Missed you guys last week.
I was in northeastern Maine and had three
little churches together right in the country for
three days of prayer encounter, and it was
a very good and special time.
Interesting to hear some of the testimonies that
came out of it and some of the
pastors saying, my people know that I'm a
preacher, but I want them to know that
I also am a man who spends time
in prayer.
So that was encouraging to hear.
And we had a young man who's a
soldier give us a testimony on Tuesday night
of how he had said to the Lord
on Monday night, Lorne, if there's somebody you
want me to pray for, wake me up
in the middle of the night, Monday night.
So at 4.30 the Lord woke him
up and laid his sergeant on his heart
and he said, you know, Lorne, I'm not
experienced at this prayer thing, so if this
is really you, Lorne, would you give me
a chance to talk to my sergeant about
you?
And on Tuesday afternoon after their shift, the
sergeant said to him, have you got a
minute?
And the minute got to be an hour
and a half where they talked about Jesus,
and the sergeant said to his young soldier,
in times of combat, I see no fear
in you.
Are you not scared to die?
He said, no, I'm not, because I know
the Lord Jesus is my Savior.
The sergeant said, well, I've been in combat
a lot more than you, but I've never
gone there without fear that I might die,
and I want you to tell me about
this one, this Jesus.
So now, if the Lord wakes you up
at 4.30 in the morning and lays
Sergeant Aaron, I don't remember his last name,
on your heart, just pray for him and
pray for Mike as he talks to him
about Jesus day by day.
Thanks for praying for me while I was
away those days, and they were special times.
We want to take our text this morning
from Hebrews chapter 10, and I'll read verse
32 through chapter 11, verse 1, and then
we're going to do something quite different.
Instead of me praying, you're going to pray,
okay?
So that's the two-minute warning.
We'll read the verses.
Hebrews chapter 10, beginning at verse 32, says,
remember those earlier days after you had received
the light when you stood your ground in
a great contest in the face of suffering.
Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and
persecution, and other times you stood side by
side with those who were so treated.
You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully
accepted the confiscation of your property because you
knew that you yourselves had a better and
lasting possession.
So do not throw away your confidence.
It will be richly rewarded.
You need to persevere so that when you
have done the will of God, you will
receive what he has promised.
For in just a very little while, he
who is coming will come and will not
delay, but my righteous one will live by
faith, and if he shrinks back, I will
not be pleased with him.
We are not of those who shrink back
and are destroyed, but of those who believe
and are saved.
My faith is being sure of what we
hope for and certain of what we do
not see.
And this is what the ancients were commended
for.
And let's just pause right there at the
end of verse one, and just for something
different, why not turn to somebody, two or
three?
It's a nice thing about chairs.
You don't have to be stuck in a
wooden line.
You can move around a little bit for
the next couple of minutes, and here's what
I'd like you to do.
I'd like you just to sit with somebody,
two or three people, sometimes four.
If it gets to be six, not everybody
will be able to do it, and just
pray.
Here we are.
We came to worship the Lord.
We came to meet with him.
We came to talk with him.
If you're uncomfortable praying out loud, don't worry
about it.
Don't say anything.
Just join in with those who will seek
the Lord for a couple of moments, and
that'll be fine.
Not trying to put anybody on the spot,
but just to take some moments where we
as a congregation meet the Lord in prayer.
And in a couple of moments, I'll draw
that time to a close, and we'll look
in the Word together.
So remember, Scripture says, lay hands suddenly on
no man, so don't grab them real suddenly,
but just kind of get with someone you
can pray with, and pray for one another,
and pray the Lord would speak to our
hearts in these moments.
And I'll wait for the gentle hum of
prayer to die down a bit, and then
I'll close this up.
Father, we thank you for the gift of
prayer.
Thank you that alone many voices are raised
to you in these moments.
You hear each and every one of them.
And Lord, that's amazing to us as we
live in this flesh and in this body.
You are so far above us, so much
stronger than we are, so amazing in grace
and love.
As we've come to worship you this morning,
we worship you even at the place of
prayer, just to pour out our hearts.
And Lord, we've come from a week of
busyness.
Many things have happened in each of our
lives this past week, and Lord, we need
a word from you to strengthen us and
to equip us, to encourage us as your
people, and to lead us, Father, by your
free spirit.
