98 Sermon Illustrations on Backsliding

Mr. Moody once said, "A rule I have had for years is to treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal friend. When I go away from home I bid my wife and children goodbye; I bid my friends and acquaintances goodbye, but I never heard of a poor backslider going down on his knees and saying, 'I have been near you for ten years; your service has become tedious and monotonous; I have come to bid you farewell. Goodbye, Lord Jesus Christ.'I never heard of one doing this. I will tell you how they go: they just run away!"

Gypsy Smith once asked a man in an after-meeting, "Are you a Christian?" "Yes." "How long?" "Twenty-eight years, on and off." "More off than on, I guess," replied the evangelist.

As the fig-tree began to wither, so his gifts begin to paire, as if a worm was still gnawing at them; his judgment rusts like a sword which is not used; his zeal trembleth as though it were in a palsie; his faith withereth as though it were blasted; and the image of death is upon all his religion. After this, he thinketh, like Samson, to pray as he did, and speak as he did, and hath no power, but wondereth, like Zedekiali, how the spirit is gone from him. Now, when the good Spirit is gone, then cometh the spirit of blindness, and the spirit of error, and the spirit of fear; and all to seduce the spirit of man. After this, by little and little he falls into error, then he comes unto heresie, at last he plungeth into despair: after this, if he inquire, God will not suffer him to learn; if he read, God will not suffer him to understand; if he hear, God will not suffer him to remember; if he pray, God seemeth unto him like Baal, which could not hear: at last he beholdeth his wretchedness, as Adam looked upon his nakedness; and mourneth for his gifts as Rachel wept for her children, because they were not. All this cometh to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken that which he seemeth to have." Henry Smith.

Like as if a sheep stray from his fellows, the shepherd sets his dog after it, not to devour it, but to bring it back again: even so our heavenly Shepherd, if any of his sheep disobey him, he sets his dog of affliction after us to bring us home to a consideration of our duty towards him. His dogs are poverty, sickness, death, war, loss of goods or friends, &c. Cawdray.

It is said of Tully when he was banished from Italy, and of Demosthenes when he was banished from Athens, that they wept every time they looked towards their own country; and is it strange that a poor deserted believer should mourn every time he looks heavenward?

Among the prisoners taken captive at Waterloo, there was a Highland piper. Napoleon, struck with his mountain dress and sinewy limbs, asked him to play on his instrument, which is said to sound so delightfully in the mountains and glens in Scotland. "Play a pibroch," said Napoleon; and the Highlander played. "Play a march; "it was done. "Play a retreat." — "Na, na," said the Highlander, "I never learned to play a retreat."

"When I was young in the service of God," said a brother, "I had many fears that I should backslide if I should live to see old age; and sometimes requested of the Lord, that I might die young, and thus save religion from reproach and my soul from ruin. One day, while thus musing, the impression was vividly made on my mind, that I must serve God by the day. This was more than thirty years ago; and, by the grace of God aiding me to put that rule into practice, I am yet on my way to heaven."

When Amurath, emperor of the Turks, had notice given him that a doctor of law had cheated a poor pilgrim that was gone to Mecca, and at the man's return would not restore to him the jewels he had intrusted with him, but resolutely denied that he had received any such things from him, the emperor one day, in a third person, asked the doctor what he thought a man that had notoriously betrayed his trust might justly deserve. He answered, it was fit that so notorious a villain should be pounded alive in a mortar. He had no sooner said the word but the emperor gave order that so it should be done to him who had so notoriously cozened the poor pilgrim.

— A. Horneck

Indifference to prayer and self-examination, trifling or unprofitable conversation, neglect of public ordinances, shunning the people of God, associating with the world, thinking lightly of sin, neglect of the Bible, and often gross immorality. C. Buck.

