Once again, we are going to look at another passage of scripture
that has caused problems for believers especially.
And I remember that people always like to
quote this verse.
They will say: “What about sinning willfully?”
Let's look at the portion there in Hebrews 10:26-29
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the”
“knowledge of the truth”—
Now it sounds like this is a sin that a believer can do
because they have received the knowledge of the truth.
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the”
“knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains”
“a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation”
“of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
If someone uses this passage on you and says that:
“You know, if you sin willfully, you have lost your salvation.”
Alright?
There's a fearful expectation or judgment coming on you.
And if they use that on you, just ask them this:
“Have you ever sinned willfully after you were born again,”
“after you received Christ?”
Now, it is so easy to point fingers at other people.
And one thing about people who teach, you know, that
once you're saved, it doesn't mean that
you're always saved and you can lose your salvation
is that they always believe that they are not the ones
that will lose their salvation.
They always believe that other people will lose their salvation.
Like I shared last week, the book of Hebrews is
written to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 1:1 onwards tells us that
God, who in times past in various manners,
“spoke to our fathers by the prophets.”
Now it’s obvious that it’s referring to the
Jewish people, the Hebrews, because their fathers
worshiped the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It is not referring to us, Gentiles, non-Jews,
because it says “our fathers”, obviously.
So, the context is important.
Now friend, let me tell you this.
First and foremost, you can receive the
knowledge of the truth.
You know that Jesus is the only way to God and
you know that Christ died for your sins.
You have received this knowledge, but you have not received the truth.
It is possible for one to receive the knowledge of the truth
but not receive the truth, who is Jesus Himself.
Amen.
So, these people are people who have received the
knowledge of the truth.
Okay, just throw back this question on them:
“If you say that if you sin willfully, you can lose your salvation,”
“have you ever sinned willfully?”
Ask them!
“Have you ever sinned willfully after you received Christ,”
“and after you were born again?”
“Be very honest.”
And the honest truth is that everybody has sinned willfully
unless the portion mentioned here is God's definition of
what is sinning willfully.
With eyes wide open.
The Bible calls it in the Old Testament:
“With a high-handed hand”.
Amen.
“Sinning with open eyes”.
What is sinning willfully?
Obviously, every sin that the believer does, you know,
in their life, since they were born again until now
have been willful.
We cannot say it's not willful.
But there is a category of willful sin
and this is one time God says is willful sin
that there is no forgiveness for.
It is actually— let me just tell you right now.
It is turning your back on Jesus Christ.
It is like slapping away the hand of God and saying:
“I don't need your grace.”
“I can earn my own salvation.”
Alright.
If you look carefully, all these are sins against grace.
“Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy”
“on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
“Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be”
“thought worthy who has trampled the son of God underfoot,”
“counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified”
“a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace.”
Notice what the Holy Spirit here is called.
“He has insulted the Spirit of grace.”
It is a rejection of grace.
Notice that the Holy Spirit can be called
“the Holy Spirit” or the “Spirit of holiness”
But here, He is called the Spirit of grace.
It is a rejection of God's grace.
And notice it also says he “counted the blood”
“of the covenant by which he was sanctified”
“a common thing.”
He counts the blood a common thing.
What does it mean?
For the Jewish people— and this is written to the Jews.
A common thing means they considered
the blood of Jesus like the blood
of bulls and goats as common.
Because in those days, it was common to shed the
blood of bulls and goats for sin.
Now, the blood of bulls and goats can only cover sin.
Year to year, on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, alright?
They would sacrifice the bullock and the bullock would cover
the sins of the nation for one year.
And in the next year, they would have to do it again.
Of course, it's just a covering and not a removal.
“How can the blood of bulls and goats take away sins?”,
the Bible says.
But until Jesus would come, the true Lamb of God.
His blood will take away all sin from our lives.
Amen.
So here we have the sin of considering the blood of Jesus
a common thing.
And aren’t we considering that,
when we act like the blood of Jesus
is only good for one day, until our next sin and then
good for until our next sin?
We are worse off than Israel!
At least they have for one year.
And every year, they would renew it.
Now, for us, it doesn't even last for one day!
Aren’t we taking the blood of Jesus
as a common thing?
But the Bible says that: “Jesus, through the eternal Spirit,”
“offered Himself to God and obtained for us
“eternal redemption.”
So, the blood of Jesus has an eternal quality,
my friend.
Amen.
It gives us eternal forgiveness.
Amen.
Like Daniel's prophecy of the seventieth week,
the Messiah will bring in everlasting righteousness.
And the Bible says: “Now where there is"
"forgiveness of sins, there is no longer"
"an offering for sin.”
“Therefore, brethren,” because there's no longer
an offering for sin.
Jesus is the final offering for sin,
“We have boldness to enter the Holiest”
“by the blood of Jesus,” It goes on to say:
“by a new and living way”.
“Coming in, let us draw near with a true heart”
“in full assurance of faith.”
The Christian life is a life not of fear,
like you're so afraid to come to God because
God is cognizant of your sins.
No, it’s a life of boldness!
Amen.
It is attesting to the work of Jesus,
glorifying Him and coming boldly to God.
How that will make you want to go into God’s presence
in a new and living way, because that's the way that
Jesus has consecrated for us.
