A Community of Serious-Minded People

In the book of Ezekiel, the Sunday before last we began a chapter—or rather, a topic—and I left a great many things unsaid that I want to return to this morning. The Lord has laid it on my heart to share a series of sermons with you, and I have been looking for a title for it. The idea occurred to me of calling them “Orthodox Sermons,” or also “Doctrinal Sermons.”

Why do I use the phrase “orthodox sermons”? Because orthodoxy means the legitimate doctrine of the church, the historic doctrine of the church, the biblical doctrine that conforms to the Word. The opposite of orthodoxy is heresy. Heresy clearly means that which is contrary to the Word of God, that which departs from sound doctrine. Orthodoxy, on the other hand, is precisely that: sound teaching, correct teaching.

There are doctrinal truths in the Word of God that are important to return to; it is important to review them throughout the Christian life, and it is important for those who enter the Gospel to enter into that sound doctrine and to know those fundamental truths of the Word of God. So many of these sermons will be completely basic sermons, but they will touch on some important point of doctrine. We have already pointed out, for example, this past Sunday, this matter I have been speaking about... The doctrine of hell, for example, is not very pleasant, is it? But we see that there is a place referred to in Scripture in that regard, and we cannot do anything but refer to it. It is not that we emphasize it, obviously, or make it the center of our teaching, but it is part of the doctrine of God. And I am going to speak about many things over the next few Sundays. I am going to speak about grace, for example—that we are certainly saved by grace and not by works.

We have to balance one thing with the other. I also want to speak, for example, about the deity of Jesus Christ. The Catholic and evangelical church has taught throughout the centuries, for example, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He is part of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and that these three are one—which is a logical contradiction, but it is a reality.

I also want to speak about the Bible as the Word of God, which is true in all its assertions. I want to speak about the second coming of Jesus Christ as well. I want to speak about Jesus Christ as the only way. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me....”

So it is a true doctrine that Christ is the mediator; there is only one mediator between God and men: the man Christ Jesus. That contradicts many doctrines that are out there. There are even Christians who say that a person can be saved according to his own faith, according to his own path, and unfortunately that is contrary to what the Bible says: that Jesus Christ is the only way, right?

And I also want to speak about the doctrine of heaven. A few weeks ago, I said that many of us Christians have allowed the doctrine of heaven to be stolen from us, and we have also allowed the doctrine of hell to be stolen from us. These things have to be kept in balance. The sound doctrine of the church is often a mixture of apparent contradictions. It is a balance between extremes, and that is why we Christians often feel driven to abandon one of the extremes: because we do not like the tension; we do not like having to maintain a balance between things. We prefer the ease of resting on one side or the other, and sometimes we cut away part of what is a complex and balanced doctrine.

So, for me, my passion in the Christian life is to maintain a balance between grace and holiness, between heaven and hell, between a loving, gentle, compassionate, patient God and also a God who is holy and who, the Bible says, is a consuming fire, who is jealous for His holiness and expects us to live in the same way.

So always remember that if you catch me preaching a sermon about one of those subjects, the sermon will probably have another side as well, and give me the opportunity to present both sides. Do not simply think that the pastor woke up in a bad mood and is preaching about hell and that is all, okay?

There are also many doctrines that provide assurance. Another thing I want to discuss is the believer’s assurance, as that verse says: “...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ...?” Obviously, the answer is nothing. Neither angels, nor principalities, nor height, nor depth, nor things future, nor things to come, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

That is a word of assurance for the believer, isn’t it? So that he is not struggling with, “Am I saved today? Will I be saved tomorrow? When I die, will I be able to be saved?” We do not have to live with that anxiety, because Christ has already done the work. But there is also another side that says we are responsible as well. It says, “...Work out your salvation”—how?—“with fear and trembling.”

So you see there that there is a kind of balance. On the one hand, He tells me, “This is secure; no one is going to separate you from Me,” but He also says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”

There are other doctrines like that. For example, Calvinism and Arminianism have been dividing the church for several centuries. There is a group of Christians who say—and many Christians, including official Baptist and Reformed doctrine, for example, say—that once you are saved, you are always saved, right? God chooses those who will be saved and chooses those who will be lost, and if He determined that you are going to be saved, then forget about it: even if they have to drag you in by the hair, they will get you into the Kingdom of Heaven, because you are going to be saved, since God determined that it would be so. And once God has determined that you are going to be saved, it is impossible for you to be lost. Well, if God determined it, that is how it is.