And so in these moments, we are asking,
indeed, as each one has already requested, Lord,
speak to us.
Lord, speak to me.
And Lord, it is wonderful to be together,
of that there is no doubt.
And it's great to be part of a
church family where there is love and unity
and all of those things.
Yet, Father, we need so much your presence
and your touch in these moments.
And as we come to open your word,
Lord, there is no human being who is
sufficient to do that.
It is inexhaustible.
It is majestic.
It is life-changing.
It is powerful.
Father, as we then look at your word
today, may you so encourage us that as
we would step from this place, we would
know we have not just met with one
another, but we've also met with you and
known the touch of your hand and the
touch of your heart into our lives and
relationships and homes and families.
We ask, Father, that by your spirit, you
would come and breathe upon each one of
us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Did it feel good to pray together?
I think it's always good to pray together.
Let me say a word as we go
to look into these Scriptures.
About next weekend, as you know, the Evangelical
Free Church has approached us about the possibility
of getting together the two congregations in the
longer term, and we don't know whether that
will happen or not.
And we have simply said we would join
and visit and get to know each other
and seek the face of God.
And so, as you think about next weekend
and think about our own Glencairn family, try
to be sure that everybody knows we're at
10 o'clock over there.
And you guys on Saturday morning will enjoy
some good food, but also want to say
a word about Francois Carr.
He's South African, obviously, but he's a man
that God has used in many places around
the world.
He's not what I would call a sort
of, whoo-hoo kind of guy, but he's
very solid in what he has to say
about the work of God and how God
works in our hearts, and very Scriptural, and
I think you'll enjoy him thoroughly.
Hebrews 10, 32 through 11.
This is the third message that I've prepared
this week to preach this morning, but don't
worry, I'm not going to preach all three
of them.
And first I thought, well, Lord, you know,
there's so many texts that say one another,
you know, love one another, forgive one another,
and I thought we could look at that
and it would really join us at the
heart and so on.
And then I thought, well, you know, in
Romans chapter one, there's a whole bunch of
things that Paul says about the people of
God and the things that they do together,
and I thought that's a great text.
And on along toward Friday afternoon, I had
this great uncomfortableness in my heart that says,
no.
And the Lord laid on my heart, really,
this little statement, don't put away your confidence,
don't give up your confidence that you find
here in Hebrews chapter 10.
But let's just consider it for a few
moments together.
Hebrews was written to a church in tough
times.
Do you live in tough times?
Yeah, I think so, we would say that.
And it was written in times where there
were many scoffers.
A lot of people were saying things like,
well, you know, Jesus is supposed to come
back.
Where's coming?
What's going on?
You Christians say this, but look at what's
happening in the world.
And, you know, you sort of have an
optimistic view, but where's all the good stuff
that you talk about in this world with
all the evil and all the things that
go on?
Does that sort of connect with your heart,
maybe, about the world that we live in
as well?
All kinds of scoffers and negativity.
And we live in a time where there's
all kinds of things like that concerning the
church and so on, and all kinds of
critics.
There's never a shortage of negativity.
And one of the reasons that I love
the book of Hebrews is there's so much
in it about keeping confidence with God.
And in these few verses, you know, the
apostle, the writer of Hebrews gives three pieces
of advice to the Hebrew church.
And I thought we'd just spend a few
moments on them this morning, and may the
Lord just encourage your heart as he has
mine in this little text.
As you see in verse 32, he says,
remember those earlier days when you received the
light.
And the first thing I believe that God
is saying to his church here is remember
God is faithful.
And he is faithful in all things, dear
ones.
And here the writing of scripture points them
to look back and remember when first they
were enlightened, when first they came to know
the Lord Jesus, when first that became true
and salvation became real.
And as you stop for a moment this
morning and think back, can you just cast
your mind back to that time when first
you discovered the reality of Jesus?
Not because your parents said so, not because
your church said so, not because there was
something going on, but because you really knew
that Jesus had made himself known and had
come to live in your heart and in
your life.
It wasn't then just a transference of knowledge,
but it was that moment when you knew
the enlightening of God and you knew that
things would never ever be the same again.
And at the beginning of this text, that
is where it opens up in verses 32
through 34, there is this enlightenment that we
are to look back to and think about
the faithfulness of God.
