All right, good evening everybody.
Good to see you again as we continue
our study through the book of Hebrews.
So if you'll make your way over to
Hebrews chapter 10, we're going to look at
chapter 10 and jump into a bit of
chapter 11.
The letter of Hebrews, the book of
Hebrews.
Oh, how it exhorts us to be confident.
We serve a living savior.
And he's not only in the world, but
he's in us.
And because he's alive and he's conquered sin
and death, we can walk in victory.
There isn't a thing you guys might be
facing, that I might be facing, that God
has not provided the answer to.
Now, sometimes the answer isn't like we ask
and then he answers immediately.
Because sometimes in the waiting for an answer,
there is a growing of faith.
There's a learning to trust.
As we'll see in chapter 11, faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen.
And so our whole Christian walk really is
learning to walk by faith, to walk by
trusting the Lord with all of our heart
and leaning not on our own understanding.
Anybody still have a problem with their understanding?
Do you walk on a tilt sometimes?
I'm glad God is so patient with us,
aren't you?
And praise him for his word that we
have before us that can strengthen our faith.
When we're leaning, it can kind of straighten
us up and keep us on the path.
And so all through the book of Hebrews,
the writer of the book, who we believe
to be Paul, is showing us the superiority
of Jesus Christ, the superiority of his person.
We've seen already in our journey that Jesus
is better than the prophets, better than the
angels, better than Moses, better than Aaron.
We've seen that in Jesus, there is a
superior priesthood, a superior order.
In chapter 7, we saw.
In chapter 8, the superior covenant.
In chapter 9, the superior sanctuary.
And here in chapter 10, oh, our Jesus,
the superior sacrifice.
There are warnings, there are exhortations as we
go through the book of Hebrews, exhorting us
not to drift from the word, not to
doubt the word, not to be dull towards
the word.
Oh my goodness, not to despise or defy
the word.
But the overall message of Hebrews is not,
boy, you better watch your P's and Q's
or I'm going to zap you and you're
going to lose your salvation.
That's not the message of Hebrews.
The message of Hebrews to a discouraged people
and certainly the Jews of that first century
that were undergoing, they were so ostracized from
society, socially, culturally, economically, politically and religiously being
persecuted.
They had it rough.
The book of Hebrews was written to encourage
them to hang in there, to not give
up, to press on because Jesus is the
better way.
Don't go back to that thing which was
just a shadow.
And that's where we start really in chapter
10.
So the letter of Hebrews written to Jewish
people, people who understood the Old Testament, people
who understood the law of Moses, people who
understood the sacrificial system of the Old Testament.
And I pray that if you've been a
Christian for more than a couple of months
or so, you've already started digging into the
Old Testament.
In fact, one thing I think is very
helpful is make it a habit of reading
through the Old Testament at least once a
year, the New Testament at least twice a
year.
Get familiar with it.
This is the owner's manual.
This is our handbook to life.
You face a lot of twists and turns
in life.
It doesn't all turn out the way you
planned it to turn out.
And God's Word will keep you steady.
Be familiar with it, as familiar as you
possibly can.
We've seen that the Old Testament worship system
was to be a picture of heaven, a
picture that would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
And in Chapter 10, as we said, the
emphasis is on the perfect sacrifice of Jesus
in contrast with the imperfect sacrifices that were
offered under the Old Covenant.
And all of this, the better person, the
better priesthood, all will lead us to a
better faith, a superior principle of walking.
The just shall live by faith.
So Chapter 10, we can pretty much divide
into three major sections.
The first 10 verses deal with Christ's sacrifice,
which takes away sin.
The middle section deals with Christ's sacrifice, that
it doesn't need to be repeated, that he
suffered once for all of our sin.
And then the last section, verses 19 to
39, show us, similarly to Chapter 9, how
Christ's sacrifice opens the way to God.
So his sacrifice takes away sin, it doesn't
need to be repeated, and it opens the
way.
And because of all this, God's people, you
and I, should be holding fast with our
perfect sacrifice, that once and for all sacrifice
of Jesus.
Now, sacrifice under the Old Covenant, the covenant
that God made with the nation of Israel,
could not truly take away sin, thus demonstrating
the need for a better sacrifice.
Verse 1, we read, For the law, the
law of Moses, having a shadow of the
good things to come, and not the very
image of the things, not the very substance
of the things, can never, with these same
sacrifices, these shadowy sacrifices, which they offer continually,
year by year, make those who approach perfect.
The shadow can't make you perfect.
For then, would they not have ceased to
be offered?
For the worshipers, once purified, would have had
no more consciousness of sins.
But in those sacrifices, there's a reminder of
sins every year.
Day of Atonement, priest had to go into
the Holy of Holies, with the blood sprinkled
for himself and the sins of the nation.
But here the writer of Hebrews says, For
it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and goats could take away sins.
Judicially, they covered them from immediate judgment, but
they didn't take them away.
Only in Jesus have our sins been taken
away.
Now, it says that they're a shadow.
A shadow isn't a bad thing.
We're not saying that the law of Moses
was bad, that the Ten Commandments are bad.