The Spanish converts in Mexico remembered not any thing of the promise and profession they made in baptism, save only their names, which many times they also forgot; and in the kingdom of Congo, of Africa, the Portuguese, at their first arrival, finding the people to be heathens, induced them to be baptized in great abundance, allowing the principles of Christianity till such times as the priests pressed them to lead lives according to their profession, which the most part of them in no case enduring, returned again to their Gentilism. Such renegades are to be found in the midst of us this day, such as give themselves up to Christ in profession; but, when it comes to a holy life, they leave him in the open field, forsaking their colors, renouncing their baptism, and running away to the enemy. Spencer.

Better walk on rugged rocks than on slippery ice. If we lose our roll, it is in the Arbor of Ease, not in the Valley of Baca. Few Christians backslide while under the rod: it is usually when on the lap of plenty that believers sin. Spurgeon.

The Moon, in an eclipse, complained to the Sun, Why, O my dearest friend! dost thou not shine upon me as usual?"—"Do I not?" said the Sun: "I am sure I am shining as I always do. Why do you not enjoy my light as usual?"—"Oh, I see!" said the Moon: "the Earth has got between us." This is the trouble with every backslider.

The religious profession of some people is like the ashes on a rusty altar, which show that there once were warmth and light and flame, but which also show that it is long since they worshipped there. Dr. J. Hamilton.

EDNESS.—Dr. Doddridge was once preaching on the calling and the glorious hopes of the Christian. One of his hearers, after the sermon, addressed him in the following terms: "You have made an excellent and encouraging discourse; but these privileges do not belong to me, nor shall I ever have the least interest in them." "What reason have you for so saying?" asked the doctor; "Jesus is able to save to the uttermost." "I will tell you my circumstances," the man replied, "and then you will not be surprised. I once made a profession of religion, which I supported with great regularity and decorum for several years. I was very strict in the performance of the duties required by the Christian system. None could charge me with immorality of conduct, or the neglect of positive commands; but in the course of time my zeal departed from me, and I became careless and remiss in my walk and conversation. I felt no satisfaction arising from the performance of spiritual duties, and gradually declined my customary observance of them. Instead of praying twice or thrice a day, I only prayed once; the same with respect to family religion; and at last these sacred engagements were entirely omitted, which soon discovered itself by my outward conduct. Ungodly company, and the gratification of sense, became my only enjoyments, in which I could indulge free from those strong convictions of guilt and dreadful apprehension of future misery, which retirement and calm reflection impose upon the mind. Soon after this change took place, I was left guardian to a young lady, whose fortune was committed to my care; but I expended her money, and ruined her reputation. Still I was sensible how far preferable a virtuous life was to a wicked one, and I was careful to instruct my children in the principles of religion. When I returned, one evening, from my sinful pursuits, I asked them, as usual, if they could repeat their lesson. 'Yes,' said the youngest, 'and I have a lesson for you too, papa;' she then read Ezek. xxiv. 13:—'Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.' This I considered was to seal my doom, and I now have nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment."

President Edwards remarks, as the result of long and close observation, that, of all sinners, unconverted professors of religion are the most hopeless. In his account of the great New England revival in which he labored very

# 206. IDL

God has a particular care over backsliding children and follows them with the calls of His Word and the strivings of the Holy Spirit until they are found and brought back

God has to bankrupt us when we wander from Him in order to bring us back to Himself. Many Christians for a time feed on swine's food, but cannot be satisfied by it

When I was in St. Louis some years ago, there was an old man who had been away off on the mountains of an ungodly life, but in his early manhood he had known Christ. He came into the inquiry-room, literally broken down. About midnight that old man came trembling before God and was saved. He wiped away his tears, and started home.

Next night I saw him in the audience with a terrible look in his face. As soon as I finished preaching, I went to him and said:

“My good friend, you haven’t gone back into darkness again?”

Said he: “Oh, Mr. Moody, it has been the most wretched day in my life.”

“Why so?”

“Well, this morning as soon as I got my breakfast, I started out. I have a number of children, married, and in this city, and they have families; and I have spent the day going around and telling them what God has done for me. I told them how I had tasted salvation, with the tears trickling down my face; and, Mr. Moody, I hadn’t a child that didn’t mock me!”

