*NOTE: What you typically read are simply the sermon notes that are used to preach the sermon. This sermon did not have any so, upon request, we transcribed it using word translator. While we have read over it, there may still be some differences from the actual audio recording.
The Unpardonable Sin of Rejecting Jesus
Hebrews 10:26-31
Transcript
If you take your Bibles open up to Hebrews chapter 10, I’ll apologize to you. It’s not going to come up on the screen tonight.
One of those weeks where the time didn’t hit exactly like I wanted time to hit and so it never made it from my brain to the paper. Hopefully it makes it from my brain to my mouth tonight and we’ll make it from there.
We’re going to start by reading Hebrews 10 verses 26 through 31 if you’re a note taker. The title of the sermon tonight is “The Unpardonable Sin of Rejecting Jesus”. “The Unpardonable Sin of Rejecting Jesus.” Hebrews chapter 10:26 through 31.
This is the word of God.
“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve? Who has trampled under foot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again the Lord will judge His people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Let’s pray.
Father, you are God and we praise you because you are worthy and Father my prayer tonight is very simply, that you would give me the grace to make Your truth known. Father, it is in fact all about You. It is about the glory of Your Son, the glory of Your name. It is Father about Your word and how You would relay it to us and Lord I just pray that tonight You would; You would stand in the gap and speak truth to us. And Father You would bring glory to Your name and I ask it Father in Jesus name, Amen.
The last Sunday night we met a couple of weeks ago we’ve been talking about this theme of it’s all about Jesus and that that’s a two-part deal. And at one point in the study we will swap and start talking about attributes of Jesus or things that Jesus did and the study will just be about Him. The other half of this study is the fact that you and I need to understand in our life that our life is to be all about Him and so it’s kind of a dual study and we’re still talking about that reality that everything that we do everything in this life is in fact all about Jesus. It all hovers around Him. It all centers on Him.
Last time we met, we talked about the church at Ephesus and we called what happened at the church at Ephesus.
There in Revelation 2, the intolerable failure of Ephesus. And this was a church. If you remember they did everything right.
Seemingly this was a church that started out very weak, very timid, very tolerant in fact. When Paul left Timothy at Ephesus, he wrote in first Timothy 1, that I want you to remain on at Ephesus so that you will instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. He even told him to set up teachers in accordance with the truth that will teach other people also. And we chronicled all of them throughout 1st and 2nd Timothy and Paul repeatedly told Timothy, you’ve got to oppose Hymenaeus and Alexander, you’ve got to oppose false teachers. You’ve got to oppose those who teach the doctrines of demons. You’ve got to oppose those who watered down the truth and don’t hold to the to the doctrine of godliness. You’ve got to preach the word.
Preach the word. Line up teachers that teach the word. It was all “Be doctrinally sound”; “Stand for the truth”. In fact, Paul told him in first Timothy that I write in case I’m delayed. You’ll know how one ought to conduct himself in the church, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
That was not always Ephesus, they were wishy washy. They were tolerant. They let all things go but by the time we got to the book of the Revelation they had completely flipped the switch. Timothy had done his job because they were a church that not only recognized false apostles, but they put him to the test. They found them to be false. Jesus said, “You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. They were very much stalwarts. They worked, they toiled, they labored for the truth. They persevered, they endured, they didn’t quit; very much a stalwart. They were a beacon of light for the truth and true doctrine, opposing heresy and all things. They were the type of church that we would applaud.
And yet we found out last, or two Sunday nights ago, that Jesus was about to close the doors on that church. He was about to remove their lamp stand, which equated to basically poofing them out as a church and the reason was they had left their first love. What we learned was that the role and presence and love of Jesus in the church is by far the most integral piece of the church. If the church does everything right, but misses their love for Jesus, the whole thing falls apart. It’s like a marriage where there’s service and work and duty, but there’s no love and it’s kind of an empty shell at that point. What you understand that Jesus taught us two Sunday nights ago is that when the church doesn’t love Jesus, if that’s not their main priority, if they’re not the Mary sitting at his feet doing the one thing that’s necessary according to Jesus. That is absolutely intolerable. He will not put up with that. He will close the doors on a church that does not love Him.
Well tonight I want to show you the flip side of that. When the church misses Jesus, that’s intolerable. When the world misses Jesus, it is absolutely unpardonable. It is the one thing that cannot be forgiven. It is the one thing that will not be forgiven. It is the one thing that will secure your reservation in hell faster than anything else. And that is to go through this life and miss Jesus.
