The Danger in Willful Sin, Part 1

We had the wonderful opportunity to be able to study the book of Hebrews and to realize that God, in His sovereignty, allowed us to be at this passage at this time on this day. And what you're going to hear today out of Hebrews chapter 10 is something that is of supreme significance to every one of us in the room. We need to understand what the Bible says when it comes to the danger of willful sinning and how it is we are to understand the truth of the scriptures.

And when we look at the scriptures, we realize that the writer of Hebrews is bringing this Jewish audience to a conclusion, to a response. To help them understand that there is either one of two ways to go: one is to obey the Lord and to follow Him, or to turn your back on Him and not follow Him. You're either going to serve him or you're not.

And so we saw last week where this great invitation comes that they need to understand that they need to draw near to God in faith. They need to hold fast the truth of God's word, the hope which was given. And they also need to be able to understand that they need to consider how to motivate and stimulate one another to love and good deeds. So important.

And so he is begging them to come and to realize you are to come in faith. You ought to cling by hope, and you ought to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That's what needs to happen. And faith, hope, and love are that great trilogy that sums up Christianity. Faith is the conviction of God's precepts. Hope is the anticipation of God's promises. And love is the manifestation of God's person to every person you come in contact with.

And so the writer of Hebrews is saying, you need to come. Come near now. And when you come, hold fast. Cling to the truth. Cling to the promises. Cling to the hope. And then consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. But now he changes course and talks to them about what happens if they don't come, they don't cling, and they don't consider.

He says these words: "For if," verse 26 of Hebrews 10, "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." Those are strong words.

He comes into the fourth of the five warning passages in the book of Hebrews. We'll go through them in a moment to show you once again how important they are, but they increase with intensity. As you go from one to two to three to four, and this is the most intense of them yet. For if you go on sinning willfully, having received the knowledge of the truth, having understood the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. There's no way you can have your sins forgiven. And the only thing that's left is a terrifying expectation of judgment that comes from the living God.

He has to warn them. He has to compel them to understand the consequences of not coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has done everything he can to present to them the Messiah, his supremacy, his sufficiency, all throughout the book of Hebrews. He's talked to them for the last three chapters about the new covenant, how Christ is the fulfillment of that new covenant, and how, because of the blood that He shed, forgiveness is now available, not just forgiveness, but access to the throne room of God, which had always been something they could never, ever experience. But now they can.

And so he's compelling them to come. He's encouraging them to come and to cling and to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That's what he wants for them. But he must warn them. If you don't, you're in danger of becoming apostate, becoming one who apostatizes, turns away from that which you know to be true.

Now the word apostasy is not in the text, but the definition of apostasy is in the text. And the definition is very summed up very easily in verse 26. If you go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, then no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. If you go on sinning after you know the truth, and the word knowledge is not gnosis, but epignosis. It goes beyond just a basic understanding to a deep, fervent knowledge and understanding of that which you know to be true, that which is a heart knowledge.

And if you have this heart knowledge, not a superficial understanding of something, but this deep heart knowledge of the truth, which they do now. They're Jewish people. They know the Old Testament. He's explained to them all the pictures, all the symbols, all the shadows, to show them that Messiah has come and how Christ has fulfilled all of those. They are without excuse. They know that they're in what we call the danger zone.

You're in the same danger zone today. You're here and you're in a very dangerous place. Why? Because once you hear the truth, you are now accountable to that truth. And what you do with that determines everything. And if you decide to go on sinning willfully, having received the knowledge of the truth, turn away from the true and living God, do your own thing, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins for you.

You see, apostasy is the only sin that is unforgivable in Scripture. You say, well, how can that be? Stay with me this week, next week, the week after. It will all unfold for you in a very simple way. But apostasy is not new in the New Testament. It's rooted in the Old Testament.

Listen to what our Lord says back in the book of Deuteronomy, the 17th chapter, the second verse. He says, "If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord, your God, by transgressing his covenant." In other words, someone is in a town that I've given you. You're living in homes that you did not build. You're drinking from cisterns that you did not dig. You're living in towns that you did not build. God gave them the towns, the homes, the cisterns. He gave it all to them in the land of Canaan.