That made me think of Lot down in Sodom. It is an awful thing for a man who has been a backslider to have his children mock him. But it is written: “Thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know, therefore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.”

An officer of a Cunard steamer remarked that there is “a vast difference between the appearance of steerage passengers returning to Europe and those coming to America. On the western voyage the faces of the immigrants are bright with expectancy. You can see that they have been inspired by the roseate visions painted for them by their friends who have succeeded on this side of the water. Those who go back are not many. You can pick them out by their dejected looks. They have not succeeded. They have found that hard work is just as necessary to get along in the States as in Europe.”

The sad faces of those who go back because they failed is an illustration of the gloomy hearts that are carried by those who have turned away from their Christian profession and gone back to their sins.

Every American knows about Mark Twain. His real name was Samuel Clemens and he is our best-loved writer. You may not know that as a young man he fell in love with a beautiful Christian girl named Livy. He married her. She was devoted to God, and she wanted her family to be, too. So she insisted on prayer at meals and set up a family altar so they could have spiritual devotions each day. They did this for a time, and then one day Sam said, “Livy, you can go on with this by yourself if you want to but leave me out. “I don't believe in your God and you're only making a hypocrite out of me.”

As the years went by, Twain became world-famous. He appeared before the royal courts of Europe. And with the fame came a lot of money. Livy got farther and farther away from her original dedication to God. Then a bitter crisis hit their family. Twain said to his wife, “Livy, if your Christian faith can help you now, turn to it.” Livy replied, “I can't, Sam, I have none left. It was destroyed a long time ago.”

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Another version from Leadership Journal, Summer 2002, "To Illustrate:"

TWAIN'S WIFE LOSES FAITH

From what I can tell, Mark Twain was not a Christian, nor did he claim to be when he began courting. Olivia Langdon came from a professing Christian family that would not allow their daughter to marry an unbeliever. Twain took on the guise of a spiritual seeker who needed the support and prayers of Olivia's family in order to clean up his life.

Twain wrote to his mother after his engagement: “My prophecy was correct .... [Livy] said she never could or would love me — but she set herself the task of making a Christian of me. I said she would succeed, but that in the meantime she would unwittingly dig a matrimonial pit and end by tumbling in — and lo! the prophecy is fulfilled.”

Influenced by Olivia's prodding, Twain presumably converted. Olivia's family permitted the marriage. But was Twain's conversion an illusion? One scholar insists that Twain “was a man in love, wooing a woman he hoped to marry. His 'religious' feelings at that time, expressed in love letters to Olivia, disappeared as soon as the nuptials were over.” After their wedding, Twain ridiculed his wife's beliefs and devotion. Soon Olivia's optimism waned, and her fervent faith cooled. Eventually she forsook her religion altogether, and a deep sorrow deluged Olivia's life.

Mark Twain loved her, but he broke her spirit. He said, “Livy, if it comforts you to lean on your faith, do so.”

She replied sadly, “I cannot. I do not have any faith left.”

Twain often wished he could restore Olivia's faith, hope, and optimism, but it was too late.

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Source: Susan K. Harris, “The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain,” (Cambridge University Press, 1996)

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Another version from Clarence Macartney:

Clarence Macartney wrote about the unbelief of Mark Twain.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was one of our best-known American authors and humorists. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He is best known for his novels, { The Adventures of Tom Sawyer} and {The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.}

Mark Twain married Oliva Langdon. She was a simple and devout Christian, but he was not a believer. For a while after they were married, they had prayer at meals and read the Bible each day. But this was soon given up. According to a conversation she had with her sister, Oliva said she had given up some of her religious beliefs. Her faith was shaken by people, places, and philosophies to which she was exposed as she traveled the world with her husband.

Oliva's pet name for her husband was, “Youth.” Their only son, Langdon, died in infancy and two of their three daughters - Susy and Jean - died as young women.