And I want to kind of give you the theological backdrop to that just so you understand it. And by the way, most of what we’re going to cover tonight is pretty basic elementary. It’s going to be more of a driving home known truth, than it is exposing anything new.
But turn back with me to Romans chapter 1. And you’re going to have to do lots of flipping, so that’s why God gave you fingers, Romans chapter one, and you’ll notice sometimes the thumb is real handy if you do that deal. So Romans chapter one and look at verse 18. And I want to briefly hit this just so you’ll kind of have the basis of understanding as to why He is so significant, why He is so integral to the plan of the world. In Romans 1:18 you remember Paul is defending the gospel and he’s talking about why the gospel is so important. Namely, because the gospel reveals to us the righteousness of God.
But then Paul makes the important statement in verse 18 of Romans 1, when he says for the wrath of God, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It doesn’t say the wrath of God will be revealed as though the coming judgment, which it will, he says the wrath of God is revealed.
If you want to know why God’s wrath abides on humanity, it is simple unrighteousness, it abides on the wicked because of unrighteousness.
The psalmist said that God is angry at the wicked every day. There is a wrath of God that is present here and now on ungodliness, on unrighteousness, on wickedness. If you don’t know what that is, read the rest of Romans chapter one. God will spell that out, and you see men who are exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of a corruptible man, of birds, and of four footed animals, and crawling creatures. Verse 24, says therefore God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity. You understand here that God is giving men over to their sin because of their sinful choices. If you need a good example of that, sometime go home and get on Google and type in the ostrich footed people of Zimbabwe and you’ll find the people that, many of them can’t walk at all. But their feet have so deformed and got gnarly and almost basically all their feet are a great big triangle shape with just two big, they’re not really toes, but that’s what it looks like. And as I said, some of them are so deformed that they can’t even walk once they’re born. It’s a genetic mutation in a specific tribe known as the Ostrich Footed people. That mutation began because a witch doctor told that tribe that in order to be true to their deity, they should not marry outside of their clan. And so years of incest have led to this. Genetic mutation and it is an exact representation of what God speaks of in Romans chapter one, because they would not honor God and they worshipped false gods and they did what false gods told them to do. God gave them over in the lust of their flesh to impurity, and their bodies became dishonored.
That is, the present wrath of God on sin. You can go on in verse 26 to find the present wrath of God on homosexuality. You can go on in verse 28 and find the present wrath of God on depravity. Those things are evidence of God’s wrath, and so you and I have to understand primarily that God has a very present, real wrath on unrighteousness even today; that’s genuine and real.
The reason Jesus becomes so significant then is because He is, in fact our only source of obtaining righteousness. He’s the only place to get it. He’s the only vendor, He’s got a monopoly on it. You don’t get it anywhere else, so flip over to Romans 3, verse 21. You remember many of the Jews thought that righteousness was found in the Law and obeying the Law and doing the works of the Law. And if you can keep it to the letter, then you’ll be righteous. And I suppose that’s true if you could. But you can’t, and so you’re not. Romans 3:21 shows us where you do get the righteousness that God demands.
Paul wrote, “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested”, has been made known. And he says it’s not some obscure, some foreign, some surprising righteousness. It’s an actual righteousness that was witnessed to us by the law and the prophets, even Moses, and even the prophets knew that righteousness was coming this way. And Paul says it’s also not some cheap bargain righteousness in verse 22. He says it is even the righteousness of God. So when he’s offering new righteousness here in verse 21, he’s not talking about some synthetic knockoff. He’s telling you I’m going to show you how to get the righteousness of God and it comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe and there is no distinction, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus.
He is the only means of obtaining the righteousness that God demands you have. It is that which is echoed again, in the famous verse in 2 Corinthians 5:21 in which Paul said, “He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. And so this is the theological backdrop to why I’m telling you when the world misses Jesus it’s absolutely unpardonable. Because in Jesus you only get righteousness. You can’t get it anywhere else.
The wrath of God is on unrighteousness. If you want to be made righteous, it only comes in Christ. And so you get righteousness in no one else; missing Him then, is absolutely unpardonable.