And he's really saying when you look at
that, you remember there were persecutions.
Do you remember when first you came to
Christ, some of those that you thought would
understand, some of those that you thought would
just fall down and say, wow, I can't
wait to become a Christian.
Instead, they mocked you and ridiculed you, and
you had some pressure and some persecution and
all of those kind of things going on.
Do you remember that?
And yet, you know, God was faithful and
in times of distress because the text talks
about how they had lost their possessions and
they had been standing side by side with
those who had lost their possessions and property
and so on.
And in that, all through that, God is
there causing them to stand together.
You know, that's one of the things that
I noticed in reading through this text.
Tough times cause the family to draw together,
don't they?
Tough times are the things that make us
sort of close the ranks and stand side
by side in things and to be able
to come alongside someone and say, I'm with
you.
Now, Roberta and I have kind of a
third son that you haven't heard about.
His name is Graham Tucker.
He's not actually our biological son, but we
call him our third son because he's been
such a close friend to our children and
family, and on Friday night through the night,
Graham's dad, who's about 50 years old, had
a massive heart attack and died.
You know, when I heard that news, that's
a tough time scenario, isn't it?
And as I called and said to him,
I just, I'm shocked about your dad.
I want to talk to you.
And last night when we connected on the
phone, there was that sense of just coming
side by side to say, you know, Graham,
I can't change this, but I want you
to know I love you and I'm with
you, and if there's something I can do
to help you, I want to be there.
And that's the kind of picture that is
drawn for us here in verses 32 through
34.
He's saying, you stood with those in distress,
those in trouble, those in tougher times.
You see, God never stopped loving them and
caring for them and providing for them, but
those tough times caused them to close ranks
and to stand together in it.
And that's where I think there is such
value in the church family, in knowing that
there's a connectedness in the heart of God's
people that we can stand together in it.
Now, God is faithful in all things.
He is faithful in his word and to
his word.
I love Isaiah 40 and verse 8.
It says this, and the word of God
stands forever.
And in the Hebrew context, it literally says,
and the word of our God rises above
everything else to stand forever.
And sometimes people get mad at me because
I won't make a decision without really hearing
from God, because every time I have made
a decision without really hearing from God, I
have lived to regret it.
And if his word rises to stand above
all things, that's what I want to stand
on, not on my intellect, not on my
feelings, but on his word.
And there are times, too, when I talk
to people and they'll say things like, well,
maybe God doesn't want me to be in
this relationship.
Ever heard that?
And I'll say, he will never contradict his
word.
Never.
You see, when you think about how he
is faithful to his word, just think for
a moment about Abraham.
Remember, God says to Abraham when he's old,
100 years old, even older than me.
I know, Brad.
I know.
I haven't hit the big 100 yet.
It's coming.
Yeah.
God says to him when he's 90 years
old, you're going to have a son.
And in him, the nations of the earth
are going to be blessed.
And I can hear Abraham in an Irish
moment saying, whoa!
But then the same God says to him,
take your son, your only son, your son
whom you love, and take him to Mount
Moriah and sacrifice him there.
But he's faithful to his word.
And as Abraham obeys the Lord, you know
the incident, as the knife is being raised,
there is the noise of a ram caught
in a thicket back there.
Because, you see, he is always faithful to
his word.
And dear friends, this morning I want to
just encourage you, what are you hearing from
his word?
You'll always hear more than enough to shut
you down from all kinds of sources.
And you'll wonder sometimes, how could there be
so much negativity?
But when you come back to his word,
you're on that strong rock that is the
Lord Jesus.
He's faithful to his way.
When we're on his way, we need not
fear, we need not worry.
He's faithful to his will to do it.
I like trying to focus in on the
Lord and following the Lord, because I know
that in his will is that which is
perfect for me.
And I know that outside of his will,
I'm going to struggle and struggle and struggle,
and I'm going to feel like I hit
a wall every single time.
So you say, John, how do you know
his will?
Well, there's all kinds of devices that people
give as advice and so on, but I
would say this, when you're in the will
of God, you know it.
There's a holy boldness that's there, there's a
strength that's there, there's a togetherness that's there,
and yet so often we motor on without
that.
