Simply the Best No.8 No Turning Back

Celebrate and sing, celebrate and sing to the King. Come on and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate and sing, celebrate and sing to the King. Bless my soul, the King of heaven.

His love forgives, through thy greatest graciousness. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise the everlasting King. Praise Him for His grace and favor, to our fathers in distress.

Praise Him still, the King forever. Love Him, guide us with goodness. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise the everlasting King.

Where He tends and cares us, where the people pray He knows. In His hands He gently bears us, blessed as the whore of gold. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, mighty as His mercy flows.

Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise the everlasting King. Now we'll turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. And we're going to begin reading at verse 19.

Last week we heard about the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's unique, it's efficacious, it's once for all, all time and all people. And then the writer continues in verse 19.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, it is mine to avenge, I will repay.

And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering.

Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution. At other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one will live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Amen.

And have your Bibles open at the passage to which Tony directed you? A couple of men came up to me from Feber in the conference I was privileged to address in Hyderabad and made reference to Tony Ford. And said how much the ministry of encouragement he brings and the Feber staff brings is a stimulus and benefit to them. So we thank God for Feber and for the home staff here in the UK.

Well, Hebrews in chapter 10, not the easiest passage from verse 19 through to the end. When I was a kid back in Sunday school, we used to sing a song, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. Well, when I became a little older, I discovered that not only had I decided to follow the Lord Jesus, but the very decision was cultivated by His grace working in my life.

The path before me, the world before me, the path before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back. And that summarizes these verses that we're going to be looking at just for a little while this morning. The writer of this epistle, even if it wasn't Paul, certainly came from someone influenced by Paul's technique, Paul's method in preaching.

For Paul will oftentimes, Ephesians is an example of this, set forth his doctrine and then towards the end of the epistle, he'll take that doctrine and he'll rub it in. One of the faux pas I like most in India, which I've told on several occasions, was when I was asked to address some meetings and discovered that the leaflets handed out before the meetings indicated that I would be bringing all the evening massages. Now, that in one sense is correct, because here you see as an example, the superiority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the superiority of His sacrifice on the cross over against anything in the Old Testament has been worked through, brilliantly set down.

And now, whoever the writer was comes along with a message and massages it. This is your reaction to what has been shared. Therefore, brothers, now the person is not insular to the congregation, he believes in the communion of the saints, he believes in corporate worship.

You see, preaching is a remarkable phenomenon in many ways. It's so different from lecturing, because in the lecturing, the lecturer is distant from, distinct from the congregation, but in the phenomenon of preaching, the preacher himself finds himself to be number one on the target in terms of the word finding him out. That's why very often preachers will crumple as they're preaching, because of the sense of awe, the sense of responsibility that what you're asking of the congregation, you're also asking of yourself.

Well, here is a preacher par excellence, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place, let us, verse 29, verse 23, let us, verse 24, let us, verse 25. He's taking the word of the Lord, and he's massaging it into his readers, and he's saying, I'm not distant from you too. I'm really one of the congregants, I'm listening to myself preach, pick up the word of the Lord, and apply it to my own soul.

Now, in India, they have an expression. You are confronted with a particular dilemma, a particular challenge, and the expression is, what to do? What to do? And I can hear Indian brothers and sisters throughout the whole of India having engaged in that expression on the many, many visits I've taken there. So, I take a little phrase out of India and apply it to this text.

It becomes a hook to hang some thoughts on as I try to expound this passage. What to do? What to do as a result of what has been shared? Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place, because of the shedding of the blood of Jesus, because of this new and living way that's been opened, not a solitary way that the priest in the Old Testament followed when only once per year could he go into the holiest place of all. That's no longer the case.

It's a busy highway. This access into the presence of God that's available for us, it's thronged with people by a new and living way. We go there by the blood of Jesus.

We enter into the presence of God by the blood of Jesus, not with the blood of Jesus. I speak with great respect of our Catholic friends, but I do believe they have this wrong. The Mass is not a representation of the blood of Jesus.