So you have a man or a woman in that town who knows the covenant of God, who knows the promise of God, who has a good understanding of all that I've taught them. After all, they're Jewish people, they're raised on the law, they are raised day and night, understanding the law of God, they know the covenant of God.

That he says this, verse 3: "And has gone and served other gods and worship them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the heavenly hosts, which I have not commanded. And if it is told you, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true, and the thing is certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel. Then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death." You say, well, that's just Old Testament stuff. They stoned everybody in the Old Testament. You know, I mean, we're living in the New Testament, we're living in the age of grace. God extends grace to us.

He goes on to say these words, "you shall purge the evil from your midst." These are evil people, and they need to be purged from your midst. And the Lord sets the groundwork for those who apostatize the faith. They turn their back on what they already know to be true and serve other gods. Do other things that God did not command. And continue to sin willfully, not accidentally, not unintentionally, but habitually. And they continue in that sin willfully.

And then over in 1 Samuel chapter 15, the Lord says, "The word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, verse 11, I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my command." In other words, Saul apostatized the faith. He turned his back on what he knew to be true. And did not follow the Lord.

Over in 1 Chronicles chapter 28, the Lord says these words: "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your Father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." Forever? How can the king of Israel be rejected forever? The warning was given about turning away from what you know to be true.

And then over in Second Chronicles, King Amaziah. It says, "he brought the gods from the sons of Seir and set them up as his gods, bowed down before them and burned incense to them. Then the anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah. He sent him a prophet who said to him, Why have you sought the gods of the people who have not delivered their own people from your hand? As he was talking with him, the king said to him, Have we appointed you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down? Then the prophet stopped and said, I know that God has planned to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel." Verse 27, "From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there."

You see, Apostasy, while rooted in the Old Testament, is clearly seen in the New Testament. Because more and more has been unveiled. And if you hear the truth, and let's say you receive the truth. They've received, Hebrews 10, the knowledge of the truth. There has been some kind of reception. True, it's not a full reception. It is a superficial reception, but there's been some reception of the truth of the living God. There's been a recognition of God, a reception of God, but then there comes a rejection of God and a rebellion against that God. That is apostasy.

Not every unbeliever is apostate, but every apostate is an unbeliever. When we talk about turning away, when we talk about falling away, we're not talking about one losing their salvation. We know that we are kept by the power of God. One doesn't lose his salvation. But what happens is the understanding of what it means to persevere, to keep on, keeping on, because perseverance is a gift from God.

Remember Romans chapter 15? Romans 15, verse number 4 says, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for your instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of Scriptures we might have hope." Now, may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another. God grants perseverance.

Every true believer, listen carefully, always perseveres. Now they might fall away for a while, but they never fall away fully or totally. They're going to sin because we all sin. They, as a believer, might even sin grossly. But they are not willingly, habitually wanting to sin and walk away from the true and living God, that which they know to be true. That's what an apostate is.

Someone who has received the knowledge of the truth. Not just a superficial understanding, but they really do know that Jesus is king. They know he's the Messiah. These people had a deep understanding of the Messiah. Why? Because the writer of Hebrews explained him thoroughly for 10 chapters and 18 verses. To make sure they understood that the Messiah was supreme and sufficient above everything else, and that they were now accountable to what they've heard.

You are here today. And you've been coming to Christ Community Church, you are accountable to what you have heard all throughout the book of Hebrews. All throughout the years that you've been here. If today is your first day and you've never been here before, today you are accountable to what you hear. That's why this is a danger zone.

Every biblical church that preaches truth is a danger zone. Because you come in and you hear, what will you do with what you hear? If you don't respond in faith, if you don't give your life to the Lord and embrace him, that's why he says, Come, let us draw near. Come, come in faith, right? Then he says, let us hold fast to the hope without wavering.

Why does he say that? Why do we encourage them to cling to the truth? Because he knows that if they come in faith, and it's true faith that manifests itself, there will be a holding fast. But if it's superficial faith, there'll be a turning away. Very important to understand that.

Let me illustrate to you this way. We had a man in our church a number of years ago who began with us. His name was Jamil, Jamil Murad. He was instrumental in the start of the church. He began on the very first Sunday in the park, Fink Park in Glendora, a tape ministry. Because he wanted to record all the sermons, because eventually we wanted a radio program that we could put all those sermons on. So he brought his own tape recorder so we could begin to do that kind of thing. And so he was instrumental in doing that.