Sometimes a shadow can tell you a lot.
And certainly the Ten Commandments show us what
a holy God requires that we're to be
perfect with God and perfect with man.
What it shows us is that in our
own strength, we can't do it because we
all fall short of that.
But the shadow is not the substance.
The old covenant and its law were not
themselves bad or evil.
They are only incomplete and insufficient to bring
total cleansing from sin and to save.
The shadow can never make those who approach
perfect.
The writer of Hebrews repeats a familiar argument.
The repetition of sacrifice shows its inherent weakness.
If animal sacrifice had fixed the sin problem,
then they could have ceased to be offered.
Animal sacrifice under the old covenant could cover
sin.
Again, the Hebrew word for atonement is kofar,
which means to cover.
But animal sacrifice could never take away sins.
Hope we understand that.
You know, don't try to go out, you
know, buy a goat and slaughter it in
your backyard.
It's not going to help.
It's not going to take away your sin.
Only Jesus, the perfect sacrifice of the new
covenant, takes our sins away.
So with the need for a better sacrifice,
we now see in the next few verses,
God providing that better sacrifice.
Verses 5 to 10, we've got a prophetic
foundation for Jesus' perfect sacrifice under the new
covenant.
Looking back at Psalm 40, or Psalm chapter
40, verses 6 to 8, this is a
quote from that.
Therefore, when he came into the world, he
said, quoting Isaiah 40, sacrifice an offering you
did not desire, but a body you have
prepared for me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you
had no pleasure.
And then I said, behold, I have come,
in the volume of the book it is
written of me, to do your will, O
God.
Previously saying, sacrifice an offering, burnt offerings and
offerings for sin you did not desire, nor
had pleasure in them, which are offered according
to the law.
Then he said, behold, I have come to
do your will, O God.
He takes away the first, that he may
establish the second.
And by that will, we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once and for all.
You see, those animal sacrifices, they didn't offer
themselves by their own will.
They had no choice in the matter.
Jesus had the choice, and he sacrificed himself
for you and I.
So this quotation here, again, has been taken
from the Greek translation of the Old Testament
scriptures, the Septuagint, which was the most commonly
used Bible in the first century.
And it shows that prophetically, Jesus declared the
insufficient character of the old covenant sacrifice and
declared his willingness to offer a perfect sacrifice
under the new covenant.
More animal sacrifices made under the law would
not please God, but a body you've prepared
for me.
Instead, what pleased God could only come through
Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.
Behold, I have come to do your will,
O God.
1 Peter 1.20 tells us that the
sacrifice of Jesus was determined before the foundation
of the world, but it was still an
act of his will to submit to the
cross at the appointed time.
And by that will, we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ.
Notice it was once for all.
You know, those are really important words, folks.
The writer of the Hebrews repeats the theme
over and over again.
Once for all.
Jesus came to do the Father's will.
Warren Wiersbe said, this will is the new
covenant that has replaced the old covenant.
Through his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ has
taken away the first covenant and established the
second.
The readers of this epistle called Hebrews would
get the message.
Why go back to a covenant that has
been taken away?
Why go back to sacrifices that are inferior?
The work of Jesus Christ is a finished
work and his sacrifice need not be repeated.
What freedom, what grace.
And that's stressed in the next couple of
verses.
Verse 11, every priest stands ministering daily and
offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the
right hand of God.
How many times did Jesus have to die
for your stinking sins?
Once.
Never forget that.
He suffered once that you could come before
a holy God.
Well, I've sinned.
I've messed up.
Does Jesus have to be sacrificed all over
again for your sin?
No.
He's already forgiven your sin.
What do you need to do?
Confess it.
Repent.
Turn to Jesus.
The way has been made open to a
forgiving God for you through Jesus Christ.
To not avail yourselves of that great gift
will bring judgment upon you.
But, oh, God has made the way for
the lousiest of sinners to be cleansed and
to walk right with God who made them.
So, that means there's hope for Calvary Chapel.
Amen?
There's hope for you and me.
There's certain confidence for you and me because
Jesus suffered once for us.
And that's why the seated posture of Jesus
is important here.
David Guzik says, it shows that his work
is finished.
He doesn't need to stand ministering daily and
offering repeatedly the same sacrifices as priests under
the old covenant had to.
Jesus still ministers in heaven.
He has a ministry of intercession for his
people.
But that ministry flows from his completed work
so he can adopt a posture of rest.
We're told that he sat down at the
right hand of God.
And by one offering, that offering of himself,
he has perfected forever those who are being
sanctified.
So, if you've opened up your heart to
Jesus, you've put your trust and faith in
Jesus, the word of God declares you to
be sanctified.
It declares you to belong to him.
And here we're told that that is a
work that he has perfected forever.
So, don't give up.
Don't stop pressing on.
Don't think, oh, this is too hard.
I mess up.
Get your eyes off of what you're doing
and get it on to what he has
done.
And therein, you'll begin to walk in victory.
Trust him.
Draw an eye unto him.
He'll certainly draw an eye to you.