The blood of Jesus was shed once, once for all. The writers made it quite clear. So that blood that flowed from our Lord's body will never be shed again.

We don't come with the blood of Jesus, we come by the blood of Jesus. And we come where? Well, we come into the immediate presence of God by a new and living way, open for us through the curtain. That is His body.

So what to do? What to do in reaction to this great and glorious gospel? What to do? Well, you draw near. That's what verse 22 tells you. Let us draw near to God, but not in a cavalier fashion.

With a sincere heart, great sincerity, and with the assurance of faith. Now, is that the way that you come? I mean, in just a little while you'll be given bread and wine, and you'll be remembering the death of our Lord Jesus. Are you taking it with sincerity? With full assurance of faith? On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

It's not your faith in your works. It's not Christianity and Islam. It's not a mess of pottage of religious thought.

With a full assurance of faith. We preach Christ and Him crucified. And it's on that basis that the apostles can draw near.

It's on that basis that we draw near. Draw near to the Lord, verse 22. But not only draw near, hang in.

Hang on to that faith as though your whole life depended on it, as indeed it does, verse 23. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. For he who promised is faithful.

You remember how in the 6th chapter and the 19th verse reference is made to the Christian hope. And it gave birth to that great hymn, we have an anchor that keeps the soul. And this is what the writer here is saying should be our response to this open invitation that we have to this highway into the presence of God.

We draw near with sincerity, with full assurance, and we hang in. Holding fast tenaciously as though there is nothing else to hold on to in this world that will bring you such assurance and guarantees of eternal well-being. And indeed that is the case.

There is nothing else but the gospel. And now these two little instructions are directed to us as individuals. Draw near and hang in.

But we're saved not as individuals alone, we're in community. We're in a family. Therefore the pronoun in verse 23 is interesting.

It shifts from a personal to a plural. Let us hold unswaveringly to the hope we profess. For he who promises is faithful.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards good, towards love and good deeds. Draw near, hang in, spur on. You see, if we don't have this concept of family working for the benefit of one another and not against one another, then we fall short of our understanding of the Christian church.

We're not into competition. We're not into the revealing of other people's faults. Sin is a nasty business and sin has to be covered by the shed blood of Jesus.

But what we do, brothers and sisters, is to help one another. You see somebody limping and you get alongside and you try to help them. You find somebody who is compromising and you come alongside and you endeavor to do what you can to shift them from that pathway that would lead them to disaster.

And similarly when you yourself are in danger of compromising, thank God for the elder brother and the elder sister. Or maybe elder is wrong, the more mature person who comes along and speaks the word of God into your heart. That's the reason for listening to Scripture.

One of the reasons so that Scripture itself might have this effect of spurring us on. We want to encourage one another. We're not, I say, in competition.

We are together within the household of faith. Those who've gone down that highway that leads into the presence of God. We draw near, we hang in, we encourage one another.

The whole of the church working for the benefit of each individual. And that's the reason, incidentally, why he goes on or she goes on to encourage us here in this particular passage. Go to church, verse 25.

Let us not give up meeting together. It seems as though that was the habit of some. There was this falling away from regular commitment to hearing the word of God and worshipping the word of God.

And the writer thinks that this is a prescription to disaster. Why? Well, for the reasons I've just been arguing. It's as we come together with one another, aiding one another.

Exposing ourselves to the word of God that the correctives are supplied. The confession is made, absolution is given. And we go on our way more determined to live for Him.

What to do? Draw near to God. What to do? Hang in on to the Christian faith. What to do? Spur others so that they may live consistent lives.

What to do? Go to church. Be in the community of the saints. For what reason? Well, because of this great day.

Look at verse 25. All the more as you see the day approaching. Now, what does he mean by the day? What is the most important day in Scripture? Well, I suggest that the question needs to be put in plural form.

There are two important days. One was the death of our Lord Jesus. The day that saw that death.

There was never a day like it before. There will never be a day like it since. A day when God the mighty maker died for man the creature's sin.