And So what I want to do tonight is just show you the basic truth that you know. We’re going to get back to Hebrews, and I’m just going to give you 3 points tonight. It’s a little topical. Um, hang with me on that, but I want to show you that very simple reality about Jesus being that only means of salvation, and that only means of righteousness, and why if you miss Him, you miss it all.
The first thing I want to give you as a point in regard to this is very simply, when we talk about Jesus being the only way of salvation; the only means of righteousness.
The first thing I want to show you is that Jesus himself declared that. #1 Jesus declared it. He came flat out and said I’m the only way, I’m the only person. If you’re going to get it, it’s going to come through Me. You’re all familiar with John 14:6 right? “I am the way, the truth, the life” what? That’s right, “No man comes to the Father except through me.” That’s the most blatant and direct one.
But do you understand that Jesus made that statement time and time and time again? Every time He made the statement, “I am the…” He didn’t say, “I am one of…” “I am a…”
It’s “I am the light of the world.”
“I am the bread which comes down from heaven.”
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
“I am the true vine.”
“I am the doorway of the sheep.”
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
Every time He made that statement He was telling you I am something that no one else is. I am singular. I am alone. No one else can claim to be the light of the world or the bread from heaven or the Good Shepherd or the doorway. No one else can make that claim. Every time Jesus used that and said “I Am”, He was reiterating again the same thing He told us specifically in John 14:6; and that is if you want what God requires, you’re only going to get it one place. You’re only going to get it from Me that’s it.
Turn with me to Luke Chapter 10. There’s another example of this. Luke, chapter 10. Just another… just to kind of build it in your mind. The bank here. In reality, the exclusivity of Jesus. Luke chapter 10 verse 21. Jesus made a great statement. And says, “At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, I praise you, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants. Yes, father for this way was this way was well pleasing in Your sight.”
(*NOTE: Luke 10:21 was read, but the comments that followed refer to Matthew 11:27, pretty sure I read the wrong verse.) Matthew 11:27, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
Now notice what He says. “All things” Does that include everything? Yeah, “all things have been handed over to Me by My Father and no one knows who the Son is except the Father and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. There’s only One person that ever had access to intimate knowledge of the Father. There’s only One person that ever had the means to introduce anybody to the Father, and the only person that ever gets to know the Father is the person what whom the Son introduces to Him. If the Son doesn’t bring you home, you don’t get in the father’s door. If you’re not introduced by Him, it just doesn’t happen. He is exclusive and Jesus proclaimed this time and time again.
I want to give you one more example from Jesus that he declared it. Turn over to Luke Chapter 18. You’re familiar with the account we gave last week in regard to Mary and Martha. Most people are familiar with that in regard to Jesus importance among those who worship. Martha; so busy and she’s serving and she’s mad because Mary is not helping at all. And she says Lord, tell her to get up and help me. And Jesus said, Martha, you’re bothered by so many things. Remember, and then He said, what? “One thing is necessary”. Right, Mary’s chosen a good part. I’m not going to take that away from her. One thing Martha, only one thing really matters. If it says one thing really matters… Well what’s true for the church is also true for the world.
Luke chapter 18 verse 20 verse 18.
“A ruler questioned him”, and you’re going to know who this is. We call him the rich young ruler because he was rich, he was young, and he was a ruler, were quick like that. It says, “A ruler questioned him saying Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So please understand the motive here. This is a young man. When it says a ruler, he’s probably a synagogue ruler, so he’s very versed in spiritual things, and he understands there’s something he needs. What does he need? He needs eternal life. I want eternal life. You’re a good teacher. You seem to understand things. You seem to have a grasp on eternal things. So in order to cover my bases, I’m coming to ask You what should I do? I want to go to heaven when I die. What should I do so that I can go to heaven? Man, we would call him a seeker? Jesus said to him, “Why do You call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Now Jesus wasn’t insinuating there that He is not righteous. What He was trying to do was rattle this man’s chain a little bit because He wanted him to understand that good is a word we throw around far too easily.
The Bible tell… You know, we say it all the time. This was good. That was good. This was good. Whatever. The Bible only used the word good one time. The Lord saw all that He created and said, behold, it is what? Good. We read the next chapter. Sin entered the world, and God doesn’t call much good after that. And so it’s a little bit arrogant that this man would come to Jesus and say what good thing must I do? Jesus wants to kind of cut him off instantly and say OK, we need to drop good for a second because if you’re talking about good in the sense that God requires good; good in the sense of holiness; good in the sense of righteousness. We’re not even going to get there, so drop that thinking from your mind.