And verse 15 says that the Holy Spirit
also witnesses to us.
There's a witness of the Spirit in us.
After he had said before, this is the
covenant, quoting Jeremiah 31 here, this is the
covenant that I will make with them after
those days, says the Lord, I will put
my law where?
Into their hearts.
And in their minds, I will write them.
And then he adds, and their sins, and
their lawless deeds, I will remember no more.
Why?
Because the work is finished.
One offering has completed the work.
What's your sin?
How nasty has your sin been?
Is it too nasty for Jesus to forgive?
The answer is absolutely not.
His sacrifice was sufficient to cleanse you and
me.
And we could probably, we won't do that
because it wouldn't edify, but we could probably
share some pretty nasty stuff with one another.
Just in this small gathering.
We got enough to fill up a lot
of, I mean, we got a lot of
crud.
But praise his name.
He's washed us clean.
He's washed it away.
In fact, he's washed us so clean that
the Bible says he remembers our sin no
more.
So you can't use a guilt trip as
an excuse for not going to church.
Huh?
Sometimes you go, oh, I'm just so messed
up.
I can't go.
Those people are so perfect.
I can't do it.
Can't use that anymore.
Throw that one, throw that excuse right out.
Because I know a lot of you came
here tonight and you had a rough day.
You may have had a hard week.
You may have had a failure or two
or a hundred.
But God bless you, you came.
And I trust that now that you're here,
you're just letting the Lord assure you and
strengthen you.
You know that because of his death on
the cross at Calvary and his resurrection from
the grave, that the price and the penalty
for your sin has already been paid.
Thank God for that.
Don't forget it.
Receive the cleansing that God has for you.
And like he said to the woman caught
in adultery, he said, go sin no more.
Turn from those things.
Turn to the Lord.
As you turn to the Lord, you're turning
away from the junk.
Stay turned towards the Lord.
You'll stay away from the junk.
Turn your eyes off of the Lord.
What's left?
Junk.
Does this world have anything redeeming to give
us?
Is there any philosophy that exists in this
world that can wipe away the stain of
sin and guarantee us eternity?
That can change us, not just on the
outside, but change us on the inside, which
then produces an outside visible change?
If you're only trying to change the outside,
you fail.
You fail, you get others disappointed or angry,
and you get yourself disappointed or angry.
But turn your eyes to Jesus tonight.
Whether you're sitting here or watching on TV,
he's your only hope.
He's our only help.
He's the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins.
Their deeds and their sins and their lawless
deeds, hallelujah, I will remember no more.
The new covenant in Jesus Christ offers complete
forgiveness.
The forgiveness is so complete that God can
say that he doesn't even remember our sins
in the light of the new covenant.
I can't say that, but God can.
God says.
So where do I have to align my
thinking with?
Who do I have to align my thinking
with?
With myself or with God?
I need to align myself with God.
That's the only way I can be lifted
up.
That's the only way I can be rescued.
The old covenant worshiper could not say that
he had no more consciousness of sins, but
the new covenant believer can say his sins
and iniquities are remembered no more.
You and I can say that.
Maybe we need to say that right now.
Oh, Lord, my sins and my iniquities, you
have remembered no more.
Would you let that sink in?
That I might walk in joy and love
and in victory and in worship of you.
See, the Christians got to endeavor to do
with their sin exactly what God has done.
Forget about it.
Now, that doesn't mean we cease to be
disciplined.
That doesn't cease to mean that we don't
do what is right and good, but we
don't dwell on our sin.
Because frankly, if I dwell on my sin,
it's just going to soften me up to
sin some more.
I don't want to dwell on my sin.
I want to dwell on Him.
Whatsoever things are good, Philippians 4, whatsoever things
are true, whatsoever things are right, if there
is any virtue, if there's anything of good
report, think on these things.
That's what I need to think on.
And this reminds us, and this is important
for some of you perhaps tonight, that the
believer is in no way on probation.
Is that good news?
You got saved.
The Lord says, okay, you're on probation.
You don't have to raise your hand if
any of you have been on probation, but
I mean, that's not a fun place to
be.
You know, you're always looking over your shoulder,
and man, if you mess up, man, they
throw you right back in the joint.
God doesn't say, you mess up once, I'm
pulling it back.
Pulling your salvation back.
I'm gonna take the white out.
Wipe your name back out of the book
of life.
I'm gonna hit the delete key.
Oh, thank God.
Thank God we're reminded here that we are
in no way on probation when he saves
us.
Before God, our past sin has no bearing
on God's present dealing with us.
He's dealing with us as a loving dad.
Our sin has been washed away.
Therefore, God is not punitive towards us.
He is not casting judgment upon us.
Our sins already have been judged.
They were judged when Christ took our sins
on the cross of Calvary.
And verse 18 says, now where there is
remission of these, there is no longer an
offering for sin.
Where sins are really forgiven and forgotten, there
no longer must be an offering for sin.
So in light of Jesus' perfect sacrifice, those
that were discouraged, some of us who may
have been discouraged, are encouraged, knowing Jesus has
opened the way.