A day which really bisects time. A day the reaction to which divides humanity. He either died for you or you despise him.

It's one or the other. But there is another day. What day is that? I argue it's the day when the man on the cross shall come again.

That great and terrible day of the Lord. You'll find it referred to time and time again in the gospels. I could direct you to many a reference from our beloved Lord.

But I just for sake of time give you a reference from the apostle Paul. Here he is in Corinthians writing his first letter in the third chapter. He's speaking about the great challenge having belonged to Jesus.

To live for Jesus. He talks about our lives and what we're doing. Do they add up to gold, silver, costly stones? Or do we compromise? Do we waste the opportunities that are given to us? And he goes on to say in the 13th verse.

That when our Lord returns the individual's work will be shown for what it is. Because the day, the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire.

And the fire will test the quality of each man's work. Well, I argue that's exactly what the writer here has in mind. What to do? Do well to live consistently.

Why? Because the day is coming. The day when our Lord Jesus Christ shall return. The day when this present scene shall be wound up.

And you are to live your life said Augustine. In the light of that day. And how you will feel when you stand before him.

And in order that that experience shall be a pleasant one. In which you will know his well done. Then draw near.

Draw near to him. Hang in on to the faith. Spur others on to be good disciples.

And be in attendance at your local church. Listening to the proclamation of the word of God. And benefiting from its ministry.

Well, if that's what to do. What about what not to do? And this you discover from the 26th verse and onwards. Again, this is Pauline way of teaching.

Very often he puts up a negative. Then he puts up a positive. Or he reverses it.

Well, here we've got the positive. Now it's followed by the negative. What not to do? And these verses need handling with care.

They have robbed a lot of people of their peace. Of their sense of well-being and assurance. They need to be accurately translated.

And I think the NIV does a good job. If we deliberately keep on sinning. After we have received the knowledge of the truth.

No sacrifice for sins is left. In other words, what is here being dealt with. Is the sin of apostasy.

Reneging on the faith. This was once your position. But it is now your position no longer.

And there are those who have been very troubled by these verses. And other verses that are parallel to them in Hebrews. And indeed by some of the more general comments in the New Testament.

Am I in this condition? Well, let my answer be this. If you are in that condition. It is most unlikely that you will be present this morning.

I'll qualify my general observation in a moment or two. What does the writer of the Hebrew Epistle do at this point? As he shows us something of the story of apostasy. He takes us back to yesterday.

To the way that people fell from the faith. Reneged on it in the days of Moses. Look at verse 28.

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy. On the testimony of two or three witnesses. And if you read into the Old Testament.

To the book of Deuteronomy chapter 17. The book of Numbers chapter 16. You will find there the procedure that was followed.

As people were dealt with. Who denied the faith. So they were ostracized.

They were excommunicated. They were in certain circumstances put to death. Let's move on a little further.

What about today? How much more? Or verse 29. You see he's contrasting this historical disturbing illustration from the Old Testament. And the way that Moses dealt with those who defected.

How much more? Severely. Do you think a man deserves to be punished? Who has. And now he's applying the teaching of the new covenant.

Who is he referring to? Well he's referring to our Lord Jesus. And the insult that is delivered to him. It's a triplet of insults.

And it involves the Holy Spirit. These apostates are men. Women who have trampled the Son of God underfoot.

They have treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant. That sanctified him. And they have insulted the spirit of grace.

Now you say give me a concrete example of what the apostle or what the writer is referring to. And I will do that quite easily. You think of that group of priests around the cross.

I mean here is our Lord. The most remarkable day that ever there was. Up to his second coming.

Remarkable because well over in the temple some extraordinary things happen. When our Lord Jesus delivers up his spirit to the Father. You remember the veil of the temple is rent from top to bottom.

And the holiest place of all is exposed to public gaze. What is that an illustration of? Well the benefits of his death on the cross. You see as has been mentioned up to that time only one person could ever enter into the presence of God.

