Apostasy: The Negative Response to the New Covenant, Part 2
Hebrews 10:28-39
Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the wonderful love that does call us. We thank you that when we were without God and strangers from the covenants of promise, You did call us to Yourself. We're so grateful, Lord, for such a call. And an effectual call it was indeed, for we heard it and we responded. And, Lord, we know that even tonight, You, yet, are calling some who are in our midst. Maybe some, who like those we shall study tonight, have come all the way up to the edge and they've not quite come. They've not quite totally committed themselves to You and the call is still extended to them. We pray, Father, that the call might be heard tonight, clearly, decisively, that this might be the great night when they come to know Jesus Christ in a personal way. Father, we pray that as we look at the text, that we might be able to see the Word of God clearly, that we might be able to hear what it is You're
saying to us and that we might be able to respond in our hearts. Teach us, Father. And teach us so that we change the pattern of our living because of what we've learned. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
We are now in Part 2 of our message here in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. So if you have your Bible, I'll ask you, if you will, please, to turn to Hebrews 10. We're going to be studying Hebrews chapter 10 and it's indeed a very serious passage. We began last time to study Apostasy: The Negative Response to the New Covenant. We saw that the new covenant was presented to Israel, to this community of Jews, clear through verse 18 of chapter 10. Through all of those things, the writer of Hebrews is presenting the fact that Christianity is the answer to everything, that the new covenant far outshines the old, that it's a better priesthood with a better priest who is a better mediator who made a better sacrifice, which sealed a better covenant. And he urges them to respond to the new covenant in faith.
There are only two choices. The first one he talks about in verse 19 to 25 where he tells them, be positive. Respond to the new covenant by coming to Christ. The second is negative...if you don't, here's what happens. And we've begun to study that negative response to the new covenant. What happens when an individual rejects the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
I thought to myself, we could well title this message tonight The Tragedy of Getting Over It, because the subject concerns people who were brought face to face with the Son of God, but were getting over it...people whose hearts had been warmed toward the gospel of Christ and who had made a superficial, but nevertheless, a manifest commitment of faith in Christ. They had said they believed. They had identified themselves, at least visibly, with the true Church. But the warmth of it all was wearing off and the excitement of it was kind of petering out and it was getting to be a little bit of a drag and they were getting over it. And they were in danger of going back.
You know, this is a very interesting thing in life because normally a man's life, its success and failure, is dependent upon what he's able to get over. For example, some people never get over sorrow and it wrecks their life. Tears are healthy things within certain limits because they tend to cleanse the soul of grief. They release tension and they begin the process of healing. And God recognizes that we need to express sorrow. In the book of Deuteronomy remember that when Moses died, God appointed 30 days for the children of Israel to cry. And the Bible says, "And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days." The apostle Paul accepted and participated with the elders at Ephesus in a little weeping ceremony when he was leaving. So tears are healthy. Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem and He cried. And He looked at the grave of Lazarus and He cried. God's not against sorrow; that's part of life. God's even involved in it. But some people never get over sorrow and it ruins their life. Some people have a morbid kind of sorrow over something that they have never been able to shake.
There are other people who can't get over guilt. It's always there, I mean, because we're always sinning and guilt is always a factor. But some people have this lingering morbid sense of guilt that makes them bear around all the time some kind of a moral corpse and they never seem to get any relief because they're always agonizing over some past sin and it ruins their life and it steals their joy and it robs them of happiness.
Other people never get over the past. Some people live their whole life in the past. In the good old days we did it this way. What's happening to our world? And of course, if you go to a typical Freudian psychiatrist or psychologist today, they'll throw you back in the past again. They'll tell you that your problem isn't really yours, that your mother locked you in a closet when you were one and that's why you're like you are with that strange twitch (laughter). Somebody in your past messed you up; you didn't mess yourself up. Some people always live in the good old days. You know, Sam Jones, one time was preaching on sin. And to make a point he said, "Is there anyone in this congregation who's perfect or knows a perfect man?" He never expected any kind of response. A little guy popped right up in the middle of the crowd (laughter). And Sam Jones said to him, "Do you mean to tell me that you know a perfect man?" And the man replied, "Well, I don't know him personally, but I hear about him all the time. He was my wife's first husband." (Laughter) Some people never get over the past. Israel never got over the past. Israel got out in the wilderness and which way did they look...toward Cana?...toward Egypt. They started crying about the leeks and the garlics and all the things they had in Egypt and as a result of that they died in the wilderness and never inherited the Promised Land...that generation didn't. Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. It's very often what we don't get over that destroys us.