He had a home in Glendora where he had a pool, and he opened his home for baptisms. And we would baptize people there in his backyard. He had a Bible study in his home every Sunday night. People would come and hear the truth. He was instrumental in building the steps that are here today. There were no steps here when we came here. It was just a circular platform. But he was instrumental in building these steps and the baptismal inside the stage. He did all that. And he was one who sat in the back and listened to every sermon.

And there were times where we're at New Hope Church, which we shared way back early on in the 90s, that he would come and record, but sometimes because we used their equipment, the recording wouldn't happen, so he had to come back in on Monday and re-record me. So I would preach to an empty auditorium. So that we could get that sermon on tape so that we could put it on the radio sometime in the future. So he would come in and re-record it. We would sit and we would talk about the Lord and he would talk about the things that he was doing and he was so instrumental in the church.

And then one day, one of our elders came to me and said, "Have you spent any time lately with Jamil?" I said, "No." He said, "Do you know that he denies the deity of Christ?" I said, "no. Not Jamil. Oh, no. He denies the deity of Christ. He doesn't believe that Jesus is God." I said, "what? He's been in the church for 12 years. How does he not know that? I've had many conversations with the man."

He says, "not only that, he doesn't believe that there's only one way to heaven, that there are other ways to heaven other than the one we preach." So I sat down and I had a long conversation with Jamil and one of our elders at that time. And we talked about what he believed and why he believed it. And I went through scripture. And I debunked every argument that he had about the fact that Jesus wasn't God. And I showed him, no, Jesus is God. And I showed him in Scripture.

And finally, at the very end, I said, "John 8:24 says, unless you believe that I am, Jesus says this, you will die in your sins. Unless you believe that I am, that is, I am the God who spoke to Moses in the burning bush, I Am, which is that Greek translation of the Tetragrammaton in the book of Exodus. Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins." He says, "I don't believe that." And I would plead with him, "you're so wrong. How could you have been in this church the whole time?" His wife would plead with him. His wife, Barbara, strong believer, she said, "My husband doesn't know the Lord." And he died in unbelief.

You see, he never was saved. He never was born again. He had never truly given his life to Christ. Oh, he was a part of our church, gave money to the church, helped build the church, helped start ministries in the church, opened his home for the church. Was always here, never missed. And for all practical purposes, you would look at the man and say, "Man, this guy loves the Lord, man. He's always here."

We would call him on the phone and say something needs to be fixed. Guess what? He'd fix it. He wanted to serve in the church. But he started inviting Jehovah's Witnesses into his home, Mormons into his home. Talking with them, debating with them about the deity of Christ, and the next thing you knew, he denied the deity of Christ. Now no true believer will ever do that. But someone who doesn't know the Lord truly can be easily swayed away. And that's what happened with Jamil. Such a sad, sad story, but it's true. But it happens so many times.

You know those people, you've grown up with some of those people, you've gone to church with those people, you've been on mission trips with those people. You've sang in the choir with some of those people. You've been in Bible studies with some of those people. Then all of a sudden, you wake up, they're no longer around. Where are they? What happened to them? They're no longer a part of our church. They're no longer a part of the ministry. Where'd they go? What happened?

And John makes it very clear in 1 John chapter 2, verse number 19, when he says these words: "They went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."

Paul said these words in First Timothy chapter four: "The Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." We are in those last days, and many, many people are falling away. They are apostatizing the truth. It's not that they were saved and lost their salvation. That cannot happen because you're kept by the power of God.

But there are a lot of pretenders in the pew. There are a lot of pretenders in the pulpit, unfortunately, but there are a lot of pretenders in the pew. And maybe you're one of those pretenders. And you've fooled everybody, letting us think that you love Jesus and you're committed to the Lord and you serve in the ministry of the church, but in all reality, you know all this about the Lord, but you've never clung to him, and you fall away.

How does that happen? How does that happen? Because every one of us has witnessed it to some degree. And some of it, it's hard for us to understand that we've been involved with people in ministry for years. And then come to realize that they deny the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. They deny the deity of Christ. They deny the truth of the gospel. They deny the inerrancy of scripture. They totally walk away from the truth and say, "you know what? I'm done. I'm out of here. I don't believe that anymore."