It goes on to say: “let us draw near”
“with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”
It is not drawing near with a heart that's not sure
with no full assurance.
Don’t talk about full assurance, there’s
no assurance at all, even.
No, friend.
That passage that you read later on, is not for you,
the believer.
For the believer, God says: “Come near!”
“Come near in full assurance of faith.”
Amen.
And it says: “Let's hold fast the”
“confession of our hope without wavering.”
Amen.
“Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.”
Then after that, in what we talked about, the
“sinning willfully” part comes after.
The rejection of all this.
And friend, why would anyone want to reject this?
Why would you want to reject this?
I want you to know one thing, church.
It's important that you feel secure.
It is very important in this relationship with God
that you feel secure.
You know, joy and fear cannot
operate concurrently.
Amen.
You cannot be in an environment where there's fear
and there’s threat and then have love
or joy flowing in your life.
You cannot!
Amen.
Joy, love and peace thrive in an environment of security.
You know, even in the way we present the gospel to the world.
The Bible is very clear that— ask yourself this question:
“Am I presenting the gospel the way Paul presented?”
Look at how Paul presented it.
This is what he says in his own words.
In 2 Corinthians 5:19-20: “…God was in Christ”
“reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their”
“trespasses to them” Notice that:
“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”
Have you noticed that when Jesus was on earth
and he dealt with people, people who were sinners.
Amen.
Some of them, you know, were overt sinners—
outwardly, they were considered social outcasts
in that day and culture.
There were prostitutes and tax collectors.
Tax collectors are people who betrayed their country
to collect taxes for another country.
In this case, it was the Romans.
And yet, the way Jesus dealt with these people who were sinners,
it was as if He was not cognizant of their sins.
It was as if He is not imputing their trespasses to them.
And he dispensed His healing, His restoration,
and His miracles freely to these people.
As many as those who touched Him.
You know, obviously, all those people who
touched Him had sin in their lives.
But that sin was not able to stop His grace from
flowing in their lives.
You know, people say things like:
“Pastor Prince, sin stopped the grace of God in that revival.”
Friend, if sin can stop grace from operating, then the revival
would never have happened!
Because revivals happen where there's a lot of sin.
That's why you need a revival.
Amen.
No, friend.
Sin cannot stop God's grace.
God's grace is greater than all our sin.
Amen.
Just like in the case of all these sinners that touched Jesus,
their sin cannot stop His grace.
Even His grace of healing from flowing into their bodies.
Amen.
They received from the Lord.
Perhaps, the way we are approaching this
is wrong.
If we allow people to receive from the Lord,
maybe their lives can be transformed.
I said “maybe” tongue in cheek, you know, they will be
transformed because it is the goodness of God
that leads us to repentance.
Are we preaching 2 Corinthians 5 the way Paul preached it?
Alright?
God is not “imputing their trespasses to them”.
Or are we preaching the gospel to them and telling them
they must turn around, turn away from their sin,
and turn away from their sin?
You know, friend.
Let me tell you this.
You got to preach to the people, the love of God,
the answer to their sins, Jesus Christ, and what He did
for them at the cross.
And notice the word that was given to us!
And God “has committed to us” What word?
“The word of reconciliation.”
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,”
“as though God were pleading through us:”
“we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.”
Notice it is not a matter of God being reconciled to you.
God is not the one with the problem.
Amen.
God is already reconciled to you.
God's heart is reaching out to you.
It is you that must be reconciled to God.
And people will be reconciled to God
when they know that God is not counting
their trespasses unto them.
Does that mean that God will never deal with their sins?
No, God will deal with their sins
but it's after!
Amen.
They accept Jesus and then Jesus,
like the Bible says, “as many as received him,”
“to them He gave power to become sons of God.”
Amen.
How many of you clean yourself before
you take a bath?
No, you take a bath to be clean.
Amen.
Jesus is the bath.
Come to Him as you are!
And He gives you the power to become sons of God.
Hallelujah.
Amen.
And then you can deal with your sins.
Then, you can deal with all the wrong believing,
the wrong actions and the wrong behavior.
All that comes after
because you have accepted Jesus Christ.
But if you're trying to clear all this before
you come to Jesus, it will never happen.
So, the message we have for the world is that:
Be reconciled to God.
God is not mad at you.
God loves you.
He sent His Son to die for your sins.
That is the message.
That is the gospel that will win the world.
You know, we preach a lot of things,
but the world is not hearing the gospel.
Amen.
They think that we are a bunch of dos and don'ts.
And they have missed the gospel because we have not
preached the gospel.
And the gospel is not natural.
The law is natural.
Amen.
Do good and you get good.
Do bad and you get bad.
That is natural.
People understand it.
But to tell them you can receive the good
you don't deserve, that there is grace?
That is not natural.
Grace is not natural.
That's why it does not take the Holy Spirit to
preach the law!
It takes the Holy Spirit to preach grace because
grace is not natural.
Amen.
It takes the wisdom of the Holy Spirit
to unveil the grace of God— the unearned, undeserved
and unmerited favor that people can receive.
That's it!
Just receive!
Amen.
It is not for them to earn it.
It is for them to receive.
Hallelujah.