I think it was F.B. Meyer who
said, it struck him going across the Irish
Sea on the ferry one night that as
he was coming into Anglesey, Holyhead in Wales,
there were three lights on the mountain, and
he noticed them above the fog, and he
wondered, how does the captain take this ship
into the harbor right to the pier in
the fog?
So he went and asked the captain, and
the captain said to him, it's actually pretty
easy.
You know, it sounds like I'm some kind
of magic worker, but actually you see those
three lights on the mountain that are above
the fog?
Well, I just focus on them, and as
I position the ship, when I can see
only one light, then I go at this
speed for this many minutes, and I shut
her down, and she glides right into the
pier.
And Meyer said, oh, you've given me such
a sermon.
When the Word of God, the first light,
and the feeling of my heart with the
Spirit of God speaking to me, the second
light, and the circumstances around me all line
up, I'm in the will of God, and
I can go.
And he is faithful always to his covenant
people.
You see, in our text he's speaking about
fulfilling the will of God.
Let me quickly move us along and say
that all of Hebrews 11 is a celebration
of God's faithfulness.
We sometimes think about it as the catalog
of heroes of the faith, but God gave
them the faith, and they are simply expressing
his faithfulness in their day and generation as
they follow him with an obedient heart.
The second thing that I believe is given
to God's people in advice in these short
verses is retain your confidence.
In verses 35 and 36, don't throw away
your confidence.
And what I believe happens to us oh
so often, I know it does me, is
little questions creep in, and things start to
itch, and all the what-if questions float
in there.
Don't throw away your confidence.
The Word of God says there are often
attacks and struggles, and who knows how will
we ever get past that, through that, around
that, over that, under that, somehow past that.
I like what one dear old black saint
said in the church in Alabama when somebody
said to her, you're always praising the Lord.
How do you get to that situation with
all the stuff that happens to you?
And she quoted scripture.
She said, well honey, it's because the Bible
says it came to pass.
It didn't come to stay.
There are so many kinds of things like
this, aren't there?
All the questions that come flying at us
when you step by faith and seek to
follow the Lord, but what if?
Yeah, but that could, I mean that might,
and on and on it goes.
We've got two Irish friends, Sam and Laura
Donaldson.
Sammy went to the Irish Baptist College, and
while he was training for the ministry, and
Laura had a job, you know, and it
was kind of tough times financially.
But week by week, the Lord seemed to
supply exactly what was needed, and they paid
their rent every week, because that's what happens
over there.
And every week, somehow, out of wages that
were left over, or people who gave gifts
at church, or that little handshake with some
money in it, or whatever it was, there
was always 10 pounds to give to the
rent man on Monday morning.
And when it came to one week, there
was only seven pounds and 50 pence, and
Sammy's at school, so Laura has to face
the music.
Don't you love it, ladies, when we abandon
you to face the music?
Not that guys would ever do anything like
that, right?
So she waited, and the rent man came.
Seven pounds fifty.
Opened the door, didn't say anything, just handed
him the seven pounds fifty.
Counted it, put it in his pocket, marked
off his book, said, thanks.
She said, wait a minute, I only give
you seven pounds fifty.
He said, I know.
Didn't you get the memo?
You got a reduction this week.
Everybody's down to seven fifty.
That's God.
But you see, we lose our confidence so
easily, don't we?
And the task looks so big, and it
looks so hard, and how will we ever
get there?
Don't lose your confidence.
Patient endurance is what scripture tells us that
we should do.
You need to persevere so that when you
have done the will of God, you will
receive what he has promised.
Patient endurance in following and doing his will
leads to the promise of God.
I love this little verse.
You see, it's not telling me that I'm
just going to slog along at this forever.
It's telling me that if I patiently endure
and press on with God and do his
will, it is going to lead to the
promise of God.
You know, I like a little song.
Maybe you've sung it, and this is why
I'm not on any of the worship teams,
okay?
But I love what it says.
God will make a way where there seems
to be no way.
Are you facing a situation where there seems
to be no way?
All the musicians are having a little chuckle.
That's good.
Don't lose your confidence.
Don't lose it concerning salvation.
Don't lose it concerning the work of God
in your heart and life.
He can finish what he started.
Don't lose it in your marriage, your family,
your home.
Persevere.
Third thing, because I've got to finish in
six minutes or less.