But that’s where this guy is. He wanted to do good and Jesus said no one is good except God alone. But he says look, you know the commandments. Why wouldn’t you? You’re a synagogue ruler. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. And He gives five of the 10 Commandments. They’re all real basic ones and He says, “You know what they are”. And notice what this young man says. And I don’t necessarily know that it’s an arrogant statement. He just says “All these things I’ve kept from my youth” There are many times in your life; if I were to come up to you and say, “Name me your sin right now”, some of you probably could, but some of you would honestly say, “I don’t know what it is right now.” I mean, I…I’m not aware of anything. Paul once said, “I’m conscious of nothing against myself, yet I’m not by this acquitted” right? I…I don’t know what it is specifically in my mind. I don’t know that this young man was being arrogant. He’s just telling Jesus, “Well, yeah, I mean I do that. I don’t commit adultery. I’ve never murdered anybody. I don’t steal. I don’t lie about people. I do honor my father and mother. And I mean, my guess is if I ask you in here, “Do you do this?” If it weren’t for the knowledge you received from the Sermon on the Mount that all these things can occur in the heart, you would probably say, “I’ve never done it either” right? I just don’t do those things. I’ve not done them. All these things I’ve kept for my youth. And I’ve done it my whole life.
Now notice verse 22. When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack”. Sounds similar to what he told Martha. One thing is necessary, right? It’s the same thing with this rich young ruler. One thing. One thing you still like. You’re gonna have to sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow Me. The one thing he lacks is what? The following Jesus. Now he has to get rid of all those heart idols because those are the things that keep him from following Jesus. That’s why he can’t follow. He’s bound up and entangled by all his possessions in life. He can’t just leave it alone. Jesus said, follow Me and he said, “I can’t because”…
And by the way, any one of us would have any one of those types of heart idols in our life, by which we would make an excuse. While we couldn’t follow Jesus, and it’s not always money, many times people think that the key to the gospel is selling all that you have. Look, you don’t have to sell all that, you have to be a Christian. It’s always seemed unfair that the rich young ruler had to give it all and Zacchaeus only had to give half right? It’s because it’s not about the money, it’s about the heart, and some people had to leave father and mother. Some people had to leave their jobs. Some people had to leave their money. Everybody has to leave behind whatever it is that’s important and that was the point. You’ve got to leave behind this thing, controlling you because you need to.
Follow me, that’s the one thing you lack. You are a walking model of the church at Ephesus. You have succeeded both financially and spiritually because you’re a synagogue ruler. You’ve done it from a young age. You’re a man who has his mind on spiritual things. You’re a moral person because you do all the right things and everybody sees that you’re a seeking individual and you’ve come to the Lord to ask questions. So I’m just going to tell you, you’ve gotten everything right except one thing, and that’s the one thing that you can’t miss, which is Me. You’re not following me.
And so again, Jesus is reiterating time and time again, that one reality, that He is absolutely exclusive. He declared this over and over and over and over. I am the…I am the… The only way you’re going to get this, is to come to me; through me; so that I can take you to the father and declare you righteous.
So when we talk about the exclusivity of Jesus, it’s not just a John 14:6 thing. This permeates the teaching of Jesus.
He declared it over and over and over and over and over.
Jesus declared it.
#2. The apostles proclaimed it.
This was central in their preaching as well. Turn over to Acts, Chapter 4, verse 12. Acts chapter 4, verse 12.
Peter has landed himself in hot water, or rather, the Lord has landed Peter in hot water. But it didn’t matter to Peter. He has healed that man who is crippled in his feet and everybody is upset because he did it in the name of Jesus and they want him to quit doing it in the name of Jesus. And Peter, of course, refuses to stop, and it says in acts Chapter 4, verse 11; Peter, preaching about the Lord to the chief priest says, “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone.” And here’s what Peter had to say. Incidentally, “There is salvation in no one else, for there’s no other name under heaven that’s been given among men by which we must be saved.” Peter was very adamant to those who listened. If you’re talking about salvation, if you’re talking about pleasing the father, you’re not going to get it anywhere else but Jesus. It’s absolutely exclusive to Him. He is the only means; the only way of ever being saved, Peter preached it.
Let me show you Paul.
