The Book of Hebrews 10:26-31 The knowledge of the truth
Hebrews 10:26-31 · Vern Peterman · Feb 16, 2014
Hebrews, No. 43
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926418104164

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

I want to start off our time in Hebrews here. We're going to do a study of this ominous passage that Randy read for us here. Hebrews 10, 26 through 31. But I want to start it off with a question. How does Moses make his tea? He brews it. Of course. Well, anyway.

Now, a number of you were surprised when I said last week that sincere does not mean without wax, right? And that was surprising, because a lot of you, I'm sure, have heard that. Have you ever heard that the high priest went into the temple or the tabernacle with a rope tied around his ankle? Ever heard that one?

That's not true either. Okay? Yeah, that's not true either. There's no support for that. That started apparently about in the Middle Ages, and it's a rumor that's gotten in both Jewish and Christian circles, by the way, that Jews are having a tough time, you know, stamping out the myth. But at any rate, it's not true.

OK, now, this is a warning, OK? This is a warning. This is a warning passage. It's number four in Hebrews, OK? And to put it in perspective, last Sunday's passage was a phenomenal, just a wonderful, glorious passage. And this one is awesome, too, in its own intense, scary sort of way. But this is the fourth warning passage, OK?

In order for us to properly understand this correctly, we'll need to be certain that we look at this passage in context. And what I mean is not just the context immediately surrounding the passage, but in the context of the rest of Scripture as well. So we're going to look at it in a close and in a farther context.

So you have, and you have this on page one of the same slide in your handout, there's five Warning passages chapter 2 is the danger of drifting away chapters 3 & 4 that we looked at the danger of not entering into God's rest chapters 5 & 6 the danger of not going on to maturity and here in chapter 10 the danger of willful sin and Chapter 12, the danger of indifference to the point of denial. So we'll be getting into that. Chapter 12 will be that warning. It will also be a point at which we're going to kind of take a little side detour on parenting, because the Bible does have good things to say, good guidance on parenting. And it does address that in brief in Chapter 12. So we'll take that as a good excuse to venture into that topic a little bit. So here we are in chapter 10, the danger of willful sin.

The believer's salvation, we want to underscore in spite of the ominous sound of that passage, can never be lost. Our heavenly blessings and position are fixed and untouchable. But the dangers as we go along in this life are real. There are spiritual dangers. And that's the reason for these warnings here. The warnings are real. The dangers are real. He's not just kidding or just trying to scare us to death. There are real dangers that we ought to be aware of, and that's why he's laying them out.

Now, first of all, we want to make clear the readers of this letter are believers. Because of the intense nature of the words here, Some say that the readers, the ones to whom this letter is addressed, are almost believers, or that they're only professing. That is, they profess to be believers, but they're not. Or they are about to lose their salvation. They're on the brink. So the people have put forth these ideas.

However, when you address these ones as holy brethren, I think they're not just professing. When he addresses them again as brethren, That tells me these are believers, right? These are not just people who are almost believers or only professing or something of that sort.

He also uses we and or us 80 times in this book. And so the author is including himself in the very statements. And you'll see that even in this very passage. So this is written to believers. It's not any sort of almost believers or professors or something of that sort. It is not just people who are on the brink of losing their salvation. We made that clear some weeks ago. Salvation cannot be lost. This very letter says things like that.

Here's Hebrews 10.10.

By this will we have been sanctified and that's a Sanctified, perfect tense, which means completed past action, ongoing results, on into the future, implying permanence, okay? Sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. Once done, perpetually valid, okay? That says salvation is not lost, and that was just earlier in the chapter. Here's four verses later, Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. See that? This is a permanent statement. This is not a, you're right on the brink.

So, in Lesson 21, or Message 21 of Hebrews, when we talked 6, 4 through 8, we also went through all the different reasons why salvation cannot be lost. And I think it's important as we go into this to keep that in mind. This is not addressed to somebody whose salvation is in question, or they're right on the brink of losing it, or something of that sort. There are dangers, yes. Is there a need for warning? Yes. It's not because they're about to lose their salvation.

We are, for example, told in the identification truths that we've been identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating in the heavenlies. We've been told we've been baptized into Christ. There is no passage that says anyone was unbaptized into Christ, right?

