The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Sixteen - F May 05, 2019 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/Audio-5_8.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Hey 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, Today we will take a closer look at the fourth major warning in the Book of Hebrews. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button Sunday May 5th 2019 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 16F ‘Let Us Go On’ 1). Heb 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. We had seen last time how we can have ‘boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus’ through the confession of our sin and our subsequent cleansing by the Lord’s blood on the Mercy Seat in the Heavenly Tabernacle. a). And we had seen how this truth had been taught by the Lord to His disciples on the night of the last supper through the washing of their feet, and how this truth had been taught again in the now familiar verses from 1 John – 1 Jn 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we had seen how all 3 of these teachings – verses 19-22 from Hebrews Chapter 10, the washing of the disciples’ feet in John Chapter13 and the verses in 1 John, all take their imagery from the OT type of the Levitical priests and their ministry in the Tabernacle in the wilderness. b). In the type, the priests having become soiled by their ministry in the outer court where sacrifices were made at the bronze altar, washed their hands and feet at the bronze laver before entering into the ‘Holiest’ where the golden candlestick gave the only light and the table of showbread was to be found. c). In the antitype, we as Christians, become soiled through our contact with sin and so we are to confess our sin, pictured through the Levitical priest coming to the bronze laver, and be cleansed from our sin by the blood of Jesus on the Mercy Seat in the Heavenly Tabernacle in the antitype of the OT priest washing his hands and feet at the bronze laver. d). And we can have boldness to enter into the light of the One in whom there is no darkness through our confession and cleansing as this is the whole purpose of the Lord’s ministry as High Priest during this dispensation in anticipation of the salvation of the soul for the age to come – Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 1 Jn 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world [all Christians]. And the beginning of 1 John Chapter 2 states clearly that which we already know, it is the blood of God from the sacrifice of Himself in the person of Son that has provided the means by which God’s wrath with respect to sin has been satisfied e). Hence the reason why the blood of Christ is exponentially greater than that of bulls and goats – Heb 9:11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal (age lasting) redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Such is the potency and the power of the blood of Christ with respect to our own sin. 2). However, in the verses we began with today we encountered a sin, the willful sin, for which there is no sacrifice, a sin that is not covered by the atoning blood of Christ on the mercy seat. A sin for which there is no forgiveness with respect to the age to come. a). Clearly, this is not a sin that we can be defiled by in the course of our daily life – the blood of Jesus is available for that. Remember we have a High priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses and when we do sin, He is there as our ‘Advocate’. b). Nor could this willful sin refer to a Christian refusing to confess his sin, because although he may refuse the sacrifice on offer, that sacrifice still remains available to him. c). This is a sin then that finds itself completely outside of the scope of Christ’s redemptive work as our High Priest. d). And the timeframe in relation to this sin is something we must keep in mind. The stated subject matter of the Book of Hebrews is the age to come which will not be subjected to angels, and this sin, because of the context in which we find it, can only have to do with the age to come. There is no eternal aspect to this whatsoever and consequently it is a sin that can only be committed by the eternally saved, not the eternally lost. In fact, given the nature of this sin the eternally lost could have nothing to do with it. e). So, how should we understand this sin? Well, to start with we need to keep it within the context of the Book of Hebrews as a whole and within the context of the 5 major warnings in which it is found in particular; remembering how closely connected these 5 warnings are. And remembering that the previous 3 warnings have all drawn from the type of the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt to provide the example for us. f). Let’s remember the content of the 3rd warning – Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. As we saw at the time we studied this, the reference to repentance here is talking about a change of mind on God’s part, not on the part of the individual who ‘fell’ away. And I am sure we will recall that it was Israel at Kadesh Barnea who provided the type for what falling away looks like. g). The nation having become enlightened with respect to God’s purpose for them, and having tasted the heavenly gift, having become companions of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, committed apostasy at the borders of the land. They turned back from that which God had promised and looked instead to go back to Egypt. h). This is the picture of the willful sin; it is the sin of apostasy. And although Israel repented of this sin the very next day God would not change His mind about what He had determined – Heb 4:3b…………..