First Timothy Chapter 2. First Timothy Chapter 2. Flip flip, flip. You can do it. First Timothy Chapter 2. The first four verses of First Timothy. Two are the reason we pray for the lost every Sunday night. The Bible says that God desires us to pray for the lost, especially those in authority, that we can live a quiet life in all dignity God desires. It says in verse 4, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And then Paul lays it out for you. In verse 5, he says, “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony given at the proper time.” Paul says it as well. If you want to know how you get from here to God, there’s only one mediator.
It’s only one channel. There’s only one highway, that is the Lord. It is Jesus Christ because He is the one who gave his life a ransom for all. He’s the one who paid the debt. He’s the one that makes men righteous. If you want to get to the Father, there’s only one way to get to the Father, that’s through Christ.
So Peter’s preaching it Paul is preaching. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John Chapter 2. This verse is actually a bit misunderstood from time to time. But it’ll… hopefully I’ll make you… I hope you understand it first. 1 John Chapter 2.
“Little children”, this is verses one and two “My little children I’m writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” Obviously that’s the problem, right? Sin’s the thing that separates sin’s the thing that wrecks everything. I’m writing, so you won’t sin. “However, if anyone sins, you need to know we have an advocate with the Father.” There’s someone who will go before the Father on your behalf. It is Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now notice what John says, “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” Now this is the verse that gets a little misconstrued. This is one of the verses that if you start talking about election and what is commonly called limited atonement, meaning that Christ died for the elect, people will pull this first up and say no no no no.
No, it says that He’s the propitiation for the world. If you translate that verse that way then… As though to say Christ died and paid the sin for everybody, you’re not understanding this verse. The word propitiation there is far too strong a word for anything temporary. It is far too strong a word for anything that is only possible. It is far too strong a word for anything that is conditional, or available. To say that Christ was the propitiation for our sins, is to say that He was in fact the appeasement. It is not a word that means He could be; He might be; He is possibly. That’s not what that means. It’s it’s akin to when Jesus on the cross said it is finished, it is done. It is paid in full. He didn’t say “It started”. He said “It’s finished” and here John says He is the appeasement. He has atoned, He has appeased the wrath of God on our sins.
Now, if you let that word be as strong as it literally is, and then you pass it on to the whole world, then it reads as though not only has He fully atoned for all our sin, but He is also fully atoned for everybody in the world at the same time. And if He has fully atoned for everybody in the world at the same time. Then nobody goes to hell, right? That’s called universalism. That’s not what John is saying. He is not saying that Jesus, when He died on the cross, He fully atoned for all believers and all unbelievers all at the same time. That’s not what he’s saying. What John is saying is this. He is the propitiation for our sins. He is our savior. The elect, He is the believer’s Savior. But guess what? As far as the world is concerned, He’s their only Savior too. He’s the only one they’re ever going to get.
It’s not as though Christians run to Jesus for salvation and Muslims run to Mohammed and Buddhists run to Buddha and Hindus run to whoever for their salvation. Jesus is the only one for everybody. He’s the only savior anybody is ever going to get. Not just for believers, but for in fact the whole world. It doesn’t mean they’re all saved, but it does mean if they’re going to be saved, there’s only one place they’re going to go to get it, and that’s Jesus Christ. He is the only propitiation for sin. He’s the only Savior. And so you get this reality that not only did Jesus come up and declare that I’m the only way, I’m the one that gets you to the father. But all those who followed the Lord, all those apostles, they came in in an exact similarity and said, we agree, salvation and no one else, one mediator; the only propitiation for sin. It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus. You’re not going to be saved apart from Him If you miss him, you’ve missed it all.
So Jesus declared it.
The apostles proclaimed it, and I want to give you one more point in that regard, and that is that.
#3 Eternity confirms it.
Eternity confirms it.
Turn to revelation. Chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. The Great White Throne judgment. You’re familiar with this. Verse 11, Revelation chapter 20 verse 11.
John here in his vision says, “I saw a great white throne and him who set upon it. From whose presence, Earth and Heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.” And you’re familiar with that reality. We’ve talked about the judgment in all the books that are open and all the things that are recorded. Some day every word you’ve spoken, every deed you’ve done, it’s all recorded. It’s all there; all that’s there. And if anybody, you’ll see here in regard to the Book of Life, is not there, then they’re judged according to those books.
