The Danger in Willful Sin, Part 4

You know, I'm so glad that you guys are here today. There's nothing greater than being a part of a local church. You know, yesterday we were at the beach and you said goodbye to people. They say, "Hey, you, we'll see you tomorrow. See you tomorrow." You know, because they're all going to come to church tomorrow. At least, I hope they come to church today. But the fact of the matter is that there's that anticipation of being together on the very next day, knowing that we're going to fellowship together and worship the Lord together. That's what makes this place such a delightful place. It's a gathering of people who have, according to Hebrews chapter 10, have come by faith, cling to hope, and consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That's what makes this place such a delightful place.

But on the other hand, we've told you: if you're an unbeliever, it's a very dangerous place to be. Why? Because you're being held accountable to the things you've heard. And if you don't respond, you're in danger of coming to a place that it will be impossible to renew you to repentance. So while this is a delightful place for some, it's a dangerous place for others. Why? Because it's a place of worship. We come to honor God. We come to hear about God. We've come to put God on display. It's a place of worship. But for those who don't come to worship Him, it's a place of warning. Why? They are warned against the impending judgment that will come their way if they don't believe so as to worship the Lord. Because our Lord seeks true worshipers, those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

The church becomes a place of what we would call supreme pleasure. Supreme pleasure. Why? Because it's here we motivate one another, we stimulate one another to love and good deeds because of our relationship with the living God. But if it's not a place of supreme pleasure, it's a place of severe penalty. Why? Simply because you refuse to come to Jesus Christ and believe in his name. The church is a place that promotes joy. It promotes joy because it promotes Christ. And Christ is the author of joy. And so, whenever you promote Christ, you promote joy. Yet, if you don't love the Christ, for you, it's not a place that promotes joy. It's a place that promotes or pronounces judgment. Judgment because you will not come to the Christ who promises joy.

You see, it's a delightful place because you've been accepted by God because you have repented from your sin. It's a dangerous place because you've been abandoned by God because of your rejection of Him. And the book of Proverbs paints the picture very well. Proverbs chapter 1, when Solomon says these words: "Wisdom shouts in the street. She lifts her voice in the square. At the head of the noisy streets, she cries out. At the entrance of the gates in the city, she utters her sayings," speaking of wisdom. Knowing that Christ is the author of wisdom, that in Christ is all wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, wisdom cries in the streets: "How long, O naïve ones, will you love simple-mindedness? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge."

You move from being the simple-minded to the scoffer, to the stubborn, stiff-necked person, if you don't respond to wisdom's cry in the streets. And then Solomon says, "This, turn to my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make my words known to you." Wisdom says, "If you come to me, I will make myself known to you. But because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention, and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof, I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your dread comes. When your dread comes like a storm, when your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call upon me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me because they hated knowledge. They did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept my counsel. They spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices."

Why does God abandon people? Because they reject Him. They turn from Him. Willful rejection leads to judicial rejection. And so Solomon sums it up by saying, "Listen, if the Lord is crying and calling for you to come and to obtain his wisdom and to come to know him, and you refuse to come because you hate knowledge, you hate instruction, one day you'll cry to him, he will not listen. One day you'll call out to him, he will not hear. He will laugh at your calamity. Why? Because when he called you, you did not come. When he cried for you, you would not respond." And then Solomon closes with these words in verse number 30-33: "But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil. He who listens to me will be at ease and they'll be or have the opportunity to live securely."

Where are you today? Is this a delightful place for you? Is this a place where you long to come because it promotes joy? Or is this a dangerous place for you because it pronounces judgment upon your rejection of the Messiah, your unwillingness to come to him? We're looking at Hebrews chapter 10, look at the last 14 verses of this chapter, to help you understand. We looked at the right response to everything that the writer of Hebrews had said. And the right response was: You come in faith, you cling to hope, and you consider how to love one another and stimulate one another to love and good deeds. But if you don't respond, the negative response is the other side of that, and it talks about apostasy. And that is, having received the truth, because you know the truth, you turn away from it and reject the God of truth. And you come to a place, as Hebrews 6 says, where it's impossible to renew you again to repentance.

