but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.
3 sermons cite this verse
II. Now, in the second place, we have in our text AN ENTREATY TO THE BACKSLIDER. "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." I must speak but briefly on this point, but I need to be as earnest as I am brief. So, Backslider, you have come in here, tonight. A friend who is up from the country persuaded you to accompany him, or you would probably not have been here, for you have almost given up going to a place of worship—you think there is no hope for you. Friend, do you know what your doom will be if you continue as you are now? Have you ever read the story of Judas? Do you know what became of Demas, Simon Magus, Alexander the coppersmith and others who turned aside from the faith in the days of the Apostles? Remember those terrible, yet Inspired words, "If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." It would have been better for you never to have had any knowledge of the Truth of God than to have known it and then sinned willfully against it, and so, after all, to be a castaway! If you are a true child of God, though a wanderer from His ways, you will be brought back to Him and I pray that you may be brought back to Him this very hour! But if you are an apostate, a backslider in heart, you will be filled with your own ways! Having filled up the measure of your iniquity, you will be driven from God's Presence into the place of woe where hope and mercy can never come! …
9. Toward those who have never tasted of the good word, God is indeed pitiful and of tender mercy. But justice takes place with regard to those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and have afterwards turned back “from the holy commandment” then “delivered to them.” “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened;” (Heb. 6:4) in whose hearts God had once shined, to enlighten them with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; “who have tasted of the heavenly gift” of redemption in his blood, the forgiveness of sins; “and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,” of lowliness, of meekness, and of the love of God and man shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost which was given unto them; and “have fallen away,” — kai parapesontas — (here is not a supposition, but a flat declaration of matter of fact) “to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” But that none may misunderstand these awful words, it should be carefully observed, (1.) Who they are that are here spoken of; namely they, and they only, who were once thus “enlightened;” they only, “who did taste of” that “heavenly gift, and were” thus “‘made partakers of the Holy Ghost.” So that all who have not experienced these things are wholly unconcerned in this Scripture. (2.) What that falling away is which is, here spoken of: It is an absolute, total apostasy. A believer may fall, and not fall away. He may fall and rise again. And if he should fall, even into sin, yet this case, dreadful as it is, is not desperate. For “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.” But let him above all things beware, lest his “heart be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin;” lest he should sink lower and lower, till he wholly fall away, till he become as salt that hath lost its savour: For if we thus sin wilfully, after we have received the experimental “knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins; but a certain, fearful looking for of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” …
Hence they argue, “Certainly, I do not say that he shall pray for it, is equivalent with, I say he shall not pray for it. So the Apostle supposes him that has committed this sin, to be in a desperate state indeed! So desperate, that we may not even pray for his forgiveness; we may not ask life for him And what may we more reasonably suppose to be a sin unto death, than a wilful rebellion after a full and free pardon? (2). “Consider, Secondly,” say they, “those terrible passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews; one of which occurs in the sixth chapter, the other in the tenth. To begin with the latter “If we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no other sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and done despite to the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance is mine; I will recompense, saith the Lord. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!’ (Heb. 10:26–31.) Now, is it not here expressly declared by the Holy Ghost, that our case is desperate? Is it not declared, that ‘if, after we have received the knowledge of the truth,’ after we have experimentally known it, ‘we sin wilfully,’ — which we have undoubtedly done, and that over and over, — ‘there remaineth no other sacrifice for sin; but a certain looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries?’ …