Tuesday Night Bible Study Notes April June 6, 2017

Transcription

1 Tuesday Night Bible Study Notes April June 6, 2017 Hebrews 10 Heb. 10 continued: We should not only exercise faith (v. 22) but also hope (v. 23) and love (v. 24). Verse 24 moves from the vertical to the horizontal dimension of Christian living. V25 Most of the un-churched (86 percent) say they believe they can have a good relationship with God without belonging to a church. But Christianity is all about community, we need each other, and we are to encourage, teach, bless one another. Note the Lord s prayer: Our Father, give us, lead us, forgive us We are to be a community. And it s not about you, what you can GET from the church, it s about what you can give to the church, to other believers. Ask not what your church can do for you, but ask what you can do for your church! V26-31 The writer turned from positive admonition to negative warning to highlight the seriousness of departing from the Lord. Here the nature and the consequences of apostasy are discussed. When a man knows and understands the gospel, he either believes unto salvation or he disbelieves and becomes an apostate. Apostasy means a falling away. And it s not a momentary lapse, it s a full falling away, for the rest of the person s life. It s taken ten chapters for the writer of Hebrews to present the superiority of Christ, and finally, beginning in verse 19, He asks for a response. And the first response He asks for is positive. He asks for three things. Verse 22, "Let us draw near." Verse 23, "Let us hold fast." Verse 24, "Let us consider one another." And what He's saying there is "Come on. You've come this far. You know it's true. Don't linger on the edge. Come all the way to Christ." What will be discussed in the following verses is the danger of a negative response to the gospel. He gives them three things: the nature of apostasy, the results of apostasy and the deterrents to apostasy. V26, 27 Willful sin in the context of Hebrews is deliberate apostasy, turning away from God and his plan for salvation (2:1; 3:12; 6:4-8). To sin willfully is defined in Hebrews 10:29. It speaks of someone 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. It is a knowing, deliberate rejection of Jesus great work for us on the cross. MacArthur adds, If we sin, the Greek verb for this is a habitual verb. The idea is ongoing, habitual sin, not a slip up.

2 SEE John 6:66, 1 John 3:9, and 2: This is not a saved Christian losing his salvation, it s someone that came right up to the edge, but never fully committed and believed. Now, the word "apostasy," which doesn't appear in this text, but appears in a couple of other texts, twice in the New Testament, is a terrible word. It means a falling away. It means a withdrawal. It means a defection. The word is used in Acts 21:21 when Paul was falsely accused of teaching the Jews apostasy from Moses. It is used again in II Thessalonians 2:2, when it says, "In the latter days, before the coming of the end, there will be a great apostasy, or falling away." It means to fall away. (MacArthur) What causes apostasy? Sometimes it s persecution, sometimes temptation, or a lack of deep roots (Luke 8:13), false teachers deceive people (1 Tim 4:4), worldiness. There were even angels who were apostates. All of the angels who lived in heaven with God knew the truth about God. And Satan came along, and he got some of those angels to follow him in a rebellion; they became fallen angels or demons. They knew God, and they knew the truth of God. They apostatized. They turned their backs on God. They joined with Satan. They got booted out of heaven. There are apostate angels. This person continues down the path of sin even 'after receiving the knowledge of the truth.' When a person has heard the truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ, he has received the knowledge. When you tell someone that they are a sinner destined for an eternal hell unless they believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and they still continue in their sin, they are sinning willfully even after receiving the truth. MacArthur adds, there are two basic words in the Greek language for knowledge. There's more than that, but two basic ones that we're dealing with here, gnosis, which is simple knowledge, and epignosis, which is deep knowledge, or deep understanding, or what we might call heart knowledge, or deep perception. And that is the word that is used here. SEE Heb 6:4 and following. And remember the Parable of the Tares and the Wheat! Matt. 13: The sin the writer is referring to has nothing to do with a believer who is temporarily in sin. That subject is dealt with elsewhere in Scripture. This section deals specifically with the sin of the unbeliever in refusing to accept the salvation provided in Christ. This comes out clearly as we see the consequences. Judas is the ultimate apostate. He knew Jesus very well, saw the miracles, heard the teaching, and he walked away. THE SO WHAT: Apostasy is predicted for the end times, too. See 1 Tim 4. But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons What is the outcome? When a person refuses to believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ, '...there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.' There is nothing left for that person. They have no other alternative; for salvation it is Jesus or nothing. They have heard the truth, yet