Let's draw near to God.
Let's draw near.
We have an open way.
And we looked at verses 19 to 25
Sunday.
If you weren't here, get the tape or
the CD or the MP3 or the real
audio file or whatever's available.
Let's read through it.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he consecrated for us
through the veil, that is his flesh, and
having a high priest over the house of
God, let us draw near, not circling around,
draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with
pure water, cleansed on the inside for outside
service.
He's washed us inside.
He's cleansed us outside.
The idea is of our whole being being
presented now as a living sacrifice, Romans 12.
Present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world, to
the things of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind that you
might prove what is that good and perfect
and acceptable will of God.
The Lord's done it.
Now, he didn't do it just to give
us fire insurance and then la-di-da,
we just go on doing whatever we feel
like doing.
No, he did it to change us.
He did it that our whole lives, I
don't think we really understand Christianity until you
give it 100%, till you're walking 24-7,
till you become a constant worshiper.
I don't think you're...
Otherwise, it's just religious.
You go to church, that's boring.
I mean, just to go to church...
I mean, I don't know how many of
you had to sit through church at one
time.
You had to sit through...
There's nothing worse than having to sit through
church because...
I don't know how...
I mean, I had to when I was
a kid.
And I'll tell you, it just alienated me
because my idea of religion, my idea of
that church was being forced to do something
that I didn't want to do.
Now, obviously, when our children are young, we
have to give them a good example.
While they're under your authority, they go where
you go.
We understand that.
But I pray and I hope that you
as a parent are teaching your kids from
the first time they can begin to understand
that you're talking to them about Jesus' love.
And at an early age, they themselves have
a personal relationship with Jesus so that when
they do come into church, they too can
get fed.
That's our desire.
Not to bore kids, but that all kids,
young and old, can be fed the Word
of God.
That's what our Sunday School is here for,
to train those kids up, to help and
assist you as parents in teaching them the
Word of God and preparing them.
And you'll know if you ever sit in
in our Sunday Schools that each of the
Sunday Schools from the toddler on up is
centered on these kids learning the Word of
God so that they can have a real
walk with God.
And their own walk with God, not their
parents' walk with God.
Because how many of you know, God doesn't
have any grandkids, He just has kids.
He just has kids.
You must be born again.
So I'm a born-again Christian just because
I had Christian kids doesn't automatically guarantee them
having a personal walk with Jesus.
They have to choose to follow Jesus.
And when they do, Jesus will be just
as faithful to them as He's been to
me.
Hallelujah.
How did I get off on that tangent?
You all know, He wants our whole life.
He doesn't want us to serve Him part
-time.
He wants us to serve Him all the
time.
And so He says, so the whole idea
is intimacy.
God wants us to be intimate with Himself.
So let's hold fast.
Don't back away from it.
Don't go back to the rituals of Judaism
which might be a little easier and get
a little flack off of you, but it's
not going to help you.
It's not going to draw you closer to
the Lord.
You're drawing away if you go back to
that stuff.
So hold fast the confession of our hope
without wavering.
And here's the deal.
For He who promised is faithful.
He's faithful.
He's faithful to hold you.
He's faithful to get you through this life
on into the next.
He's faithful to keep you from falling.
He's faithful to give you all that pertains
to life and godliness.
Trust Him.
And let's consider one another in order to
stir up love and good works.
Don't isolate yourself from the body of believers.
Hang out with them.
Well, they make me feel convicted.
Good!
That's what they're supposed to do.
If you've been messing up and you come
around a true body of believers, you ought
to feel, you feel kind of dirty.
You ought to feel it.
My goodness!
That's what it's there for.
Not to condemn you.
But as iron sharpens iron, we build each
other up.
We need that.
We need to help each other.
Provoke one another to love and to good
works.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as
the manner of some.
Evidently there are some that had already been,
had slipped away.
But rather let's hang in there, exhorting one
another and so much the more as you
see the day approaching.
Discouragement has made them avoid community at the
very time they needed it most.
Please don't forget, folks, that Jesus meets us
in one another to stir up love and
good works.
We need the fellowship of the brethren.
You need to hang out with other Christians
who are in love with Jesus.
Not just other people who go to church
on Sunday, but you need to hang out
with people who are on fire for the
Lord.
And ask God, if you're around a group
that really is just being phony and aren't
really walking with the Lord, then you ask
God to change your friends.
Ask God to move you into that place
where you can walk right on and the
people around you aren't playing a game, but
are serious about walking with the Lord.
We need that.
I need those kind of men and women
in my life.
You need those kind of men and women
in your life.
Our church needs those kind of men and
women.
God, make us those men and women.
Amen?
Do it, Lord, please.
Now, in this last section of chapter 10,
we find the way open to God through
Christ's sacrifice.
We first saw a gracious invitation to enter
in, verses 19 to 25.
And then at the end of the chapter,
verses 32 to 39, we have an encouraging
confirmation.
But in between is an important exhortation, not
to despise the word of truth.
So here we have another warning to endure,
press on.
And we're warned of the danger of a
willful rejection of Jesus' perfect sacrifice for us.
