(7)
The Bible, especially the New Testament, is a complete revelation. In the New Testament we see how the Savior came, was revealed to us, and accomplished redemption for us, and how we can believe in Him, receive salvation, and be regenerated. The New Testament also tells us that the saved ones form the church and that we can live the church life on earth today. In addition to all this, the New Testament gives us a warning. After we have been saved and regenerated, we must hold on to God’s grace, enjoying all that God has prepared for us in His grace. If we fail to do this, not holding on to God’s grace and enjoying His riches, we shall suffer loss and punishment. The New Testament gives us such a clear and definite warning. It also encourages us to gain the prize. In order to gain this prize, we must pay the price. Hence, either punishment or a prize are ahead of us. Whether we receive the prize or suffer the punishment does not depend whatsoever on our salvation; it all depends upon how we live and work after being saved. If we live and work in the proper way ordained by God, we shall receive a prize. But if we neglect God’s grace, we shall suffer loss, and a certain punishment will await us. As we pointed out in past messages, the Gospel of Matthew tells us that when the Lord Jesus comes back He will reward us according to our works (Matt. 16:27). The parables in Matthew 25 also make this matter very clear.
In the book of Hebrews there are five warnings, all of which are the same in nature. In the seven epistles in Rev. 2 and Rev. 3 we also have some warnings. The seven warnings in Revelation 2 and 3 are the same in nature as the five warnings in Hebrews. Therefore, we may say that altogether there are twelve warnings, five in the book of Hebrews and seven in Revelation 2 and 3. Of course, with each of these warnings there is a certain amount of promise, for if we heed the warnings, we shall receive a prize. The first warning in Hebrews is in 2:1-4, telling us “to give heed more abundantly to the things which were heard, lest at any time we drift away” and not to “neglect so great a salvation.” The second warning, found in Heb. 3:7-19; 4:1-13, tells us not to come short of the promised Sabbath rest but to “be diligent to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.” In a sense, these messages on the remaining Sabbath rest have all been concerned with the second warning. The third warning, regarding being brought on to maturity (Heb. 5:11-16; 6:1-20), tells us not to be like the earth that brings forth “thorns and thistles” because “it is disapproved and near a curse, whose end is to be burned.” In the fourth warning we are told to come forward to the Holy of Holies and not to shrink back to Judaism (Heb. 10:19-39). And in the fifth warning we are encouraged to run the race and not to fall away from grace (Heb. 12:1-29). The Arminians use these five warnings as a basis for saying that a saved person can be lost again. But if we look into these portions of the Word in a proper way, we shall see that they do not speak of being lost again but of the matter of reward, either the positive reward of gaining a prize or the negative reward of receiving punishment.
Let us now consider the fourth warning. Hebrews 10:26 says, “For when we sin willfully after receiving the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” What does it mean to “sin willfully”? To understand this we must go back to verse 25 as the word “for” at the beginning of verse 26 indicates. Verse 25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” To sin willfully in verse 26 is to forsake the assembling together in verse 25. This warning had to be taken seriously by the Hebrew believers. When the book of Hebrews was written, many of the Hebrew Christians were on the edge between Judaism and the church, uncertain whether to forsake the church and return to Judaism, or to forsake Judaism and go on with the church. Where is the church? The church is in the assembling, the meetings of the believers in Christ. For the Hebrew believers not to attend the meetings with the believers in Christ meant that they had forsaken the church. If those staggering Hebrew Christians would forsake the meetings of the church, it meant that they were sinning willfully after they had received the knowledge of the truth. The writer seemed to be saying to them, “In this epistle I have presented to you the knowledge of the truth. You must attend all the meetings of the church. If you don’t, it means that you sin willfully. If you sin willfully by forsaking the church meetings and returning to Judaism to offer the sacrifice for sin, you must realize that there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, for all the types of the offerings are now over.” This is the correct meaning of “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” It does not mean that if we sin we cannot be forgiven or have our sins remitted. It means that the types are over, having been replaced by Christ, and that the Hebrew believers must stay with the church and not forsake the meetings. But if they would forsake the church and return to Judaism to offer the sacrifice for sin, they would be sinning willfully and offering the sacrifice in vain, for no such sacrifice for sin remained any longer in God’s economy.