Once a year the high priest. But our Lord Jesus in whose body and whose offering is the consummation of all the sacrificial systems of the Old Testament. When he dies on that cross he reveals God.

He takes the veil from the face of God so to speak. And makes it possible for the like of you and me to enter into the holiest place of all. With sincerity and full assurance of faith.

Not tripping lightly. Recognizing the enormous cost. See that pool of blood at the foot of the cross.

Whose blood is it? It's none but no others blood but that of God's own Son. The creator of the world. And now look at those priests.

As with flushed faces they send up their shafts of hostile abuse and contempt. What are they doing? They're treading underfoot the precious blood of Jesus. They are insulting the person of God's own Son.

They are denying the very ministry of the Holy Spirit. And now I argue these are men who illustrate the apostasy that the writer here is referring to. You say you think you have committed the unpardonable sin.

Then I test you on these three counts. Do you denigrate the person of the Son of God? Do you despise the shed blood of Calvary? Or are you still moved when you sing or hear a song that hymn when I survey the wondrous cross? Forbid it Lord that I should boast save in the death of Christ my God. Have you blasphemed the Holy Spirit by rejecting his ministries? In terms of releasing to you the benefits of the shed blood of Christ.

If you're in that condition I say you wouldn't be in the church today. Now you see here is the writer to the Hebrews. And he's showing you by way of contrast.

He doesn't want you to presume. He's bringing a shock to your system. He's wanting you constantly to be testing yourself.

What not to do? You don't follow the example of those apostates in the Old Testament. You don't handle the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ in a way that brings dishonor to the Father. But if this was to be the case.

Then remember our God is not to be messed about with. I preached an address which seemed to have an unusual penetration in Calcutta. On the goodness and the severity of God.

And I said to those Indian brothers and sisters. You cannot preach on the goodness of God without also preaching on the severity of God. And the case obtains the other way around.

If you labor on the severity of God and you don't preach on the goodness of God. Then you distort your understanding of the Lord. But you see the severity of God is here.

This is no wishy-washy gospel that grants forgiveness on anyone who lives just how he pleases to live. We know him who said it is mine to avenge I will repay. And again the Lord will judge his people.

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. What to do? Adronia. What not to do? Follow the example of those ancient Hebrews yesteryear.

Be amongst the company of those hostile people who ridiculed the Christ when he was on the cross. What to do? What not to do? To have yourself in such a position that in the future the outpouring of God's wrath will be targeted towards yourself. Well then what to do? What not to do? Let's conclude.

What to remember? Verses 32 through to the end. The writer reminds these people as I remind you of the early years of your conversion. Remember those early days after you had received the light.

One of the great stimuli to consistent Christian living is to recall your past. Do you remember those balmy days when you first confessed Jesus as Lord and the radical difference it made upon your life? Some of you who had no sense of self-respect whatsoever. He came into your heart.

You were illuminated. A changed person. You know sometimes the hymn writers are good psychologists.

One hymn writer pens a verse, Where is the blessedness I knew when first I sought the Lord? That immediate honeymoon experience so to speak. When you'd have done anything for Him and everything for Him. When perhaps as a result of your expression of faith in Christ you came up against the butt of cynicism from your family and from your workmates.

But you hung out in those difficult days. Well the writer addressing his remarks to the Hebrews. Perhaps he has in mind the persecutions at Jerusalem.

That wave of persecutions and how these people stood so firmly. The tempest was blowing. The winds were at a great velocity.

But they hung in. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution. At other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.

You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property. Because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. Remember those days.

The days when you sacrificed. When you gave perhaps beyond your ability financially. The days when you invested hours in the work of evangelism and prayer and so forth.

Now let those days not in any way trip you as far as today is concerned. But let them be a stimulus that you might know the return of that sort of dedication. That sort of consecration.

So the present exhortation he goes on to. Having reminded them of past experiences. And he says do not throw away your confidence.

Don't forfeit your birthright. You've coped with so much. Why go back now? And incidentally to where would you go? You remember my favorite comment from Abraham Lincoln.