When we're told we've been seated in the heavenlies, there's no passage that says somebody was unseated in the heavenlies. I don't know how that happens or how that looks, you know. So nobody was unseated in the heavenlies. It never happened, not even threatened.

So the identification truths all point to a salvation that cannot be lost. A security in our salvation. And so those truths would underscore it. Additionally, John 10.28 is one that states succinctly and clearly that we can't be unsaved. And so I'll read. This is the expanded explain. You also have it on your handout.

Jesus is therefore saying that eternal life is something that he gives constantly to his sheep. And this is the key point I have. in the blue lettering here and it's the usual translations say this usual translations say and they shall never perish that's really weak because the original language carries more of this idea there is not even the slightest possibility that they can lose that eternal life so as to perish in hell even of their own doing that's what the grammar says That's what Jesus said, there is not the slightest chance, it's not remotely possible that they can lose their salvation even of their own doing. So you are secure, and then the next part, and no other outside entity can remove those sheep from his hand, those to whom he constantly gives life. The saving work of Christ is therefore continually giving us eternal life that cannot be lost of our own doing, nor by that of another. Verse 29 makes that one step further with Christ saying that His sheep were given to Him by the Father and they cannot be taken out of the Father's hand either. So you actually have two hands, two hands holding you, okay? The Father and the Son and that salvation is done by God in such a way that we cannot undo it.

It is not even remotely possible. The same pair of Greek two-letter words, ume, are here, also we'll see later on in Hebrew, where it says, He will not leave you or forsake you. That is a double use of this. It's not remotely possible, and it's not remotely possible. Twice it says that, that He will leave you or forsake you. You're not going to lose it.

But, here's the warning, a believer who is deeply and or chronically off track risks intense consequences, not to their salvation, but consequences in this life, spiritually and possibly otherwise. From the history and letters of the New Testament, we see that even though the grace of God is amazing, the consequences of a believer going off track can be substantial. God's grace is always amazing, but there can be consequences. Some will be saved eternally, but lose all crowns and rewards.

This is at the end of 1 Corinthians 3, 10-15. You see, there is a testing by fire that scripture talks about. Some will have gold, silver, and precious stones, which are rewardable. Some will have wood, hay, and stubble, which are not. That's why we jokingly say, some people will enter heaven naked and smoking. Because everything will be burned away. Everything burned away.

Paul, additionally, and I think this is because Paul doesn't say you should do this or anything of the sort, he says twice, 1 Corinthians 5 and 1 Timothy 1, he says twice that he turns someone over to Satan. Not so that they lose their salvation, but that they would in fact be saved on the last day, but have rid of their fleshly character. You can imagine what that would be like. Would you like to have an apostle turn you over to Satan? That would just be, woo! Okay, but Paul did that. It doesn't seem like something that is a current option for us to do. At least the elders haven't considered it.

1 Corinthians 3, 10-15 According to the grace of God which is given me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. For each man must be careful how he builds on it, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

Now, let's ask a question. Is the person going through the fire or the works? It's actually the works that are going through the fire. This person isn't getting burned or something. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Here is 1 Corinthians 5, 3-5, For I in my part, though absent in the body, but present in the Spirit, have already judged him. Here is a person who has committed a sin in the church body at Corinth. Already judged him who has committed this, as though I were present. In the name of the Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." So, he's going to be turned over to Satan. Is he going to lose his salvation? No. His spirit will be saved. See that? That's a very important distinction.

Okay, here's 1 Timothy 1, 18-20. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Hey, by the way, think of that, shipwreck in regard to their faith. That's pretty intense, right? So we talk about intense consequences.

Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan." Here's the second instance. So the what? So that they can lose their salvation? No. So they'll be taught not to blaspheme. So there's actually good intended to come from this action. Again, both cases appears to be an apostolic option only. Now, it is even possible that a believer's life will be taken.

And Ananias and Sapphira, I don't think they've gotten there yet in the Acts elective, but they will. Acts chapter 5, the first 11 verses, they have their lives taken for lying to the Holy Spirit. Barnabas sold some property and gave the money to the apostles. Ananias and Sapphira, however, made some false claims about what they were giving and that sort of thing, and so their lives were taken from them.