Others say—and Calvinism likewise says—that if God determined that you are going to be lost, it is part of His providence; He decided it that way, because Paul says, for example, that He chose some vessels for honor and other vessels for dishonor. That is Calvinism, and as I say, there are many solid Christians who love the Lord—we are not talking about scoundrels out there, no, but solid people—who believe that doctrine, which is called the doctrine of Calvin. He was the one who set it forth more clearly during the sixteenth century.

There are other Christians who say, “No, man is free to choose, and God does not.... If God, then, is the one who chooses, well, why does anyone have to do anything, right? You simply leave it to chance; it is a lottery. Hopefully I will hit the jackpot and God will have chosen me, right?”

But I personally believe that there is a part we have to do and that it is not so easy to say, “Well, God has already saved me, period, and now I do not have to worry about anything.” And there is balance. The problem with heresies is often that they go to one side or the other of that balance, because the Word of God is extremely complex. I am telling you that from the outset.

And that is why we have to know the Word of God. I spoke about it with the youth ministry a while... We had a good, pleasant conversation a few months ago about the importance of our young people, for example, being grounded in Scripture and knowing the Bible. Because when a man or woman is grounded in the Bible, knows it, and can navigate the pages of the Bible from one end to the other—knows the great themes of the Bible, the great figures, the great doctrines, the great movements, the major divisions of Scripture—brother, you can go off to a desert island with your Bible under your arm, and there you are a general, let me tell you. No one will be able to draw you away from God in that case, because the Word of God will always be a lamp to your path.

So it is important for us to be knowledgeable about the Word. I believe that once a person falls in love with the Word of God and reads it every day, or as often as he can, without being legalistic—we do not have to say every day—but you become a devoted student of the Word of God, then look, you are almost ready to go straight to heaven, shoes and all, because the Word of God is the source of all wisdom, it is our manual for life, and it teaches us how to relate to God.

I love believers who love the Word of the Lord; those Christians will be sealed in a precious way. And we are at a time in history, in the progress of the church, when there is a great deal of erroneous doctrine out there, and that is why we Christians have to know the Bible; we have to know the Word of God. And our responsibility as pastors and as preachers in a church is to instruct people in the Word of the Lord.

I tell you, brothers and sisters, do not depend on me or on the preachers. By the time the Word reaches you through my mouth, it has already passed through the Bible, through books, through me; what reaches you then consists of nutrients that, in a sense, have almost disappeared. But when you go directly to the tree and eat directly from the Word, ah, then it is different.

I can be wrong many times in what I preach, but if you have the Word of God in front of you, you can say, “Hmm... the pastor is right,” or, “I am going to let this soak for a while and see what the Holy Spirit tells me later.” And the church today needs Christians who understand the Word of God. We see such a great number of things on television from well-intentioned preachers who, nevertheless, often preach things that are not entirely sound according to the Word. That is why today we need Christians who know well what the Word of the Lord says.

So be aware that I am going to be speaking about these doctrinal subjects over the next few weeks, and I hope that together we will benefit from this study. I want to turn now to Ezekiel, chapter 33, where we were last Sunday. And you will remember that I told you there that God does not want anyone to be lost. Do you remember that was the Sunday before last? God does not want anyone to be lost. God is not out there with some quota of how many.... No, it says that God wants all people to come to salvation.

Do you know what the Lord’s greatest joy would be? That on Judgment Day absolutely every one of His creatures would enter the Kingdom of Heaven and not a single one would be lost. That is the heart of God, but unfortunately that is not how it will be. Yet God insists, “I do not want anyone to be lost.”

And that is a great doctrine, a great teaching. We speak about hell, but it is important to tell people, “No, it is not that God wants people to be lost; He wants everyone to pass the test and even get an A.”

Then, in verse 11 of Ezekiel 33, it says: “...Say to them, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I do not desire the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live....”

I want you to observe something here so that you know where I am going and can read the passage intelligently with me. What I want to emphasize in this sermon is the following idea: another important thing is that the Christian life is not merely a matter of intellectual faith, of belief, nor even of faith in the heart; it is also a matter of behavior and works, and the two things are intertwined. That is very important for understanding this aspect of Christian doctrine: the Gospel has a component of faith—simply entrusting ourselves to Christ, joining our destiny to Jesus, and knowing that it is by His wounds that we have been healed.

I cannot heal myself; I cannot save myself by anything I do. But God also expects my life to reflect my faith. Amen. He expects my behavior to reflect what I preach and what I believe, and He expects there to be a balance, a unity, an integration between these two dimensions of the Christian life: faith and works. And throughout history, the church has been divided over precisely where the balance between these two elements lies.

