Christ or Judgment: Those Are the Two Options

In one paragraph

This message came from Hebrews 10:19-31, and Pastor Ray worked through the three "let us" statements that lead into one of the New Testament's most serious warnings. The central argument was straightforward: under the old covenant, the weight of sin falls on you, and you will fail; under the new covenant, it falls on Christ, and he succeeds. The question every person in the room had to sit with...

Read together

1. John 21:25 if everything about Jesus were written down, the whole world could not contain the books, but these things were written so you may have life in his name
2. Hebrews 10:19-21 confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way through the veil, with a great high priest over the house of God
3. Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, bodies washed with pure water
4. Hebrews 10:23 hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, because he who promised is faithful
5. Hebrews 10:24 let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds
6. Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together but encouraging one another as we see the day approaching
7. Hebrews 10:26 if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins
8. Hebrews 10:27 what remains is a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of fire which will consume God's enemies
9. Hebrews 10:28 anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses
10. Hebrews 10:29 how much severer punishment for one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant and insulted the spirit of grace
11. Numbers 15 the person who sins defiantly or willfully, blaspheming the Lord in open rebellion, shall be cut off from his people
12. James 4:17 the one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin
13. Isaiah O Lord, your hand is lifted up and yet they do not see it; your fire will devour your enemies
14. Deuteronomy 17:6 he who is to die shall be put to death on the evidence of two or three witnesses, not on the evidence of one witness
15. Deuteronomy 19:15 a single witness shall not rise up against any man; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed
16. Romans 12:19 never take your own revenge but leave room for the wrath of God, for vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord
17. Deuteronomy 32:35 vengeance is mine and retribution in due time their foot will slip, the day of their calamity is near
18. Deuteronomy 32:36 the Lord will judge his people and vindicate them
19. Hebrews 10:31 it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God
20. Hebrews 10:39 we are not of those who shrink back to the preserving of the soul

Talk about it

1. Tanya described how Roseanne and her husband served in Kenya decades ago, and the fruit of that is still visible today. Can you think of a time when someone's faithful service stirred you toward love and good deeds, even years after the fact?
2. Pastor Ray walked through the three 'let us' statements in Hebrews 10: draw near, hold fast, and consider how to stir one another up. Which of those three feels hardest for you personally right now, and why?
3. Pastor Ray said the assembling together mentioned in Hebrews 10 is actually a tertiary point in the passage, and that the deeper reason to gather is encouragement. How does thinking about it that way change how you approach being here on a Sunday?
4. The sermon drew a distinction between sinning out of ignorance or weakness and sinning willfully, the way an OSHA violation is treated far more severely when the rule is already known. Where do you notice the difference between those two kinds of sin in your own life?
5. Pastor Ray closed by saying you can say yes Lord or you can say no, but you cannot say no Lord, because if He is your Lord the answer is yes. What is one area of your life right now where God is asking for a yes that you have been slow to give?