In Corinth, some had died for taking the Lord's table in an unworthy manner. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 11, the same passage that we typically use when we observe the Lord's table here. So, starting in verse 30 in 1 Corinthians 11, For this reason, many among you are weak and sick. So there's some cases it's not just death, but weakness and sickness and a number of sleep.

But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged that is judged by God. Right. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. Again, what do you see in here? So that will not be condemned along with the world. This isn't boy, you've done something really bad. And so you're going to lose your salvation and God's going to kill you, too. But rather, the Lord is going to discipline us so that we're not condemned along with the world. It isn't loss of salvation. It was so bad they had to be taken home early, but it wasn't loss of salvation. It was loss of life.

1 John 5, 16 and 17 says that there is a sinning unto death. That's actually a verb. That's why I put sinning. A sinning to death. This is taken as a physical death upon a believer by God's choice as the most gracious option for the sinning believer and for the well-being of the body of Christ. It can be, and I'll give an example later, it can be that the Lord takes somebody home for the sake of the body of Christ. Takes someone home early.

Now, let's get into the passage here, Hebrews 10, 26 and 27. For if we go on sinning willfully, and I added a the because it's there in the Greek, the definite article, after the receiving of the knowledge of the truth, see all the emphasis there on the receiving of the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin.

Boy, that sounds scary, right? But a terrifying expectation, that sounds even scarier. a terrifying expectation, a judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. So let's consider hypothetically as if we're still under the law of Moses. Because remember, these Hebrews to whom this letter was written were thinking of going back under the law of Moses And we got to do the sacrifices and all that stuff, right? So he says, okay, you want to go there? Let's look at what that entails. What what is that going to involve? so verses 26 27 and 28 those three are hypothetical statements they're saying just go along with the logic with me if you're going to step back into the time of and back under the Law of Moses, this is what that's going to mean. So if the readers of this letter think that they need to have Jesus and the sacrificial system under Moses, then just follow the logic. That's what the author is doing here.

Under the Law of Moses, sins of one's ignorance were dealt with by sacrifices. The sacrifices weren't for the things that you did that were blatantly and willfully wrong. That's not what the sacrifices were for. The sacrifices were for sins of ignorance, sins of things done thoughtlessly. That's what the sacrifices were for.

The willful sins, in the worst case, brought death. There may be other penalties for some of them, but it could bring death. And so that's, I think, an important thing to look at. The sacrifices were for sins of ignorance. But there were penalties for willfully sinning that could include death.

Studying rocks up close forcefully. Now, if a believer is going to step back under the law of Moses, there are but two ways to deal with the sins. One, sins of ignorance dealt with by the sacrifices. That's what the sacrifices are for. Sins that are open, willful, and rebellious are dealt with by the stoning, the one who sins, and God may deal with the sinner or sinners by taking physical life away. And we have several passages given there in Exodus and Leviticus where that was done, one of the two. Willful and open sin under the law of Moses calls for death either by stoning or by God himself taking the life or lives of the sinner or sinners directly. Life is ended.

So if these believers are thinking, well, I'll just go back under the sacrificial system, the author is saying, wait a minute, do you want to sign up for the whole thing? If you want to go under the sacrificial system, then that of course means you want to die as well if you do something really wrong and willfully. That's what he's saying to them. The author of the book of Hebrews is telling the readers that stepping back under the law of Moses is sin in itself, and Moses' sacrificial system is not going to deal with the sins that are willful and open. Not going to do it. You're not going to get the ones that are willful and open to be covered by this animal being sacrificed. Not happening. Here's examples. The bodies of Nadab and Abihu carried away after they offered strange fire. Leviticus 10 verses 1 and 2. I'm not quite sure what strange fire is, but it's apparently not normal fire.

Okay, there was in number 16 the rebellion of Korah. That actually had a double death penalty. And one group in the rebellion of Korah, number 16, the ground opened up and swallowed them and all their possessions and closed back up. Done. But that's not all.

There was another group that was trying to play priest there in front, about 250, and fire came down and burned them to a crisp. So that's what this verse is talking about, about terrifying. and fiery judgment. So it's intense. Here's Numbers 21, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and many died. Those who looked upon the serpent Moses raised upon a standard were delivered.