Oh, the warning is so severe. It's not easy to hear. It's essential, though, for us to understand because we don't want anybody in the room to be self-deceived. We don't want anybody in the room, we don't want anybody in our family to think that they know the Lord, but in reality, they've never embraced him as their Savior, as their Lord, as their King, as their Messiah. We don't want anybody that we know to have a self-deceived spirit, thinking they're on their way to heaven, but end up in hell because they've been abandoned by God. And truly only the Lord knows that, and you know that, because we don't know that. We are not the jury on your spiritual situation. But we promote the truth so you'll understand where you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can understand these things. We teach them to you so you can come to grips with them.

But so many people who claim to have received the truth, believed the truth, live, as the Bible says, in willful sin. So the writer of Hebrews says, "For if you go on sinning willfully, after receiving the knowledge of the truth." You know the truth, but you continue to sin willfully. You turn your back on the Messiah. You engage in sinful behavior. We saw earlier what John said in 1 John 3, verse number 9: "No one who is born of God practices sin, lives continuously in sin, because his seed, that is the seed of Christ, abides in him." The reason you can't continue to live in sin as a child of God is because the seed of Christ remains in you. So it's impossible for you to continue practicing sin, willfully engaged in sinful behavior, because the seed of Christ abides within you. He says this, "and he cannot sin because he is born of God."

In other words, you cannot continue to sin, not that you don't sin, you do. But you cannot continue in practicing habitual sin. Why? Because you've been born of God. The Lord said it this way in John's Gospel, the eighth chapter. He says this. It says in verse 30 of John 8, "As he spoke these things, many came to believe in him." And then it says, verse 31, "So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him," who were the Jews in John's gospel? The Jews are not the nation of Israel. The Jews are the religious leaders. So, whenever John in his gospel refers to the Jews, it's always a religious establishment. There were many who came to believe in him, but to the religious establishment who believed him. In other words, they knew about him. They understood him. They had seen his miracles. They had heard his sermons. They had believed about the Messiah. He says these words: "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine." In other words, "If you continue in me, I can guarantee you that you're one of mine. You are truly a disciple, a genuine disciple of mine. And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Christ makes it very clear that if you know me, you will continue in me and abide in me, and the truth that you know will set you free from your sin, and you'll be free indeed. Christ will say it this way in John 15: "I am the true vine," verse number 1, "and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." In other words, if everyone in me does not bear fruit, he takes away. What does he do with those he takes away? He says in verse 3, "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, or in other words, remain in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me, ye can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and cast them to the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, or remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so proved to be my disciples."

You can prove your discipleship by remaining in me because if you do, you're going to bear much fruit. But those who do not bear fruit really are not a part of, excuse me, not really a part of me because they have not remained with me. He says this: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."

Listen, the redeemed will always remain because their redeemer will always reign. The redeemed will always remain with him because the redeemer reigns within them. Does that make sense? Because the seed is within you, you do remain, you do persevere, you do abide, you do continue on. It doesn't mean that you don't sin, it doesn't mean that you don't fall away for a short time because you might. But you never fall away fully and finally. Why? You can't. Because his seed is in you. You remain with him. You abide with him. You persevere with him because he is within you.

So the redeemed will always remain with him because the Redeemer reigns within them. And that's what we understand as the Reformers say: the perseverance of the saints. We continue with him. That's what the writer eventually will say in Hebrews chapter 10 at the end of the chapter when he says these words: "But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the persevering of the soul." We don't shrink back. We don't fall away. Why? Because there is a perseverance within us. Remember Romans 15? Perseverance is a gift given to us by God. Listen, if God is in you, all right, the gifts that He's given you, the gift to believe, the gift of faith, the gift of repentance, the gift of perseverance, they're all gifts. That's what causes you to remain with Him because He's granted you all those things. And that gives us the assurance that we will spend eternity with him.