But it goes on to say in verse 13, “and the sea gave up the dead, which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead, which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.” That’s a way of saying you can’t run and you can’t. Yeah, you can’t hide and it doesn’t matter. What about somebody whose plane was blown up in World War II?
It does not matter. Somehow God will pull the molecules back together and they will stand here. It’s going to happen. The judgment is reality, and people are judged by their deeds.
But it’s vitally important you understand what John sees next. Verse 14, It says “then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.” That would be people who had already died without the Lord. They were already in torment, and now they’re officially judged and go to hell. “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire”, and here it is, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life. He was thrown into the lake of fire”. Now yes, all people are judged by their deeds, but they stamped their ticket into hell when their name was not recorded in that book. That’s the one that made the difference. What they did with Christ. This Lamb’s book of life. If their name was there, it wasn’t their deeds, their name in that book separated them and delivered them.
Look at Revelation 21, verse 22. This is John describing heaven and you’ll see it again. We’ve already seen people that do not have their name recorded in the Lambs Book of Life go to hell. Now notice what happens to those who have their name recorded in the book. In 21:22, “I saw no temple in it for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are it’s temple and the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it for the glory of God is illuminated it. Its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the Earth will bring their glory into it in the daytime. For there will be no night there. It’s gates will never be closed, and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.” And here we go, “And nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination in lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lambs Book of Life.” I mean, do you see the central figure here? Do you see the absolute important reality? It’s what you’ve done with Jesus. And now granted, the less sin, the better. You’re going to throw your life in less turmoil if you’re in less sin, and God’s wrath abides on your sin, and so we are definitely against sin. But when we’re talking about heaven and hell, one thing matters, and that is what you do with Jesus. That’s what you do with Christ.
That’s why we can say that in the church it’s absolutely intolerable to reject Jesus because you’re missing the point. But in the world, it’s absolutely unpardonable. You can’t be forgiven if you reject Christ, that’s absolutely impossible.
And with that, now let’s go back. Finally, to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, and look again at verse 26. If you’re familiar with the Book of Hebrews, the whole theme of it is trying to get these Jews to come to Jesus. In fact, he has made a very strong case that rejecting Jesus is in fact sin. That’s his point. And so when he talks about in verse 26, “If we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth.” He’s not saying if we keep cussing after we’ve been told not to cuss, or if we keep stealing after we’ve been told not to steal. What he’s saying is if we keep rejecting Jesus after we know He really is the Son of God, that’s what he’s saying. If we keep rejecting Christ.
Then he says in verse 26 there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. You get the point. There’s only ever been one who died for sinners. If you reject that you’re not going to get another one, there’s not going to be a different one. There is no other means. There is no other way. We keep rejecting him; there’s not a sacrifice for sins.
You say? Well, what’s left? I’ll show you what’s left. Verse 27. All that’s left is a terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of fire, which will consume the adversaries. If you reject Jesus, what do you have to look forward to? Judgment and Hellfire. That’s it, there’s nothing else. He’s that central. There’s not going to be a wild card. There’s not going to be some, “Oh, never mind, let him in.” It’s not going to happen. You miss Christ and you miss everything.
He goes on to confirm that in a real Jewish reality. In verse 28 he says, look “anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” And that’s true. Read the law sometime. You go out and willfully sin, and two witnesses come up and say… That’s a blatant distance, uh, I can’t think of the… The insubordination that’s blatant disobedience to God. They’ll stone you. Two or three witnesses say that you just adamantly and defiantly rebelled against God, you’re stoned to death. That’s it. They knew that.
He goes on to say in verse 29, well If you can be stoned to death for simply breaking the law of Moses. “How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve? Who has trampled under foot the son of God?” Someone who has completely rejected and thrown Jesus aside as insignificant. How much severe punishment will they deserve? Who’s trampled under foot the son of God? Or someone who has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified? Someone who saw the blood of Jesus as something to be thrown out. Something who saw the sacrifice of Jesus as something to be discarded. Something who saw the sacrifice of Jesus, and the blood that He shed as something of little value that needed to be taken outside the camp and thrown away as that which will make you unclean. He said how much severe punishment do you think someone will deserve who’s done that?