The writer warned the Hebrew believers that there no longer remained a sacrifice for sins, “but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery zeal about to consume the adversaries” (10:27). If the Hebrew believers would forsake the church, they would suffer the punishment which is intended for the adversaries.
Verses 28 and 29 continue, “And any one who has set at naught Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses: by how much do you think he shall be thought worthy of worse punishment who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” What does it mean to trample underfoot the Son of God? It means that if the Hebrew believers would return to Judaism to offer the sacrifice for sin, trusting in that sacrifice, they would in effect be trampling under foot the Son of God. They would be despising Him. The sacrifice for sin was a type of Christ. Since Christ had come to fulfill and replace the sacrifice for sin, the Hebrew believers had to stay with Him and not return to Judaism to offer the sacrifice for sin. If they were to do that, they would have been regarding the blood of the covenant a common thing, making it the same as the blood of sheep and oxen. The Hebrew Christians were warned not to return to Judaism to offer again the sacrifice for sin. For them to do this would have been to despise the Son of God in whom they believed and whose blood had sanctified them and to make His blood as common as that of the animal sacrifices. To do such a thing is also to insult the Spirit of grace. The Spirit of grace was working, moving, and anointing in them, and they had to listen to Him. Then the writer warned them by saying, “For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (vv. 30-31). This is not the Lord’s judgment on the unsaved ones; it is His judgment on “His people,” His believers, the saved ones.
We come now to the fifth warning in chapter twelve of Hebrews. Verse 5 says, “And you have completely forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with sons, My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by Him.” The word discipline in this verse points to some kind of punishment. Verse 6 continues, “For whom the Lord loves He disciplines and scourges every son whom He receives.” To scourge here means to whip. Most of us received some kind of scourging from our parents when we were children. In like manner, our Father scourges His children. Verse 7 says, “It is for discipline that you are enduring; God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom the father does not discipline?” A father will scourge his own children, not the children on the street. For God to scourge us does not mean that we lose our eternal security. The more a child is disciplined by his parents, the more secure he is. Verse 8 says that “if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.” I am afraid that if God the Father would not discipline me, it would mean that I am a bastard, not a son. Verse 9 says that “we have had the fathers of our flesh as discipliners and we respected them; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” Being in subjection to the Father of spirits gives us more life. Verse 10 says, “For they indeed disciplined us for a few days as it seemed good to them, but He for our profit that we might partake of His holiness.” To partake of His holiness means to partake of His holy nature. This implies the growth in life. The discipline that we receive of our Father helps us to grow.
To be disciplined is not to be lost. A father may say to his son, “If you don’t behave yourself, I shall punish you.” But this does not mean that the son will be lost. When a father punishes his son, he does not kill him. Do not think that being punished by our heavenly Father affects our eternal salvation. When He disciplines us, our eternal salvation is even more secure because He is dealing with us as His dear sons, not as bastards.
Do you believe that our Father only deals with us in this present age, not in the coming age? Since so many of us have been influenced by inaccurate teachings, I must point out once again that if we do not behave ourselves, our Father will punish us either in this age or in the age to come. Do not think that after the Lord comes back and you are resurrected, everything will automatically be all right and there will be no further discipline or chastisement. This is an inaccurate teaching. As we saw in the last message, both Matthew and Luke tell us definitely that when the Lord comes back, He will punish some of His slothful servants in the next age. This is clearly revealed in the pure Word. Which do you prefer — to be disciplined now or punished later? I do not like to have any punishment. By the Lord’s mercy and grace I would rather behave myself. But if I must be punished, I would rather undergo it in this age, not in the next.
