostate for their spiritual treason. Now this is brutal, this is sobering, and this should be spiritually eye opening. First of all, no sacrifice for sin remains for the apostate. Now this is simple and does not need much explanation, but when one willfully walks away from Christ, the gospel and salvation, which can only be found in the finished work of Christ's death on the cross, there is no sacrifice for that person's sin. It is just simple.

A person cannot receive forgiveness for their sin when they walk away from the once and for all offering of Christ on the cross for sin. It's just like this. If I had a fatal disease and there was only one cure, and that cure was right before me, I could see the cure, I knew all about the cure, I could even tell others about the cure for my disease, and I was so familiar with the cure that I could even sell the cure and make a lot of money. But then I walked away and refused the cure for my disease. Well, there would be no cure for my disease, you might say, "Patra, that's simple. That's kind of childlike." Yes, it is.

But it helps us to see the total sinfulness and the utter spiritual stupidity of the one who knows fully the truth, fully the truth of the gospel and salvation found in Jesus, yet they walk away. But then second, a fearful expectation of judgment awaits the apostate. This is the next step, the next brutal step in the results of apostasy for the one who walks away from Christ in the gospel. Two things await them. First, a fearful or terrifying judgment from God. And second, the fire of God's judgment that awaits the very enemies of God. Now we asked this question last week, but we need to revisit this question.

Why does the author call the apostate an enemy of God? Some translations use the word "abassary." It is because apostasy is none other than spiritual treason. Apostasy is truly spiritual treason. Apostasy is the severest of sins which deserves the severest of judgments. Apostasy is spiritual treason against God because the apostate actually sees fully and even experiences the gospel, saving faith in Christ and the Christian faith, but they are not born again and they walk away. Therefore they deserve God's terrifying judgment of fire that consumes all of God's enemies. Just imagine. Think about this folks.

And understanding the great glory and the great grace of the gospel and somehow even experiencing the glory and the grace of the gospel, yet walking away and choosing to stay in unbelief and then experiencing the terrifying judgment of God's fire for all eternity. That's what happens to the apostate. Then third, and greater judgment is deserved for the apostate. A great and greater judgment is deserved for the apostate. Here in these verses, verses 28 to 29, we see a comparison that really would have gotten the attention of these Jews. Remember this was a Jewish congregation now. They knew all about the Old Testament.

They knew all about the law of Moses. They knew who Moses was. They knew these things. But the author pointed out that for the Jew who lived under the Old Covenant to set aside the law of Moses, well, the law of God said that they were to be taken out of the city and stoned to death. It was capital punishment horrific. But then the author makes a giant leap by saying how much worse is the punishment for those who profess Christ, yet they abandon Christ and the Christian faith. So for the Old Testament apostate who walked away from the law of Moses, they faced a one-time physical capital punishment stoning outside of the city.

But for the New Covenant apostate who walks away from Christ and the Christian faith, they face a spiritual capital punishment which lasts forever. And this forever spiritual capital punishment is infinitely worse than the Old Covenant capital punishment. It's simple. Under the Old Covenant apostasy meant physical capital punishment. But under the New Covenant apostasy means a greater judgment of God's terrifying eternal judgment of fire set aside for his enemies. And then fourth, the Lord has said he will certainly judge the apostate in verses 30 to 31.

Now here we learn that God is not vengeful now like a man can be vengeful looking for revenge or exacting revenge. God is not like man and man. But the point here is this, the author was explaining that justice and judgment belongs to God and God tells us in scripture that a just and right judgment certainly weights God's enemies and all apostates are God's enemies. And notice how the author caps off his explanation of the results of apostasy. He says in verse 31, I'm reading from the Amplified, "It is a fearful and terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God, incurring his judgment and wrath." And look what we see here folks.

We can fall into the hands of the living God by accepting salvation found only in Christ Jesus. And when we do, we fall into the loving hands of God, we fall into the forgiving hands of God, we fall into the gracious and merciful hands of God. Do we not? As born again believers, we can fall into the hands of the living God. This would be the sanctifying hands of God when we experience God's correction, God's discipline, the trials and tribulations of life that God has ordained for us, God's will and God's plan for our lives, all that God has for us as His children.