Many evangelical churches have gone to the extreme of works, and if you ask them, they will tell you, “Yes, salvation is by faith.” But listen to the doctrine they teach, their preaching, their governance, and everything else: it does not reflect that. Instead, it is as though people are saved entirely by works, and everything is works: “Do this, do that, do not wear makeup, do not do this, do not do that,” because it is all as though outward things and actions are what determine salvation.

And others have gone to the other extreme of grace. But I am already getting ahead of my sermon, so let me go back a little. Look at what it says here:

“...I do not desire the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way....”

Look at two things here. In that “I want him to turn,” I see that he turned from—that he changes direction. Now, I see two things there: number one, who is the one who has to turn? Whom is He telling to turn? The wicked person, right? It is not as though God is going to grab him by the shoulders and turn him around Himself, is it? No. He says, no, I want him to turn. The responsibility lies with the wicked person. Now, God may be at work—notice this—God is at work there, calling the wicked person, warning him, encouraging him, often placing circumstances around him to lead him in that direction. But personally, I do not believe that God opens the lid of a person’s brain, touches him with a magic wand, and turns him into a robot so that he will turn. Because then where is man’s freedom? Where is human responsibility? Where, even, is human dignity?

God will never operate in such an authoritarian, so utterly unilateral manner upon the will of any human being. He respects it... I believe that sometimes He would like to do it, but He is restrained by the respect He has for us and by the free will He has given this creature called man, called woman, who in dignity is a little lower than the angels.

Thus, the respect God has for His adult creature prevents Him from sovereignly and unilaterally forcing that person to convert; otherwise, the world would already be a bed of roses, a paradise. But God cannot do it that way. All these wars, all these things—people ask, “How can God allow this?” Well, it is not God. God is there biting His knuckles, wanting to set human history right, but mankind collectively chooses something else and heads off in other directions.

But notice here where God places the emphasis: God does not want man to be lost. And remember something interesting here: God is speaking here to the Hebrew people, the Jewish people, His people, and for centuries God has already been warning those people that if they do not repent, if they continue worshiping false gods and worshiping demons and committing every kind of collective and moral injustice, God will drive them out of the land He gave them years earlier, when they came out of Egypt.

And God has been sending them prophets and more prophets and judges to help them out of their troubles, and what have they done? They have killed the prophets; they have stoned them. When God has blessed them and solved their problems, they go right back to doing the same thing. And God is already weary. He is reaching the limit of His patience, and He sends them the prophet Ezekiel, one more prophet, to see whether they will repent, and even then they do not repent. Centuries passed before God finally let His judgment fall.

Now, I wonder whether something similar is happening with humanity. For centuries God has been telling humanity certain things, but man persists in remaining far from God’s truth. There is a parallel here, but in one sense Israel is also us, because we are now the people of God, although He also has His plans for Israel. But God says something similar to us. We are going to look at that, because I am also speaking to the church about the conduct and the kind of life God requires of us.

Then He says, “...I do not want him to be lost, but to turn....”

That is, first, he has to turn of his own will, and second, to turn means to change his behavior. First there is an act of the will, and afterward there is an outward act of conduct. Those are the two things always involved in repentance in the Bible: a decision of the heart, mind, and will, and then a decision that becomes visible in deeds and conduct. That is why it is so important for us to understand in this passage the expression “that he turn,” which has a physical implication, isn’t it?

“...but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?...”

God is pleading with the people. “...And you, son of man, say to the children of your people....”

Notice how interesting this is here. It says, “...the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day that he rebels, and the wickedness of the wicked shall not be an obstacle to him on the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live by his righteousness on the day that he sins....”

What is God saying there? Let us take it part by part. It says, “...the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day that he rebels....” What He is saying there is this: for example, suppose you are a child of God, you were converted to the Lord, you received the truth of the Gospel, and you said, “Yes, what the Bible says is true; Jesus Christ is God, etc., and I must accept Him as my Lord and Savior.” And for ten years you live a proper Christian life, behave well, and keep your faith. But what happens? Afterward you begin doing things that are not of God, you stray from the ways of the Lord, you do not follow the doctrine of the Gospel, and you do not act properly. What happens? Those previous ten years that you spent serving the Lord and doing everything right will not count in your favor. It is not as though they are going to give you credit and say, “Well, since he had ten years, I will give him only 150 in purgatory.” No, it does not work that way.

