We turn in the word of God to Hebrews 10 and this passage read a moment ago. There are many who have such low views of church attendance that they think it actually doesn't matter at all. Well here is a frightening connection. that is very troublesome indeed. There is a logic to what Paul is writing here. It begins, verse 25, with the forsaking of ourselves, assembling together, and it ends with apostasy, in verses 26 to 31. Puritan Ralph Venning wrote, it is to be feared that those who leave the saints of God will not cling to their God of saints. We look at these verses under this simple heading, apostasy delineated, or if you want an alternative, after you quit church, What then? Because that's essentially what Paul is doing. He is saying if you forsake the assembly, if you forsake that gathering together, if you forsake the cause of Christ, this is what shall follow. And so there are a number of things here. First of all, apostasy without hope. verses 26 and 27. We must note three elements here. We must note, first of all, the privilege in joy. He says that we have received the knowledge of the truth. We have received truth. To hear the truth is a great and glorious privilege. When you compare that in this land, for example, for a long time before the gospel came, it was riddled with darkness and cannibalism and all kinds of dreadful things. And then the gospel came, and we're thankful that the gospel has remained. So it's a great privilege. And the truth that is set out for you relates to all that the scriptures teach. The word of God, remember, is. the word of truth, which in turn is of course the word of God sent into the world by Jesus Christ, say scripture. So to receive the truth is to have a great privilege bestowed to us. But of course to receive is to do something with that truth. to receive is to take hold of it, to claim it for yourself. But the question is, how firmly was it claimed? How firmly was it grasped? The privilege and joy. But secondly, the sin revealed. It says to sin willfully after. Here is where the root problem is. There was never any real repentance. Sin was never seen as sin, a thing to be feared and hated and mortified. There was never any real repentance. Sin was never hated in the heart, wherever it was found. It was never cut off. The receiving of the truth, the attachment to the church, could not then last because the reign of sin was never broken. There is the problem. Sooner or later it comes to light and the public evidence of that is seen first and foremost in the forsaking of the assembling of ourselves together. The sin revealed. After all that has been taught, after all of the attendance that existed in gathering with the Lord's people. Because the root of sin was never destroyed, so that life and practice of sin becomes more open. The privilege enjoyed, the sin revealed, and the verdict expressed There is no remedy. There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and far indignation which shall devour the adversary. There is no remedy for apostasy. There is no sacrifice. There is only wrath. Now Paul here makes a distinction that is important between ignorance and waywardness and apostasy. So on the one hand, ignorance and waywardness, on the other hand, apostasy. So if you go back to chapter 5 and in verse 2, who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way. So there's one side, but here is the other side. Now the background to this is Numbers 15. So we turn to Numbers 15 and read from verses 27 to 31. And if any soul sinned through ignorance, then he shall bring a she-goat of the first year for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinned ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord, to make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. You shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, who for him that is born among the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth off presumptuously, whether he be born in the land or estranged, the same reprutes it the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because ye despised the word of the Lord, and had broken his commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off, as iniquity shall be upon him. So even The Old Testament makes this biblical distinction between ignorance, waywardness, and those who are apostates, who sin presumptuously. And of course this particular truth is sung in the Psalms of Psalm 19. We have the very scene. So it's important that we remember that even in the Psalms we do make this distinction. What's Paul saying? He is saying to reject the cross is to be left entirely without remnant. That's what he's saying. Verse 18, now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. For ignorance and waywardness, yes, there is tard and there is remedy. But for apostasy, there is no remedy. To reject the cross is to be left without a remedy. There is no more sacrifice of sin. but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. So you see a consistency in the work of God, a consistency in the word of God, as in the Old Testament, so in the New Testament. There's pardon for sin, but there's no pardon for apostasy. So it's apostasy without hope. But then secondly, in verses 28 and nine, apostasy without mercy. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sewer punishment, suppose ye. Shall he be thought worthy of trodden underfoot, the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing? and the undespite unto the spirit of grace. The argument is from the lesser to the greater. How much sorer punishment. Let's note first of all the historic example that you have before us. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy 17 to begin with. Verses 2-7 If there be found among you within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, and transgressing his covenant, and have gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun or moon, or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded, and have betold thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and behold, it be true. And the thing certain that such abomination as wrought in Israel, thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman which hath committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death. But at the mouth of one witness, he shall not be put to death. hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. For us to see without mercy. Someone could make a claim. The claim, therefore, would have to be investigated, and because it was a capital offense, it required a minimum of two witnesses, three average, and those very witnesses had to take part in the execution. Deuteronomy 13. Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, neither shalt Thine eye pity him, neither shalt Thou spare him, neither shalt Thou conceal him, but Thou shalt surely kill him. Thine hand shall be first upon him, the pit of the death, and afterward the hand of all the people." Apostasy, going after other gods and other religions. the historic example. But then secondly, you have the eternal reality of how much sorer punishment, subhogi, shall he be thought worthy. If physical punishment was carried out without mercy, how much more punishment, how much worse the punishment from the wrath of God. As we read with modern eyes and think with modern thoughts, what we've just heard from Deuteronomy 17 and 13, With our modern sensitivities, we might feel appalled and say, isn't this awful? In our pluralistic culture, people might say, live and let live, and so on and so forth. You know, all of these kinds of things. And they say, imagine someone being put to death for worshiping a false god. But you see what Paul has said. You think that is a sore punishment? It is nothing in comparison to facing the punishment from God for being an apostate. In other words, our modern contemporary sensitivities are so useless, so weak, that we shudder at the physical punishment of the apostate as if that is worse than the eternal punishment of the apostate. What Paul is doing, he's drawing a line from the Old Testament, historic example, and he's stretching it all the way to the day of judgment. And he says, as that In terms of its historic reality, there is worse that is to come for every apostle. Paul lists for you three serious faults that lead to that sore punishment. First of all, rejecting Christ, who hath trodden on their foot the Son of God. That phrase trodden underfoot is translated as trampled in Matthew 7, 6. The idea here is to treat with utter contempt and the object of that contempt is none other than the Son of God. Now remember the sequence of what? They once received the truth. They once gathered with the assembly in the hearing and receiving of that truth. And now they have discarded it. And in discarding the truth, they discard Christ, the Son of God. Now that phrase, the Son of God, simply summarizes for you all that he has taught about Christ on chapter one. you think if you go back to chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 God who at sundry times and in diverse manners speak in time fast unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. who made the point and error of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his glory, the expressivity of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power, when he by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Jesus Christ, the visible revelation of the Father, all that God is, is revealed in the face, the person and work of Jesus Christ. tells us all these supernatural things about the Lord, who made all things, who abhors all things. This Son who came into the world, died on the cross, purged our sins, and after that ascended and is glorifying. Verse nine, God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellow. Verse 13, but the witch of the angels said at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. We can't go through every single verse, otherwise we'll take an hour just to read nonstop. Chapter three, verse six, but Christ has a son over his own house, whose house are we. If we hold fast to confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Chapter four, And verse 16, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. And that whole chapter sets out for you why Christ is so central. Jesus, the Son of God, verse 14, a high priest, Chapter 7, verse 26, for such a high priest became us who was wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. The apostate, having heard all of that, and apparently subscribed to it, received it, now rejects it, diminishes, attacks, tramples upon Jesus Christ, that visible revelation of God to the world, greater than Abraham, greater than Moses, greater than all of the angels in heaven. But this creature, this finite piece of dust from the earth, He once received, now rejects. And in their rejection, they turn against Christ. They hate him. They trample upon his name, his person, and his word. And second, profaning the covenant. and have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing." Specifically of course it's the blood of the covenant which ratified or the blood which ratified the covenant. So the cross which is called the blood of the covenant is now maligned. Chapter 9 verse 20 saying this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. And that of course comes all the way from Exodus 24 verse 8. And the word counted is important here, and have counted. It refers to an intellectual action. They now see it all as nothing, of no worth, of no value. In fact, they see the whole thing in crude terms. and they hate it, they count it as an unholy thing. They now find the cross repugnant to them. And their view now of the cross, the blood of the covenant, that blood which ratifies the covenant, their view is the exact opposite of God's view. What is God's view? Wherewith he was sanctified. That word wherewith is instrumental language of course. Sanctified is in the passive sense. The divinely created means, the cross, the repudiated law, is having no meaning, no significance, no worth. So they don't just turn against the person, they now reject the work of the son. You think of Steve Jobs, you know, initially an evangelical. And then, of course, you know the phrase that made him famous, public repudiation of the cross, a public repudiation of its centrality and its significance. And the book of course is called The Lost Message of Jesus. What it revealed was the lostness of Steve Chopp. That's all it revealed. But now as you see where he's at, you can see what has happened. Having repudiated the cross, he now has ended up repudiating the whole definition of sin itself. So the natural outworking of his apostasy is that that which was once considered sinful is now considered normal behaviour. The cross as it is set out in Scripture is repudiated as having neither meaning nor worth. Rejecting Christ for feigning the covenant, and thirdly, despising the Holy Spirit, and had done despise unto the Spirit of grace. Well, you might say, well, why the reference to the Holy Spirit? Well, that's because of chapter nine, verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience? from dead works to serve the living God. It is the Holy Spirit who takes and applies the work and the merit of Christ throughout the centuries and the generations, that eternal spirit. The cross, an historic reality. What makes it effective over time, it is the Holy Spirit continually applying the work of Christ to the sinner's heart through the centuries. It is he after all who causes regeneration and conversion. If you are converted, It's the Holy Spirit who worked regeneration in your dark, dead heart and brought you to life, enabling you to see and understand and believe and take Christ for yourself. But what's the ground of it all? The cross. To reject Christ, to reject the cross is to despise person and work of the Holy Spirit. So here too, the apostate, who would have none of Christ and none of the cross, has none of the Holy Spirit, holds the Holy Spirit in contempt. And now you see and understand why Paul says, of how much sorer punishment. Under Moses, it was physical punishment. Here it is divine punishment. Punishment that is eternal. Apostasy without mercy. There is no mercy for the apostate. And thirdly, verses 30 and 31, apostasy without escape. 