Keeping Near, Keeping On (Part 2 of 2)

When life becomes our relationships with one another in the body of Christ. The book of Hebrews chapter 10 reinforces the critical importance of persevering in our faith and the need to hold strong to our relationships with one another so we don't drift away.

Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg presents a message titled, Keeping Near, Keeping On. These are individuals, we're told, who have received a knowledge of the truth, they have recognized to some degree the validity of the gospel, they have embraced it at least intellectually as a formulated system of life and belief, but they have never experienced it as a life-giving force, something that transformed and changed them. And it is of these people that he is speaking.

What do these individuals do? Well, verse 29 tells us. First of all, they trample the Son of God underfoot. What does that mean, to trample the Son of God underfoot? This individual counts Jesus Christ as garbage for the sake of knowing all this other stuff. That's what it means to trample him underfoot.

So for those of you who are here, and you're stumbling in your Christian life, and you're saying, I'd better take care, of course you should. But I presume you're not trampling Christ underfoot. They were profaning or treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant. Whatever else that means, it surely means that they were treating the death of Jesus as just being like the death of any man. These individuals had previously been marked by some dedication to God, by some professing of faith in Christ's blood. They had suggested to themselves and to the others around them that the symbol was an expression of reality, but they were in fact the cousins of Judas Iscariot, who was real close and did the right stuff and made the right noises.

But he was reprobate. I hope we're not relying on our attachments to religious stuff, our attendance simply to religious duties. Now, for those of you who have your Bible open, you will notice that it says that they treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him.

And that should immediately strike you as a problem. Because you look at that and you say, well, if he was sanctified, doesn't that mean that he was a Christian? Can you be sanctified without being a Christian? I say, before I come to the troublesome phrase, let me lay down on a sheet of paper all the things that aren't troublesome about this particular question. Let me lay down what the Bible categorically says about whether a person can be a Christian and fall away from grace. Then I'll come back to this phrase.

So what do I know? Well, I know first of all that Jesus said that his sheep hear his voice, they follow him, he calls them by name, he gives them eternal life, no one will ever perish, and no one will pluck them out of his hands. So I write that down and say, Jesus said, once you're in his hand, you are not coming out.

Categorical statement. Then I'll read Romans 8, the end of Romans 8. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, neither persecution or trial or nakedness or peril or sword.

All these things were more than conquerors. So I write that down. Then I'll go to Philippians 1. I am confident that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. In other words, God is not the author of unfinished business.

When he starts, he completes. I'll go to 1 Peter, and I'll remind myself that we've been born again of a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, we have an inheritance that is imperishable, kept for us in heaven, and we are guarded or kept by God's power for that day. I'll go to Paul's words, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.

And that's just a start. And I'll proceed from there, and I will lay down the clear instruction of Scripture as to whether a genuine believer can be lost. And I will conclude on the clear balance of Scripture that it is not possible.

That what the Bible teaches is that when we have been redeemed by Christ, when we have been brought into the orb of his grace, that he brings to completion the good work that he has begun in us. Then I'll come back to this phrase. And then I'll deal with this phrase in light of what I know to be true. And I will know that this phrase cannot overturn the clear and plain instruction of Scripture. Then I will make sense of this phrase in light of the totality of biblical exposition. And then what will I say? Well, actually, what I'll do is I'll go to my commentaries, and I'll see what other people said. Because they're a lot smarter than me. And I'll read one guy, and I'll go, goodness gracious, he knows less than me.

I've got another guy and say, I could never tell anybody that. That's ridiculous. I'll go to another one.

I'll go to the old ones, usually. John Brown of Haddington, a good Scotsman from a long time ago. What do you have to say, John? So I turn him up, and this is what he says. I don't think Scripture warrants us to say that any man who finally apostatizes is sanctified by the blood of Christ in any sense except that the legal obstacles in the way of human salvation generally were removed by the atonement.

Mm-hmm. Now, I need a commentary on John Brown to understand this. So I read on a little further, and I find him saying, I apprehend the word is used impersonally and that its true meaning is by which there is sanctification. Okay, so what he's saying is, given the balance of Scripture, the only way we can realistically understand this is for it to read, He has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant by which there is sanctification. You say, but, John, that's not actually what it says. It says that sanctified him.

But now you're beginning to sweat a little bit, because you don't know what to do. And then I said to myself, well, where is there a reference to somebody getting sanctified who's not really sanctified? In the Bible. Oh, you say, 1 Corinthians 7. That's right.