During one of those sad times in their lives - it could have been after the death of one of their children - Twain said to Livy, “If it comforts you to lean on the Christian faith, do so.”

“But I can't, Youth; I haven't any,” she sadly replied.

Twain felt responsible for causing Livy to lose her faith and the thought came back to haunt him many times after her death in 1904.

Mark Twain loved Livy devotedly, but apparently his unbelieving attitude had an effect on her that even he didn't want.

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Clarence Macartney, {Macartney's Illustrations,} (New York and Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1945) 225

Alzheimer's disease caused Mr. Greenman to drive until his gas ran out. He had intended to go to the corner hardware store. There is a spiritual equivalent: backsliding, apathy.

1. A Disease of the Soul.

His son asks for Bible memory cards, he does not get them.

2. When the Fire Goes Out.

Amaziah did what was right, but not wholeheartedly.

He blew away Edomites, then worshipped their gods.

Demas was a stalwart companion, then apostacized.

3. The Telltale Signs.

a. Disorientation

b. Loss of memory

c. Apathy.

We need to remember the Lord.

4. Have You Lost Your First Love?

5. Is There Hope?

6. A Reality Check.

a. Who am I?

b. Why am I here?

c. Where am I going?

[See also #530]

Anthony Thornton put a new mark in the Guinness Book of World Records for walking backwards 95.7 miles in 23 hours and 45 minutes. Shucks, we know a lot of Christians who can backslide farther and faster than that! Thornton, like his counterpart out-of-sorts saints, really didn't make any progress going backward. His entire feat consisted of going back and forth across the Washington Avenue bridge at the University of Minnesota! Like a merry-go-round rider, he got off right where he got on.

Testimonies of young infidels: Dan Barker, public relations director for the Freedom From Religion Foundation and a contributing editor to "Freethought Today." From age 15 to 32 he says he was gung-ho into Christian work, preaching, doing missionary work, visiting house-to-house, and immersing himself in all the accepted norms of the Christian religion. He went to a Christian college [Azusa Pacific University] and majored in Religion/Philosophy before becoming a preacher and evangelist.[1]

Now, the faith he once heralded he calls "an erroneous way of thinking" an "ill-conceived" world view. However, he says he should not be blamed for believing and acting as he did, "based on my limited knowledge back then," explaining, "Should children be blamed for believing in Santa Claus?" Eventually, he says, he came to realize "there is no evidence for Christianity" and "no need for it".

If brilliance is on the side of atheism and Christians are dumb for believing God, why are there so many truly brilliant humble Christians? The greatest discoveries in the area of science, for example, were made by men who waited before God and walked with God. Among this group we would include Frances Bacon, "the father of modern science"; William Harvey, "the founder of modern physiology"; John Ray, "the founder of systematic biology"; Carolus Linnaeus, "the father of modern systematic botany"; Isaac Newton, "the father of physics"; Robert Boyle, "the father of chemistry"; Louis Agassiz, "the world's leading ichthyologist" and "America's leading biologist"; Micheal Farraday, "the discoverer of electromagnetic induction"; James Y. Simpson, "a leading founder of gynecology"; Rene Descartes; Gottfried Wilhelm Liebnitz; Edmund Halley; William Ramsey; John William Dawson; Johann Kepler; Louis Pasteur; and Galileo Galilei, just for starters.

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1. From Barker's website :

"Dan Barker, Co-president, Freedom From Religion Foundation: Minister Turned Atheist"

Dan became a teenage evangelist at age 15. At 16 he was choir librarian for faith-healer Kathryn Kuhlman’s Los Angeles appearances. He received a degree in Religion from Azusa Pacific University and was ordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church, California, in 1975. He served as associate pastor at a Friends (Quaker) Church, an Assembly of God, and an independent Charismatic church. Dan was a Protestant missionary in Mexico for a total of two years.

