Do not despise the Word of God

Continuing our series on the warnings in Hebrews. The first three were

1. Do not drift from God?s Word (Hebrews 2:1)
2. Do not depart from God (Hebrews 3:12)
3. Do not grow dull of God?s Word (Hebrews 5:11)

The fourth warning resides in Hebrews 10:24-31.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 10:24-31 (NIV)

Hebrews exhorts us to encourage one another and not forsake our assembling together. Denying yourself of fellowship with other believers can damage your spiritual health.

Hebrews 10:26 contains the core of the warning. Sinning wilfully takes the force of our will and not just the lure of temptations. Humanly speaking, it is impossible to state with any definite clarity when ?wilful sinning? occurs.

Andrew Murray in his book ?the holiest of All? puts it succinctly.

He that would know what wilful sin is ? with the thought that He is safe as long as he keeps far from that extreme ? deceives himself. The only sure way of being kept from wilful sin is to keep far from all sin.

Now that?s what I call godly wisdom.