Turn to it for a minute. 1 Corinthians chapter 7, the story is marriage. Two unbelievers get married, one becomes a Christian, and the unbeliever is still in the house. Paul says, Don't throw the unbeliever out.

It's important that you're together. God is interested in your marriage. 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 14, and then he says this, For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband.

What does that mean? That you were saved on the basis of attachment? Is that an expression of conversion?

I don't believe so. What is Paul saying? He is saying this. That as a result of the unbeliever living within the framework of a believing spouse, they are by that believing spouse who walks with Christ being brought into the sphere of spiritual blessing. There is a sanctifying influence which is brought to bear upon a person who lives within the realm of grace. They are brought, if you like, to the very threshold of the church. They are associated with it, but they are not assimilated by it. And I can only but assume that it is something along these lines that is being described here in Hebrews chapter 10. That as a result of their attachment to this external way of life, there is a sanctifying influence—an influence which brings them within the very threshold of God's goodness—in the same way that a person may come and attend communion services here at Parkside Church and testify in some measure to having sensed God's presence and having sensed something of the reality of Jesus. It's a sanctifying, if you like, influence upon them. Now, enough said.

You must go on and get your own recipe books out and cook for a while on your own. But I wanted you to know it is a little bit of a problem, and I don't want you thinking I was trying to skip it. Of course, if you want to, just go ahead and teach that genuine believers can in fact lose their salvation, and then you don't have a problem with this phrase, you have a problem with all the other verses that I just mentioned to you.

So how big of a problem would you like? That's right. That's right. My responsibility is not to preach sermons to you like somebody who's a genius at mental arithmetic, whereby when you're with somebody who's a genius at a mental arithmetic, he always gets the answer really fast. You don't know how he does it, but he always gets it. And after a while, you don't think for yourself, because you know that he will always do the thing—1.72 times whatever it is.

That guy is ultimately a nuisance. Because one day you're gonna be on your own, you won't be able to add up, you won't be able to subtract, and you won't be able to multiply. I don't want to leave you in that condition. I don't want to preach mental arithmetic sermons whereby you all sit out there and go, Well, that was brilliant.

See the way you got that answer? No. I want you to know that some of the struggles trying to get to the answers so that you will also then be able to struggle when you read your own Bibles and when you study on your own. This is not Zen Buddhism in here.

This is not Lucky Dip. This demands attention. It demands thought. It demands prayer. It demands looking after your papers.

It demands all kinds of stuff. "'Trampled the Son of God underfoot, treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant, and insulted the Spirit of grace.'" Insulted the Spirit of grace. Notice that the Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing, not an influence.

You can only insult a person. Now, what are the implications of such actions? Well, we're told in verse 26, if you back up, there is no sacrifice for sins left. There is only one efficacious sacrifice for sins, and that is in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus. And therefore, to reject that leaves no possibility of forgiveness, and that is exactly what the person has done. He's trampled Jesus underfoot, he profaned his blood, he insulted the Spirit of grace. Therefore, where's he gonna go for forgiveness?

Nowhere. Because there is no forgiveness. The only place he could go for forgiveness, he said it doesn't offer forgiveness. Now, you understand this? This doesn't mean that if an apostate were to turn in repentance and faith, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross would be of no help to them.

Of course it would! And that's what we want to urge on people—even those who have wandered the furthest and who appear to have turned their backs on everything. We still want to go to them, we still want to win them, we still want to woo them back, and where are we going to bring them? We're going to bring them to the cross. And we're going to pray that God will bring them to repentance and faith. And if someone who appears to be apostate returns to that cross in humble, believing trust, then the efficacious dimension of all of it will be applied to their lives. That's what the Bible says. However, if an apostate continuing in their apostasy turns their back on this only possibility of forgiveness and mercy, then the only thing that awaits them is a fearful expectation of judgment. Verse 27.

What is left to such an individual? A fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Not particularly pleasant, is it? Not the kind of message whereby you make friends and influence people. It's not the way to build a big congregation who want to come in and talk about their felt needs for happiness and hope and enjoyment and contentment and a good life and a happy time and applying the principles.