“So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. There was no sacrifice available for this sin, from the foundation of the world, because it rejected the purpose for which God had brought Israel into being and rejected the faithfulness of His promise to accomplish it. And let’s remember we are dealing with rulership within a Theocracy with Israel at the head of the nations, replacing Satan and his angels, for the purpose of blessing the Gentile nations through Israel as God had promised Abraham. And we might realize how seriously God takes this in that He did not provide a sacrifice for the sin of turning back from this. 3). Following the events at Kadesh Barnea the Book of Numbers records 2 very significant things – Num 15:27 “And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in its first year as a sin offering. 28 So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the Lord, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 30 ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’ ” In these verses we see that the Lord made a distinction between what He called the ‘unintentional sin’ and the ‘presumptuous sin’. And what is interesting to note is that the presumptuous sin is rooted in pride, whereas the unintentional sin is not. For the unintentional sin there is a sacrifice, but there is no sacrifice for the presumptuous sin. a). The unintentional sin is a sin of error, something that comes out of the weakness of the flesh. And this we can readily see would equate with the sin in our own lives; for which there is cleansing through the blood of Christ as we confess. b). The presumptuous sin, on the other hand is deliberate and determined with respect to exalting the one committing this sin, to make him high and lifted up – ‘he has despised the word of the Lord’ and ‘shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him’. c). Then the verses that follow on in Numbers Chapter 15 provide the example for the presumptuous sin – Num 15:32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. If we only look at the letter here, we might begin to think that this seems a little harsh. But if we move beyond the letter to what the Spirit is teaching, we can see that this man had despised the Sabbath and rejected God’s command for the Sabbath to be kept holy. d). Remember, the Sabbath was given to Israel as a sign, pointing to the coming Sabbath Rest of God, the 7th Day; the day that God had blessed and sanctified from the beginning. Or, to put this another way – the man, through his actions, had rejected God’s purpose for creating Man and turned his back on the Kingdom to be established in that Day, and had exalted himself above the throne of God in doing so. This is no small thing. e). And if we think about this for a moment, this is exactly what the first generation did at Kadesh Barnea – they despised the word of God and the Sabbath to which the land of Canaan pointed. Again, we have to go beyond the ‘storyline’ to the spiritual truth being taught through it. f). We might conclude then that the willful sin and the presumptuous sin are one and the same thing. g). And if we think a little further we will realize that we have seen this same sin again at the time of the Lord’s first advent with respect to the nation’s leaders once more – Mt 12:22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”…………. 31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. The man who was demon-possessed, blind and mute pictures the condition of the nation of Israel, a nation more closely aligned with Satan than with God, a nation that was spiritually blind and unable to be God’s witness to the Gentile nations, unable to speak the good news of Christ’s Kingdom. And at the moment of his healing this particular man became the embodiment of all the miraculous signs given to the nation with respect to repentance and the Kingdom of the Heavens being offered to them. h). And so, for the Pharisees to attribute the powers of the age to come to Beelzebub, amounted to them looking to Satan and his kingdom, and rejecting the Christ and His Kingdom. They despised the word of God and the Sabbath that had been given to them. In doing so they exalted themselves above the throne of God, sinning presumptuously - they committed the willful sin. This was another act of apostasy, poignantly demonstrated in – Jn 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”. And if we look to the end of Matthew 12:32 it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. We will realize that the absence of forgiveness in this age or the age to come, means that there was no sacrifice for this sin of blasphemy against the Spirit. A line had been crossed from which there was no way back. A line that had been drawn from the foundation of the world. 4). If we now put all this together, we can see that from a Christian perspective to commit the willful sin is to do the same as we have seen in our examples; to reject Christ and His Kingdom, looking instead to this world and the god of this world. Despising the word of God and the Sabbath Rest which is its focus and turning back from it. This is apostasy. a). But remember, we can only apostatize from that which we already have a mature knowledge of. This cannot be done in ignorance, nor unwillingly, but presumptuously, resulting in self exaltation after the same fashion as Israel at Kadesh Barnea or the Pharisees at the Lord’s first advent. b). Jude wrote about the apostates within the early church and what we find in this Book is instructive for us – Jud 1:5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. The word ‘likewise’ at the beginning of v8 demonstrates that the apostates of Jude’s day acted in the same way as the unbelieving first generation of Israel. Action that parallels the arrogance of the fallen angels who did not keep their proper domain but cohabited with the daughters of men. Action to be compared with the sexual immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah whose inhabitants, particularly the men, gave themselves over to sexual relationships with fallen angels. And suffered God’s vengeance as a result. c). For the Christian today then, who has come to a mature understanding of the Word of the Kingdom and then turns back from it, there can only be the same outcome as for the apostates of the early church – Heb 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 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? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. As we see from these verses the one who commits the willful sin is guilty of 3 things – he has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted Christ’s blood as a common thing and insulted the Spirit of grace. For which there are only dire consequences as there is no sacrifice for this sin. And Paul addresses the same thing - 2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; Let us take this warning concerning the willful sin for what it is, a warning, that we might not go there. And with the fact that there remains a possibility that we might go there, hence the warning, let’s notice again the verses that lead into it - Heb 10: 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully………….. We are given a direct connection between assembling ourselves together to exhort one another with respect to the confession of our hope and not succumbing to the willful sin. And of course, the reverse of this would be true also. To forsake the assembling of ourselves together, so as not to participate in the mutual strength and encouragement we can offer one another by assembling together for exhortation can only lead us in a direction where the willful sin becomes a real possibility. d). To deliberately and intentionally choose not to gather together with those who are actively engaged in the race of the faith for mutual encouragement can only lead to shipwreck at the Lord’s Judgment Seat. There is no other way to say this. 5). And just in case we still have not grasped what the Lord is saying, the fifth warning provides the apex to what has gone before – Heb 12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. The type given to us here is Esau who considered his birthright, the rights of the firstborn, of so little value that he sold it for one morsel of food – Gen 25:34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. And when Esau realized what he had done he tried to get his father to change his mind and give the blessing to him, but ‘he found no place of repentance’ – his father could not change his mind – Gen 27:37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him [Jacob] your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?” 38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. The picture is clear, for the Christian to despise his birthright is to consider as nothing being taken into the heavens to sit on the throne of His glory with the Heir of all things as a joint heir with Him; to exercise rulership from that throne in the 7th Day in the place of Satan and his angels as part of a Kingdom of priests. To think so little of the so great salvation as to be casual and careless with it so as to not be worthy of it. He will have despised the word of God and the Sabbath Rest to which he had been called. a). It is as the Lord said – Mt 16:26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? In the type Esau exchanged the salvation of his soul for one morsel of food and many Christians may give theirs up for a good deal less. Heb 6:9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. We will continue with this next time - if the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Sixteen - F May 05, 2019 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/Audio-5_8.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Hey 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, Today we will take a closer look at the fourth major warning in the Book of Hebrews. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button Sunday May 5th 2019 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 16F ‘Let Us Go On’ 1). Heb 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. We had seen last time how we can have ‘boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus’ through the confession of our sin and our subsequent cleansing by the Lord’s blood on the Mercy Seat in the Heavenly Tabernacle. a). And we had seen how this truth had been taught by the Lord to His disciples on the night of the last supper through the washing of their feet, and how this truth had been taught again in the now familiar verses from 1 John – 1 Jn 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we had seen how all 3 of these teachings – verses 19-22 from Hebrews Chapter 10, the washing of the disciples’ feet in John Chapter13 and the verses in 1 John, all take their imagery from the OT type of the Levitical priests and their ministry in the Tabernacle in the wilderness. b). In the type, the priests having become soiled by their ministry in the outer court where sacrifices were made at the bronze altar, washed their hands and feet at the bronze laver before entering into the ‘Holiest’ where the golden candlestick gave the only light and the table of showbread was to be found. c). In the antitype, we as Christians, become soiled through our contact with sin and so we are to confess our sin, pictured through the Levitical priest coming to the bronze laver, and be cleansed from our sin by the blood of Jesus on the Mercy Seat in the Heavenly Tabernacle in the antitype of the OT priest washing his hands and feet at the bronze laver. d). And we can have boldness to enter into the light of the One in whom there is no darkness through our confession and cleansing as this is the whole purpose of the Lord’s ministry as High Priest during this dispensation in anticipation of the salvation of the soul for the age to come – Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 1 Jn 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world [all Christians]. And the beginning of 1 John Chapter 2 states clearly that which we already know, it is the blood of God from the sacrifice of Himself in the person of Son that has provided the means by which God’s wrath with respect to sin has been satisfied e). Hence the reason why the blood of Christ is exponentially greater than that of bulls and goats – Heb 9:11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal (age lasting) redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Such is the potency and the power of the blood of Christ with respect to our own sin. 2). However, in the verses we began with today we encountered a sin, the willful sin, for