But, you know, the sad thing is, there are some things that we shouldn't get over that we do get over and very often one of those things is the conviction of the Gospel when we hear it initially. Some people get over that. Some people have heard it so much that it's water off a duck's back. It doesn't register. And this is even true in the lives of many Christians. There are some of you people who are Christians only by the hair of your chinny-chin-chin, you know. I mean, you're in, but that's about it. But in terms of discipleship, you've heard it too long to respond to it anymore. You've gotten over all that. You've gotten over the penetration of the Word of God. And so there are people who come to Christ, up to the edge, and they hear it and they're warm toward it and it sounds good. And they learn the truth and they're drawn to Christ and they're initially convicted of sin. And they maybe even profess to believe and they profess to belong and they mingle with Christians, but they never get saved. And pretty soon, it gets to be old stuff and then they just kind of fade, you see. And they're gone because it never was real to begin with. And the interest begins to wear thin and the pressures of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, which have never been lessened by the power of the indwelling Spirit, because they've never really been saved, overwhelm them finally. And the pressure of a persecuting world overwhelms them and finally they just disappear. They get over it. But some of them are apostates. And that, nobody ever gets over.
Now, in our study last time, we saw this subject beginning to be explained...the unforgivable sin of knowing the truth, having full revelation, professing to believe, then getting over it and walking away. And the Bible calls this kind of a person an apostate. It's the sin that becomes worthy of the severest Hell. To know everything there is to know about the gospel and to identify as a part of it, manifestly or visibly, and then to walk away, never having really been saved, that is to become an apostate. And for the sin of apostasy, there is no forgiveness. You say, well, how do you know when somebody's done that? You don't. Only God knows. And ours is not to speculate as to who's an apostate and brand them thus and leave them alone. Ours is to pray diligently and faithfully for every individual as far as we know and allow God to determine who the apostates are. That's not for us to determine. Only God knows. Don't you ever make the judgment, either that the individual knew everything in the first place, and thus reacted against full knowledge, or secondly, that his rejection is final. Only God knows that.
Now, I suppose the most familiar case of apostasy or getting over Jesus is recorded when He was on earth. Now, there are all different forms of apostasy. There's apostasy in the Old Testament, apostasy in the time of Christ and apostasy today. And in each case, there are unique characteristics of apostasy. But perhaps the most familiar case, if we want a case study for apostasy, is recorded for us in the 12th chapter of Matthew and I'd like you to look at it with me for just a moment tonight as an introduction.
You remember that when Jesus first began His ministry, everybody flocked around Him. He had great crowds following Him everywhere. And they were remarking this and that about His power and the wonder of His ability and they were trying to crown Him a king. In Galilee they thought He was so wonderful. And it says that He went to Jerusalem, you know, in John 2 in the time of the Passover and many, many believed on His Name. And He was so popular. And there were miracles being done. All of this was going on. At the age of 12, He wandered into the temple on the time of the Passover and sat there and astounded the learned doctors. But you know what? They got over Him. Boy, did they ever get over Him. Matthew 12:22 tells us what they finally came to in their evaluation. Let's read through the text. I'll make some comments as I go.
"There was brought unto Him one possessed with a demon, blind and dumb. And He healed him insomuch that the blind and the dumb both spoke and saw." It's interesting the demons affected this man in terms of physical problems...blindness and an inability to talk. Jesus healed him "And all the people were amazed and said, 'Is not this the son of David?'"...the Messiah. "But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, 'This fellow doth not cast out demons but by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.'" Beelzebub was the popular name at that time for Satan. He's of Satan. Now, that was their conclusion. Now, I'd say, offhand, they got over Jesus. They got over Him so much that they had come all the way full course and decided He was from Hell. "And Jesus knew their thoughts," verse 25, "and said unto them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand?'" He says, you guys can't be that dumb. If Satan went around casting demons out, he'd be defeating his own cause. And 27 states it: "If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out?" Are you setting yourself up as higher than Me? "Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." If I'm for real and I'm doing it by God, you better look up, because the kingdom is here and I'm the King. And He says, you better make a decision. Jump to verse 30: "He that is not with Me is against Me." You better make a decision about Jesus Christ. You don't stand on the fence. You either come to Him or you're against Him. Then He makes this statement, verse 31. "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven against men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, neither in the age to come." Now, we'll stop there.
