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THE EVIL AND DANGER OF APOSTASY
WE cannot be too strongly on our guard against attaching ourselves to human systems in religion. The partisans of human systems take a partial view of the Scriptures, leaning invariably to those passages which appear to sanction their favourite dogmas, and excluding all mention of those which have a contrary aspect. They all take it for granted, that the things which they know not how to reconcile, are contrary to, and inconsistent with, each other. But as in a machine wheels may move in opposite directions, and yet so harmonize as to subserve one common end, so, in the word of God, truths, which have an opposite aspect, may be perfectly reconcileable to each other, and equally conducive to the accomplishment of the Divine purposes. The Apostle Paul insisted, as strongly as any one could do, on the doctrines of grace, shewing that all was ordered by God according to the counsel of his own will: yet no Apostle spoke more strongly than he on the danger of apostasy; or taught more forcibly the necessity of continual watchfulness on our part in order to the attainment of those blessings which God had from all eternity prepared for us. It is on this subject that he is speaking in the passage before us; wherein he cautions the Hebrew converts against apostasy, bidding them to hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering; and warning them, that, if they turned back from God, it would be to their everlasting perdition.
In the words which I have just read, he sets forth,
I. The evil of apostasy—
It is not of all sin, or even of all wilful sin, that he speaks: for, if there were no pardon for wilful sin after baptism, or after we have embraced the Gospel, who could hope ever to attain salvation, since there is not a man in the universe who has not, on some one occasion at least, knowingly and wilfully done what he ought not, or left undone what he ought to have done. The sin spoken of in the text, is, a total and wilful apostasy from the Gospel of Christ. This appears from the whole context, both from that which precedes, and that which follows. In the preceding context he bids them to “hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering;” and then he adds, “for, if we sin wilfully;” that is, by renouncing our holy profession, we reduce ourselves to the most awful condition that can be imagined; seeing that, having put away all affiance in the sacrifice of Christ, there remains no other sacrifice for our sins. In the following context the sin is opened at large under three separate heads, which, whilst they mark distinctly the nature of the sin which is intended, display the evil of it in most tremendous colours.
Let us consider each of them in its order—
[Apostasy, he tells us, is a “treading under foot the Son of God.” The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came down from heaven to seek and to save them that were lost. We, when we are baptized in his name, or make a profession of faith in him, acknowledge him before all to be the Saviour of the world. All other lords we then renounce; and all other grounds of hope before God; and in effect we say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life: and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God [Note: Joh_6:68-69.].” But when we renounce our faith in him, we, as far as in us lies, cast him down from his throne, and trample him under our feet; declaring, that he is unworthy of the honour which we had erroneously put upon him, and that we will “no longer have him to reign over us:” yea, we even “crucify him afresh, and put him to an open shame [Note: Heb_6:6.].”
Next, it is a “counting of the blood of the covenant an unholy thing.” The Mosaic covenant was ratified with blood; and with that blood both the tabernacle with all its vessels, and the people who worshipped before it, were sanctified, and set apart as holy to the Lord [Note: Heb_9:18-21.]. The covenant of grace is ratified with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, when we “come to the knowledge of the truth,” we also are sanctified with it, and set apart to the service of our God. We profess to consider that blood as the one procuring cause of all that we either have or hope for: and we look for all the blessings of the covenant solely through the merit of his blood as shed for us, and as sprinkled on us. But, when we cast off our profession, we declare before all, that we consider the blood of Christ as having no virtue at all as an atonement for sin, and as being, in fact, of no more efficacy than the blood of bulls and goats, or even of a malefactor, justly put to death.
Further, it is a doing of “despite unto the Spirit of grace.” The Holy Spirit, both before and after the death of Jesus, bare witness to him by signs and wonders innumerable: and, when we are brought to the knowledge of the truth, it is by that same blessed Spirit illuminating our minds, and sealing the truth with power upon our souls. But, when we renounce the truth we have received, we insult that Divine Agent, as having borne witness to a falsehood: and we ascribe all his miracles either to Satanic agency, or to some mysterious imposture. We even laugh also at the impressions which he has made upon our minds, and deride all his merciful suggestions as fanaticism and delusion.]
In this view of apostasy, say, if it be not a most tremendous evil?
[Those who are guilty of it, speak of it only as a change of sentiment resulting from conviction; and thus they take credit to themselves as having grown in wisdom, and been faithful to their convictions. But God seeth not as man seeth. God beholds all the evils of the heart which have been accessary to this change; and all the injury that results from it, both to his honour, and to the world at large. He sees the pride of heart which will not receive the truth upon his testimony. He sees the love of the world which operates to draw the heart from him; yea, and the enmity of the heart against him, which will not submit, either to be saved or governed in so mysterious a way. In other sins he beholds only a resistance to his authority; but in this, a contempt of all the wonders of his wisdom and love. A person who has never received the knowledge of the truth, cannot commit this sin, or any sin of equal malignity. It is the resisting of light that has been imparted, and the acting contrary to it to such an extent as to call it darkness; this it is which makes the guilt so great, that, humanly speaking, it can never be forgiven. Were it indeed repented of, and were mercy sought through the blood of Jesus, even this sin, great as it is, might be forgiven: but the commission of it implies such desperate wickedness and obduracy, that it never can, without a miracle of mercy, be repented of [Note: Heb_6:4-6.].]