For if we sin willfully after we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a
certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation,
which will devour the adversaries.
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without
mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses.
That was the law of Moses.
Of how much worse punishment do you suppose
will he be thought worthy who has trampled
the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood
of the covenant by which he was sanctified
a common thing and insulted the spirit of
grace.
For we know him who said, vengeance is
mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
And again, the Lord will judge his people.
So don't forget it's a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.
So what's he talking about here?
If we sin willfully, to sin willfully is
defined, in verse 26 there, is defined in
verse 29.
It's pretty clear.
Speaks of someone who's trampled the Son of
God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant
by which he was sacrificed a common thing
and insulted the spirit of grace.
It is knowing deliberate rejection of Jesus' great
work for us on the cross.
Now, in a sense, every sin is a
willful sin.
But here, the writer to the Hebrews speaks
of something much more severe and relevant to
these discouraged Jewish Christians who contemplated a retreat
from a distinctive Christianity and a return to
Judaism with its sacrificial system.
This is turning your back on Jesus.
You can almost hear the deep plea of
the writer here.
If Jesus' sacrifice for sin is rejected, there
remains no other sacrifice that can cleanse.
Now, Rick Cather's said, verse 26 can give
you the idea that if you should ever
sin willfully after having become a Christian, that
you're going to go to hell.
I've actually heard people say that.
But slow down and think about the context.
And, you know, you always have to look
at the context.
Whenever there's a verse that's kind of obscure,
that kind of just, where did that come
from?
You got to look at all the rest
of Scripture and judge that by the rest
of Scripture.
Keep in mind also that the writer is
writing to Jewish people.
This is the audience that it was initially
intended for.
These are people who have trusted in the
sacrificial system of Moses.
But as we've seen, the sacrificial system of
Moses was a shadow of the real thing,
Jesus Christ.
Once a Jewish person has come to understand
that Jesus is the real sacrifice for sins,
they can't just turn their back on Jesus
and go back to the old system of
sacrificing goats and bulls.
That's what he's telling them here.
Once a Jewish person has heard of Jesus,
there is no going back to the old
way of sacrifices because they were all meant
to point to Jesus.
So what's he saying here to them?
Don't go back.
Let's not get any more spooky about it.
He's telling them, don't go back.
Press on in trusting the Messiah.
Press on in trusting Jesus.
Do you understand the context?
Do you understand who he was writing to?
You have to keep that in mind when
you look at this seemingly difficult verse.
If you try to take the background of
this verse away, then that's where people get
into error.
And that's where you have some people actually
saying, well, I can't be a Christian because
after I got saved, I sinned willfully.
And Hebrews 10.26 says, there's no hope
for me.
You have taken that verse out of context.
That's not what the verse says.
Now, are you a Jew?
And have you received Messiah Jesus as your
Lord and Savior?
Well, in today's day, there's no going back
to the old sacrificial system because in 70
AD, the Roman emperor Titus wiped out the
temple and it's never been rebuilt since and
there has never been any sacrifices since.
So it's even more ridiculous to go back
to a system that was only a shadow.
So he's encouraging them, don't go back to
the shadow, guys.
Press on.
So take heart.
Don't go back.
Press on trusting Jesus.
And now his encouragement of the Hebrew believers,
verse 32, where he's telling them to take
heart in their discouragement and remember how you
have stood for God in tough times before.
He says to him in verse 32, but
recall the former days in which after you
were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with
sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle
both by reproaches and tribulations and partly while
you became companions of those who were so
treated for you had compassion on me and
my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of
your goods knowing that you have a better
and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
So he's telling them, recall the former days.
These Christians had suffered for Jesus already being
rejected from their Jewish community and perhaps by
that community being counted as dead.
And this came after they had trusted in
Jesus, after you were illuminated.
The persecution came in many different ways, but
it was a great struggle with sufferings.
They were made a spectacle both by reproaches
and tribulations.
They were companions of those who were so
treated, including the writer of Hebrews himself.
They had also faced economic persecution.
Your goods were plundered.
But the point is that they had faced
these things and that they had endured them.
They could take a look at their past
endurance and be encouraged to keep standing strong
in the future.
Knowing that you have a better and an
enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
They made it through the time of persecution
by keeping a heavenly perspective.
Is that pertinent for us today?
Making it through times of difficulty, of pain
or of suffering because we keep the heavenly
perspective.
We know where we're heading.
We know what's waiting for us.
We press on just because things get tough.
We don't turn our backs.
We press on and that's what chapter 11
is all about.
So knowing that you have a better and
enduring possession for yourselves in heaven, you can
make it through this present time of discouragement.
Draw on your past experience to gain strength
to endure for the future.
That's what he's telling them.
Therefore, verse 35, hey, don't cast away your
confidence.
Don't cast that away, which has great reward.
For you have need of endurance so that
after you've done the will of God, you
may receive the promise for yet a little
while and he who is coming will come
and will not tarry.
And then quoting Habakkuk, now the just shall
live.
Live, live folks, live by faith.