This has commonly been called the unpardonable sin. And people have asked for years what this means. Let's see if we can't see what He's saying. Verse 31: "Therefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men." God is a forgiving God. He forgives sin and He forgives blasphemy. He better, because we've all sinned and at one point blasphemed. Watch. "But the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven men." You say, what is the blasphemy against the Spirit? Watch. What had they just done? They had just attributed the works of Christ to whom?...Satan. Who was it really working through Christ?...the Holy Spirit. Whatever Christ did, He did by the energy of the Spirit. He said, if you attribute the works of the Spirit to Satan, you will not be forgiven. Why? Because if they had seen all those works that the Spirit of God had done and after all the miracles and all the revelation they had seen and heard, they had concluded that He was from Hell, they were hopeless. You see? It's one thing to say that about Christ when you don't know anything; it's another thing to conclude that when you have all the evidence. In effect, they were saying we've watched You, Jesus, for three years or for however long it had been at this point, not that long perhaps. But we've watched You long enough to make a decision. Our decision is this: You're from Hell. Now, they had seen miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. They had heard him speak. They had heard Him teach. They had heard Him preach. They had heard the disciples in conversation with Him. They had confronted Him face to face. All this had gone on and their conclusion is, He's from Hell. And He says, guys, you can never be forgiven. Why? Because there's no repentance when you see the Truth. You see? This is not just some arbitrary statement, well, you said a few things against me. That's it for you; you're damned forever. That isn't the point. The point is when a man has all the revelation that can come from the Spirit of God...that is divine revelation, miraculous revelation...and he concludes that it's out of Hell; he is at the other end of the world from the Truth; there's no way he can be saved. You see, all of this evidence was the work of the Holy Spirit to convict men of the fact that Jesus was God. Do you see? And if a man didn't convicted after all that evidence, there was no way he'd be saved because there's no way he'd ever repent. But watch 32: "But," and the word kai can mean but, and, even, also, etc..."But, whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him." Now watch this. The Son of Man is a term that designates Jesus' humanity...right? The Son of God emphasizes His deity. The Son of Man emphasizes His humanity. If an individual said something against the human Jesus, that's one thing, because in the humanity of Jesus, there may not be a total divine revelation. You understand? If a man simply saw Jesus as a man and spoke against Him, that's one thing. But if an individual sees Christ in all of the display of His deity and thus concludes He's from Hell, that's something else. And so He says, if you have a word to say against the Son of Man, if you have something against the humanness of Jesus, that can be forgiven. But when you have all of the deity of Christ presented without possibility of contradiction and you conclude He's from Hell, for that there can't be forgiveness. You see, a man could speak against the human Jesus. They did at the very beginning. Remember they said, eh, can anything good come out of...what?...Nazareth. What is this? A carpenter's son _______. Who's He? Oh, they said, He companies with drunks and prostitutes. They were speaking against His humanness. That was forgivable if they had no manifestation of His deity. Right? But once the Spirit of God had begun to put display...put deity on display, they became responsible. And all of His deity was displayed a multitude of different ways. The evidence was all in. They concluded He was from Hell. And, thus, does Jesus say, with the evidence of deity and that conclusion, you render yourselves impossible to be saved. That's the point. And in verse 32 He says, "whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him." With all the evidence in, if a man rejects the conviction of the Spirit of God, there's nothing God can do.
Now, you say, can that sin be committed in this age? Not as such. Why? Because Jesus isn't here. This sin, this apostasy, this very special brand of apostasy belonged in the day in the Jesus was alive. That was to see the works of Christ that manifested His deity and say Satan was doing it. That was a very special kind of thing. And this idea that people are propagating today that if you say a word against tongues, you've blasphemed the Holy Spirit and can never be saved is absolutely beyond the possibility of Scripture. Or if you ever depreciate the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in any way, shape or form, you're lost forever. That isn't the issue either. The issue here was to see the works of Christ done by the Spirit, which proved Him to be Messiah, and conclude they were done by the devil himself. Now that can only be committed when Christ is on earth. That's why it says this: "It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, neither in the age to come." Now, to the Jew, what was the "age to come"...the church age? He had absolutely no concept of the church age whatsoever. What was the age to come?...the kingdom. Then during the kingdom where is Christ?...on earth again. That sin will be able to be committed again on earth when Christ is here. It is a sin that cannot be committed in this age in its special character as indicated right here.
Now, that doesn't mean that there can't be an apostate today because, indeed, there can be. But his apostasy today is not to see the works of Christ living on earth and attribute them to Satan; his apostasy today is to hear all the truth of God that is revealed, to know it fully with all of his mind and to make some kind of a mental assent to it and then turn around and walk away and stay away forever. That's the apostasy in this age. But it all comes out the same in the wash. It's a rejection against full light, isn't it?
Now, you'll note, for example, Judas never attributed the works of Christ to Satan, did he? No. He didn't make that particular thing, and yet he was an apostate if ever there was one because he lived in the light of Jesus Christ, he attached himself to Jesus Christ; he was never saved. He was never saved. Jesus looked at His disciples one time and said, "one of you," John 6:70, "is a devil." And He said it early in His ministry. Judas was never saved. Jesus said "it would have been better for that man if he'd never been born." But he attached himself to Jesus. He was closer to the light than any man who ever lived who didn't come to the light. And one day he turned around and walked away. And he never attributed the works of Christ to Satan; he just walked away. That's apostasy in this age.
You say, why is it unpardonable? Why is apostasy unpardonable? Because apostasy is to have all the revelation and not come to Christ, therefore, there's nothing God can do. You say, what about the guy who reconsiders? Okay, the guy who reconsiders didn't make a total rejection. It's the total rejection we're talking about. It reveals a