Or as an apostate enemy of God, you can fall into the hands of the living God by falling into God's judgment of fire for His enemies. And it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of God, into the righteous judgment of God and the righteous wrath of God. Now let's pick up where we left off last week, verse 29. Number three, I want us to see the sins of the apostate. Number three, the sins of the apostate. Now the author has explained thoroughly what apostasy is and the horrendous results of apostasy. But he did not leave out the horrendous sins that the apostate commits. And here in verse 29 he names three.

First notice the apostate tramples underfoot the Son of God. The apostate tramples underfoot the Son of God. Look at verse 29. I want you to put your eyes on it. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who is trampled underfoot the Son of God? Here we see that when one has full knowledge of the truth of God and the Gospel, yet they walk away, they are demonstrating that they see no value in Jesus as the Son of God. In their walking away, the apostate is actually saying that the Son of God is worthless, worthy to be thrown out, worthy to be walked over, worthy to be trampled over.

In this term trampled underfoot in the original. It simply means to trample on, to trample underfoot. When scholars tell us this is a very, very strong expression and a very unusual word. We'll see the strength of what is said here in verse 29 by looking in Matthew 7-6. In Matthew 7-6 Jesus said, "Do not give that which is holy to dogs. Do not throw your pearls before pigs, for they will trample them under their feet." I'm reading from the Amplified. Here Jesus is saying, "Not to give to dogs and pigs what is of God, what is holy, for they will trample." They will trample over those holy things underfoot as if they are worthless. A question.

Have you ever seen a pig pen? You know what the floor of a pig pen is? Mud and manure. Mure from the pigs and mud because they root up the ground to make nothing but a wallow. And what's in all that mud? Nothing but a bunch of manure. Have I ever told you the story of barbecue and bacon? Years ago I had a friend of mine who had two pigs. He named one barbecue and one bacon. You get the idea. I rode with him to look at his pigs and when we drove up I saw the pig pen. And I thought, now this was before I needed glasses. I thought, man, he's got a concrete slab in his pig pen. Where are the pigs?

And about the time we drove up I saw pigs' heads pop up. That wasn't concrete. It was the clear sheen of mud. Mud and manure. Mud and manure. They had wallowed in that mud and manure so much that they could literally be buried in it. Ladies, would you take your engagement ring or wedding ring, maybe your grandmother's jewelry that you inherited, would you throw it into a pig pen? Men, would you take your wedding ring, would you throw that into a pig pen? Well it's the same for the apostate.

When one has full knowledge of the gospel in Christ Jesus, yet they walk away by their actions they are throwing out Jesus and the gospel to be trampled on like garbage in the streets, like garbage in a pig pen, like garbage in a ditch. So the first sin of the apostate is this. By their actions they are declaring that Jesus and the gospel, that's worthless. Worthy to be trampled on in the street, worthy to be thrown into the ditch, even into a pig pen. But then second, he shows us the apostate profanes the blood of Jesus. The apostate profanes the blood of Jesus. Look back at verse 29. Again, I want you to put your eyes on it.

How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who is trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant? Here we see that when one has full knowledge of the truth of God and the gospel, yet they defect and walk away, they are treating the blood that Jesus spilled on the cross as something that is unclean. That is what this word profane, I'm reading from the English Standard Version, that's what that means. It means common but it means more. It really means unclean.

The Legacy Standard Bible says, "Has regarded as defiled, defiled the blood of the covenant." Now look at the contrast between what the author says about the blood of Christ and what the apostate says about the blood of Christ. I ran across this list from Tom Shriner and I really kind of made it my own. But we have seen all throughout our study of this letter, the author presenting his case making his argument that the blood of Christ truly secures eternal redemption from man and man, chapter 9 verse 12. And Christ's blood cleanses the conscience of the man, chapter 9 verse 14. And the blood of Christ removes sin, chapter 9, 25 to 26.