What happened to them? What category do you put them in? How do we explain that? You explain it very simply by helping you understand that those people never really truly knew the Lord from the beginning. They might have looked like they did, but they didn't.

So, how does someone get to that point? Let me give you some ways to understand that. Okay? The first way is because of persecution. Persecution. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 24, verse number 9: "Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. And at that time, many will fall away. Many will apostatize, and will betray one another and hate one another."

In that day, in the last days, there will be many who will fall away. Many who will turn their back on what they know to be true. Why? Because of persecution, because of hardship. Because of difficulties. Listen to this. Back to Hebrews chapter 10. Look what it says in verse number 32. The writer says this, and we'll go into this in days ahead. "But remember the former days when, after being enlightened, You endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one."

"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while he who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith. But if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul."

The writer of Hebrews says, "You were a part of this whole process, and you had received some persecution. Some were saying that you shouldn't go back. You should come back to the symbols and the shadows of Judaism and forget about this Christianity thing. And you've been tempted to go back. And so you've been persecuted. And those who are under the fire of persecution sometimes fall away if they are not truly committed to the Lord."

It's very evident in Matthew 13, in the parable of the sower and the soil, specifically the rocky soil. There are four soils. Three of them are not saved. One is. Only one is. It's the last soil because it brings forth fruit. The other three do not. And everything about Christianity is about fruit bearing, right? And so he says these words: "the one on whom the seed was sown in the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no firm root in him, but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away."

In other words, there's no firm root. He jumps on the Jesus bandwagon. He jumps on it with joy. Maybe he walks an aisle. Amidst all the other people walking aisles, maybe he says a prayer, maybe he comes to church one day and says, "Boy, I just need Jesus. I'm going to give my life to Jesus." He jumps on the Jesus bandwagon with all the supreme joy. But when persecution comes, when affliction comes and it bears down on his soul, he wants nothing more to do with Jesus because that's not what he bargained for. Didn't want that. And yet Jesus made it very clear that all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer tribulation and persecution.

And so, persecution is one of the ways that people fall away because they can't stand the heat. They don't want to be persecuted because of their faith. That's why persecution is so good for the church. It purges the church. And with the parable of the sower and the soil, the very first parable of the kingdom parables that Jesus gives, right on the heels of that is the parable about the wheat and the tares. Because the wheat and the tares, the true believers and the false believers, are going to grow together to the end of the age. In other words, there's going to be many false believers in the church age.

That you think are truly believers, but you can't tell them apart from a true believer versus an unbeliever. You can't tell them apart because we don't have the know-how, only the Lord knows that. That they will grow together to the end of the age. And at the end of the age, they'll be separated: the wheat from the tares. Because the Lord wanted the disciples to know, "listen, there are some you'll never understand." And guess who the parable is referring to? Judas.

Judas was the most trusted disciple, most loyal disciple, most faithful disciple of the twelve. How do we know that? Because he was the one who was the guardian of the money. You don't give money to somebody you don't trust, who's not loyal, who's not faithful, who's not committed. You give the money to the person who is the most trustworthy person because you want it kept and protected.

So on the eve of the crucifixion, when the Lord had given him a place of honor at the Lord's table. And all the disciples wondered when Christ said, "One of you will betray me." They all said, "Is it I? Is it I? Is it I? Is it I?" They didn't know if it was going to be them who betrayed the Lord Jesus or not. He made it very clear who it was going to be, and probably only Peter and John heard it, but they didn't understand it because he was in the place of honor. And he was the most trusted of the disciples.

But after three years of being with Jesus, involved in the ministry of Jesus, making everybody believe that he was one of the true disciples with Jesus. He was the son of perdition. And Satan came into him and indwelt him, and he betrayed the Lord Jesus. Disciples had no idea. Why? Because the wheat and the tares will grow together to the end of the age.

I'm sure that in the audience this size, there are people here that are pretenders. That we don't know and maybe never will know until the end of the age. That's why the warning is so significant, so important.

So there's persecution. That's why people fall away. Number two, in Matthew 24 is deception. It says, "because lawlessness, I'm sorry, many false prophets will arise and will mislead many, because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved."

Endurance doesn't save you, endurance proves true salvation. Nothing you do saves you. But if you're truly saved, you hold fast. If you're truly saved, you persevere. If you're truly saved, you endure to the end. But because there are many false teachers that arise and mislead many, that's why Matthew 7 is so important.