Unfortunately—how nice it would be if it worked that way, wouldn’t it? As though they could deduct all the years that... “Lord, I behaved badly for three years, or for two weeks, so deduct them from the twenty years before that.” The Lord says, “No, that is not how it works.” The person who behaves well has to continue until the end. The one who perseveres to the end is the one who will be saved, the Bible says, right?

Once again, you see this idea of... What I want to impress upon our minds is the great responsibility that you and I have, and in one sense that fills me with wonder, because God considers me so important. You are responsible for your life. God created you free, and God expects you to make certain decisions; the way you conduct yourself in this life and whether you embrace the faith of the Gospel will determine many things that happen in your life.

We cannot simply look at God and say, “Well, my God, I surrender to You; do whatever You want with my life,” etc. That is true up to a point, but God will always say to you, “No, you have a very great responsibility because I respect you. You are My grown child, and I want you to conduct yourself in a certain way and to enter into dialogue with Me.”

So, “...the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day that he rebels....” But notice how interesting and how good it is to know this as well: “...nor shall the wickedness of the wicked be an obstacle to him on the day that he turns from his wickedness....”

That is good news. What does it mean? A woman may spend ten years behaving wickedly, corruptly, sinfully, and then one day she comes to know the Lord, repents, gives her life to Christ, and changes her ways. You know what? Those ten years immediately disappear from the computer. God puts Wite-Out, or whatever it may be, over that entire portion containing the sins on the computer and presses Delete—boom, everything disappears. Nothing remains on the record. Not even a computer expert could go looking on the hard drive to see whether anything was left. It is completely erased from the record, as though she had never sinned. That woman becomes a pure virgin the moment she enters the ways of the Lord.

All her sins are erased, and God says, “...I will remember them no more....” How precious that is, isn’t it? Someone said, “If God cast your sins into the depths of the sea, do not pick up a fishing rod and stand there trying to fish them out.” Because many times, you know, our past sins begin to torment us, and the devil begins to torture us and remind us of what we did—this, that, and the other—and we live a life under accusation.

The beautiful thing about the Gospel is that once we repent, God erases our sins, erases our record, and we begin with a clean slate. How great is the Lord’s mercy. Amen.

God makes things so easy; anyone who is lost is lost because of his own foolishness, because in one sense God provided such a simple plan. But God is also so upright, isn’t He?

So, the person who behaves badly after coming to know the Lord and lives a systematically and persistently sinful life has lost all those years he put on the record. Now, the person who behaved badly—no matter what he did—is free from sin if there is deep repentance. That is what allows us to think, “Look, when some people get to heaven, you will say, ‘How did they let that scoundrel in here?’” Well, at some point in his life he had an encounter with God and repented, and no one can say who will ultimately be saved and who will be condemned, let me tell you, because God is merciful until the very last moment.

That is why I believe God chose to forgive the thief on the cross. That man had no time to tithe; he had no time to shout, “Glory to God! Hallelujah!” He had no time to be baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues; he had no time to go to the person he had robbed and say, “Forgive me; I am going to repay you.” He could do nothing except repent and entrust himself to the arms of Jesus Christ.

A few seconds before dying, he says to Jesus, “Remember me when You are in Your Kingdom.” And the Lord said to him, “You know what? Do not worry; today you will be with Me in paradise.” All he did was undergo a change of heart. That is why I say, look, I am going to be surprised at what bloodthirsty person I run into in heaven, because perhaps at some point there was repentance in his heart.

Now, be careful. Do not start scheming there, saying, “Well, what I am going to do is wait until the very last second, and then I will repent.” Lord, rebuke the devil, as G. Ávila says, because some people are going to be in for a surprise as well. They will want to set things right at the last moment, but God already knows their evil intention and will give them a kick instead, and they will end up over there roasting with the little devils.

You have to be careful. Do not play games with God; we cannot play games with God, because God is far too old for us to be trying to play little games with Him. He knows every trick. But that is the truth: God is so merciful that this is how He is.

Then, “...the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness on the day that he sins, nor shall the wicked perish because of his unrighteousness on the day that he repents....”

Notice another interesting thing here. Verse 2 says, “...when I say to the righteous, ‘You shall surely live,’ and he, trusting in his righteousness, commits iniquity—notice that, commits iniquity—...none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but he shall die for the iniquity he committed....”