Now, here's Hebrews 10.28, anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. So here's Deuteronomy 19, 15 through 21. There's another passage I'll refer you to. 17, 2 through 7 is a similar kind of message. But here's the way it reads.

A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed. On the evidence of two or three witnesses, a matter shall be confirmed. If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord and before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother." Whatever it was, if the accusation was going to have this fellow killed, then the false witness also gets killed. and the other guy gets free. If this guy was bearing false witness about, say, some other loss, knocking out a tooth, an eye, something of that sort, then if the fellow is a false witness, whatever thing was expected to happen to the brother he's accusing is now going to happen to him.

You're accusing him of poking out an eye, you're going to get an eye poked out. You're accusing him of knocking out a tooth, you're going to get a tooth knocked out, etc. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you, the rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.

Thus you shall not show pity." You are not allowed to show pity. But he repented. I can tell he feels bad. So what? It doesn't matter if he feels bad or feels good or feels anything. Show no pity. Not allowed to. Guess what happens if you show pity? You get it, right? So you better pick it up. Pick up those rocks. Force them to study them closely.

Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. You shall show no mercy. So this verse here is about the Israelites taking the life of a fellow Israelite or carrying out other punishments. But the law of Moses in these two passages in Deuteronomy gave the conditions for bringing a death sentence against a fellow Israelite. There was to be consistent testimony from two or three witnesses, not just one. And false testimony could bring death or whatever other punishment was there.

And then finally, showing any pity or mercy was breaking the law of Moses. You will not show pity or mercy. It doesn't matter how badly he repents. It doesn't matter if he begs. It doesn't matter if he was your best friend. You must not show mercy under the law.

You have to carry it out. And not carrying it out is breaking the law. People think, I follow the Ten Commandments. How many people have you stoned? If you do not carry out the full punishment of the Ten Commandments, you're breaking them. You're breaking them.

Here's Hebrews 10.29, How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? Now I put this in your handout this way, kind of broke it down.

How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve? Who? And then we have three things, three things bulleted there. One, trampled underfoot the Son of God. That sounds serious. Has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified. And three, has insulted the spirit of grace. Any volunteers for doing those? That's pretty scary, isn't it?

So look at the intensity of those verbs and actions here. If a believer who's in the body of Christ pursues living under the law of Moses in whole or in part, that's his message to God. If you say, I want to live under the law of Moses in any part, then you're doing these things. That's your message to God.

Going back to the law is backsliding. Going back to the law is backsliding. We oftentimes think of backsliding as someone who, you know, falls into some horrific sin. I say, ah, that person's backslidden, right? Going back to the law Backsliding going back to the sacrificial system for these Christians these Christian believers of Jewish ethnicity It's not a step forward, but it's serious backsliding Okay Going back to the sacrificial system says that Christ's death for our sins was ineffective Christ died, but now I've got to still keep doing this stuff But it was the only effective sacrifice in truth, right? It's the only one that's effective, but if you go back to the sacrificial system, then you're saying, well, maybe it wasn't that effective. I've got to go back to the sacrificial system. Going back to the sacrificial system says, in the metaphor, tramples underfoot, that Christ's sacrifice isn't superior, but inferior. That's why he uses this strong term, tramples underfoot, the Son of God.

People will say, oh man, I've got these Ten Commandments, that's God's top ten. You know what they did? The tablets, those Ten Commandments on them, were given to Moses so that the tablets could be put in the Ark of the Covenant and nobody would ever see them again. And people pull out the ten like, boy, that is really, these are the ones we really got to pay attention to.

No, you can't pay attention to it, the tablets are inside. The Ark of the Covenant. And only the High Priest is allowed to go in there once a year, and there's a lid on it. He can't see the Law. He can't see the tablets. But that's what it's there for. So here's the Ark of the Covenant. What do you see on the top? A heavy lid. With no glass in it. And the High Priest goes in, and he does this thing with the Ark of the Covenant. You know he's not allowed to lift the lid? He can't even lift the lid to see what's in it. No. The tablets of the Ten Commandments were not given so that we could just follow the ten and ignore the rest. It isn't, take two tablets and I'll call you in the morning. Right? Okay.