He has shown us that Christ's blood provides man access to the very presence of God. We saw that in chapter 10 verse 19. He has shown us that Christ's blood is the blood of the new covenant, chapter 13 verse 20, in that Jesus' death and shed blood truly inaugurates and ratifies the new covenant between God and his people. Therefore securing forgiveness for sin, chapter 8 verse 13. So you tell me how valuable is the blood of Christ? How valuable is the blood of Christ which he willingly shed for us? But listen to how Tom Shriner describes the apostate. And here we see the contrast.

He says, and I'm quoting him here, "They," that's the apostate, "they reject his blood as unclean, tossing it aside as one would throw a menstrual cloth into the garbage." You tell me how God should treat someone who profanes the blood of Christ like a menstrual cloth. So the second sin of the apostate, when one walks away from Christ into faith, they are declaring by their actions that they see the blood of Christ Jesus as worthless but more as defiled. But a question some of you are asking, you were probably asking this last week, what does the author mean when he says the apostate is sanctified? Go back to verse 29.

"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?" What does this mean here? Now in my study I've come across two opinions that seem to be plausible. Honestly, there are a lot of scholars who just skip right over it. Now first off, we know this does not somehow teach that the apostate was and is somehow Christian, no. We have seen that the apostate never was born again to begin with.

Last week I referenced Matthew 13 in the parable of the sower, or the parable of the soils, to show you that some can profess Christ and still not be born again. We see the same thing in 1 John 2.19. John says, and I'm quoting the verse, "They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might become plain that they were not of us." So the true apostate is the one who walks away from Christ and never comes back, and they were never born again to begin with, even though they may look Christian for a time.

So one opinion says that this sanctification in verse 29 refers to the apostate, but not in the saving sense, or like we see when a born again believer grows in their sanctification. This position says that the apostate was set apart, they were sanctified in that they were set apart by their profession of faith in Christ and by the life that they had constructed around and in their false profession. But one opinion says that this sanctification refers not to the apostate, but to Christ Jesus. And in support of this position, they refer to John 17 in Christ's high priestly prayer.

In verse 19, Jesus prayed to be consecrated, which means to be sanctified. In verse 19, Jesus prayed, "And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth." Now a question, what position do we take? If we believe this refers to the apostate, then how much worse is sin of apostasy? For the apostate was set apart by his profession of faith in Christ. He was set apart by the "religious life" he constructed within that confession, but he walked away from it all. And if we believe this refers to the apostate, how much worse than his sin?

But if we believe this refers to Christ, then how much worse the sin of the apostate? For Christ was sanctified. Christ was set apart. He was set apart to provide salvation for men and men. And the apostate here fully understood this, yet he walked away from it. Now really and truly either one is plausible for me. It's really a non-issue. Unless one tries to use this to somehow tell us that the apostate was born again and they lost their salvation, well we know that's not the case. But third, the author shows us the apostate outrages the Holy Spirit of grace. The apostate outrages the Holy Spirit of grace. Again go back to verse 29.

How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who is 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? Here we see that when one has full knowledge of the truth and the gospel, yet they abandon Christ in the faith, they insult and sin against the Spirit of grace. Now we must see that the author here is referring to the Holy Spirit. Of course if you know much about the letter you know that he does not refer to the Spirit very often.

But notice that he calls the Spirit the Spirit of grace and most likely that is because the Holy Spirit of God is the one who dispenses grace. One writer says it like this, "He," that's the Holy Spirit, "is both the gift of grace and the source of grace." That's true. He that's the Holy Spirit is both the gift of grace and the source of grace. But notice what the apostate does to the Spirit of grace. He insults the Holy Spirit. He insults the Holy Spirit who is the gift of grace and the source of grace. Now pause right here and think. Really think about this insulting the Spirit of grace.