He is repeating the same idea in a more emphatic and detailed way. Now, “...and when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns—again, that is why I say that it is difficult for me to believe that God manipulates man, turns him into a robot, and tells him, ‘You are going to be saved, and therefore you must be saved whether you want to be or not; and once you are inside the Gospel, you must be saved even if you want to leave it.’ Because the language I always see in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, when God speaks to man, is language that respects his free will, respects his will, respects his freedom to choose, respects his freedom to go to hell or heaven if he wishes. That is the predominant language; that is what I see. And that is why I cannot lose myself in a perfectionistic, rationalistic theological point, because the entire thrust of Scripture is toward respect for man’s freedom, and at that moment God says, ‘Okay, what do you want to do?’ A light comes on inside the person, and he has to decide what he is going to do. It is a moment of supreme freedom in which man is poised there over the abyss, with nothing but his freedom.

That is why existentialist philosophy—a modern philosophy originating in France with Jean-Paul Sartre—appeals to me when it speaks of man as completely free, of man moving over an abyss. Now, the problem with Jean-Paul Sartre and all the other existentialist philosophers is that they have nowhere else to go: man is simply free over an abyss, but he has no God to rescue him, no help from anyone; there is only pure freedom. Man is pure freedom, and that is why the doctrine of existentialism is so negative. It is very sublime, very interesting, and has given rise to a great deal—for example, Hemingway and others, as well as Jean-Paul Sartre himself in his plays and everything else, transformed it into great art and great literature, because it is very dramatic and, in one sense, beautiful—but I like it because it recovers that idea of man’s freedom.

Man is completely free. Where it goes astray again is that it does not include God in the picture, but only total freedom. Yet the Bible emphasizes that freedom of yours and mine, and that freedom is not lost even while we are walking in the ways of the Lord. That clock keeps going ticktock, ticktock: freedom, freedom, freedom. You are continually free. God does not intrude into that sacred dimension of your nature.

“...If he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right—once again, and does what is lawful and right—....”

You see here the emphasis on action. I sometimes wonder—look, there are people, for example, in Latin America; it is a matter of concern to me. I am not exactly sure of the solution to that dilemma, but look, for example, at how this applies. I have read about, for example, and have even met, people—let us say military officers in Latin America—who did terrible harm during a dictatorship, who committed abuses, and even politicians who abused their government positions and stole vast amounts of money from the people, millions of dollars, and filled their pockets with wealth and ill-gotten money; they bought houses and cars and traveled abroad. They came back with suitcases full of clothes, all of that, and one day they meet the Lord Jesus Christ and repent, but there is no attempt whatsoever to set those injustices right, and we receive them into our churches and everything; but I do not know—if I were that person, even though I had repented, there would still be this one thing: I have not made restitution. I continue enjoying that mansion I stole from the people, and those cars I stole from the people, and all those things; and many people are converted, but there is no....

Do you understand what I am saying? The Christian life is complex—make no mistake about it—and many of us preachers do not dare to bell the cat. Who is going to take on that tough bull? I believe the church’s role is often to trouble people’s consciences and to say one thing to the person on the left and another to the person on the right, even if they do not like it. We must always remain at the center of the word of the Lord.

So we must be careful, because the Bible speaks of restitution. When Zacchaeus repented, he said, ‘Lord, today I repent, and you know what? I am going to give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have harmed or wronged anyone, I will pay it back fourfold, with interest.’ Why? Because Zacchaeus had been bloodthirsty and had badly administered his government position, and he made restitution.

We have to be careful in life, brothers and sisters, because the Bible is very complex. It is not merely, well, I repented, I have settled things with the Lord; many times, however, there are ties and things from the past that consist of wealth we acquired unjustly. There are things that, insofar as possible... Now, I do not want you to live your life tormented either; if something happened in the past and you have not had the opportunity to set it right, whatever it may be, entrust yourself to God’s mercy. But neither do I want us to be so morally and ethically superficial. Because I believe we take far too many liberties with God, and we preachers at this point in history sin by telling people, peace, peace, peace; do not worry, God is merciful, God is loving. But God also has a very serious side. And so we give people a false sense of security, and people live a superficial, easy Gospel and do not enjoy all the benefits of the Christian life, because there are things they must set right in their lives, and they are making mistakes and allowing themselves liberties in their behavior and in their walk that do nothing but give the devil a foothold.

The Bible says, ‘Do not give the devil a foothold...’ Do not give him an opportunity, because the devil is a terrible accuser; he is a tremendous Pharisee who will slip in wherever he can, through the tiniest crack in your life. And we Christians must bear in mind that seriousness of the Gospel: it is faith, but it is also action—the two things joined together.