As we look at our text, verse 37
through chapter 11, verse 1, I believe the
scripture is saying, Respond in faith.
Respond in faith.
You see here in verse 38, but my
righteous one will live by faith, and if
he shrinks back, I will not be pleased
with him.
I looked up, and I'm by no means
a Greek scholar, but I looked up that
shrinking back business.
You know what it refers to is when
a sailor cuts the sail, when he pulls
down the sail and just starts to coast.
That's what it's talking about.
When there are times of just saying, This
is getting out of hand.
It's going too fast for me.
Pull down the sail and just coast.
And I think so often, many, many believers
do this.
Just coast.
And some people say, John, you can't go
by blind faith.
Listen to me.
Faith is never blind.
Faith is the gift of God to you
and me, and it is never blind.
When the children of Israel could have gone
into the promised land, you remember?
Ten of those who were spies said, Not
going there.
What were they doing?
All down that sail, man.
This is going into conflict.
I'm not going there.
But there were two voices, Joshua and Caleb.
Were they taking a leap of blind faith?
No, because they'd already been there.
They'd already seen it.
And you know, as you follow the Lord,
you begin to see the potential that is
in Him.
Not in us, but in Him.
When you begin to think about the potential
of what God can do, does it not
stir our hearts to say to all of
those things that are so negative and all
of those wounds that rise up and say,
You can't follow God that way.
Man, you're a wounded soldier, or this is
going on in your life, or that is
happening to you.
But instead, we can put our eyes and
our anchor in Jesus.
And sometimes I just say to the devil,
Thanks for the reminder of how weak I
am.
That means I better go and talk to
Jesus about it some more.
And you know the old saying that the
devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint
on his knees.
You see, as you look at these last
couple of verses in chapter 10, let's just
note something.
There are two options always that face Christians.
We can live by faith, and that's not
easy.
There are many, many times where it would
be so much easier not to seek for
faith, to believe something good in a situation,
but to just walk away from it.
There's a great big Filipino man.
He's big for a fellow from the Philippines.
His name is Jing Dubrico.
He came and preached at a missions conference
for us in Arendelle Alliance Church some years
ago, and I remember Jing getting up and
saying to the congregation, I want to speak
to you about big things.
He's a big man.
And I thought, Man, where's he going with
this?
And he said, Let me define big.
Believe in God.
And he started to talk about how he
was a district superintendent of an area in
the Philippines with over 400 churches in it.
Why did it get there?
It got there because they believed in a
big God, not in their ability, but in
his.
And so as you think about it, I
also remind you of the words of Hudson
Taylor.
He simply said this.
He said, Believe God for big things.
Attempt big things for God, and expect big
things from God.
The other option is to shrink back, and
the word says God has no pleasure in
the one who shrinks back.
Over the years that I've had the privilege
to preach, about 40 years now, I'm so
often called out to God, Lord, please don't
take away the passion, because I know if
I lose the passion, I'll just shrink back.
I know I can fall away.
I know I can get back to the
things that I used to foolishly do.
I ask you this morning, as the word
of God speaks to our hearts, where are
you sitting?
Is that living relationship causing you to say,
Lorne, whatever it takes, whatever the challenge, let
me go with you?
Or is there that sense in your heart
of saying, Lorne, let's haul in the sail
a bit, slow down, let's coast.
So if we summarize these three thoughts, he's
saying stand together, stay confident, and seek to
fulfill the will of God.
And it is 1245, and John needs to
stop.
Let's pray.
Lord, as we have sought your face and
as we've opened your word, we see that
faith is trusting for what we can't see
and believing for what we can't do.
Lord, our heart's desire as the people of
God is to walk in obedience to you
and to your will.
And so, Father, we would just ask, speak
continuously to our hearts as we come together
to consider your way for us as a
church family.
Give us the leadership of your spirit, but
let us not haul thine sail, but let
us trust you by faith for whatever it
is that you desire.
And just quietly in your heart this morning
as we close out this time, if God's
been speaking to you about coasting, just pulling
down the sail and easing up, take a
couple of quiet moments and draw near to
the Lord.
And as you do, he will draw near
to you.
He's so faithful.
And don't lose your confidence.
Keep it firmly placed in him.
Lord, we thank you so much for your
word, for this time of worship, and for
your people.
In Jesus' name, amen.