This is the one who has experienced the truth of God, the gospel and the way of salvation from men and men. But he's not born again. This is the one who comes to a decision or they make a series of decisions where they reject the person of the Holy Spirit therefore insulting the Holy Spirit of grace. Now John MacArthur explains this well. This is key to understanding this and you need this. He says that this person has been led by the Spirit of grace in a pre-salvation work of redemption and he has been energized by the Spirit towards repentance and faith.

MacArthur references John 16, 8 to 11, which says Jesus is talking to his disciples here. When he, that's the Holy Spirit comes, he, that's the Holy Spirit, will convict or convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. You see that's the work of the Spirit to the lost now to convict the world, the lost people of sin, their sin, righteousness, God's righteousness and the judgment to come. Verse 9, concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer, concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

And MacArthur goes on to say that this one insults the Holy Spirit of grace by turning from Christ and salvation in this pre-salvation work of grace. There are people here this morning that are living in and experiencing a pre-salvation work of grace by the Holy Spirit of God in their life. Let me repeat that. There are people here this morning that are living in and experiencing a pre-salvation work of grace by the Holy Spirit of grace. Let me pause here. How in the world do you think God got you here to hear the gospel and begin to see that you need salvation? That was and is a work of grace. You didn't come here by accident.

And look friend, do not resist this work. Do not reject this work. Therefore turning your back on this work, and venturing off into apostasy. So the third sin of the apostate, when one walks away from Christ into faith, they are truly insulting the Holy Spirit of God by resisting and rejecting the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of grace. So in summary, look at what we have here in verse 29. These are the three horrible sins of the apostate. Now I want to read verse 29 one more time in the Amplified.

How much greater punishment do you think he will deserve who is rejected and trampled underfoot the Son of God and has considered unclean and common the blood of the covenant that sanctified him and has insulted the Spirit of grace who imparts the unmerited favor and blessing of God? Now as I wrap up this teaching on the great sin of apostasy, receiving Jesus and then falling away, we must make sure that we see that there is a difference between the true apostate and the genuine believer who gets caught up in sin even in bad doctrine. Born again believers can get caught up in the sin.

Believers can allow themselves to slip into a state of sin and carnality. They can even allow themselves to get into a backslidden state. And a true believer can be affected by bad doctrine, even the influence of apostate false teachers. But the point we need to see right here is this. The true apostate remains in their apostasy. The true apostate never comes back to Christ in saving faith. But the true believer will come out of sin in carnality. We believe in the perseverance of the saints. It's biblically taught so they will come out of their sin in carnality.

And the true believer can break away from, repent of, and turn back from the influence of even the apostate false teacher. How many of you were able to break away from the influence of bad doctrine? How many of you were able to break away from even the bad doctrine of apostate false teachers? I was. And we always must remember that there is a great mystery in these things. We cannot truly know who the apostate is because the true apostate remains in their apostasy to the end. The person who apostatizes but later comes to genuine saving faith in Christ, well, they're not a true apostate.

And again, there is a great mystery in all of these things. We can clearly see people profess Christ and be a part of the church, but then they abandon the faith. We can clearly see that we thought they were born again, but they go the way of apostasy, but we do not know if they will remain. Only God knows. But notice our responsibility here. And I'm speaking to Grace Life Church now, members of Grace Life Church. And one among us leaves the church and leaves the faith. What should we do? Of course, when one is a member of Grace Life Church and they walk away, that becomes a church discipline issue.

But when one of our own leaves the church and they leave the faith, we go to them urging them to repent and to return to Christ and the church. We treat them as if they are born again because as members of Grace Life Church, they have a profession of faith in Christ and they give credible evidence that they are truly born again. But if they remain in their abandonment of Christ in this church, sadly, the process of loving and gracious church discipline will work them out. And when one leaves our church, they leave the faith. And according to what we've learned here, they go off into apostasy. What should we do?

Pray and pray more and pray more and go to them and maybe confront them with the gospel and their need for saving faith. We don't give up on them. You might say, "Pastor, what if they don't even want to talk to me? We can still pray for them." Pray God will bring them to saving faith. So the great sin of apostasy, receiving Jesus and then falling away. Let's pray. Let's commit these things to the Spirit of God.