Stay the Course!

Today’s Passage – Hebrews 10 – 11 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 96 – 100; Proverbs 20)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Isaiah 51:11

Read the “1220 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read previous posts from this morning’s reading passage – “Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy,“ and “Living by Faith.”

“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. … For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:26-27, 36-39)

The Book of Hebrews has a lot of scary, and often misinterpreted passages. Many people understand these verses to teach that a genuine, born-again believer can somehow lose his or her salvation; but, that is not the case at all. The writer to the Hebrews (possibly Paul) clarifies this with the statement in verse 39 where he states confidently that “we (believers) are not of them draw back unto perdition.” What these verses do teach, however, is that once a person is confronted with the truth, he is responsible to believe it. But if he chooses to reject the truth of Christ, he will face horrifying eternal consequences.

In these concluding verses of Hebrews 10, we see:

            I. Punishment for those who turn back. (vs. 26 – 31)

The great question here that has been debated for Millennia is whether this warning is written to believers who were tempted to turn back to the traditions and sacrificial system of Judaism, or was it written to those who were exposed to the truth of the gospel and indeed, understood it, but still rejected it. Perhaps the people that fell into the latter category were even professors of Christ but not true believers.

This passage and the warning attached is very similar to the warning given by Peter in 2 Peter 2:

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:20-22)

Verse 28 alludes to an Old Testament principle found in Deuteronomy 7:2 – 7. Verse 29 then makes a present day comparison of this principle. Paul was stating that if people were put to death in the Old Testament for committing idolatry, how much worse will the punishment be for rejecting the one and only genuine sacrifice for man’s sin. And, because in the immediate context of the Letter to the Hebrews, those that rejected the blood of Christ’s covenant were turning back to the earthly sacrifices of “the blood of bulls and goats”, which could never take away sin, they were also in fact guilty of a worse kind of idolatry.

Personally, I believe that these verses could be applied to both “seekers” and true believers. The seekers needed to be persuaded to come all of the way into genuine faith in Christ, and the truly born-again Jewish believers in Christ needed to be warned to not turn back; to not be ashamed of the Lord. The punishment for unbelievers ultimately will be the Lake of Fire, but there will also be temporal and eternal consequences to genuine believers who turn away from their faith in Christ. However, the eternal consequences will be a loss of reward, not a loss of salvation. 

            II. Reward for those who stand fast (vs. 32 – 39)

Paul is confident that these genuine believers in Christ, though discouraged at times, will in the end, remain faithful, and will be rewarded for it. Notice verse 39:

“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:39)

This passage is really an encouragement to these Hebrew believers (and us) to keep going, to endure patiently the trials of the Christian life, and to resist the temptation to turn back. Peter may have been referring to this passage when he gave a similar warning: 

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:14-18)

The bottom line is that we need to “stay the course.” Life may become a little rough in these perilous last days, but God will get us through it. Don’t quit! His grace is always sufficient for whatever we may have to face today. Heaven is just around the corner!