So, the writer of Hebrews is trying to help his audience to understand the positive response to everything he said about the Messiah up to chapter 10, verse number 18. Now he says you need to come, you need to cling and consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. If you do, oh, you will remain in him. But then he says, "If you go on sinning willfully, having received the knowledge of the truth," I mean, you know the truth, I've given it to you, he says. "I've quoted to you from the Old Testament over and over and over again. So you know the truth. Hebrews 2 says, You've seen the signs and wonders." So you've seen the miracles, you've heard the message. If you know that, and you do not respond, then you're in danger of coming to a place where it's impossible to renew you to repentance.

Now, listen, none of us knows where that place is. None of us knows where God says "that's it. No more chances, no more opportunity." We don't know that. That's why the scripture is all about compelling people to come now. Don't hesitate. Believe today. Today is a day of salvation, not tomorrow. Respond to what the word of the Lord says today. And that's where the writer of Hebrews is. That's why he gives the warning passages. You need to know that there is impending judgment, a terrifying expectation of judgment, a fury of a fiery furnace that awaits you if you do not respond. In other words, hell is your destiny unless you respond to the word of the Lord.

So important. That's why we are compelled to preach the gospel. That's why we are compelled to tell people about the Christ. Because they need to know the truth about their eternal destiny. We know, we know the Bible says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." Now, those words are very important. If I confess with my mouth, if I say the same thing with my mouth that the Bible says about who Jesus is. If I confess that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is king, that Jesus is master, that Jesus is a ruler of the universe. It's what Christ said in John 8:24: "Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Unless you believe that I am the God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. Unless you believe that I am the God of the Old Testament, unless you believe that I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you will die in your sins." That's a promise that God gives.

So, if you confess Jesus as Lord, you are saying that Jesus is God in the flesh. I am saying the same thing about Christ, that the Bible says. I am saying that the Messiah is Lord of all, the Messiah is divine, the Messiah is the king. The Messiah is the Redeemer. He's my Redeemer. He's my Savior. He's my deliverer. I'm saying that. I'm confessing that. Why? Because I believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead. I believe in the living God, and my Savior is that living God. "If I confess with my mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the mouth, man confesses unto" what? "Salvation. And with the heart, man believes" what? "Unto righteousness."

Not only do I have a righteous standing, but because I confess Christ as Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, listen, I not only am declared righteous, but I live a righteous life. That's why over in 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 24, Peter says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." We can't live righteously unless we've died to sin itself. And the only way we can die to sin himself is to crucify the flesh. "If any man come unto me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." And so I am confessing that Christ is Lord. I am believing in my heart that God raised him from the dead. Because "with the mouth man confesses unto salvation, with the heart man believes unto righteousness." He lives a righteous, holy life. Why? Because the righteous Redeemer reigns within him. Christ is in me. And Christ being in me transforms me. That's why the Bible says I am a new creation. I'm just not adding Jesus to my existing sinful life. He's transforming my life from the inside out. He deals with my heart, deals with the inner man, and transforms my life. That's what makes salvation so unique because we now are a new creation. That's why the exhortation is constantly: put off the old man and put on the new, because that's for how you were called.

And so we've taken you through Hebrews 10. We've helped you understand the description of apostasy, then the repercussions of apostasy, and then we gave you the illustration of apostasy. And then last week we gave you the clarification of apostasy, trying to clarify the unpardonable sin in Matthew chapter twelve with the unforgivable sin of apostasy today. Helping you understand that what took place in Matthew chapter 12 when Christ says that "any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven, but he who sins against the Spirit of God, who blasphemes the Spirit of God, he shall not be forgiven." And we talked about the unpardonable sin, a sin that could be only committed during the days of Christ because they had seen the full knowledge of the revelation of the Messiah before them. He had performed all of his miracles, preached all of his sermons in person to them. And they said, "The conclusion in our mind is that Jesus is of Satan." And Christ says, "This is going to happen in this age and in the age to come." We told you last week, that is not the church age, because the disciples knew nothing about the church age. The age to come is the kingdom age. Because that's when Christ will be back on earth again. And he will preach the messages and he will perform the miracles. And people will attribute what he does to Satan. And the unpardonable sin will be committed again.