which there is no sacrifice, a sin that is not covered by the atoning blood of Christ on the mercy seat. A sin for which there is no forgiveness with respect to the age to come. a). Clearly, this is not a sin that we can be defiled by in the course of our daily life – the blood of Jesus is available for that. Remember we have a High priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses and when we do sin, He is there as our ‘Advocate’. b). Nor could this willful sin refer to a Christian refusing to confess his sin, because although he may refuse the sacrifice on offer, that sacrifice still remains available to him. c). This is a sin then that finds itself completely outside of the scope of Christ’s redemptive work as our High Priest. d). And the timeframe in relation to this sin is something we must keep in mind. The stated subject matter of the Book of Hebrews is the age to come which will not be subjected to angels, and this sin, because of the context in which we find it, can only have to do with the age to come. There is no eternal aspect to this whatsoever and consequently it is a sin that can only be committed by the eternally saved, not the eternally lost. In fact, given the nature of this sin the eternally lost could have nothing to do with it. e). So, how should we understand this sin? Well, to start with we need to keep it within the context of the Book of Hebrews as a whole and within the context of the 5 major warnings in which it is found in particular; remembering how closely connected these 5 warnings are. And remembering that the previous 3 warnings have all drawn from the type of the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt to provide the example for us. f). Let’s remember the content of the 3rd warning – Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. As we saw at the time we studied this, the reference to repentance here is talking about a change of mind on God’s part, not on the part of the individual who ‘fell’ away. And I am sure we will recall that it was Israel at Kadesh Barnea who provided the type for what falling away looks like. g). The nation having become enlightened with respect to God’s purpose for them, and having tasted the heavenly gift, having become companions of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, committed apostasy at the borders of the land. They turned back from that which God had promised and looked instead to go back to Egypt. h). This is the picture of the willful sin; it is the sin of apostasy. And although Israel repented of this sin the very next day God would not change His mind about what He had determined – Heb 4:3b…………..“So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. There was no sacrifice available for this sin, from the foundation of the world, because it rejected the purpose for which God had brought Israel into being and rejected the faithfulness of His promise to accomplish it. And let’s remember we are dealing with rulership within a Theocracy with Israel at the head of the nations, replacing Satan and his angels, for the purpose of blessing the Gentile nations through Israel as God had promised Abraham. And we might realize how seriously God takes this in that He did not provide a sacrifice for the sin of turning back from this. 3). Following the events at Kadesh Barnea the Book of Numbers records 2 very significant things – Num 15:27 “And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in its first year as a sin offering. 28 So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the Lord, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 30 ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’ ” In these verses we see that the Lord made a distinction between what He called the ‘unintentional sin’ and the ‘presumptuous sin’. And what is interesting to note is that the presumptuous sin is rooted in pride, whereas the unintentional sin is not. For the unintentional sin there is a sacrifice, but there is no sacrifice for the presumptuous sin. a). The unintentional sin is a sin of error, something that comes out of the weakness of the flesh. And this we can readily see would equate with the sin in our own lives; for which there is cleansing through the blood of Christ as we confess. b). The presumptuous sin, on the other hand is deliberate and determined with respect to exalting the one committing this sin, to make him high and lifted up – ‘he has despised the word of the Lord’ and ‘shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him’. c). Then the verses that follow on in Numbers Chapter 15 provide the example for the presumptuous sin – Num 15:32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. If we only look at the letter here, we might begin to think that this seems a little harsh. But if we move beyond the letter to what the Spirit is teaching, we can see that this man had despised the Sabbath and rejected God’s command for the Sabbath to be kept holy. d). Remember, the Sabbath was given to Israel as a sign, pointing to the coming Sabbath Rest of God, the 7th Day; the day that God had blessed and sanctified from the beginning. Or, to put this another way – the man, through his actions, had rejected God’s purpose for creating Man and turned his back on the Kingdom to be established in that Day, and had exalted himself above the throne of God in doing so. This is no small thing. e). And if we think about this for a moment, this is exactly what the first generation did at Kadesh Barnea – they despised the word of God and the Sabbath to which the land of Canaan pointed. Again, we have to go beyond the ‘storyline’ to the spiritual truth being taught through it. f). We might conclude then that the willful sin and the presumptuous sin are one and the same thing. g). And if we think a little further we will realize that we have seen this same sin again at the time of the Lord’s first advent with respect to the nation’s leaders once more – Mt 12:22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”…………. 