Sometimes I fall upon my knees because I have nowhere else to go. What to remember? Past experiences. Present exhortations.

Listen to the preachers. Listen to those who come along to spur you to good works. To correct you.

Remember that the greatest test of friendship is not necessarily complimenting. Though there is a time for encouragement. One of the great tests of friendship is to get alongside someone and say hey.

I love you because of Jesus. Have you thought through A, B, C, D. Past experiences. Present exhortation.

What about future prospects? Well you see he's got in mind this idea of the day of the Lord. But he's not thinking of it in terms of the agony and anguish that this will be for the Christ rejecter. He's thinking rather in terms of the bliss that is in store for those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

There's a play on the Greek there but I don't really have much time to explain it for in just a very little while. It's an emphasis on the suddenness and the immediacy of the coming of Christ. And then the inspired writer dips into Habakkuk and quotes.

For that's what you get in the last part of the 37th verse and 38th verse. He quotes from the prophet. He adjusts the thought patterns from what Habakkuk was saying.

But nonetheless he conveys to us the drift of what God, the gist of what God wants to say. He who is coming will come and will not delay. Who is he referring to? Well the man on the cross.

Raised again on the third day. Ascended into heaven after 40 days. Sends the Pentecostal baptism.

This same Jesus will return in the same manner as you have seen him go. He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one, who does he mean? Well that is one of the choicest descriptions of any Christian.

I understand that Mother Teresa is on the fast track to being made a saint when she dies. I have informants in the Vatican. But you know far from being called a saint.

The Bible gives you other descriptions for which you are to work out the implications of the meaning. My righteous one. That's how God sees you.

Not just the Mother Teresas. Not just the so-called famous people within Christendom. You, my righteous one.

You'll be married righteous, how? By the shed blood of Christ. There is no other righteousness but what you receive from him. My righteous one.

These people to whom the writer of the Hebrews is addressing these remarks. He reckons, plundering the Old Testament, that this is descriptive of them. My righteous one will live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But that's not going to be the case. It wasn't for them in those days.

And it's not going to be the case for us now. So back on track, the writer comes in verse 39. Identifying himself and the rest of the church.

We are not of those who shrink back. He's put up this semi-hypothetical case. This problem that Moses had.

He's taken us to the foot of the cross. Those who tread, who trample the blood of Christ. Who have no thought for the majesty and the dignity of Christ.

The enormity of sin and what God has done for them. We are not like these people, not a bit. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed.

But of those who believe and are saved. We won't shrink back. We continue to believe.

For ours will be a consistent faith. What to do? Draw near. What not to do? Compromise.

What to remember? Your first profession of faith. The quality of your life then. What to look forward to? His return.

To live in the light of that day. To the glory of the one who has opened up a new and a living way into the presence of his Father. Who invites you and me to come within the veil.

And to sweeten the course with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit now. And to know an even greater satisfaction. In terms of the experience of knowing God in the eternity.

Yet to be without prospect in mind. No. No turning back.

Not for any of us here in this congregation. Well, let's prepare to come around the sacrament and sing that lovely old hymn, Within the Veil. And it's coming up on the overhead projector.

Some of you may want to slip out at this point. If you've got children, though we're fairly early on in the service as far as concluding the Sunday school is concerned, Pathfinders. So maybe you can stay and enjoy communion.

I'll leave you to make the decision. It's 166 in the supplement if you can't see the words above. Let's stand.

Within the veil. In the holy veil. Within the veil.

From Son of God. Lord, I lift your name on high. I'm so glad you're in my love, Ava.

You came from heaven to earth. To show the way. From the earth to the cross.

My head today. From the cross to the grave. From the grave to the sky.

Lord, I lift your name on high. I lift your name on high. In your praise.

So glad you came to save us. My head today. From the cross to the grave.

From the grave. You came from heaven to earth. To show the way.

From the earth to the cross. My head today. From the cross to the grave.

From the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I lift your name on high.

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