Going back to the Law of Moses in whole or in part is an affront to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Going back to the Law of Moses in whole or in any part is an affront to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We showed this diagram, this pie chart. This circle here represents the 613 individual commandments of the Law of Moses. And that little line there represents 10 commandments. The other 603 commandments are the rest of that gray area. So someone who says, I'm going to follow the 10 commandments is telling me, oh, I've decided to break 603 other commandments, right? That's the decision. If you decide you're going to follow the 10, you're going to break the other 603. You will. You've decided that. Sign up for one, and you sign up for all 613. Break one, and you've broken it all.

The law of Moses was meant to be followed entirely. I give some examples here in Deuteronomy, but there are many more. Here's Numbers 15, 39 and 40, all, all. Deuteronomy 4, 6, 7 and 8, all, the whole law. And that's what you find again and again. There are so many places where it talks about all, the whole law, every one, every single one. There are so many places that do that. When we covered that in our Law and Grace series a while back, it took us two Sundays to cover all the places.

It said all, every one, each and every final one. Messages 11 and 12 in the Law and Grace series. 2011 are those times where we went over all those passages, all the laws, every single one. Not one exception. Keep them all. Here are the 613 laws, and of course you can read those, right? All in one slide.

And it says in Deuteronomy 8.1, all the commandments that I'm commanding you today, you shall be careful to do. If you're going to sign up for one, you're going to sign up for them all. Every single one. Hope you got it memorized. If a person signs up for one, they've signed up for all.

This is Paul in Galatians 5.3. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that's just one, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. If a person breaks just one law, they have broken the whole law of Moses.

This is from James 2.10. For whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. We use the example in a movie clip when we're going through the whole law and all the laws of a fellow with one corner tapping tempered glass with a hammer. The whole thing just all shatters. That's the way it is with the law of Moses. You broke one and you've broken them all. If you've decided to break 603, well, I think you've broken them all too, right?

Now he talks in verse 29 about the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified. So let's expand and explain those words here. The blood that confirmed the new covenant with Israel and also paid the price for our sins so that we are sanctified. The word that is translated sanctified is in a form which says that the one who is regarding Christ's blood as unclean has been sanctified in the past. So he's talking to these people who were in fact believers and they have been positionally sanctified. They were backsliding by wanting to go back under the law, and in their position they were already sanctified. So what they were doing was entirely inconsistent with their position, their eternal position.

Now we pointed out in lesson 33 of Hebrews when we were teaching through chapter 8, 7-13, we said at a minimum there are at least six things that happened on the cross when Christ was crucified and died that day in addition to the things said to other people that day. One, Christ died for our sins in our place. Two, Christ's death made the devil powerless. We taught that out of Hebrews. Christ's death confirmed Israel's new covenant, and that's what's being referred to in this passage. Christ paid the bride price for us, us and the church. Christ paid the price of a slave or a flock. I know Randy said earlier we're sheep, right? And Christ paid the price of a slave or a flock.

And then finally, we're identified with his crucifixion and with his death. We're identified with him in those things. So those six things were accomplished on the cross. And it's the third one, Christ's death confirmed Israel's new covenant, that's being referred to here.

So each of those has a purpose for a different group. The first one, Christ died for our sins in our place, applies to every person on the planet for all time. From Adam to the last one born on this planet. And then every person who believes Christ's death makes the devil powerless. And then we have for Israel, Christ's death confirmed Israel's new covenant.

The next three are for the church. The bride price, the slave or flock price, and the identification in his death. Okay. Now, he talks about here the spirit of grace. I thought it was interesting. The word grace in Hebrew shows up seven times. This is one of them. It's not the last one.

The Holy Spirit is, by His eternally consistent nature, gracious. We could say, instead of translating it Spirit of Grace, we could say Gracious Spirit and get across the idea. The Gracious Holy Spirit was promised to the church on the night in which Christ was betrayed. John chapters 14, 15, and 16 speak of the ministry of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit would come. and the church was begun there in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit has graciously placed every believer into the body of Christ. This is the Spirit identifying us with the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit has graciously revealed the truths about Christ's death for each of us. So this is the Spirit of grace, the gracious Spirit, the gracious Holy Spirit.