3 they have rejected it. There is no longer any way for their sin to be forgiven. We saw this truth in 10:4, where the writer said, 'For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.' The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the only way to gain forgiveness of our sins. John 14:6. No sacrifice for sins is left - If Jesus sacrifice for sin is rejected, there remains no other sacrifice that can cleanse. There may be a double meaning here because just a few short years after this was written, the temple was destroyed and there was NO sacrifice in Judaism, period, and there hasn t been a Jewish sacrifice for almost 2000 years! If an apostate rejects Jesus Christ's sacrifice, there is nothing else that can protect him or her from God's judgment (cf. 6:6). THE OTHER VIEW a minority one, is that this is about believers who sin, then: The judgment in view will take place at the judgment seat of Christ, not the great white throne. It is the judgment of believers (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10), not of unbelievers (cf. Rev. 20:11-15) in this way of thinking. It will result in loss of reward, not loss of salvation. Most scholars disagree. THE SO WHAT: I (and many others) believe that this is only a hypothetical possibility for a genuine Christian, but the warning is for apostates who taste Christianity and reject it, fully and finally. Why is apostasy unpardonable? Because apostasy is to have all the revelation and not come to Christ, therefore, there's nothing God can do. What about the guy who reconsiders? Okay, the guy who reconsiders didn't make a total rejection. It's the total rejection we're talking about. It reveals an attitude of heart that is deliberate and there's no repentance...the hard heart. (MacArthur) V28 Since an Israelite who spurned the Old Covenant suffered a severe penalty, we will suffer a greater penalty if we spurn the superior New Covenant. Apostasy under the New Covenant has the effect of walking roughshod over the Son of God by despising Him. It is an insult to God to reject His Son s sacrifice, death and resurrection. V29 Trampling the Son of God underfoot: We have disgraced Jesus by rejecting His greatest work. We devalue Him by devaluing what He did. Counted the blood of the covenant... a common thing: We have acted like Jesus blood was of no greater importance than the countless animals that had been sacrificed under the Old Covenant. The writer says they regard it as 'unclean,' or literally, 'common'. When this word is used in the context of the religious activity of Israel, it means 'something that has not been set aside as holy.' In other words, it is worthless. In their minds, the death of Christ was no different than the death of anyone else. The apostate insults the Holy Spirit and Christ. These three parallel participial clauses in the Greek text stress the serious effects of apostasy. "Taken cumulatively, the three clauses in v 29 define persistent sin (v 26a) as an attitude of contempt for the salvation secured through the

4 priestly sacrifice of Christ. Nothing less than a complete rejection of the Christian faith satisfies the descriptive clauses in which the effects of the offense are sketched." MacArthur comments about the word he in this passage: He is referring to Christ..." Christ was sanctified". I believe that he's talking here about Christ with the pronoun He. He's not talking about an apostate, because an apostate has never been sanctified by the blood, has he, or he wouldn't be an apostate. He would never depart. So he's talking about Christ. Christ was set apart. The word sanctified means "set apart." The word holy means "set apart." Hagias, the same word, just means set apart. John 17:19 says this...jesus is praying, and He says, "And for their sakes, I sanctify Myself that they also might be sanctified." Christ said: I set apart Myself that they may be set apart. And how was it and with what did He set Himself apart?...with His blood. Some have said that this phrase points to the fact that this section is written to believers. I believe it is obvious that the writer is talking about unbelievers. The proof is in the wording used. Believers do not 'trample' the Son of God under foot, or regard His sacrifice as 'unclean.' We can t do these things and still be believers. V30 SEE Deut. 32:35, 36; Psalm 135:14. V31 It is fearful (dreadful) indeed to one-day face the God you have rejected and offended so greatly! In Deuteronomy 32, which the writer quoted here twice (Deut. 32:35-36, 40-41), Moses warned the Israelites against apostatizing. V32-34 Now in v32 39, he ll encourage them to persevere. This section of Hebrews can be characterized by two words: remember (vs 32-34) and endure (vs 35-39)....recall the former days: These Christians had suffered for Jesus, being rejected from their Jewish community, and perhaps being counted as dead. This came after they trusted in Jesus (after you were illuminated). The point is that they had faced these things, and had endured them. They could take a look at their past endurance, and be encouraged to keep standing strong in the future. The writer to the Hebrews point is clear: you can make it through this present time of discouragement as well by keeping a heavenly perspective of the treasures, rewards and love that awaits believers in glory. The eternal inheritance laid up for them was so real in their eyes that they could lightheartedly bid farewell to material possessions or comforts which were short-lived anyway. Tim Keller often gives the analogy of two people hired to work at a job that was just awful. Let s say the job is cleaning septic tanks by hand for 40 hours a week for one year. One person will receive $14,000 at the end of the year. The other is hired to do the same thing, but he or she will receive $15,000,000 at the end of the year. Do you think the attitudes of the two people will be the same at work?! No way, one is drudging thru it and the other is thinking about the reward at the end of the year!

5 We have a far greater reward awaiting us that ought to allow us to persevere with heaven in mind; with our Lord s love for us shown in his suffering and death in mind. See Hebrews 11: V35, 36 These two verses are a good summary of the whole message of Hebrews. One of the hardest things for the fleshly mind to realize is that the victory of faith is not achieved by one brilliant moment, but a lifetime of patient and faithful service. It is not so much the glory of a promising start that the Lord desires, as it is the glory of a faithful finish. (Coffman) James addresses this truth as well. He says, 'Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing' (James 1:2-4). "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 This doctrine is in direct conflict with the teaching of many churches today. These teachers claim that Christianity is joy, love, health, and prosperity. They reject the truth that persecution is a part of every believer's life. They say 'If you become a Christian, God will reward you with money and a long, healthy life.' This kind of teaching is a lie straight from the pit of hell. Hebrews 10:36 proves that every believer will encounter trials and persecution as part of God's plan to bring us to maturity. v37, 38 He quotes first from Isaiah 26:20 and then Habakkuk 2:3-4. Every word in Habakkuk 2:4 is important, and the Lord quotes it three times in the New Testament just to bring out the fullness of the meaning, each one emphasizing a different word. In Romans 1:17, when Paul quotes this same passage from Habakkuk 2:4, the emphasis is on faith: The just shall live by faith. In Galatians 3:11, when Paul quotes this passage from Habakkuk 2:4, the emphasis is on just: The just shall live by faith. Here in Hebrews 10:38, when the writer to the Hebrews quotes this same passage from Habakkuk 2:4, the emphasis is on live: The just shall live by faith. those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul: This is a confident conclusion. We will be those who endure on (persevere) and gain the promise of God. We will not draw back into old traditions or into an Old Covenant relationship with God - or any other replacement for Jesus!