Are you uncomfortable enough, or do you want me to turn the temperature up a little more? Look at what it says again:

“..... if he turns from his sins, verse 14, and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked man restores the pledge—there is that aspect that is as though he were digging a screwdriver into your ribs and beginning to turn it—... if the wicked man restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live and shall not die....”

Now, we also remember that we are talking about the Old Testament, where that great help that is Christ Jesus and grace was not yet fully at work, and therefore the language is not as nuanced as it is in the New Testament. But that does not mean that God somehow repented and began a new moral system as a consequence of the New Covenant; he continues using the same moral concepts and principles at all times.

That is why I say: do not play games with God. I say it to myself: do not play games with God. We have to be careful.

“.... none of the sins he committed will be remembered against him; he did what is lawful and right; he shall surely live....”

Again, it is not that he is going to be saved merely by doing that. You can do everything you want to set things right, but if you do not have Jesus, your good works will be of no use to you. Jesus Christ comes first, as the foundation, and then, once Jesus Christ is there as the foundation, God expects you to do good works. Again, I want to qualify that much, much more carefully.

Again, there is that concept.... Now we are going to read other passages; for example, let us go to the New Testament now. Let us go, for example, to Hebrews, to the Epistle to the Hebrews, so that you can see how these things relate to one another, how complex it is. So you have to learn to study the Bible, brother. I hope that one day the Lord will lead us all to an understanding of Scripture, so that we can move from one page to another, connect one thing with another, and compare one concept, one text, with another, because we are like lawyers who know the penal code and can draw from here and there and put everything together in order to have sound, balanced doctrine.

In Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 26. Hebrews is a very interesting epistle that I hope we will also be able to study one day. It is also a rather serious epistle, as is the Epistle of James. In fact, Martin Luther did not much like the Epistle to the Hebrews because, I believe, it complicated things for his doctrine of grace. But in any event, look: Hebrews 10:26 is now speaking here to Christians, saved by the blood of Jesus, saved by grace, and so on. Hebrews 10:26 says:

“... for if we sin willfully—what does that word mean? It means deliberately, it means on purpose, it means irresponsibly, it means with premeditation and malice aforethought, right? You have thought it through carefully, calculated it carefully, and had an opportunity to repent, but you go straight ahead and do what is not right.

There is a difference between those times when we are caught by sin or when we make a mistake and repent and return to the ways of the Lord. But Scripture warns that, look, that person who sins deliberately—as it says here, intentionally, willfully, systematically, persistently—is here one day and there the next. He goes out, comes back in, does this, does that; he is continually underestimating the holiness of God, and it says here that this does not have a good outcome. It says:

“... for if we sin willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth....”

That is why I cannot be a staunch Calvinist, because it contradicts so many texts of Scripture. After you know the truth, some say, well... you came to know it because God caused you to know it, and therefore you are already part of this team. No; after you came to know the truth, what does it say?:

“..... there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins...”

In other words, the person who turns away from God after having tasted the truths of the Gospel no longer has many resources available; not many resources remain because he has already used up all the bullets he had. And so we must be careful.

These are the passages that make life difficult for me when I speak about the grace of God, and all I want is for you to leave here with a shadow in your mind—that is all—a tiny dot that tells you, ‘This is not as easy as I thought.’ Tell the person next to you, ‘This is not as easy as I thought.’ I am joking....

The Gospel is serious.... The Gospel is a serious matter. We see many passages like this, where Scripture says, “........if we sin willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a raging fire that will devour the adversaries.....”—Oh, oh, oh, I do not like that language. I wish they would take it out of the Bible, but it is there; what can we do? I have to preach it because it is there. Amen, sister; I wish I did not have to do it, but that is the way it is.

Again, this is simply not meant to spoil your fun or ruin your lunch after the service, but rather to help us be sober and understand how serious the Christian life is, right? Because you should also remember that merciful God; but you cannot play games with God.

“... anyone who violates the law of Moses, verse 28 says,”—speaking to Jews and giving an example from Jewish law—“dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses....”

That is under the imperfect covenant of the law: “..... how much greater punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled the Son of God underfoot....”

In other words, if in the Old Testament, under an imperfect law—the Law of Moses—someone who violated the law was said to have to die on the testimony of two witnesses, it says: how much more if someone violates Jesus—no longer Moses, but the dignity of Jesus—if he violates the Son of God? Because when we sin in that persistent and hardened manner, we are humiliating the Son of God, we are underestimating the importance of the Gospel, we are defiling something as sublime as Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. So it is logical, is it not?

“..... how much greater punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled the Son of God underfoot and regarded the blood of the Covenant as unclean.....”