And how much severe punishment do you think he’ll deserve who has insulted the spirit of grace? You say, well, how do you insult the spirit of grace? Is it not the spirit of grace that knocks on your heart and confirms to you that Jesus is the only way of salvation and calls you to be saved? That’s Him that does that work. And when you tell Him to get lost, you tell Him to be quiet and you tell Him to leave me alone, that’s insulting. He is God, by the way, that’s insulting to Him.
And so the writer of Hebrews says, I’m just curious if you’re going to totally trample under foot Jesus and see Him as unworthy, and you’re going to throw his blood out the side window, as though it’s insignificant and you’re going to insult the Holy Spirit when He tells you to come to Jesus. How much punishment do you think you’re going to receive from God, right? There’s nothing left.
He goes on to say in verse 34, “We know Him who said vengeance is Mine, I will repay and again the Lord will judge His people.” You know who God is. He’s saying, you know, that God is not a God who just overlooks this type of thing. I know we do a lot of talk about the love and mercy. We’ve got… and we should because what He did with his son on the cross is absolutely loving and merciful. But read the Old Testament sometime and don’t forget who He is. Don’t forget the wrath and judgment and vengeance of God. I mean look what He did to some of those nations. Look at what He did to Egypt for the way they afflicted His people. Look at what He did to Babylon for the way they afflicted His people. Look at what He did to Assyria. This is not a minor thing. He is the God of vengeance and He will judge His people. And the writer of Hebrews just leaves you with a real solid warning, “it’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” That’s not where you want to go. That’s not what you want to have happen. And that happens for all those who reject Christ, the only sacrifice for sins.
That’s why we say that missing Jesus in the church is intolerable. Jesus has no use for a church that doesn’t love him, but missing Jesus in the world is absolutely unpardonable. You cannot be forgiven of that because he’s the means of forgiveness. And so you can run to God with any sin you’ve committed, I don’t care how bad it is or what you’ve done. I don’t care what you said or what you’ve drank or whatever else, you can run to the Lord, and you can confess that sin and the Bible says he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if you reject Christ, there is no forgiveness for that. He’s absolutely exclusive. He’s absolutely essential in that regard.
And so when we come and we talk on Sunday nights about it being all about Jesus, you have to understand that’s true. And it doesn’t matter if you’re in the church or outside, He is without a doubt the central figure of all things. He is the most important, the highest, the most loftiest, and whether that entails our worship or it involves our evangelism, it all centers around Him. It’s all Him. We meet in here and He has to become the focal point. He has to become the main thing. It has to be Him above everything else. And when we go out there, that can’t change.
The message to people doesn’t need to be quit drinking, quit sleeping around, quit being gay, quit having abortions. They can do all of that and like the rich young ruler still lack the one thing that matters. It’s not about moralizing people. It’s not about packing people into this church. It’s not about making people like us. It’s not even just about building relationships.
Carrie and I’ve talked about it a lot. One of the things that we really believe in regard to Little League is that it is a tremendous opportunity to build relationships, because if nothing else, people are outside of their house and they’re all gathered in one place and so you can walk up and down the dirt there and rub elbows and talk and build relationships with all kinds of people.
It’s a great thing, but the goal is not building relationships. The goal is not making friends. It’s still Jesus, because I’ve got to tell you, they can be your friends, but without Jesus they’ll be your friends in hell, right? He’s that essential. You can’t miss him.
And so to say it’s all about Jesus is the understatement of all understatements. Everything regarding Him matters. Whether it’s our worship or our ministry, it is in fact all about Him.
Let’s pray.
Father, we come to You because You are God and we praise You because You’re worthy and we thank You, Jesus, for who You are and Father, I feel compelled every time we talk about this, to tell You that I’m sorry that He has not been a focal point enough. We want it to all be about Him. And I recognize in my life times when it’s not, when it’s about other things, even at times when we gather in this Church building to worship, it becomes about other things than Him, and that’s wrong.
Father help us to remember that it is all about Jesus when we gather in here to worship, it’s about adoring Him and loving Him and proclaiming Him and seeking Him and trusting Him. But help us to remember. It’s also all about Him when we step out these doors because there’s a lost and dying world that doesn’t have Him. And if they don’t have Him, they’re going to miss everything, and so let Jesus be the number one word on our lips. Let it be all about loving Him and serving Him and praising Him and sharing Him, because this world needs Him, they need Him worse than anything. Jesus guide us, direct us, help us to elevate You in all things as the absolute preeminent One that You may come to have first place in everything and it’s in Your name I pray, Amen.
