You can be saved from sin and spending eternity in Hell by inviting Jesus Christ into your heart to be your Savior and Lord.  Romans 10:9 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  You cannot earn your salvation; it is a gift from the Lord that must be received by faith.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”   If you are going to church, but never had a genuine conversion experience with Jesus, then you are still lost in your sins and need to be saved.  Jesus said to a very religious man in John 3:3b “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”   The Scriptures are clear that church attendance does not provide salvation.

Notice in Hebrews 10:23-31 how important church attendance is to the Lord.  He said, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

The Bible is very clear that salvation will produce church attendance.  James 2:17 says, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”  The evidence of saving faith is good works.  Church attendance is a good work.  It does not save, but those that are saved will attend church. 

There are five principals from Hebrews 10 concerning what happens when you forsake church attendance. 

1. If You Forsake Church Attendance, You Have A Dominating Habit.  Hebrews 10:25a says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;” One of the “manners” or habits is to be unfaithful to Church.  Neglecting church is habit forming; it enables people to schedule God out of their lives.  To some, the Lord’s Day, Sunday, is just another workday or a day of recreation.  The Bible warns you not to be dominated by a habit of neglecting church services.

2. If You Forsake Church Attendance, You Have A Discouraging Influence. Hebrews 10:25b says, “but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  Christians are commanded to “exhort” or encourage each other.  When you miss church, it is discouraging to the church family.  It also discourages un-churched people from attending church.  It is more important for us to be faithful now than it was 100 years ago or even 1,000 years ago.  As the return of Christ draws nearer, the need for consistent church attendance grows stronger.

3. If You Forsake Church Attendance You Have A Deliberate Sinfulness. Hebrews 10:26 says, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,” To “sin willfully” means to regularly choose to disobey the Lord.  In this passage the willful sin is to regularly forsake church services.  If you miss church because of any reason other than illness or some unusual emergency (see Matthew 12), you may be willfully sinning.  Forsaking church is a serious sin, it is deliberate disobedience.  Jesus is the only true sacrifice for sin.  If you forsake Jesus, you will pay for your sins.  Forsaking church means forsaking Jesus!

4. If You Forsake Church Attendance, You Will Have A Dreadful Judgment. Hebrews 10:26b-27 says, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”  What is this certain, fearful, fiery judgment?  The Bible tells us in the Book of II Thessalonians 1:7b-9, “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” If your faith does not get you to church, it will not get you to Heaven!  The gospel message declares that people are saved by faith alone.  But it also declares that real faith does produce obedience.  Disobedience comes from disbelief.  The Lord’s punishment for sin will be everlasting.  If you do not want the Lord present in your Sundays, He will not be present in your eternity!

5. If You Forsake Church Attendance You Will Have A Deserving Punishment. You may be thinking, “A God of love would never punish like that.”  But a loving God tells us why He will bring this awful judgment.  The Bible reveals in the following verses what your heart really believes when you forsake church.  Hebrews 10:28-31 says, “He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”   Punishment for forsaking church is deserved because stepping away from church is stepping on the Son of God.  Jesus Christ loves the church and gave Himself for it.  Neglecting the Lord’s house hurts the Lord’s heart.  If you missed church last Sunday, you trampled out obedience to Jesus.  When you forsake church, you are giving out the message that the blood of Jesus does not save from sin, that Christ leaves you like the world, and that His blood has no sanctifying and life changing power.  Forsaking church attendance involves sinning against the Holy Spirit.  You insult the grace that the Holy Spirit offers at church services when you choose not to be there.  It is not possible to be a Christian and at the same time refuse to attend church faithfully! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” 

To sum it up, the main reasons for going to church should not be to escape the punishment of God, but to express our love for the Lord, to reach the lost, to study the Bible, and to fellowship with God’s people.  If you really love the Lord, you will love His church and express it by your faithful attendance. 

The Lord wants you to stay faithfully involved in a Bible believing church.  Go to church every service.  It will encourage you, it will strengthen God’s people, and the Lord will be pleased.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”  Exodus 20:8-11