Dan maintained a touring musical ministry for 17 years, including eight years of full-time, cross-country evangelism. An accomplished pianist, record producer, arranger and songwriter, he worked with Christian music companies such as Manna Music and Word Music. For many years, Dan wrote and produced the annual “Mini Musicale” for Gospel Light Publications’ Vacation Bible School curriculum.

For more than two decades, Dan was accompanist, arranger, and record producer for Manuel Bonilla, the leading Christian singer in the Spanish-speaking world. He accompanied on the piano such Christian personalities as Pat Boone, Jimmy Roberts (of the Lawrence Welk Show), and gospel songwriter Audrey Meier, and was a regular guest on Southern California’s “Praise The Lord” TV show (Spanish). One of Dan’s Christian songs, “There Is One,” was performed by Rev. Robert Schuller’s television choir on the “Hour of Power” broadcast. To this day, he receives royalties from his popular children’s Christian musicals, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” (1977), and “His Fleece Was White As Snow” (1978), both published by Manna Music and performed in many countries.

Following five years of reading, Dan gradually outgrew his religious beliefs. “If I had limited myself to Christian authors, I’d still be a Christian today,” Dan says. “I just lost faith in faith.” He announced his atheism publicly in January, 1984.

Final sermon in James series. Backsliding. James 5:19-20

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SLIP-SLIDING AWAY

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I. We are prone to wander.

II. What causes Christians to wander.

A. Sin can be a major factor, especially habitual ones.

B. Failings of other Christians.

C. God has failed them, or doubts arise.

D. Getting out of the habit.

III. Wandering is serious stuff.

A. Not punishment, but disqualification is threatened.

B. Death can have several meanings.

IV. Bringing them back.

A. What NOT to do.

B. What to do.

C. Church attendance is not the goal.

D. The covering of sins.

V. Anyone can be brought back to God.

A. No sin is so great God cannot accept us.

B. Perhaps you are still outside.

The following is from the Way of Life Advanced Bible Studies Series title on Hebrews. This important book of the Bible opens the veil and invites us to gaze upon the throne in the holy of holiness on high more plainly than any other book of the New Testament. Hebrews “presents the only full discussion in the New Testament of Christ as the believer’s High Priest.”

We show that the blood was not merely symbolic for death but was itself a crucial part of the atonement. The book of Hebrews teaches us anew that the Bible is a self-interpreting Book. In the book of Hebrews we have a divinely-given interpretation of the Old Testament tabernacle and priesthood. These were types of Christ and prophecies of the future and we are not left to imagine what they might mean. We are given a definite key to their interpretation.

Hebrews, of course, is not only for Jews. It is for all of God’s people throughout the church age, and it is a very practical book. Scattered throughout are exhortations to everyday Christian living based on the doctrine that is taught. Hebrews contains essential instruction about sanctification, backsliding and apostasy, Bible study, prayer, the exercise of faith, chastisement, the ministry of exhortation, church attendance, church leadership, hospitality, and worship.

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“For if we sin willfully 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. He that

despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three

witnesses: 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? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance

belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again,

The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall

into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:26-31

1. The key to understanding this passage is to understand what the willful sin of Hebrews 10:26 refers to.

It does not refer to willful sin in general. If it did, every believer would be in perpetual danger of losing his salvation, but it cannot refer to this for elsewhere in Scripture we find that that sin remains in the Christian life in this present world and Christ remains the propitiation for sin at all times.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the

truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and

just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him

a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these

things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we

have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And

he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but

also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:8 - 2:2).

The Bible plainly teaches that Christians do sin after they are saved. There is no sinless perfection in the Christian life in this present world. Paul testified, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). The believer’s righteousness is in Jesus Christ positionally (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21).

The willful sin of Hebrews 10:26 is defined in the immediate context. The first rule of Bible interpretation is context, context, context, and if we examine the context of this passage carefully, we see that this particular sin is defined in verse 29: “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?”

