Finally, our salvation is secured by the promise of Christ. The Lord Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and him that comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37, Recovery Version). Here we see that the Lord promised that He would never reject or forsake anyone who came to Him. All these verses are very clear and unambiguous, giving a solid foundation for the security of our salvation. Nothing can annul these clear verses. Thus, all God’s children may have the proper faith to believe that His salvation is eternal.
Those who believe that a saved person can lose his salvation appeal to such verses as Hebrews 10:29, which says, “By how much do you think he shall be thought worthy of worse punishment who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” We must deal with this verse very carefully. It speaks of a saved person, for it mentions one who has been sanctified by the blood of Christ. Yet such a one may be worthy of worse punishment because he has trampled under foot the Son of God, regarded the precious blood of Christ as common, and insulted the Spirit of grace. Undoubtedly, the Spirit of grace was working graciously in him, but he did not listen to it.
In order to understand this verse, we must consider the context beginning with verse 25, which speaks of “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom with some is.” As we have seen, for the Hebrew believers to forsake the assembling of themselves together meant that they were forsaking the church to return to Judaism to offer the animal sacrifices again. Then verse 26 speaks of sinning willfully “after receiving the full knowledge of the truth.” As we pointed out in the last message, truth here refers to the things disclosed in the foregoing chapters and verses, which afforded the Hebrew believers the full knowledge that God had annulled the old covenant and established the new. If after receiving this knowledge, they still went back to offer the sacrifices for sin, they would have been sinning willfully. They knew that, according to God’s economy, there no longer remained a sacrifice for sin because all the sacrifices had been terminated by the unique sacrifice of Christ. By considering verse 29 in its context, we see that it refers to a truly saved person. All the Hebrew Christians were saved, but they were in danger of forsaking the Christian assembly, that is, forsaking the church, and returning to Judaism. If they had done this, they would have been worthy of some punishment. Although this verse indicates that a saved person may be punished, it does not mean, as those who follow the second school misinterpret it, that a saved person can be lost. It certainly does not refer to eternal perdition but to a type of punishment of believers.
The “worse punishment” in 10:29 is different from suffering the second death (Rev. 20:6, 14; 21:8). To suffer the second death is to perish in the lake of fire for eternity, that is, to suffer eternal perdition. This is most terrible. Some argue that there is no such thing as eternal perdition, saying that God is love and could not bear to have His creatures suffer in the lake of fire for eternity. But they seem to forget Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; and 21:8. These verses tell us that the lost, the perished ones, will suffer in the lake of fire for eternity. God is God. When He loves, He truly loves. But when He is severe, He is surely severe. Since the unbelievers face such a terrible eternal perdition, they certainly need the gospel.
Although the believers cannot be lost, they may suffer some dispensational punishment for their failures (10:29). In these days we all have heard the call to come forward and not to shrink back. But suppose some would shrink back. They would not be lost, but they would be dealt with by God, undergoing some dispensational punishment. In the Bible dispensational punishment is called chastening, discipline, or chastisement. God’s punishment is His discipline. When parents punish their children, it does not mean that they permanently cast them away. Rather, parents discipline their children with a good intention. I know of one Christian couple who warned their children about their schoolwork. They told their children that everything had been prepared for them and that it was their responsibility to do well in school. If at the end of the school year they had earned A’s, they would receive a great reward, but if they failed, they would be put into a dark room for a day. This Christian couple kept their word. At the end of the year, the child who earned the A’s received a reward, while the one who failed received some punishment. One of the parents disciplined him, even shedding tears, saying, “Child, I love you, but I cannot help it. You must go to that room for the day and have nothing to eat.” They did not cast him away. That dark room was not even a temporary prison—it was a closet of love. The child’s parents displayed the best love for him, and the next semester he also received A’s in school. This is an illustration of dispensational punishment.
Our heavenly Father is loving and wise. Do you think that He will always allow us to fail? Certainly not. What then will He do if we fail? He will give us a loving discipline and put us in a dark room of love for a time. There, in the darkness, His children will be disciplined for their own good.