26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Word Study: The word “deliberately” comes from a greek word which means voluntary, willful and intentional. The word “knowledge” comes from a greek word and it means to have full knowledge. It means to have intensive moral and religious knowledge. In a sense, it means to lack nothing when it comes to knowledge.
Message: The above passage starts by saying “if we go on sinning deliberately” and it means to continuously and intentionally sin. This is not an accidental spur of the moment sinning but, it is an intentionally well thought continuous sin. This refers to an intentional, voluntary, willful and continuous unbroken pattern of sin. The passage continues to say if we continue to intentionally sin “after receiving the knowledge of truth” and as indicated above, the greek word used here for knowledge means full and complete knowledge. Therefore this passage refers to a person who has received all and complete information or knowledge regarding salvation through Jesus, and once they have received it, they intentionally, voluntarily and willfully, even with the knowledge, decides to continuously engage in an unbroken pattern of sinning.
This is a person who knows that they are sinning but sins anyway without remorse. This is a person who knows what sin is and knows the consequences of sin but, sins anyway. This person can be you right now, who is reading this sermon. All the knowledge that you have received and continue to receive from church, from your friends, from me and from other preachers. All this knowledge is meant to make you realize that you are a sinner and you need to confess your sins and forsake them but, instead of confessing and forsaking your sin, you intentionally decide to continue sinning. You are exactly the person the above passage is talking about.
Now that we know who the passage refers to, let us continue. What then does the passage say about this person? The passage says if anyone intentionally and continuously engages in an unbroken pattern of sin, despite having full knowledge regarding salvation through Jesus and what it requires, then there remains no more sacrifices for their sins. A sacrifice is an offering to God for the forgiveness of your sins. In the Old Testament, the offering was the blood of goats and sheeps but in the New Testament, Jesus’s blood is the offering. So, Jesus’s sacrifice, which is His death on the cross, was an offering to God for the forgiveness of our sins and by His blood, we were made holy. Now, if you know this, if you know that Jesus died on the cross as an offering for your forgiveness, and you reject Him, and you still continue to intentionally engage in an unbroken pattern of sin, there is no more any other offering since you are now rejecting the only offering that was made for your sins to be forgiven. Therefore there is nothing else for you except a fearful expectation of judgement and a fury of fire that will consume those who oppose God. Why? Because you have rejected the offering made by Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins by rejecting Jesus, and not obeying Him, and instead chose to intentionally engage in a continuous unbroken pattern of sin.
Therefore, all this information about Jesus and His death on the cross and salvation, that I am preaching to you here in my blog and on facebook and twitter, and the information that you receive from your church and every where else you receive it, all this knowledge, is meant to bring you to the point of realizing that you are a sinner and you need to stop sinning, ask for forgiveness, forsake your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. If you intentionally continue to sin after receiving this knowledge, then the only thing left for you is hell.