He talks about false teachers, how they come in and among you. And Christ talks about false teachers. And Paul talks about false teachers. And Peter talks about false teachers. And when you come to Jude, Jude says, "hey, guess what? They're here. They're in the church already." Because they're everywhere to lead people astray, lead them away from the Lord.

And so in Matthew 7, Christ says, "that's why there will be many on that day who will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Cast out demons in your name, do many marvelous deeds in your name. Did we not do that, Lord? And he will say to them, Depart from me, I never knew you." Why? Why? Because of deception.

They had become so deceived, they were self-deceived. They had thought that they were believers, but in reality they were not because, in all reality, even though they knew the truth, even though they knew God, even though they understood God. When push comes to shove, they truly weren't committed to the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord knew that.

And so if it's not persecution, if it's not decept, it's affection for the things of the world. Back to Matthew chapter 13, the Lord says these words: "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful." That person falls away.

Why? Because of this great fond affection for the things of the world. Lot's wife. She had a great affection for the things of the world. That's why there's so many exhortations: "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, the pride of life." Why? Because they're not of God and his kingdom. And the one who does the will of God abides forever, but the one who doesn't will not.

Therefore, you need to know the truth. Demas, 2 Timothy 4, verse number 9 and verse number 10. Paul says, "Demas has forsaken me because he loved this world." Demas was an associate of Paul. Demas ministered alongside of Paul. But Demas was an apostate because he walked away from that which he knew to be true. Because he had an affection for the things of the world.

Paul would say right before that, that there's a crown of righteousness that's going to be for all those who love his appearing. But contrary to that, there is Demas who wasn't looking and longing and loving the appearing of the Messiah. He was looking, longing, and loving for the things of the world. Lot's wife, she had to look back. God says, "don't turn back. Don't look back at Sodom." She just couldn't help herself because there was a strong affection for the things of the world, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

That's why the New Testament says, "remember Lot's wife." She is a great warning to everyone who has a deep affection for the things of the world. If it's not persecution, affliction, or tribulation, it's deception. If it's not deception, it's affection. If it's not affection, listen to this. It is hesitation.

This is where the warning passages in Hebrews come. Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 2. "For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. For if the words spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" How shall we escape?

Listen, don't let it drift by. Don't hesitate. Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait for tomorrow. Don't let the opportunity drift by. Remember growing up, my mom used to always say this. Maybe your mom said this, same thing. "He who hesitates is lost." Mom says, "Whatever you're going to do, do it. Don't hesitate. Don't hesitate." You're in a car, you're driving, you're at a light, right, stop sign, someone's coming. Don't hesitate. You're going to go, go. Don't wait.

Spiritually speaking, he who hesitates is lost. He says the very first warning passage in Hebrews 2: "listen, don't. Don't not come. Don't let it drift by. Don't hesitate. Don't stand there and watch it drift on by because you see the opportunity, but you don't make the commitment. Because hesitation will damn your soul if you're not careful."

And if you move from hesitation, you go to Hebrews 3, and it's called petrification. It's the hardening of the heart. It's the solidifying of the heart in its condition. That's why in Hebrews 3 it says: "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, verse number 7, today, if you hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me as in the day of trial in the wilderness." Verse 15, "today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me." Then again, in verse number 7 of chapter 4. "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

What's it mean to harden your hearts? You hear the truth, but because there's a hesitation, you don't respond, you put it off. There is a layer that comes over your heart that begins to harden it. Every time you hear the truth and you don't respond, your heart becomes harder and harder and harder. To the point you get to the point where your heart is so hard that God says, "I've hardened your heart. You cannot respond, you will not repent. Because you have turned against me."

So, whether it's persecution, whether it's deception, whether it's affection for the things of the world. Whether it's hesitation, not responding when you hear the gospel, which leads to petrification, there's also tradition. Hebrews chapter 6, this is the third warning. "Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of instruction about washings and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits, for in the case of those who have once been enlightened, having tasted of the heavenly gift, have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance."