They come walking in and says, You know what? If you continue in your condition, you don't have any prospect of anything except a fearful expectation of judgment and eternal fire. Boy, those are hard words. Jesus said, He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. John 3.36, But the wrath of God remains on him. Romans chapter 1, The wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of man. Do you believe that to pagan men and women there is only a fearful expectation of judgment? That it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this then comes the judgment?

That it is the Bible that sets the whole world in perspective? What an awesome thing, says the writer, to fall into the hands of the living God. And you don't need to fall into the hands of the living God in a prospect of judgment. You can be welcomed into the arms of the living God. That's what the prodigal discovers in chapter 15. Made a total hash of his life, turned his back on everything that represented righteousness to him, went away and wasted his substance with riotous living, woke up one morning, said, I've been an idiot, came to himself, said, You know, I've sinned against heaven and in God's sight. I'm not even worthy to be called a son.

I think I'll get a job out in the outhouses and just clean stuff up. And I'll arise, and I'll go to my father, and I'm just gonna tell him this. And he goes up the road with a fearful expectation of judgment. What an awesome thing, to fall into the hands of an angry God. And what does he discover? He discovers that God runs down the street to him and gathers him up in his embrace and kisses him.

How can a totally holy God do that to totally ugly sinners? The answer is in the cross of Jesus Christ. Because there he bore my pain, bore my punishment, bore my sin, bore my condemnation, in order that I need not fall into the fearful expectation of judgment, but that I might be gathered up in the welcome of his loving embrace. Ladies and gentlemen, ultimately, this morning, we're divided into two categories—those who've been welcomed into the loving embrace of the arms of God and the cross of Christ, and those who sit yet waiting with a fearful expectation of judgment.

I say to those of you who are honest enough to admit yourself in the second category, would you not today, exactly where you are, cry out to God for his mercy and say, I do not want to live in this condition for one moment longer. And I believe that you have pursued me in the person of your Son, and that you have opened up my eyes to the dreadfulness of my rebellion, and that you are pouring on now the wonder of this good news. Now I say that I try and finish, so I must. That is the solemn warning.

Enough said. In verses 32–34, he provides a necessary reminder. In the same pattern as in chapter 6—remember chapter 6, verses 4–8?—he lays out this dreadful warning, and he says, But I am confident of better things in relationship to you chaps.

That's exactly what he does here. He says, Remember the earlier days after you had become Christians, you received the light, you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. A couple of words in here are very important. The word for contest is the word athlesin, which is significant only insofar as we get our English word athletics from it. And it has to do with the struggle and the pain and the commitment that is necessary in achievement in an athletic competition. The second word is the word—one word in Greek, theatra zimini, which translates in the face of.

And it is a word there that describes the Roman arena where people doomed to die were exposed to the gaze and the scan of the crowds. And he says, Remember, you were publicly exposed to insult and to persecution, and when it wasn't happening to you, it was happening to other people, and you stood with them. What a wonderful expression this is. What a wonderful reminder. What he's saying is, when you set out on the voyage, remember, it rained. Do you remember, you weren't hardly out of the harbor, and the clouds darkened, and it just descended on you. But remember, you weathered the storm. He says, Remember those things. What happened as a result of the adversity these people were facing?

Well, it's right there for you. Let me summarize it for you. In verse 33, it deepened their partnership with one another. They stood side by side. There's nothing like adversity to draw a nation together. And that's what happened when the battle ensued against them, when the contest became terrific, when they realized that they were all on the same relay team, then they all stood side by side.

They deepened in their partnership. Also, verse 34, they developed in their sympathy. You sympathize with those in prison. You visited the prisoners, even though the people said, You're not their friends, are you? Because to go and visit the prisoners is to identify with them. That's why when we send ambassadors to China, from the perspective of the suffering church, we send them to the wrong place. Because they go, and they have big meetings in big fancy hotels. But where they ought to go is to the prisoners, who are dying in a quest for freedom. But you wouldn't go there, because if you go there, then what you're saying is, You sympathize with the prisoners in their cause. And so we should.

Don't we believe in democracy? Deepened their partnership, developed their sympathy. Thirdly, demonstrated their resilience. You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property.

And fourthly, determined their priorities. It all made clear that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. Isn't it true, loved ones, that it is in experiences of pain and suffering and adversity that we make some of our best progress? Some of us in recent days have faced personal tragedy, and the Lord has stood by us.