The willful sin in verse 26, therefore, refers not to sin in general but to one particular sin, that of “counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing and doing despite unto the Spirit of grace.” This is to deny that salvation is by Christ’s blood and grace alone. In the immediate context to which the book of Hebrews was addressed, it refers to the Jews who professed confidence in Christ but because of persecution returned to their dead religion and thus gave up confidence in Christ.

False religion, both then and now, attempts to replace Christ’s grace with a manmade system. Catholicism is an example. It preaches Christ, but it intermingles its own sacraments and priesthood and sainthood with the grace of Christ. This is a false gospel that robs Christ of His glory as the sole Saviour and Mediator. If Christ is not the Saviour wholly and exclusively, He is not Saviour at all. If grace is intermingled in any sense with works, the Gospel is perverted, and there is no salvation in a perverted gospel (Rom. 11:6; Gal. 1:6-9).

To “trod under foot the Son of God and count His blood an unholy thing” is not an ordinary sin. It is akin to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that Christ warned about in Matthew 12:31 (where the Jewish leaders renounced Jesus in the most final manner by attributing His miracles to the devil). The willful sin of Hebrews 10 is to reject Christ as Lord and Saviour. It is to renounce Him and His atonement. There can be no salvation when one commits such a sin because in doing so one has rejected the only means that God has provided for salvation. No true believer can commit such a sin, for “the just shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:38). We see in Hebrews 10:26-29 that the writer is not speaking of true believers when he warns of apostasy, because in 10:39 he concludes the passage with these words: “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

To do “despite unto the Spirit of grace” is the same as to “fall from grace” (Gal. 5:4). The word “despite” means to “insult” (Strong). To do despite unto the Spirit of grace means to turn from salvation by grace and to attempt to be saved by works or by a mixture of grace plus works. It means to reject the Holy Spirit’s testimony about the grace of Christ. “The Holy Spirit delights to magnify Christ and to exalt His work. To refuse His testimony is to do despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Ironside). This was the error of the Judaizers who were trying to corrupt the churches in Galatia. They were attempting to replace the grace alone gospel that Paul had preached with a false one of “grace” intermingled with works.

The Jews of that day who had professed Christ and to whom the book of Hebrews is addressed were in danger of returning to the Mosaic system and thus turning their backs to the gospel of the grace of Christ. To do this is to demonstrate that one is not saved, because salvation is to trust oneself wholly to the grace of Christ. Those who turn back to works religion demonstrate that they have never understood nor believed in grace in a saving sense.

Consider the following important statement on this passage by Harry Ironside: “It is not mere failure in the life that is here contemplated. The willful sin in this passage is the definite rejection of His atoning sacrifice. Nor is this simply the foolish and wicked determination of a moment, of which many have been guilty, but have afterwards been brought to sincere repentance. The verb [‘sin willfully’] is the present participle. It is what has become habitual. If, after fully examining what the Old Testament Scriptures teach concerning Christ and His work and comparing it with the New Testament presentation, thus having obtained the knowledge of the truth, one deliberately and persistently rejects it, God has nothing more to say to him. ... Satan has used this passage to trouble and perplex honest souls whose sensitive consciences accuse them of failure to walk with God as they should. Such have often been made to fear that they were guilty of the willful sin here contemplated. But it is not the question of what is commonly called ‘backsliding’ that is before us. Of this any real believer may often be guilty; but even when overwhelmed with failure, he clings more tenaciously than ever to the fact that Jesus is the only Saviour and His sacrifice the only means of deliverance from sin’s judgment. The apostate of this chapter has no such hope or consciousness. He has spurned utterly both the Christ and the cross. He holds the blood of Jesus in contempt, and hence for him, there is nothing but doom ahead” (Ironside).

Consider another important statement on this passage by Matthew Henry: “This text has been the occasion of great distress to some gracious souls; they have been ready to conclude that every willful sin, after conviction and against knowledge, is the unpardonable sin: but this has been their infirmity and error. The sin here mentioned is a total and final apostasy, when men with a full and fixed will and resolution despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour, -- despise and resist the Spirit, the only sanctifier, -- and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life; and all this after they have known, owned, and professed, the Christian religion, and continue to do so obstinately and maliciously.”