None of the phrases in there deal with salvation anywhere else in Scripture. But they're all about the elementary principles of Judaism. Judaism, the external washing of hands, being around the Holy Spirit and all of its offering and all of its working. Being able to see the workings of God. And the writer of Hebrews says, "Look, you've seen all this, you know this. If today you fall away and you don't make the decision to come to Christ, what's going to happen is you're going to come to a place where it will be impossible for you to ever repent again."

Problem is, you don't know when that is because Satan is so deceptive. And so you realize that all these traditions that these Jewish people held on to were so dear to them. They could not break away from them. Paul says, "You got to move away from the elementary principles. You got to move away from the shadows. You got to move away from the symbols. You got to move away from all the ceremonies, all the trappings, all those things that are external, and embrace the Messiah because he's internal."

If you don't do that now, having received the knowledge of the truth, you are in danger of falling away. It'll be impossible to ever renew you again to repentance. Wow. Those are hard words, but they're true words. You've got to compel people to come. Help them to understand the importance of receiving Christ as Lord and Savior.

And so, when you think about why do people do this, why is it they fall away? Why is it they don't stay true to the gospel? It's because of those things. Also, there's the abstention, the unwillingness to partake together and to fellowship together. He said this last week. "The forsaking of our own assembly together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day of drawing near." What's the day? The day of Christ's return.

Listen, you begin to forsake the assembly of yourselves together. You abstain, that's what he calls abstention. You abstain from coming together. You miss a couple of Sundays here, miss a couple of studies there, then you miss a couple of months of Sundays here, a couple of months of Sundays there. Next thing you know, guess what? You're not going to church anymore.

People who don't go to church don't know the Lord. I don't care what they tell you. They can give you any excuse they want. They don't go to church, they don't know the Lord. It's as simple as that. You cannot willingly, habitually forsake the assembling of yourselves together and say, "I love Jesus." You can't love Jesus without being with his people. They're the body of Christ and the family of God. If you love Jesus, you love God's people. You have to be with God's people. You just do.

That's why he says you got to hold fast. You got to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds because what you're doing is you're continually motivating people in the church. When we gather together, you influence them, you motivate them, you stimulate them, you encourage them. Why? Because you want them to hold fast as well. And how do you know they hold fast? They continue on. But nobody knows who's saved and who's not saved. Because the wheat grow together with the tares.

And for all practical purposes, we look saved, we act saved. But are we truly born again? See, that's where the rubber meets the road. See, as a parent, the worst thing you can do is to convince your child he's saved when they're not. The worst thing you can do as a parent is to confirm them, confirm them in a false conversion. Because they one time believed, "they're my child. I know that at six, they believed. They believed in Sunday school. Now, I know they're not walking with the Lord now. I know they're involved in many immoral affairs. I know they're involved in doing the things they shouldn't be doing. I know they don't go to church anymore, but at 6 or 16, they believed." So the demons believe.

Demons believe everything about God. They know more about God than all of us put together. They are so theologically sound, it's ridiculous. But they have a knowledge of the Lord. But those demons apostatized as well. They fell away. They turned away from the true Living God. And so you have to understand that there are many people just because they say they believe once, or we've had people baptized right here in our own church who made professions of faith and we prayed for them. But over time, what happens? You begin to see whether the conversion was real or not real, whether it was true or false.

How do you know it's false? There's some kind of persecution, some kind of affliction, some kind of tribulation that comes their way. They didn't bargain for that. They fall away. There's some kind of affection that's so deep in their hearts that they don't want to turn from their love for the world because they love it so much that when push comes to shove, they just can't stay away from the things of the world. They love the world, they are deeply affectionate for the things of the world, and because there is no root. They fall away because of deception.

Many false teachers will arise. They have, and there will be more in days to come. And they will lead many astray, many away from the truth. Why? Because they really weren't grounded in the truth to begin with. And they were easily swayed, like Jamil was easily swayed by the Jehovah's Witnesses and by the Mormons because he didn't have any root in his life. Any firm belief in the deity of Christ to be able to stand against the temptation of deception and led him away.

And if it's not deception, it's that hesitation, not responding when the gospel is presented. Leading to petrification, the hardening of the heart, where I will not respond because I can't respond. And I'm so enraptured with my traditions, whether it's in Catholicism, whether it's in Judaism, whether it's in Buddhism, whatever religion it may be, it's all those religious trappings that mean so much to me that I cannot let go. I hold on to them dearly.