Let's look at the last two verses in the passage, Hebrews 10, 30 and 31. For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Now, is this addressed to church age believers? Yep. This does. We'll see what this means.

Romans 12 18 through 20 the Apostle Paul is taking that same vengeance is mine I will repay passage only is making it apply a different direction it reads like this if possible so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men never take your own revenge beloved but leave room for the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay this particular passage in Romans here is a message that believers should not go around taking revenge. One of the things that the law did when it said eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life, is it set a maximum standard for revenge. And it says it will be done not personally, but done by a governing body.

It was common, and it still is common in some of the cultures of the Middle East and some other areas around there, to have taking revenge as a duty. Taking revenge as a duty. You are duty-bound in some cultures around the Middle East, and also elsewhere. You are duty-bound to take revenge, and that revenge may be exacted in some greater magnitude than the original offense. The law set a maximum for revenge. This says no revenge. Under grace, no revenge.

But even under grace, God's judgment can be intense and extreme. The Lord can, at His discretion, bring some rather intense judgments upon a believer, and even under grace, the Lord can even decide to take the physical life of a believer. The Lord may even take a Christian believer home early. Early.

And that will be for the benefit of the body of Christ and for the unbelieving world. Why do I say for the unbelieving world? Because the unbelieving world says, well, that's what a Christian looks like. Ha ha. Right? Instead of being confronted with the truth, the person sees a Christian living an unchristian life And so the testimony is undermined.

And the Lord may say, no, we're not going to have that, and take that Christian home. Even in that, God is immensely gracious. Let me tell you a little story here. Only this is a true story, not a made-up story. This is the inside of the church where Nancy and I are married over 40 years ago. So there we are standing up. My grandfather is doing the ceremony.

Inside that little church there, about roughly the same time, there was a fellow who was a pastor. Dave Roper is his name. And he was working with a fellow in the church who had kind of worked his way into the leadership of the church, but it all of a sudden turned around and was spreading a lot of skepticism and disrupting a lot of the fellowship and Bible study and challenging things that the Bible said and things of that sort. So Dave Roper decided to work with him.

Let's talk about this and let's let you get the picture as to what the problem is here. So Dave Roper was working with this guy and one day Dave was driving and this fellow was sitting next to him on the passenger side of an old VW Bug. And they were going down the road and it was traffic one way and then traffic coming the other, oncoming traffic. When just as they were talking away in the car, all of a sudden a large truck veered across the lane rather quickly and inexplicably and hit the VW bug on the passenger side, instantly killing, instantly killing the fellow that had been causing trouble.

Dave Roper, the pastor, needed a couple of band-aids. Isn't it amazing? The Lord did something completely shocking and surprising, took out this fellow just in an instant. He was killed in an instant, and Dave Roper got out of the car, walked away, and he had a couple of band-aids on his face. That was it. So the Lord can do that even in our own era. In the midst of that, even as severe as it could be, God's grace is still amazing.

Even the believer who gets off track badly enough to be taken home early still has his eternal position in Christ and is saved eternally and will forever be with the Lord. Oh, and by the way, he'll be instantly corrected, right? Even the believer who goes off track badly enough to be taken home early will be conformed to the image of Christ.

Why? Romans 8, he's predestined to be conformed. Right? So, take him home early because he's so off track, but he's still going to be conformed to the image of Christ. Isn't that amazing? We'll have a body like Christ and we'll be like Christ forever. And behold him forever. He'll be saved. He'll be saved forever by God's amazing grace.

And he'll worship the Lord forever, and he'll know the truth, and he won't go on anymore rebelling and causing skepticism and trouble and problems yes God's grace is still amazing and always will be forever isn't it amazing that Ephesians 2.7 says that God will show that is to visually demonstrate his grace on into the rolling ages of eternity and these fellows who were taken home early will be shown God's amazing grace forever.

Isn't that amazing? I think so. Let's pray. Lord, as we see this, we thank you. This is certainly an awesome and ominous passage, but still through it, we see your grace is amazing. We see so much that even the rebellious and way off track believer still has and will have forever. And so we are astounded and amazed at your grace, the grace in which we stand, the grace, the reigning principle, the grace that strengthens us. We thank you for that most amazing grace in Jesus name. Amen.