Hebrews 10
Even though God’s people were tasked with choosing the most perfect lambs, those lambs were never perfect enough. Their sacrifice covered sin, but they could never actually take it away (Heb. 10:4). Every cry of a lamb sacrificed in the Old Testament was in some ways a cry of longing for the truly perfect Lamb of God.
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Hebrews 10:16:
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” |
 Ed Rea
The writer of Hebrews quotes God’s promise from Jeremiah 31:33, that His new covenant will be much different from the old one. The new covenant is one that works from the inside out, as God implants His thoughts and desires into our hearts. The old covenant worked from the outside in, meaning it consisted of a list of dos and don’ts that pointed out the failings of carnal man, but didn’t change man in any way. It provided a mirror that convicted the humble and sometimes even moved the rebel to sin more. --Ed Rea;Daily Devotions
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Hebrews 10:22:
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. |
 Robert Rollock
“The saints find in experience, that it is not an easy thing to find a familiar access to God in prayer. Except our consciences first be purged, we can have no access to God; therefore, whosoever would draw near to God, let him seek to follow the counsel of the Apostle in the 10th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the 22nd verse, where he says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in an assurance of faith, sprinkled in our hearts from an evil conscience.” No flesh can have a favorable access to God, except his conscience be first purged from guiltiness; yea, that which we speak of the guiltiness of sin, we speak also of sin itself, that except it be quite taken away out of his sight, that he will not look favorably upon us. And this is that which the prophet says here, “If thou, O Lord, straitly markest iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” For, as guiltiness of sin stays us to behold God, so sin itself stays God from beholding us, miserable wretches, with the eyes of his compassion. So long, therefore, as thy conscience is not purged, when thou go to present thyself before his majesty, if thy conscience be wakened, thou wilt find God marking thy sins, laying them to thy charge, and wilt find him as a terrible judge, compassed about with burning wrath, ready to destroy thee: and if He mark thee, thou hast no standing, and if thou appear not clothed with the righteousness and perfect satisfaction that Jesus, through his blood, has purchased
for thee, thou dare not presume to approach, for then his fierce wrath shall be poured out upon thee.” --Robert Rollock; Select Works of Robert Rollock |
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Hebrews 10: 24-25:
consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” |
In other words, we are to recognize that every church member has a responsibility to every other church member in terms of stirring each other up to love and good works. To this end, the Holy Spirit gifts each believer with spiritual gifts: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Cor. 12:7). This is also the point of Heb. 3:12-14, which reads: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” Exhorting each other and lovingly warning each other to stir up faith and stifle unbelief is not just the job of the pastors, but of the congregation as a whole. Brothers and sisters, let us consider one another to stir up to love and good works. -Jeremiah Bass; Baptist Bible Hour
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So, if I admit that I choose sin, then I no longer have access to the price Jesus paid for my sins. Some of these poor folks believe that. They can lose their salvation simply by a bad choice. (And I get challenged when I suggest that legalists live in fear!)
Obviously, this is a difficult verse. But every difficult verse of Scripture has a context. I have said many times that we must always proceed from what we know into what we don’t know. We know that God loves us. We know that we are broken creatures without Him, incapable of living right. We know that we need a Savior. We know that the Savior has done all that we need for life and godliness.
This verse has a context. Just a few verses before, we read this:
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14
Notice the past tense. He “has perfected” us by the one offering on the cross. Notice the passive voice. We “are being sanctified.” This is something He has done for us and is doing in us. The Lord does all of this in us and for us.
I just read where someone said that the law was given for sanctification. The writer agrees that we are justified by grace, but believes that we are sanctified by the law. So we are given salvation as a gift, but we have to work to be sanctified. The only problem with that is that there is no salvation without sanctification. To be sanctified means to be set apart by and for the Lord. Who could be saved without belonging to the Lord?
This passage from Hebrews that is so often quoted to keep believers under the law does not refer to individual sins we do as we walk through a difficult life. It refers to those who have been part of the fellowship and have rejected Christ. Hebrews mentions this several times. There were those who were part of the church, part of the fellowship and informed about the truth, who were still not in Christ. They walked away, for whatever reasons, and left behind their only hope. Because there is no other offering for sin, those who walk away from Jesus lose what they thought they had.
--Grace For My Heart
Obviously, this is a difficult verse. But every difficult verse of Scripture has a context. I have said many times that we must always proceed from what we know into what we don’t know. We know that God loves us. We know that we are broken creatures without Him, incapable of living right. We know that we need a Savior. We know that the Savior has done all that we need for life and godliness.
This verse has a context. Just a few verses before, we read this:
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14
Notice the past tense. He “has perfected” us by the one offering on the cross. Notice the passive voice. We “are being sanctified.” This is something He has done for us and is doing in us. The Lord does all of this in us and for us.
I just read where someone said that the law was given for sanctification. The writer agrees that we are justified by grace, but believes that we are sanctified by the law. So we are given salvation as a gift, but we have to work to be sanctified. The only problem with that is that there is no salvation without sanctification. To be sanctified means to be set apart by and for the Lord. Who could be saved without belonging to the Lord?
This passage from Hebrews that is so often quoted to keep believers under the law does not refer to individual sins we do as we walk through a difficult life. It refers to those who have been part of the fellowship and have rejected Christ. Hebrews mentions this several times. There were those who were part of the church, part of the fellowship and informed about the truth, who were still not in Christ. They walked away, for whatever reasons, and left behind their only hope. Because there is no other offering for sin, those who walk away from Jesus lose what they thought they had.