We've been knocked down, but we're not knocked out. Some of us have lost in relationships, lost in love, lost in friendship, lost loved ones from the very sphere of our own earthly pilgrimage, and yet we've proved in it all that Christ is most precious. Some of us have been ready to quit, and our brothers and sisters have stood by us and helped us on. Some of us actually are here this morning, maybe ready to quit. Maybe preach this sermon for one person. The one person who walked in the door said, You know, I'm gonna give this one last shot.

This is my last Sunday. Because you know yourself, you've been making a hash of it. And the temptation has been to say, I've made such a mess of this that I might as well just obliterate it altogether. Well, let me finish. Not with a solemn warning and a necessary reminder, but to finish with a positive exhortation. Look at verse 35. Don't throw away your confidence.

It will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere. And you say to me, you say, That's the very thing I can't. What I need to do, I don't do. The good I want to do, I don't do. The bad I don't want to do.

This I keep on doing. I'm a wretched man. And the devil comes and says, That's right, forget it, Chuck. It is a waste of time in any case. Give it up!

Those people are crazy, you know. What are you going to do? Well, let me say to you, don't throw away your confidence.

You know better than that. Remember when you set out on the voyage? Remember when the storm broke on you? You remember how you weathered the storm?

Well, now you've got the harbor lights in view. It would be silly to stop the voyage now. Keep near. Keep on. You see, the perseverance of the saints is actually the perseverance of God. It is because God perseveres in his love towards us that we are enabled to persevere in our love towards him. So the very fact that we managed to continue is an indication of his continuance with us, and he doesn't quit on his kids.

What do I do, then? Well, do the will of God. What's the will of God?

Well, that you would read your Bible, that you would pray, that you would be in fellowship with God's people, that you would be ready to give an answer for those who ask a reason for the faith that's within you, that you would give yourself to holiness rather than to impurity, that you would be thankful in all things, that you would let the joy of the Lord be your strength, that you wouldn't forsake assembly together, and so on. There's no mystery in the will of God. The will of God is not some package let down from heaven on the end of a string. It's a scroll that unrolls from day to day. You just read your Bible.

It's all in here. You don't have to be a genius. And frankly, if you can only find one thing you're supposed to do, most of us are so poor at doing the one thing that if we spend the next six years just trying to do the one thing, that'd be enough to be doing for now, wouldn't it? Because you ever get a job cleaning up someplace that says, What do I do next? You say, Never mind next. You didn't do the first thing.

Some of us in our Christian lives are always wondering, What are we going to do next? Do the thing you're supposed to do right now. Oh, you say, That's better.

I like the finish. I understand it now. It's a real warning.

Big danger sign. It's a necessary reminder, because I can look back to better days, and it's a positive exhortation. Don't throw away your confidence. Persevere. Do the will of God. You'll receive what he has promised.

Because after all, we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed. We are those who continue and are saved. May it be so, for his glory and for our good.

Amen. This is Truth for Life. The title of today's message from Alistair Begg is Keeping Near, Keeping On. It's one of 32 messages in our study of Hebrews called Fix Our Eyes on Jesus. If you'd like to purchase this three-volume series on CD or on USB, or if you'd like to download the audio files for free, go to truthforlife.org.

This study is also free to hear or to download using the Truth for Life mobile app. Just search for the series called Fix Our Eyes on Jesus. As we think back on today's message, it's interesting to note that the writer of Hebrews says, When we face adversity, our relationships with others will deepen. Author and pastor Ed Welch, in his book Created to Draw Near, says, The reason for this is because we're wired for connection. We have a fundamental desire to draw close to God. But sometimes we imagine God prefers to keep his distance.

And in this book, Ed Welch shows us that couldn't be further from the truth. Created to Draw Near helps us better understand how through the blood of Jesus, God extends an invitation for us to draw near to him with open arms and to have an intimate relationship with him through Christ. Be sure to request your copy of the book Created to Draw Near. It comes with our thanks when you give a donation today. And keep in mind, every gift you give supports our mission to teach the Bible with clarity and relevance. Simply go to truthforlife.org slash donate or call 888-588-7884. If you'd prefer to mail your donation, write to Truth for Life at P.O.

Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio 44139. The word faith is used in a variety of contexts, but for followers of Jesus, understanding the biblical meaning of faith and how to sustain it can transform our lives. Be listening Friday as Alistair answers the relevant question, what is faith? I'm Bob Lapine. This daily program features the Bible teaching of Alistair Begg, and it's furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.