But today, in the church age, that unpardonable sin as it was in Matthew 12, it cannot be committed today, but there is a sin that's unpardonable, and that sin is the sin of apostasy. Coming to receive the full knowledge of the truth. All right? Understanding who Christ is, what he's done, and yet say, "You know what? I don't want that anymore. I'm done with that. I'm going to fall away from that. I am not going to walk with Jesus anymore," like Demas, who would love this present world, but no longer walk with the Lord because of the affection. Drew him away. The affections of the world drew him away from the truth and the Messiah. Like those in Matthew 13, who, because of affliction and because of tribulation, fell away. Why? Because when push came to shove, they could not stand the heat. And they said, "You know what? We're done. Being with Jesus is fine as long as he's feeding us, as long as he's healing us. But when the persecution comes, I'm out of here." So they fall away.

So the writer of Hebrews says, "Now let me give you an admonition." And this is our fifth point. Admonition. And look what he says in verse 28: "Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses." Now, I told you this last week, but I think that so many of us get confused by thinking that the God of the Old Testament was such a harsh God. And yet, he says these words: "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God?" In other words, there is a more severe punishment, a more severe judgment for those who live in the realm of the New Testament and the church age than those who lived in the Old Testament under the Mosaic law.

Let me give you an example. Listen to this. Book of Numbers, fifteenth chapter, says this in verse number thirty: "The person who does anything defiantly, willingly, presumptuously, okay? Anybody who does that, they are the ones who want to turn away from what they know to be true. They do it defiantly. Whether he is a native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord." Remember what it means to blaspheme the Lord? It means to speak anything that's untrue about him, to live in any way that's untrue about him. So any, even the believer can blaspheme the Lord, but we can be forgiven. We saw that in Colossians chapter 3 last week. Anytime you say something that's not true about the Lord or misrepresent the Lord, you blaspheme the character and nature of God. So Moses is saying, God is saying through Moses that this person who blasphemes the Lord, "that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has spoken his commandment and has broken his commandment, excuse me. That person shall be completely cut off. His guilt will be on him."

So, the guy who sins defiantly, who breaks the commandment of God, who does not want to follow the word of the Lord, says, "You know what, I'm not doing that. I'm done. I'm out of here. I don't want anything to do with that." And they blaspheme the name of the Lord. This person will be cut off. His guilt will be upon him. Now he gives an illustration. Now, think about this. Here's the illustration. "Now, while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. And they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, 'The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.' So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses."

Here's a guy who picks up sticks on the Sabbath. That's all he does. Just picks up sticks on the Sabbath. And he violated the law of God. So they brought him to Moses. And Moses said, "God, what do we do?" God says, "Kill him. Stone him." And when they stoned people, they didn't take pebbles and throw them at them. They took big, huge stones and just pummeled them with huge rocks. It wasn't an easy way to go, because I'm sure you don't go with the first stone that hits you in the head, right? So it's kind of a painful way to die.

So, the writer of Hebrews says these words. Take it into context. "Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses," which this guy who picked up sticks did, "die without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses." They come in and say, "Hey, look, Moses, this guy broke the Sabbath. He picked up some sticks on the Sabbath. Kill them." So they killed him. Why? Because God said so. They weren't going to willingly defy the word of the Lord. They said, "Okay, Lord, you say it, we'll do it." So they killed them. So the writer of Hebrews knows that the Hebrew people know this illustration. He knows that. Why? Because they're students of the Old Testament law. They're students of the Pentateuch. They know this. They're very religious people. So he says, "You know what the law of Moses said? When you die without mercy, when you defiantly go against what God's word says. This is this." "How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he has sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace."