--Grace For My Heart
| If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all our sin. (I John 1:7).
By forsaking the assembly we may not continue to have our sins cleansed. The point of the service, however, is to "exhort" one another. (Exhort means to urge by strong persuasive argument, admonition, advice or make urgent appeal. Urge on or encourage especially by shouts; "The crowd cheered the demonstrating strikers" (synonym) cheer, inspire, urge, barrack, urge on, pep up (hypernym) encourage (hyponym) cheerlead (derivation) exhortation2. force or impel in an indicated direction; "I urged him to finish his studies" (synonym) urge, urge on, press (hypernym) advise, counsel (hyponym) rush, hurry (derivation) exhortation. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all our sin. (I John 1:7).. It is not that the blood is not able to without this fellowship, but it is because we have a need to draw strength from each other in order to continue to walk in the light. The purpose of the assembly would be to be ecouraged to continue to walk in the light and at the same time encourage others to do so, also. Most translations use the word "exhort," (Exhort means to urge by strong persuasive argument, admonition, advice or make urgent appeal. Urge on or encourage especially by shouts; "The crowd cheered the demonstrating strikers" (synonym) cheer, inspire, urge, barrack, urge on, pep up (hypernym) encourage (hyponym) cheerlead (derivation) exhortation2. force or impel in an indicated direction; "I urged him to finish his studies" (synonym) urge, urge on, press (hypernym) advise, counsel (hyponym) rush, hurry (derivation) exhortation. The prerequisites appear to be listed before this verse: let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. The original speech of the New Testament, and more modern translations, make the truth of this passage more easily understood, more sharply defined. Knox: "Not abandoning our common assembly"; Berkeley: "Not neglecting our own church meeting"; New English Bible: "Not staying away from our meetings", Phillips: "And let us not hold aloof from our church meetings." The language of the inspired writer of Hebrews is even more positive. Mr. Thayer says this is "a gathering together in one place, the religious assembly of Christians; and that we are not to "abandon or desert" it. With this many other scholars agree, such as Arndt & Gringrich, Abbott-Smith, and W. E. Vine. Arndt & Gringrich and Vine add the thought: "do not leave behind." James Moffatt, scholar, translator, and historian, says that there were a number of reasons why, in that day, many Christians were absent from the assemblies of the saints. 1. Some were deterred in their attendance bv fear of persecution. There are yet some places in the world where it is dangerous for Christians to meet together to worship God. Some of God's people were so strong in that day that they met in caves and dens of the earth to observe the suffering and death of Christ by eating the Lord's Supper. Even when they were discovered by opposing heathen authorities, they would still partake of the bread and wine in the knowledge that the soldier's bow was drawn to send an arrow through their heart. Oh that we had Christians with this conviction in our time. 2. Moffatt says some were absent because they felt no interest in it. Christ died for them, rescued them from the bondage of sin, gave them the Lord's Supper, and commanded them to observe it each week to keep alive in their hearts the memory of his suffering and death on their behalf, but they felt no interest in it. This describes the attitude and temper of so many members of the church in the 20th Century. They forsake the assembling of themselves together because they couldn't care less. I frequently make inquiry about the absence of a well-known member of the congregation only to be told that he (or she) stayed at home, or was having company, or had gone visiting. To miss the memorial of the death of Christ does not seem to give them any concern at all - not even the slightest twinge of conscience. 3. The historian said that many had doubts about the necessity of these regular Christian assemblies. Two thousand years have passed, and people are still arguing about the necessity of faithfulness, trying to excuse their disinterest and misconduct, but it is very poor defense in the face of the divine mandate of God. "Do not forsake your coming together..." 4. Another reason why some Christians defected from God's service and absented themselves from worship was that they were engaged in business. Times have not really changed. Some are too busy today to meet regularly with the brethren to worship and praise God and to remember the sacrifice of his Son. Frequently, I drive many miles to meet with my brethren in various congregations over the country. This is a great pleasure to meet and to worship with others of "like precious faith." Often some of those brothers and sisters I have met on former occasions are absent from the Lord's service. Questions of concern are asked about them. It is possible that illness could have kept them from worship, and sometimes this is the case, but disappointment and depression fill my heart when I learn that some "good sister" did not come to worship this Lord's Day morning because she is preparing Sunday dinner, and some "good brother" is engaged in the pursuit of his business. Is this faithfulness? Is this true Christianity? With such people, Christianity is a side line; they are simply playing at the highest and noblest calling in the world, somewhat like children "play church." They remind me of the people on the occasion when Jesus came to the ruler's house to raise his daughter from the dead.. He said, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth, and they laughed him to scorn" (Matt. 9:24). I believe that a Christian who forsakes the assembly to prepare food for family or friends or to attend to his personal business is "laughing Jesus to scorn"! I think it is the equivalent of chuckling (smiling) at his death, ridiculing his sacrifice and showing disrespect for the very purpose of his coming into the world. Then the kicker comes in, in vs 26-31:" For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God...." One could de-attach that from the exhortation, except for the connecting word of "For" which then implies that it would be sin to forsake the assembly. |
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Hebrews 10:26-27:
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. |
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