A Fearful Thing

A Fearful Thing 2021 12 05

Hebrews 10:19 – 39

When I was a child, I was afraid of the dark.  There was no way to turn on the lights in our house if I was uncomfortable, because we had no electricity in that old 19th century farmhouse.  Even worse, the stairway was closed in and the stairs creaked loudly underfoot!  Even the old floors creaked!

Fear of the dark is a normal childhood fear that tends to diminish or go away.  Fear has a very positive place when it protects us from things that could really harm us.  Fear is often mentioned in a positive way in the Bible.  The Bible tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…”  Proverbs 9:10

What else does the Bible say about fearing God?

Hebrews 10:19 – 39

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God without Christ to take your place!   In this world we presently live in, there are many things we may fear, but they are temporary.  They don’t have a life of their own.  Perhaps it is the dark, but that can be displaced with the flick of a switch.  Not so in eternity, where in hell there is utter darkness!  Perhaps it is debt.  That debt is going to die with you, but your debt to God our Creator will continue, unless it has been paid for you.  Perhaps it is a power, such as the government, or perhaps a foreign government, or maybe terrorists.  That power will end, but the living God will not!  There are many fearful things, but the fearful thing we should all be aware of is falling into the hands of the living God.  If you aren’t ready, you’re in big trouble.

I Do You Have Boldness?  vv 19 – 23

  1. This is not talking about being presumptuous or brash. This is talking about having the same kind of boldness or complete freedom that a child has approaching his daddy. If you have repented or turned from faith in your own way to faith in Jesus Christ, you have been born again and are now a child of God.  Galatians 4:6 says, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”  “Daddy.”
    1. As a child of the Creator, you have complete freedom to enter into the holiest place, the place where God is. You have been fully pardoned and no longer face the wrath and indignation of God. You have been born again, by the will of God!
  2. Therefore, draw near to God through Jesus Christ who is “…the way, the truth and the life…” (John 14:6) with full assurance of faith, with hearts that have been fully cleansed by God by the blood of Jesus Christ, and our bodies made holy for God’s purpose by the Holy Ghost, which washing is signified in our baptism in water (buried in the likeness of Christ’s death; raised in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection).
    1. Hold fast the profession of your faith. (Is your faith real?)           

II  Don’t Miss Church  vv 24,25

  1. Come to church, not for what you can get, but for what you can give.
    1. Encourage one another to love others and to produce good works
    2. Don’t miss church as some habitually do (verse 25), but encourage one another, and all the more as we get closer and closer to the Rapture when Christ comes back for us. The end of this old, corrupt world is coming! 

III  A Fearful Thing  vv 26 – 31

  1. The Ten Commandments show that you are guilty before God your Creator, because everybody has broken at least one, and most likely all of them. If you’ve broken even one, the Bible says you’re guilty of all (James 2:10).  The Bible says that “…the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23).  But if you’re here today, you have received the knowledge of the truth, that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
    1. If you willfully reject that fact and continue to deliberately and willfully sin and reject God’s gift, you face a fearful thing, “…a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries,” because “there is no more sacrifice for sins.” The debt has been paid. It is the gift of God.  Have you accepted it?
    2. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice for sins, the only sacrifice for sins. Unless you admit you’re a sinner and accept his gift of the sacrifice of himself in your place, you are among his adversaries. His blood was shed to take away your sins.  Have you accepted that?
    3. Under the law of Moses, a person found guilty of breaking the law was to be put to death without mercy by human hands. That’s temporal punishment.
    4. Those who reject and despise the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us to take away our sins, face a fiery and terrible eternal judgment. The Bible tells us he has paid for the sins of the whole world, but if we reject that gift there is nothing else. Judgment and fiery indignation!
  2. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God without Christ! Our Creator lives forever, and his fiery vengeance is forever.
    1. For those who have heard the Gospel, understood it, accepted it, believed it, then turned away to apostasy, it is a fearful thing! Do you really think you’re saved and can now live as you please without fear?  What makes you think you’re really saved?  1 Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”  Never take your salvation for granted.  If you apostatize – that is, turn away from Jesus Christ knowing he is the only way of salvation, you have nothing to look forward to but “a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation…”
    2. It is a terrible thing to be lost and die without Christ; it is immeasurably worse to know the truth and PROFESS to be saved, while never having truly repented and POSSESSED the gift of God by true faith in Jesus Christ.
      1. The Hebrews in Egypt were all under the blood when the destroyer came to take the firstborn of all of Egypt. They were sanctified or set apart from the Egyptians while they were under the blood, yet most of them died in their unbelief in the wilderness.
      2. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed to take away the sins of the whole world. “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2.
      3. Just as the blood placed over the doors in Egypt was for all the Hebrews, so the blood of Jesus Christ is for all. Yet how many professing Christians are sanctified (verse 29) or set apart from the world under the blood of Jesus, for a time, just as the Hebrews were in Egypt, then fall away in their unbelief?  “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
    3. For the true believer who has repented, having turned from faith in her own way to faith in Jesus Christ, our Saviour has already taken our place and has paid the price for all our sins. 

IV Expect Hardship  vv 32 – 37

  1. There is a great error circulating among western Christians that your life will become so much easier and more pleasant when you trust in Jesus Christ as your Saviour. This is a false teaching!
    1. The Hebrew Christians who were going through a period of relative peace when this letter was written were reminded about what happened as soon as they were saved.
      1. Most of them lost everything, and many lost their lives.
      2. They were treated horribly by both the Jews and the Romans.
      3. The endured a “great fight of afflictions,” partly as they suffered great personal loss and persecution and partly as they ministered to others so suffering. It was hard, not easy!
      4. These early Christians were real! They had truly repented, having turned away from trusting in themselves and the world to putting all their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  They put EVERYTHING on Jesus Christ, and joyfully endured hardship, KNOWING in their hearts that they have waiting for them in heaven something better and eternal.  Do you believe that for yourself?
        1. If so, don’t waver from your confidence in Jesus Christ, for great is your reward that is coming.
        2. It requires patience for the Christian to live in this world in obedience to God, but in the end, you will receive the promise of God, your inheritance with Christ. At just the right point in history, Christ is coming back for us! 

Conclusion  vv 38,39

  1. God expects his children to live by faith. “Now the just shall live by faith:”
    1. The just are all who have been born again by the will of God (John 1:12,13), all who have repented. To repent is to turn from believing in yourself and the way of the world to believing in God and his way, Jesus Christ.  Professing to be saved doesn’t save you.  Possessing Jesus Christ as your Saviour saves you.  The proof is in a changed life.  If you’re truly saved, you will be changed.
    2. If you draw back and live for the pleasures of this life, if you draw back to fit back into the world, if you turn away from putting God first in your life, God will draw back from you. He says he will have no pleasure in you.  “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
    3. When you truly have repented and trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you cannot lose your salvation. You will not draw back. You have been “…sealed unto the day of redemption…” (Ephesians 4:30), when “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”  1Thessalonians 4:16 – 18   Amen