Draw near, don't draw back.
If anyone draws back, my soul has no
pleasure in him.
And they and we have need of endurance
to receive the promise of God after we've
done the will of God.
You know, the toughest and most discouraging trials
are when we are called to obey God's
will, when the fulfillment of his promises seem
so far away.
And many of us have had to go
through things like that, go through hard times.
This is why we need endurance.
Faithfulness during the time when the promise seems
unfulfilled is the measure of your obedience and
spiritual maturity.
God has promised to heal us.
I believe in divine healing.
I believe that Jesus heals.
I believe he not only forgives our sin
and heals our relationship with himself, but I
believe he heals physically as well.
Now, when we get sick and we pray
for healing, O Lord, heal me of this
headache.
Heal me of my ulcer.
Heal me of my cancer.
We want the answer now.
I'm praying for my wife.
I wanted the answer six months ago.
But because God didn't, in this space and
time, immediately answer my prayer, would it make
any sense to say, I figured you weren't
a God who answers prayer.
I asked you and you didn't give it
to me.
It's like a ten-year-old asking God
for a bike and he doesn't get the
bike and he says, well, I'm not going
to serve God ever in my whole life
because I didn't get my bike.
We need to grow up.
We need to learn that sometimes there's things
that God wants to teach us and wants
to work through it.
But I know, ultimately, my Joyce is healed.
I know she is.
And whether she gets that healing in this
temporal life or when she stands perfect before
the Lord, His word is still sure.
And I don't turn back from it.
You can't turn back.
There's nothing back of any substance to turn
to.
Like Peter said, you know, after everybody else
bailed in John chapter 6, and Jesus turned
to Peter and the disciple says, you guys
going to take off too?
Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go?
You alone have the words of life.
That was a good call, Peter.
One of the few bright things Peter said
before he got filled with the Holy Spirit.
Very solid.
So you understand, God's word is sure.
And we trust it.
Faithfulness during the time when the promise seems
unfulfilled is the measure of your obedience and
spiritual maturity.
James tells us this endurance is built through
trials.
Hey, if you're looking for the Christian life
just to please me, make me feel good,
don't let me have to do anything that's
hard.
Amen.
Exactly.
You know, that's about all that's worth.
I'm sorry.
But that's true.
That's so true.
Life is hard.
Get used to it.
Jesus is strong to see you through a
hard life with joy.
With joy.
Hallelujah.
And since trials and tribulation and hardship are
a given, they're going to happen, I would
rather face it with joy than griping and
complaining all the way to the grave.
Fill me with joy, Lord.
But we are not, verse 39, of those
who draw back to perdition.
But in contrast, we are of those who
believe to the saving of the soul.
Man, we are folks that are dialed in.
We're tuned in.
We're turned on.
We are all systems up.
That's what our walk with Jesus is supposed
to be like.
The opposite is this word perdition.
Now, the word perdition is used over 20
times in the New Testament.
And it can be translated perish, die, destruction,
or waste.
And I think the context here would lead
to understanding it in the terms of waste.
Because a believer who doesn't walk by faith
goes back into the old ways and wastes
his or her life.
It's such a waste to not walk 24
-7 with the Lord.
Amen?
It really is.
So what's he saying?
Don't waste your time.
Don't be a time waster.
Press on.
Draw near.
Walk on fire.
Not literally.
But be a blaze for Jesus so that
not only your path will be lit, but
you can show the way to others who
are groping in darkness too.
And didn't Jesus say that we are to
be the light of the world?
Don't let your lamp be hidden.
Don't set it under a bushel.
No, that's not what a light's for.
You set a light on a lamp stand.
The city set on a hill can't be
hidden.
Be a light.
And this is a confident conclusion.
We're going to be those who endure on
and gain the promise of God.
We're not going to draw back into old
traditions or into an old covenant relationship with
God or any other replacement for Jesus.
Because there's none that's sufficient.
Trust Jesus.
He'll see you through.
Now, we're going to walk by faith.
We're not going to wander in the wilderness
of waste.
We can be confident.
And as we walk by faith, our great
high priest, Jesus, will guide us and perfect
us.
You can count on it.
The people are going through tough times.
Maybe you are too.
And we need to endure.
And the key to enduring is faith.
So, just what is faith?
That brings us to the beginning of chapter
11.
Chapter 11 illustrates the lesson of that last
part of chapter 10.
And shows that throughout history, men and women
have done the impossible by faith.
The just shall live by faith.
Verse 38 of chapter 10.
And chapter 11 proves that faith can conquer
in any circumstance.
Let's read the first three verses.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good
testimony.
And we're going to see a list of
the elders here in a little bit.
By faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that
the things which are seen were not made
of things which are visible.
Now look at this.
The whole context here is to encourage people
to trust God when it's difficult.
It's the times when everything is going wrong
that we need to take up the challenge
to keep trusting the Lord.
It's one thing to say you trust the
Lord when everything is going right with your
life.
But when you hit difficult times, it can
be pretty hard to keep trusting.
But it's in difficult times that we often
have a hard time believing that God really
cares about us.