31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. The man who was demon-possessed, blind and mute pictures the condition of the nation of Israel, a nation more closely aligned with Satan than with God, a nation that was spiritually blind and unable to be God’s witness to the Gentile nations, unable to speak the good news of Christ’s Kingdom. And at the moment of his healing this particular man became the embodiment of all the miraculous signs given to the nation with respect to repentance and the Kingdom of the Heavens being offered to them. h). And so, for the Pharisees to attribute the powers of the age to come to Beelzebub, amounted to them looking to Satan and his kingdom, and rejecting the Christ and His Kingdom. They despised the word of God and the Sabbath that had been given to them. In doing so they exalted themselves above the throne of God, sinning presumptuously - they committed the willful sin. This was another act of apostasy, poignantly demonstrated in – Jn 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”. And if we look to the end of Matthew 12:32 it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. We will realize that the absence of forgiveness in this age or the age to come, means that there was no sacrifice for this sin of blasphemy against the Spirit. A line had been crossed from which there was no way back. A line that had been drawn from the foundation of the world. 4). If we now put all this together, we can see that from a Christian perspective to commit the willful sin is to do the same as we have seen in our examples; to reject Christ and His Kingdom, looking instead to this world and the god of this world. Despising the word of God and the Sabbath Rest which is its focus and turning back from it. This is apostasy. a). But remember, we can only apostatize from that which we already have a mature knowledge of. This cannot be done in ignorance, nor unwillingly, but presumptuously, resulting in self exaltation after the same fashion as Israel at Kadesh Barnea or the Pharisees at the Lord’s first advent. b). Jude wrote about the apostates within the early church and what we find in this Book is instructive for us – Jud 1:5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. The word ‘likewise’ at the beginning of v8 demonstrates that the apostates of Jude’s day acted in the same way as the unbelieving first generation of Israel. Action that parallels the arrogance of the fallen angels who did not keep their proper domain but cohabited with the daughters of men. Action to be compared with the sexual immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah whose inhabitants, particularly the men, gave themselves over to sexual relationships with fallen angels. And suffered God’s vengeance as a result. c). For the Christian today then, who has come to a mature understanding of the Word of the Kingdom and then turns back from it, there can only be the same outcome as for the apostates of the early church – Heb 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 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? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. As we see from these verses the one who commits the willful sin is guilty of 3 things – he has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted Christ’s blood as a common thing and insulted the Spirit of grace. For which there are only dire consequences as there is no sacrifice for this sin. And Paul addresses the same thing - 2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; Let us take this warning concerning the willful sin for what it is, a warning, that we might not go there. And with the fact that there remains a possibility that we might go there, hence the warning, let’s notice again the verses that lead into it - Heb 10: 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully………….. We are given a direct connection between assembling ourselves together to exhort one another with respect to the confession of our hope and not succumbing to the willful sin. And of course, the reverse of this would be true also. To forsake the assembling of ourselves together, so as not to participate in the mutual strength and encouragement we can offer one another by assembling together for exhortation can only lead us in a direction where the willful sin becomes a real possibility. d). To deliberately and intentionally choose not to gather together with those who are actively engaged in the race of the faith for mutual encouragement can only lead to shipwreck at the Lord’s Judgment Seat. There is no other way to say this. 5). And just in case we still have not grasped what the Lord is saying, the fifth warning provides the apex to what has gone before – Heb 12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. The type given to us here is Esau who considered his birthright, the rights of the firstborn, of so little value that he sold it for one morsel of food – Gen 25:34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. And when Esau realized what he had done he tried to get his father to change his mind and give the blessing to him, but ‘he found no place of repentance’ – his father could not change his mind – Gen 27:37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him [Jacob] your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?” 38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. The picture is clear, for the Christian to despise his birthright is to consider as nothing being taken into the heavens to sit on the throne of His glory with the Heir of all things as a joint heir with Him; to exercise rulership from that throne in the 7th Day in the place of Satan and his angels as part of a Kingdom of priests. To think so little of the so great salvation as to be casual and careless with it so as to not be worthy of it. He will have despised the word of God and the Sabbath Rest to which he had been called. a). It is as the Lord said – Mt 16:26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? In the type Esau exchanged the salvation of his soul for one morsel of food and many Christians may give theirs up for a good deal less. Heb 6:9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. We will continue with this next time - if the Lord is willing.