In other words, if he regards it as something lesser, something filthy—“..... the blood of the Covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace....”

In other words, the person who sins in such a crude manner is insulting that grace of God, that mercy of God, that God who forgave you again and again and again, and who will forgive you many times when you repent; and yet you keep offending him, and he says, ‘Look, now you are abusing that grace, that mercy, that love of your God. You are defiling it, and so all that awaits you is punishment.’

Brothers and sisters, this is the word of God. Amen. It is not Pastor Miranda who is upset with you; on the contrary, because I love you, I compel myself to speak about these things. There will be gentler sermons later, but at this moment this is what the word of the Lord says, right?

Let us quickly go to another passage like this so that we can see.... For example, go to Hebrews chapter 6, right there, just a little farther back, verses 1 through 3. The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to believers and contains many interesting things. It says:

“Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teachings of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith in God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment....”

What is it saying here? It is talking about.... It is a call to Christians—to us—to move toward maturity. There are many Christians who remain in the elementary teachings, meaning the basic things, the milk of the Christian life. And many Christians remain stuck there because they have not changed their behavior; therefore, it is as though we always have to keep preaching the same basic things to them, the basic doctrine: repentance, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead—and they do not go any further.

Do you know what happens? When your conduct in the Gospel does not exhibit the fortitude and integrity required by the word of the Lord, you remain stunted, always spinning your wheels, pressing the accelerator but never getting the car moving, always stuck in the same position. Some Christians are like that; that is what happens when a person lives a life that is inconsistent with the word of the Lord. You become a superficial believer; you never mature; you are always stuck in the same position, in the same place, and that is why some Christians remain exactly the same all the time. They are dull; their understanding has not awakened to the seriousness of the Gospel. So many churches lull believers to sleep concerning the seriousness of the Christian life, because they do not alert them to these passages that are in Scripture.

So it is saying that we must go on to greater things. Look at what it says in verse 4:

“... for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift, and became partakers of the Holy Spirit, and likewise tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come....”

What is it talking about here? About a converted person who has known the Lord, who has been touched by the Holy Spirit and all of that; and it says, “..... and yet fell away, to be renewed again to repentance, since they crucify the Son of God all over again for themselves and expose him to public disgrace...”

In other words, look, you may have been a pastor, an evangelical baptized in the Holy Spirit; you spoke in tongues, danced, miracles were performed through your life and your hands, but if you turn away from the ways of the Lord and persist in behaving in a manner unworthy of God, there is no getting around it... everything you did, all of this, is no longer of any use to you, and that is how it is with the children of God.

Do you see? If we persist in putting ourselves in the wolf’s mouth after the Lord has taken us out of there, if it bites you, that is your problem, not God’s. Many times, we Christians are walking in the ways of the Lord—I am about to finish here—we are walking in the ways of the Lord, and we play games with God, and we go over to where that dog is tied up and begin slapping it on the mouth and provoking it, and one of those times the dog gets up and gives us a good bite; and sometimes that is what happens in our lives. We make decisions and do things that offend the Lord, things we know are not as they should be, and then a problem comes into our life, a bad situation comes, negative consequences come, an arrest comes, an accident comes, whatever it may be—you know all the things that can come—and then we complain about God and turn away, and those things become snares and stumbling blocks for us, and everything we did comes to nothing.

We have to be careful about that, brothers and sisters. God wants us to behave in a certain way and to live an upright life before him. Now, how beautiful is what it says in verse 9—I want to end on a positive note. It says:

“...but concerning you, beloved, we are persuaded of better things, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this way....”

In other words—and this is what I say to you, brothers and sisters—in spite of everything I am telling you, all these things, this serious aspect of the Gospel, do you know what? I trust that, with the Lord’s help, this will not apply to you. Amen. That is why I am taking preventive measures; rather, I am giving you the antibiotics now, inoculating you so that you will not become infected later on. No, because that is what a pastor has to do: he has to warn his people about the dangers. Because sometimes we go along like gentle little lambs and do not realize that we are walking among wolves and wild beasts, and we fail to warn Christians about the seriousness of the Christian life.

Once we enter the ways of the Lord, it is true that God deploys all his equipment and all his resources on our behalf, but he does not force us to remain within them, and he tells us, ‘Look, I want you to be happy.’