And I can confess to you as your
pastor and your brother and your friend, I've
gone through that these past six months in
particularly.
And I went through that many, many years
before.
When my kids, first my son and then
my daughter later, were not really walking with
the Lord and didn't want to have anything
to do with the Lord.
I prayed and I prayed and I prayed
and I prayed.
It was very difficult.
God, why won't you answer this?
Have any of you had prayer requests like
that?
I think I got some company here.
You know, I think we all have.
And I'll be the first to tell you
it's frustrating.
But I got to understand that my focus
when I get frustrated is not on God's
promises and on his faithfulness.
It's on how I feel at the time.
And I got to learn through life not
to trust in my feelings.
That's not faith.
Just because I feel or see or can
touch the answer.
It's in difficult times that we have a
hard time believing that God really cares about
us, that God knows what's going on in
our lives and that God has the power
to do something to help us out.
But it's just at those times where we
are so blessed.
Amen.
So blessed by the Lord to help us,
to assist us, and to see us through.
God does have the power, and he will
help us through.
Trust him.
Trust him, trust him, trust him.
Keep your heart fixed on him, and he'll
see you through the hard times.
And I know to this day that God
is still going to work in my kids.
I believe that.
When?
Oh, now be careful there, Pat.
Because I want it yesterday.
I want it yesterday.
Amen?
Dick.
Enjoy.
They gave me two.
I knew there was a reason.
All right.
So, faith.
The substance of things hoped for.
The evidence of things not seen.
Now obviously we're not going to get through
the whole chapter tonight, and I've asked Pastor
Mark if next Wednesday night, because that's when
Joyce has her next chemo, is that following
Thursday.
So I'm not going to be here next
Wednesday.
But Mark has had a very interesting life
learning faith.
And so I asked him to touch a
little bit on this chapter before he gets
into chapter 12.
So he'll continue on.
But we've still got a few minutes.
So I don't want to jump out of
here just yet.
This is not a definition of faith here.
Some people say, well, define faith.
And they quote this.
But rather, it is a description of what
faith does and how it works.
True Bible faith, Warren Wiersbe said, is not
blind optimism.
Blind faith.
Or a manufactured hope so feeling.
Neither is it an intellectual assent to a
doctrine.
It is certainly not believing in spite of
evidence.
That would be superstition.
True Bible faith is confident obedience to God's
word in spite of circumstances and consequences.
Should I say that again?
True Bible faith is confident obedience to God's
word in spite of circumstances and consequences.
This faith operates quite simply.
God speaks, and we hear his word.
We trust his word and act on it,
no matter what the circumstances or what the
consequences may be.
The circumstances may be impossible and the consequences
frightening and unknown.
But we obey God's word just the same
and believe him to do what is right
and what is best.
Remember, faith is only as good as its
object.
Faith is only as good as its object.
And the object of our faith is God.
Faith is not some feeling that we manufacture.
It is our total response to what God
has revealed in his word.
True Bible faith is summarized by three words
in these first three verses.
Substance, evidence, and a good testimony or witness.
Substance means literally, the word there in the
Greek means to stand under, to support.
Faith is to a Christian what a foundation
is to a house.
It gives confidence and assurance that it will
stand.
So we could say faith is the confidence
of things hoped for.
When a believer has faith, it's God's way
of giving him confidence and assurance that what
is promised will be experienced.
The word evidence simply means conviction.
This is the inward conviction from God that
what he has promised, he will perform.
God's going to do it.
The presence of God-given faith in one's
heart is conviction enough that he will keep
his word.
And then witness, or a good testimony, or
as the King James says, obtained a good
report.
That's an important word in this chapter.
It occurs not only in verse 2, but
twice in verse 4, once in verse 5,
and once in verse 39 in this chapter.
Good testimony, a good witness, same word.
The summary in Hebrews 12, verse 1, calls
this list of men and women so great
a cloud of witnesses.
They are witnesses to us because God witnesses
to them, witnessed to them.
In such examples cited, God gave witness to
that person's faith.
This witness was his divine approval on their
life and ministry.
So faith accomplishes things because there is power
in the word of God.
We see the last part of verse 3,
speaking of creation.
God spoke, and it was done.
God still speaks to us.
When we believe what he says, the power
of the word accomplishes things in our lives.
I mean, that God would make me a
new creation.
If you knew me before, B.C., you'd
have shaken your head.
I've known some of you, B.C. But
God's made you a new creation.
Look at you now.
Who'd have thunk it?
You know that we'd be people of the
word when we were just people of the,
or people of the bottle, or people of
all this other garbage.
People of the world.
But now we're people of the word.
And God's changed us.
And he's filled us with his love, and
he's given us his wisdom so we're not
duped by the subtle traps and not-so
-subtle traps of the world.
Oh, God's done a wondrous work in us.
Thank you, Lord.
He's done a new creation in us.
And, you know, the same word that acted
in the old creation acts in the new
creation.
God's word is just as powerful today.
And I wish we had time to go
through the whole rest of this chapter.
Do we have time to read it?