Let me tell you something. There is a more severe punishment for those who live today, than any man who picked up sticks on the Sabbath in Numbers chapter 15. You see, our Lord demonstrates his wrath more now than ever before. Ever before. But we just don't see it as such because it's the age of grace. And God's a forgiving God. And yes, God is a forgiving God. That's what God does, He does forgive. And you ever ask yourself the question, why does God forgive? Why does God forgive? So you can go to heaven? No. No, not at all. Why does God forgive? Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says. Isaiah 44, 43, verse number 25: "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions. I will not remember your sins." Why? "For my sake." Why does God forgive your sins? For his sake. It's not for your sake. You see, we think it's about us. We can't get out of the realm that what God does is for us. It's not for you. It's for his name's sake. It's for his glory.

So listen carefully. God sets you free from your sin for his sake and not your sake. So when you come to the book of Romans, it says this: it says, "Through whom, that is Jesus Christ, we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles for his name's sake." So, not only are you set free from your sin for his name's sake, you are saved for his name's sake. And you are sanctified for his name's sake because he says this: "Among whom you also are called of Jesus Christ to all who are beloved of God in Rome called as saints." So not only are you set free from your sin for his name's sake, not only are you saved for his name's sake, you are sanctified for his name's sake. None of this is about you, it's all about the Christ.

But it gets even further. Listen to what it says in Philippians chapter 1, verse number 29: "For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake." So you're set free for his sake, you're saved for his sake, you are sanctified for his sake, and you even suffer for his name's sake. But it goes further. Over in Third John, listen to this. Speaking about these missionaries who had gone out preaching the gospel, and they were brought in and received hospitality. John says to them, "For they went out for the sake of the name," why were they sent out? "For the sake of the name," why are there missionaries? "For the sake of the name." You're set free for his name's sake. You're saved. You're sanctified. You suffer. And by the way, you speak forth the gospel for his name's sake. Everything is about Christ. That's why it says in Psalm 115, verse number 1: "Unto your name, not unto us, but unto your name, you receive the glory." Right?

Paul said this way in 1 Corinthians 10:31: "For whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of the Lord." Why? Because everything is about the Lord. Listen to what Christ says in John's Gospel, 17th chapter. He says, "Father, the hour is come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. Magnify your name. Put you on display." Verse 4: "I glorified you on the earth. I came to glorify you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given to me. Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was." In other words, Christ says, "I came to magnify your name. I came for your sake. That's why I'm here."

Oh, by the way, why did Jesus die? For whom did Jesus die? Be careful. For who? Ask a question. Jesus died only for the elect. Oh, Jesus died for everybody. Wrong! Jesus died for the Father. You got to get that. He died for the Father. Jesus died for God the Father. Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three, it says this: "Being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a satisfaction." In other words, God made sure that his Son was displayed publicly as a satisfaction to him, not to satisfy you. To satisfy the father. That's why it says in Psalm 53, verse number 10, Isaiah 53, verse number 10, that "it pleased the Lord to crush his son."

And that's exactly what the writer of Hebrews said. Hebrews chapter 10. We've already covered this. Hebrews chapter 10. He says, "Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come in the scroll of that book, it is written of me. To do your will, O God.'" "I have come to do your pleasure." Why? Because all the Old Testament sacrifices never satisfied the Father. They all pointed to the ultimate sacrifice that would satisfy the Father. So the Son came to die in order to satisfy the wrath of the Father. Everything about salvation is about the glory and honor of God. That's why in Romans 11, verse number 36, "all things are from him, through him, and to him." There's no exception there. All things are from him, all things are through him, and all things are to him.