I believe that the most important reason for the call to holiness and good conduct is that it is good for us, not because God demands it. The Christian life, remaining within the boundaries of the Gospel, is for your own good: so that you may know more of God’s goodness, so that you may walk along a clear path, so that you may enjoy all the benefits of the Gospel, so that your understanding may remain clear and you may understand the Word—because sin dulls the understanding—and so that you may be a good example to others and God may use you in the beautiful ways in which he wants to use you.

That is the reason for the call to wholesome conduct before God. In other words, once again, “...but concerning you, beloved, we are persuaded of better things, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this way....”—though we speak this way, so seriously, I know that we trust it will be different.

And it says, “...for God is not unjust to forget your work and the labor of love that you have shown toward his name, having served the saints and continuing to serve them....”

In other words, he says, I hope, brothers and sisters, that this does not apply to you, because I know that God will see all the good things you have done. And that is my desire for you, brothers and sisters. I know that here among you, among us, there are people who love the Lord. You could be lying in bed with a hangover right now because you got drunk last night, disgraced yourselves, and all of that; but no, you are here in the House of God. You are here. Glory to God for that. And you are people who love the Lord; you make an effort, do good things, have cleansed yourselves of so many things, do good, serve in so many ways, and have corrected your lives. And I trust that God sees the good intention of your hearts and that he will do everything on his part to make sure that you reach the finish line. Glory to the Lord. And that you enter the Kingdom of God even if you smell like smoke.

I believe that God is merciful, and I want you to leave here knowing that God loves you and that he loves me because we are doing everything we can. And that is all I ask of you: do everything you can, and God will take care of what belongs to him. You do your part, and God will do his; do not worry.

And in reality, what falls to us is so little compared with everything God does, has done, and will do that we truly can be confident.

“God is not unjust to forget your work and the labor of love that you have shown toward his name, having served the saints and continuing to serve them; but we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the very end, for the full assurance of hope....”

That is what I am saying: even within that benevolence of God, I desire, brothers and sisters, that you show that same diligence—that is, that same care, that same persistence, that same seriousness, that same concern—to the very end. Glory to the Lord.

This path that you have begun, follow it through to the end. Amen. May no devil, nothing in this world, no appetite, no affection, no temptation, no person, no money, no profession, no pleasure, no habit—nothing—manage to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

That is what... “show the same diligence to the very end, for the full assurance of hope....”

In other words, if you know that you are doing everything you can to serve the Lord, you have that full assurance that your God is with you. You do not have to worry. If you are doing your part, even if you fall, even if you make mistakes, even if now and then you mess up, as the Mexicans say—or is it the Colombians? I do not know, one of those—it does not matter. God will be there with you, and you will have that full assurance of hope. You will be able to sleep peacefully; you will be able to walk in the ways of the Lord; you will know that God is—okay, you fell, but get back on your feet and keep moving forward. God is for you, because he knows that you love him from the heart and that you are doing everything you can. You can rest in the Lord, knowing that he will do his part.

“...so that you may not become lazy, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises....”

Glory to God. Give the Lord a great round of applause. Amen. May we not become lazy—that is all this sermon is saying. There is a part that falls to us, and we have to do that part, and the Lord will take care of everything else.

Let us stand for a moment. Take a second. I have forgotten something very important: I became so excited about my sermon that I forgot something absolutely essential—the Lord’s Supper. But take a moment there; standing like that is fine. Examine your conscience there in your heart, and ask the Lord now to help you be diligent, to take the Gospel seriously, to take God and our life seriously. Oh, we have such a good, merciful, patient, understanding God that these passages are really simply a reminder, a correction in the gracious direction of the Gospel. And if you have been taking liberties with God, we all need to examine our consciences periodically. Let us repent and ask the Lord to help us be people of integrity, people who are honest with God.

That is what the world is looking for: to see a community of serious people—not perfect people, but people who show that they take seriously what they preach and what they believe. And let us ask the Lord to help us be people of integrity, serious people who walk blamelessly before the Lord and before men, and who are able to take the Gospel seriously and be diligent. Because there is a component of conduct that is important in the Christian life; we cannot simply lean back on faith, faith, faith—there is also the other side of the matter. Later I will qualify this a little further, but for now let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us. Remember that, for those good works that are expected, God has sent his Holy Spirit to strengthen you and help you in that work. You do not have to do it alone; we do not have to do it alone.

Thank you, Lord. We receive your call now, Father, to an upright, diligent life of integrity, in which intellectual matters are in harmony with matters of conduct and life. Help us to be an exemplary community, O God; begin with each one of us, Father. Thank you, because you have made everything so perfect.

We worship you. We bless you. We thank you, Lord. Amen and amen.