Just read it through?
Can we do that before we end?
You're looking at me going, you're going to
do it anyway.
All right, let's wrap up with just reading
through.
By faith, Abel offered to God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts.
And through it, he, being dead, still speaks.
Hey, if you guys aren't familiar with all
these things, most of your Bibles have a
little reference thing next to each of these.
Go back into the Old Testament.
Look up these references.
Read the stories.
By faith, Enoch was taken away so that
he did not see death and was not
found because God had taken him.
For before he was taken, he had this
testimony that he pleased God.
But without faith, it's impossible to please him.
For he who comes to God must believe
that he is and that he is a
rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Oh, I've got a whole page of notes
on that.
By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things
not yet seen, being moved with godly fear,
prepared an ark for the saving of his
household, by which he condemned the world and
became heir of the righteousness, which is according
to faith.
By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called
to go out to the place which he
would receive as an inheritance.
And he went out not knowing where he
was going, but by faith, he dwelt in
the land of promise as in a foreign
country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise.
For he waited for the city which has
foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to
conceive seed.
She was 90 years old.
And she bore a child when she was
past the age because she judged him faithful
who had promised.
Therefore, from one man, Abraham, and him as
good as dead, he was 100 years old,
were born as many as the stars of
the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand
which is by the seesaw.
Don't forget, Abraham didn't see that.
Isaac didn't see that.
Jacob didn't see that.
But they believed it.
And one day it was true.
Millions and millions had come from him.
And I would say billions because we are
children of Abraham by faith.
That same promise of faith to Abraham.
Righteousness is counted to you and me by
our faith in Jesus Christ who is the
fulfillment of the seed of Abraham.
These all died in faith.
Sometimes you die in faith.
That's kind of negative.
But it's true.
Sometimes you die.
But they died how?
Grumbling?
Angry?
Moaning?
No, they died in faith.
Not having received the promises but having seen
them afar off, were assured of them, embraced
them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth.
For those who say such things declare plainly
that they seek a homeland.
And truly if they had called to mind
that country from which they had come out,
they would have had opportunity to return.
But now they desire a better, that is,
a heavenly country.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for he has prepared a city
for them.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered
up Isaac.
And he who had received the promises offered
up his only begotten son, of whom it
was...
That's a whole other story.
It's a great one.
In Isaac your seed shall be called.
Concluding that God was able to raise him
up even from the dead, from which he
also received him in a figurative sense.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning
things to come.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed
each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped,
leaning on the top of his staff.
Remember when he prayed for Ephraim and Manasseh?
Only one of them was going to be
in the bloodline of Jesus.
He switched hands.
Remember that?
He switched hands.
What did Joseph try to do?
He tried to straighten him out.
By faith.
And gave instructions concerning his bones.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was
hidden three months by his parents because they
saw he was a beautiful child and they
were not afraid of the king's command.
Sometimes you got to blow off the king's
command when it's contrary to God's word.
By faith Moses, when he became of age,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the passing
pleasures of sin.
Moses saw Christ, verse 26, esteeming the reproach
of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt, for he looked to the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the
wrath of the king, for he endured as
seeing him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the
sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the
firstborn should touch them.
By faith they passed through the Red Sea
as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting
to do so, were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down
after they were encircled for seven days.
By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish
with those who did not believe when she
had received the spies with peace.
And what more can I say?
For the time would fail me, as it
is already, to tell of Gideon and Barak
and Samson and Jethnah and also of David
and Samuel and the prophets who through faith
subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword, out of
weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle,
turned to fight the armies of aliens, women
received their dead raised to life again.
But you know, it wasn't all victory and
rosy.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they
might obtain a better resurrection.
Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings,
yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two,
they were tempted, they were slain with the
sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins
being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world
was not worthy.
You know, the world would be saying to
them, look at those, they're just scum.
Look at them, they're just roaming around.
They'd look, the world would look down on
you.
But God says of them, of whom the
world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens
and caves of the earth and all these
haven't obtained a good testimony through faith, did
not receive the promise, God having provided something
better for us, that they should not be
made perfect apart from us.
Therefore, we also, since we're surrounded by so
great a cloud of witnesses, as we go
from this place tonight, let us lay aside
every weight and the sin which so easily
ensnares us.
And brothers and sisters, let's run with endurance
the race that is set before us, looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith.
Amen.
Let's stand together, okay?
Would you pray with me?
Father, thanks for this time tonight.
Thank you for teaching us, Lord, more about
you.
Our perfect sacrifice, better than anything the old
covenant had.
And on the basis of all of that,
we can be a people of faith.
Oh, there were so many who had such
a good witness of faith, and they were
looking forward to the promise.
We have the promise.
May we not fall back.
May we draw near and press on as
we serve you, Lord.
Bless this congregation, Lord.
Draw each one into a deep and wonderful
and powerful and joy-filled walk with you.
May we serve you and serve one another
in the days ahead, God, use us.
We hold to you.
We trust you.
We believe your promises.
Use us for your glory, we pray, in
Jesus' name, amen.