2. To “receive the knowledge of the truth” is not the same as committing oneself to the truth in a saving fashion (Heb. 10:26). Many receive the knowledge of the truth in the sense of knowing in their hearts that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, but for whatever reason do not repent and trust Christ as their Lord and Saviour and eventually draw back to the world. We have seen this countless times in our missionary work. One Hindu lawyer faithfully attended our church services for a full year and professed an appreciation for the things we preached. He bought a Bible and even attended the mid-week prayer services, but he refused to repent and to commit himself to Christ and finally fell away entirely. There was something in his life that he was holding on to and that kept him from receiving Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. The rich young ruler is an example of this in the Bible. He came to Jesus and asked what he had to do to have eternal life, but because of his great riches he went away sorrowful.

3. What about the statement in Heb. 10:29 that says the individual “was sanctified”? Some claim that this describes someone who is saved and then loses his salvation when he turns from Christ, but Bible words must be defined by their context. The method of false teachers is to give one definition to a Bible word and then to force that definition into all passages, but the correct method is to allow the context itself to define the word. When we do this we see that Bible words have different meanings in different contexts. That is how we define words in daily life. The word “run” can mean to run literally or it can mean to walk or even to drive depending on the context in which it is used. If I say, “I have to run downtown for a few minutes,” that probably means that I will be driving my car or motorcycle and not actually running. Likewise, the Bible term “sanctify” does not always refer to salvation. The basic meaning of the word is “to set apart” and it usually refers to something that is set apart for divine service.

Consider some examples of how the word “sanctify” does not always refer to salvation in the Bible:

Mt. Sinai was sanctified (Exod. 19:23), meaning it was set apart because of God’s holy presence and the people were not allowed to approach it.

The priests were sanctified (Exod. 28:41), meaning they were set apart for the ministry God had assigned to them.

The offerings were sanctified (Exod. 29:27), meaning they were set apart to be eaten only by the priests.

The tabernacle and its altar were sanctified (Exod. 29:36), meaning they were set apart for the divine use that had been proscribed to Moses.

In 1 Pet. 3:15 the child of God is commanded to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you...” This means to set the Lord and the things of the Lord apart in one’s thoughts so that they are not crowded out by the things of the world.

1 Cor. 7:14 says “the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband...” This does not mean that the unbelieving husband or wife is saved. It means that they are set apart from other unbelievers in certain ways. If an unbeliever is married to a believer, that unbeliever hears the gospel more often and sees it lived out more clearly than other unbelievers. An unbelieving husband who is married to a believing wife also participates in the blessings that God pours out on that believer. In that sense, the unbelieving husband or wife is “sanctified.” Thus the word “sanctify” does not always refer to salvation.

Likewise, in Heb. 10:29 “sanctify” is not describing a person who is saved but a person who has come close to being saved, who has been sanctified in the sense of having come apart from the things of the world and having looked closely upon the things of Christ and having become a member of a church. A person can do all of this without being born again. We see a similar thing in 2 Pet. 2:20, “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.” The people described in this verse escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Christ, but they aren’t saved and in 2 Pet. 2:21-22 we see that they never were saved. The reason that they turn back to the world is because they were not born again and their nature was not changed (2 Cor. 5:17). A pig goes back to the mire and a dog to its vomit because it is still a pig and still a dog. If the pig or dog could receive a new nature it would no longer have such desires.

When a person is born again through repentance and faith, his desires are changed and though he is still a sinner he no longer wants to live in sin as he did before he was saved and is not longer content in his sin.