Now, listen carefully. Even the building in Miami that collapsed was from God through him for the glory of God. How do we know that? Luke 13. When Christ says the Tower of Siloam, it just collapsed and fell over and killed 18 people. Christ never said, "I feel bad for their families. I feel bad for those who died. I feel bad for their loved ones." He never said that. But he did say this: "Be careful, for unless you repent, you will likewise perish." He gave the warning. Why? Because he wanted you to perish. It doesn't mean they didn't love their loved ones or care for their loved ones. That's not what I'm saying. You need to get the point. Christ says, "Why do these things happen? They happen because they are warnings of impending judgment, that you never know when you're going to die. You have no idea. So you can be sound asleep in your apartment and never wake up because the apartment collapses for what reason? Other than there's a sovereign God who rules over all, that all things are from Him, through Him, and to Him. To God be the glory forever and ever," Paul says.

That God somehow is involved in all these things, that the providence of God is at stake, and God is sending warning signs to people that say, "Are you prepared to die? Because it's coming. Are you ready to die? Die, you will. Guaranteed, we're all going to die. But are you prepared to die?" And that's why the warning passages in scripture are so important. That's why Christ gave the warning in Luke 13. It's a horrific way to die. Nobody wants to go to bed thinking they're going to get up the next day and go to work, but only to wake up in hell. Talk about a nightmare. That would be the ultimate nightmare, an eternal nightmare. If they were saved, they would wake up in glory. But nobody expected the building to fall down upon them that night. They did not. And you'll probably never get an answer as to why, even though there were structural issues with the building. We've read about that, we've seen about that. That could have been the very cause. But listen, God held it up all these years anyway, right? But on this particular night, with these particular amounts of people, with at least five dead and over 150 still missing, and all they're finding are bits and pieces of body parts. How horrific is that? And God says, "You better watch out. The same thing could very well happen to you unless you repent. You will likewise perish."

Do you see the impending judgment that awaits those who do not receive the gospel? That's why the gospel is so important. Christ saves you for his sake. He sets you free for his sake. You are sanctified for his sake. You are suffering and will suffer for his sake. You will speak forth the truth for his sake because Jesus lived his whole life for the glory of the Father, for his father's sake. He came to die for his father's sake. He came to die as a satisfaction to his father. He came to die for God. That's what he came to die for. Once you miss that, you've missed the impetus behind evangelism and the desire to share the Christ with people that they might come to know the living God.

That's why the writer of Hebrew says, "Let me give you this admonition. Remember the Old Testament? Guy picked up sticks. They stoned him to death. He broke the law. But how much severe judgment do you think it will be to those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God?" They treat the Son of God as if he means nothing. And the blood of the covenant, uncommon and unclean, means nothing to them. And to refuse the Spirit of grace. That's why he quotes from the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 32, when he says these words: "For we know him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' and again 'the Lord will judge his people.' It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

It is. That's why we compel you. That's why we beg you. "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation, in the wilderness." Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 2. Don't let the opportunity just pass you by. Don't drift by the opportunity to give your life to Christ as if you got tomorrow or the next day or the next day, because the same thing might happen to you that happened in Miami. You just never know. But having been enlightened, having been a partaker of the Holy Spirit of God, having tasted of the good gifts of God, and you don't repent, you come to a place, as Hebrews 6 says, "it will be impossible to renew you again to repentance." Why? Because in the face of overwhelming evidence, in the face of absolute truth, you said no. "I know what the Bible says. I know what Jesus said. I know who Jesus is. I believe in Jesus. I believe He's the way. Yes, I believe all that stuff. But I'm just not going to give my life to Christ." That's a very dangerous place to be. And my prayer is that no one in this room would be in that place. Because that's a dangerous place. The opposite of that? The delightful place in the presence of the living God. Forever.

Let me pray with you. Father, thank you for today. We are a blessed people. We are a blessed people because you've given us your word that gives us the full light of revelation as to your saving work. We are such a blessed, blessed people. Our prayer today is that no one would leave today without knowing for certain that heaven is their destiny. That they would come forward and say, "I need to give my life to Christ." For those of us who know you, may we be diligent in our presentation of the truth of the gospel. We pray in your name. Amen.