And the writer of Hebrews, you've got to let them go and embrace the Messiah, but because of tradition, I don't. That's why they fall away. Abstention? Yeah. We get so confused about why people don't come to church. You should know they don't go to church because they don't love the God of the church. It's just that simple. Please understand that.

I'm not talking about missing a Sunday here or missing a Sunday there or going on vacation here or going to Hawaii like last week. I had to put it in some way, man, you know. You know, those things, those things come up, those things happen. Everybody, the Lord knows all that. We all understand that. But it's that willingness to miss. That willingness not to be a part of that.

You see, we would never know that Lot was a righteous man if we just read the book of Genesis. He was a vile man. But you know what Peter tells us? He was a righteous man. I'm like, "what? How did I miss that one?" Because I don't know his heart. But God does, right? He was a righteous man. But here's the key to Lot. And it's this.

2 Peter chapter 2, verse number 7. "And if he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, he felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds." Now I know he was saved. First of all, he's called righteous twice, right? And no one could be righteous unless they have been declared righteous by the God of the universe. But here's the key.

His soul was tormented day and night by the lawlessness of Sodom. There was this inner turmoil that he faced. Listen, if you're here today and you're in the world and there's not an inner torment in your soul, something's wrong. Something's drastically wrong. Because Lot was tormented day and night in his soul. He knew this was wrong. He was a righteous man. That's why God, the spirit of God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and God delivered Lot from Sodom. Because God knows how to do that.

But you see, when you read the New Testament, you realize that the true believer, the truly righteous person, positioned in Christ, in their soul, they are tormented day and night by all the evil around them. Even though he was in the world, even though he lived in Sodom, his soul was tormented. Anguish.

See, that's how you know you love the Lord. It's not that you don't sin, you sin. It's not that you don't sin even grossly sometimes because even Christians commit gross sins. Look at David and Bathsheba, right? You can see them all over scripture. And the Lord spares no expense of painting all the negativity of Abraham, of David, so you can see that Abraham lied. Abraham put his wife out there. David cheated, committed adultery with Bathsheba. Puts it all out there.

But it's, you see, it's not that willingness to continue in that sin, that pervasive character of a sinful behavior that would cause one to fall away because they just don't care what the Lord God says. And that's why the danger of willful sin is so crucial. That's why on this day, the Lord says, "before you partake of the Lord's table, let a man examine himself. Let a man examine himself."

Why? Every believer constantly examines himself. I'm preparing this sermon this week. I'm examining my own life. I'm examining my life because I sin. And I want to make sure that I'm not sinning willfully, that this is not something I want to do, that I don't care about my Lord, but the one who sacrificed for me, who gave his life for me, that I might live a righteous life. Who forgave me of my sins? Do I long for him? Do I long to be with him? Do I long to fellowship with him? Do I want to have a right relationship with him? And that manifests itself where? In my family first, right? And then in my church family, second, it manifests itself.

And so the Bible says: "let a man examine himself before he eats and drinks, because if he eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, then you eat and drink damnation unto yourself." Be careful. Be very, very careful. Paul would later go on in 2 Corinthians 13, verse number 5, and says, "Test yourself, prove yourself, examine yourself to see if Jesus is actually in you." There's a way to know that Jesus is in you.

So Paul says, "examine yourself." Do you love the things that Jesus loves? Do you say the things that Jesus says? Do you go to the places that Jesus goes? Do you do what Jesus did? Are you so enamored with Jesus, so affectionate with Him? Do you revere Him so much? Do you fear Him more than anything else? Because He is the Lord God of Israel.

Isaiah 8:13 says, "The Lord is holy, and he shall be your dread, and he shall be your fear all the day long." If he is, Isaiah says, "then he will be your sanctuary. Then he will be your hiding place. Then he will be that place of refuge, that place of safety, because you know him."

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for a chance to be together and to worship you. Our prayer is for everyone in the room that they would know for certain that Jesus is their king and that they serve and follow the living God. In that, even though they might work in a place that's a pig sty, there is a torment in their soul about the lostness of those around them. And the sinful lifestyle of those people. And they long for their redemption.

And we pray, Father, that all of us would examine our lives to make sure we're right with you and right with the people in this room. Right with our families because we love the Lord of righteousness. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.