Verses 15 and 16 say, “Looking carefully lest any one be falling away from the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and through this many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one meal gave up his birthright.” What does it mean to be “falling away from the grace of God”? It means that we have the grace already and that we must be diligent not to lose it, not to fall from the grace that we are already enjoying. If the Hebrew believers would go back to Judaism, they would fall away from the grace which all the believers in Christ were enjoying. They had to be careful lest any root of bitterness would trouble them, that is, some Judaizers would damage them with the bitterness of their Judaistic teachings. In the church life, things in the same principle occasionally happen.
Verse 16 says that for one meal Esau gave up his birthright. The birthright in Christ, which includes the kingship in the coming kingdom, means a great deal to the believers. But we may sell our birthright for just a small enjoyment of the material things just as Esau sold his for the enjoyment of a morsel of meat. If the Hebrew Christians would forsake the grace in Christ for a little morsel of Judaism, they would lose their birthright in Christ. To lose the birthright in Christ is not to lose eternal life; it is to lose the right of life, that is, to lose the enjoyment of the coming kingdom as a prize.
Verses 28 and 29 say, “Wherefore, receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly with godly fear and awe; for our God is also a consuming fire.” Since we are in the process of receiving such an unshakable kingdom, we must hold fast to grace and not fall from it. Verse 29 tells us that our God is a consuming fire. Although our God is love, here He is a consuming fire. This is a serious warning.
In these seven messages we have seen what it means to enter into the Sabbath rest. How we need to enter into the remaining Sabbath rest! Our Christ has accomplished so much. As the book of Hebrews tells us a number of times, Christ is sitting in the heavens. To sit means to rest. Today Christ is sitting in the heavens enjoying a Sabbath rest because He has accomplished everything to produce the church which is the satisfaction and rest to God. We must be warned not to forsake the church life. If we were to forsake the church life, we would be wandering in the wilderness. Nearly all of us can testify that before we came into the church life, we were wandering in the wilderness. We were traveling among many different Christian groups and had no rest until we came home to the church. Here, in the church, we are at rest. Since the Hebrew Christians were wandering, the writer encouraged them to enter into this present Sabbath rest in the proper church life. As we have already pointed out, that the church is today’s Sabbath rest is proved by the fact that the church is the house of God in which the Son of God declares the Father to His brothers and in the midst of which He sings hymns to the Father. Be encouraged to be in the church life, today’s Sabbath.
This Sabbath will usher us into the kingdom. The church life will feed us, edify us, build us up, and qualify us for the next Sabbath, which will be the kingdom age. The kingdom requires people who have matured. Although we have the seed of life within us and are growing, we need to mature. Where can we mature? In the church. The church is the proper field, the proper farm, where we can grow into maturity. In the church we enjoy the benefits of today’s growing Sabbath. In the church we shall also be brought into the harvest Sabbath. Thus, the writer told the wandering Hebrew Christians to stop wandering, come into the church life, and enter into today’s Sabbath which would bring them into the better Sabbath of the millennial kingdom. If they missed the church life, they would be like their fathers who wandered in the wilderness, fell there, and died. How we need to be diligent to enter into the Sabbath rest and be in the proper church life today! Hebrews 4:9 has never been as clear to me as it is in these days. By the Lord’s mercy, may we all avoid the punishment and gain the prize in the coming age.
The church life is also a refuge. We need to escape Judaism, Protestantism, worldliness, and the wilderness, and flee into the refuge of the church life. Do not think that heaven is your refuge. Heaven is too far away to be a refuge for us who face a desperate situation on a stormy sea today. For us, the church life is a matter of life or death. If you wait until you go to heaven to find refuge, you may drown. Flee into the church life for refuge. Hebrews is a wonderful book containing many new concepts. Perhaps no one reading this message has ever heard that the church life is a refuge. But many of us have experienced the church life in this way. Suppose there were no church life in the United States. Where would we be? Most of us would have drowned in the stormy sea. Hallelujah for a refuge alongside of the stormy sea! The church life is our refuge today.