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. So we know, first of all, what God said. Him that hath said. And there's this twofold appeal to scripture. The two quotations are from Deuteronomy 32, the first is verse 35, and the second is verse 36. But you'll notice what Paul says, we know him, that is said. Meaning, not simply a general affirmation of what scripture says, but specifically, we know God, we know this God, we know this God who has spoken in scripture. It's the God of the Bible that Paul subscribes to. It's the God of scripture that Paul says we have come to know. We know God. We know this distinctive character of God. The God who has revealed himself in creation, scripture, providence, Christ, It is him who punishes sin. Now through Moses, God said. Note that what Moses says, God said. We know him, that is said. Vengeance is mine, I will repay. Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. The Lord shall judge his people. God is the speaker. agent of wrath. At the same time, while he punishes the wicked, he vindicates his own people. The Lord shall judge his people. In other words, Zion shall be redeemed with judgment. And all of scripture history proves that. The Lord's people are redeemed with judgment. In other words, in judgment God separates his people from the rest, and his wrath falls upon the wicked, while his own are delivered to eternal safety. And second, what it means. What does it all mean? Verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, given what he has just said. I say this to all of you directly, plainly and simply. The worst possible position to be in is in the hand of an angry God. This being is infinitely, eternally, unchangeably holy. The worst possible position is to fall into the hand of an angry God. It doesn't matter your age, whether you be 5 or 50, 10 or 100, we all have to face God. And so Paul lays out for you this solemn truth. It is a fearful thing, the worst possible thing that can happen to you. In our culture, what's the worst possible thing to happen to you? Well, poverty. sickness, disease, going to the doctor and the doctor saying you have six weeks to live, being run over by a car and left paralyzed for the rest of your existence. All of these things, people think that's the worst that can possibly happen. My dear friends, it's not the worst that can happen. I'll tell you the worst that can happen. The worst that can happen is somebody is told, today you will die, and they die without hope, without mercy. They fall into the hands of the living God, unconverted, in their sins, without Christ. Let's come very quickly to some points of application. First of all, the need for true spirituality. It's not enough, though it is good, I grant, but it isn't enough for eternity to say, well, I read my Bible. Of course you should read the scripture. It is a requirement. It's not enough to say, well, I do say my prayers, and that's very important. If you are not depending upon Christ, All of these good things will simply add to your damnation in hell, because you did not believe in Jesus Christ. You did not come in repentance to him, did not cry for pardon, did not cry that he would forgive you for all of your sins, that he would save your soul, change your life, that he would grant you grace and mercy. The need for true spirituality. Think of the parable of the sword. How can we forget the parable of the sword? You know the first one? The first one remained hard, fell by the wayside. But then those two in the middle, the second and the third, they had these wonderful experiences of religious things. But the heart was unchanged. Only the fourth. Now think about that, even mathematically. One out of four is genuine. I wonder how many people in our generation, we fill all these church buildings all across the country, meeting house after meeting house. I wonder how many of them are true, genuine believers, that they have true spirituality, that they are sea of people. that they have been wrought to see their sins, their need of a savior. There will be a day of judgment for every single minister. And there's going to be a day of reckoning for all the ruling elders of the whole country. What shall we all say before the world that we do our duty? that we do what Christ, the head of the church, commanded us. A day of reckoning for every person who has heard. What did you do with the truth as it was said before? Children, older people, how does it fare with you? And secondly, I say to you, view every spiritual declension with suspicion on the law. View every spiritual declension with suspicion on the law. You know, when you get to a point in life where you don't have the energy or the interest in the reading of the scriptures, you leave off prayer, We ought to be alarmed. Is this declension going to end in apostasy? I must run to Christ and seek pardon for that declension. And thirdly and finally, I say to you, to end right, you must begin right. Puritan William Spurstone says, that which is begun in hypocrisy would certainly end in apostasy. We're not going to end right there. We haven't begun right. We haven't started at the cross. If our journey hasn't started there, we're never going to enter heaven. One writer says, the essence of apostasy is changing sides, from that of the crucified to that of the crucifier. So on which side are you standing? The side of the crucified, of Christ? Or on the side of the crucifiers, they who hated Christ? How you end your life will reflect whether or not you have begun to follow Christ. Are you a follower of the Lord? Do you know who the Lord is? Have you considered anything of his deity? The majesty of his person? the splendor of his work, his birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, the solemnity of his return, coming in glory. Revelation, you know, those very sad words of those who, when they see the glory coming, they'll call upon the mighty to fall upon us, hide us, hide us from the glory that has come. Thessalonians describes the other side of those who know Christ. When they see the glory coming, they will admire him and all his splendor. They end right because they started right. Have you started right? May the Lord bless these words.