Hence then may be seen,
II. The danger of it—
This is declared,
1. From the very nature of the sin itself—
[Consider what the sin is: it is a discarding of the only remedy which God has provided for the necessities of fallen man. Under the Mosaic dispensation, God revealed himself to the Hebrews as the only true God; and entered into covenant with them to be their God, if they would serve him in sincerity and truth. But, if any one made void that law [Note: ἀ è å ô Þ ó á ò , ver. 28.], and departed from him to worship other gods, he appointed, that, upon the fact being proved by two or three witnesses, the offender should be stoned to death [Note: Deu_17:2-7.]; and it was expressly forbidden to any person to conceal the crime: if it should have been committed by a man’s dearest friend or relative, he must reveal it to the constituted authorities, and take the lead in executing sentence on the offender [Note: Deu_13:6-9.]. In this law the Hebrews had acquiesced as holy, and just, and good. (Here let me suggest, by the way, that the illustration here brought by the Apostle farther shews, what the sin was of which he spake; namely, that it was not every wilful sin, but a wilful renunciation of the Gospel of Christ.) Now, says the Apostle, if so severe a sentence was executed, without any mercy, on the contemner of the Mosaic covenant, and the judges themselves declared the offender to be “worthy of it [Note: Deu_17:6.],” “of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has renounced the Christian covenant; since he has trodden under-foot the Son of God, &c.?” Here he appeals to them, and makes them judges in their own cause. And to you also do I appeal. If they who renounced that legal covenant, the provisions of which were chiefly of a temporal nature, and the engagements of it ratified only with the blood of beasts, were counted worthy of such a tremendous punishment as death; of how much sorer punishment must he be worthy, who renounces the covenant of grace, in which all the blessings of grace and glory are made over to us, and which has been ratified and confirmed with the blood of God’s only dear Son? I consent that you shall be judges in your own cause, and the arbiters of your own fate. They who renounced the law were guilty of most egregious folly and ingratitude: but their impiety was not to be compared with yours: for whilst, as renouncing the only means of salvation, you resemble them, your impiety is greater than theirs, in proportion as the covenant which you despise is more glorious than theirs, and the mercies which you reject have been purchased for you at a dearer rate.
Know then, that to such persons “there remains no more sacrifice for sins.” Under the law, the sacrifices were repeated from year to year; but not so under the Gospel: Christ will never die for your sins again; nor will any other offering be made in his stead: and therefore, having renounced him, “nothing remains for you but a certain fearful looking-for of judgment,” whilst you continue here; and “of fiery indignation,” when you go hence, “that shall devour all the adversaries” of God and his Christ. Even here, I say, the punishment of such persons is awful: for, to say the least, they are in a state of uncertainty what shall be their fate in the eternal world; and they have frequently in their minds and consciences such an anticipation of their doom, as appals their souls, and terrifies their spirits, and forms a very hell within them: and the moment they go hence, the wrath of an incensed God comes upon them to the uttermost.]
2. From the fixed determination of God to punish it—
[God has said, “Vengeance belongeth unto me; and I will recompense [Note: Deu_32:35.].” And again, “The Lord shall judge his people [Note: Deu_32:36.].” Now if he, as the moral Governor of the universe, has determined to execute justice, as well as to shew mercy; and if the administering of justice be no less necessary to his own glory than the dispensing of mercy, what have the contemners of his Gospel to expect? He has said, he will thus display his righteousness at the last day: and “we know him who has said it:” we know that he is almighty, and therefore able to inflict punishment; and we know he is true, and therefore will fulfil his word. It is in vain to think that he will change: for “he is not a man, that he should lie; or the son of man, that he should repent.” Seeing then that he will take the matter into his own hands, judge ye, whether it be not “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Were it only a mortal man that was incensed, and you had no way of escape from him, it were a terrible state for you to be in: but what must it be to be exposed to the wrath of the living God, who, whilst he ever lives to execute vengeance, will preserve you in existence, that you may eternally endure it? Think of enduring “the wrath of the Lamb,” which will be so much the more terrible, in proportion as his mercy in submitting to be slain for you has been slighted and despised.]
“Suffer ye then, brethren, a word of Exhortation”—
1. Watch and pray against every wilful sin—
[“Keep thy servant from presumptuous sin,” said David; “then shall I be innocent from the great transgression [Note: Psa_19:13.].” Now, though it is true that every wilful sin, or every presumptuous sin, does not involve us in all the guilt of apostasy, yet it leads to apostasy as its natural end and issue; because it hardens the heart, and sears the conscience, and grieves the Holy Spirit, and provokes God to leave us to ourselves: and, if once God say of us, “They are joined to idols; let them alone [Note: Hos_4:17.];” our doom is sealed, and our perdition sure. Let me then affectionately entreat you to guard against every wilful sin, whether of commission or omission. A man does not become an apostate all at once: he first indulges some secret lust, some filthiness either of the flesh or spirit. Then he declines into formality in his secret walk with God: then his besetting sin gets an ascendant over him: then he becomes indifferent to public ordinances; and so, from opposing the Gospel in his heart and life, he comes to abandon it even in profession, and to relapse into avowed infidelity, and a contempt of all true religion [Note: Ecclus. 19:1.]. The misery which such persons frequently endure in this life, is sufficient to make us dread such an event as this — — — But that which the apostate soul shall endure in the eternal world, surpasses all conception. It would have been better for such an one never to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to desert it, and make shipwreck of his faith [Note: 2Pe_2:20-21.].]
2. Bear in mind your obligations to Christ and to his Holy Spirit—
[Why did the Lord Jesus Christ die under the load of all your guilt? Was it that you might continue in your sins? — — — Why did the Holy Spirit undertake to renew and sanctify your souls; and why has he begun a work of grace in your hearts? Was it that you might “return again with the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to a wallowing in the mire?” Let then the Lord Jesus Christ behold in you the fruits of his love — — — and let the Holy Spirit rejoice in beholding in you the efficacy of his grace — — — Then it will be no formidable thing to “fall into the hands of the living God:” on the contrary, you may then with joyful hope look forward to the time of your departure, and, after the example of that Saviour in whom you have believed, you may say in your dying hour, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”]