The following statement on this passage by Harry Ironside is helpful. As a young Christian, Ironside was involved with the Salvation Army and was taught that he could experience “entire sanctification” so that he would no longer have indwelling sin. He sought this experience earnestly and even felt at one point that he had experienced it, but when he learned that the sin nature was still present he became so discouraged that he had to be hospitalized. He feared that he had committed the sin of Hebrews 10 and that he was lost. It was during his hospitalization that he learned the truth of biblical sanctification and came to understand and appreciate the difference between his unchanging and eternal position in Christ and his daily practice, between his permanent relationship with God as an adopted son and his temporal fellowship with God.

“There is an expression used in these verses that may still perplex and bewilder those who have not apprehended that profession is one thing, and possession another. ... He who is sanctified by the one offering of Christ upon the cross, that is, by His precious blood, is perfected forever (Heb. 10:10, 14-19). But in this passage it is equally plain that one who counts the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, shall be forever lost. In order not to miss the true force of this for our souls, it is necessary that we give some attention to what we have already designated ‘positional sanctification.’ Of old all the people of Israel, and all who were associated with them, were set apart to God both on the night of the Passover and afterwards in the wilderness. But this did not necessarily imply a work of the Spirit in their souls. Many were doubtless in the blood-sprinkled houses that solemn night, when the destroying angel passed through to smite the unsheltered first-born, who had no real faith in God. Yet they were by the blood of the Lamb put in a place of blessing, a position where they shared in many hallowed privileges. So afterward with those who were under the cloud and passed through the sea, being baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All were in the same position. All shared the same outward blessings. But the wilderness was the place of testing, and soon proved who were real and who were not. At the present time God has no special nation, to be allied to which is to come into a position of outward nearness to Him. But He has a people who have been redeemed to Himself out of all kindreds and tongues and peoples and nations, by the precious blood of the Lamb of God. All who ally themselves by profession with that company are outwardly among the blood-sheltered: in this sense they are sanctified by the blood of the covenant. That blood stands for Christianity, which in its very essence is the proclamation of salvation through Christ’s atoning death. To take the Christian place therefore is like entering the blood-sprinkled house. ALL WHO ARE REAL, WHO HAVE JUDGED THEMSELVES BEFORE GOD, AND TRULY CONFIDED IN HIS GRACE, WILL REMAIN IN THAT HOUSE. IF THEY GO OUT, IT PROVES THEIR UNREALITY, and such can find no other sacrifice for sins; for all the typical offerings are done away in Christ. These are they of whom the apostle John speaks so solemnly: ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us’ (1 John 2:19). As they were ever bereft of faith in the soul, they ‘went out,’ and thus did despite to the Spirit of grace, and counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing. These sin willfully, not in the sense of failing to walk uprightly merely, but as utterly abjuring, or apostatizing from, Christianity, after having become conversant with the glorious message it brings to lost men” (H.A. Ironside, Holiness: The False and the True, pp. 63-65).

4. The unsaved face a most frightful future (Heb. 10:27). The Bible frequently describes God’s judgment in terms of fire. Here it is “fiery indignation.” Hell is described as a place of eternal suffering in fire. See Mt. 13:42, 50; Mk. 9:44-48; Lk. 16:24; Rev. 14:10; 20:10, 15. Consider some of the Bible’s descriptions of Hell:

“wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 13:42, 50)

“cast into a furnace of fire” (Mt. 13:42, 50)

“depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire” (Mt. 25:41)

“hell fire” (Mk. 9:47)

“the fire is not quenched” (Mk. 9:44, 46, 48)

“tormented in this flame” (Lk. 16:24)

“flaming fire taking vengeance” (2 Th. 1:8)

“fiery indignation” (Heb. 10:27)

“tormented with fire and brimstone” (Rev. 14:10)

“tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:10)

5. What about the warning of Heb. 10:30-31? Believers are to serve God “with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28), but no true believer has to fear God’s vengeance and the judgment of hell. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). The quotation, “Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense” is from Ps. 94:1, and “The Lord will judge his people,” is from Deut. 32:36; Ps. 50:4; and Ps. 135:14. This judgment refers to Israel, which was a mixture of saved and lost.

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