We can turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. As I said, we'll pick up our exposition of Matthew's Gospel, God willing, in September. A few weeks ago, we looked at Hebrews 10, 19 to 25, and then last week, 26 to 31, so I thought we'd finish out the chapter with a consideration of Hebrews 10, verses 32 to 39 this morning.
I do want to begin reading at verse 19 to remind us concerning the context and the apostles' argument. 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 with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
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. 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. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 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 in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have 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. Now the just shall live by faith.
But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Our Father, we thank You for this epistle of Hebrews. We thank You for the teaching that we find in chapter 10. We pray that as we consider this last portion, our hearts would be encouraged, that our faith would be strengthened, and that You would cause us to be more and more conformed unto Your Son. We pray for the forgiveness of sins again as we come to Holy Scripture.
We know that sin darkens our mind and our understanding, and we would pray that you would cleanse us in that blood, and as well supply the Holy Spirit, the giver of the Word, so that we may receive it, we may understand it, and by your grace and for your glory, we may put it into practice in our own daily lives. Our Father, we just praise you and we thank you for these opportunities as we enjoy the worship of God, as the people of God, on the day of God. And we pray these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction: Context of Hebrews 10
Well, in verses 19 to 25, we saw where the Apostle, I take it as the Apostle Paul, wrote the book of Hebrews. He gives the people of God two encouragements, and then he draws out three exhortations. So in verses 19 and 20, he tells us, or 21, he says specifically that we have access to the holiest. That means we have access to the very presence of God.
It has been secured for us by the priestly work of the Lord Jesus. So we have access to God, we have a priest with God, even Christ Jesus our Lord. Based on those encouragements, He gives us three exhortations. He says in verse 22, we are to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
He says in verse 23, we are to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. And in verse 24, we are to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. This is what the people of God are supposed to look like. We, by God's grace, have been saved.
We, by God's grace, have been delivered. We, by God's grace, have been forgiven of our sins. And therefore, God calls us to draw near to Him using the access that has been purchased for us. God calls us to hold fast the confession of our hope, not to turn away from, not to defect from, and not to apostatize from the true religion, which is Christianity.
And we are to consider one another. We're not to live our lives in isolation. We are not to be the sorts of people that have no contact whatsoever with other people. We are not to be the kinds of people that neglect the saints of Christ, but we are to consider them.
The author tells us in Hebrews 3.1, we are to consider Jesus. But as well, we are to consider Jesus' people, encourage them, exhort them, love them, stir them up. to love and good works. And one of the means by which we fulfill this is assembling ourselves together, to come together on the Lord's Day. It doesn't speak that we can't come together other days, but certainly this is the opportunity we have to fulfill these things, and then prayerfully throughout the week as well.
The author then gives a warning in verses 26 to 31 against what is called apostasy. If you are interested in the exposition of this, you'll have to go back to last week. Basically, what it teaches is not the sorts of sins that, say, a David committed, or that even a Peter committed, that were forgiven. But what he describes here is an apostate, one who defects from, one who turns away from, one who renounces the Christian faith in its entirety.
He describes him in verse 29 as one who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which Christ was sanctified, a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace. what an apostate is. If you have remaining corruption, if you are struggling in your sin, Romans 7 and Galatians 5.17 acknowledge that category. Confess your sin, forsake your sin, and you will find mercy from God. But if you reject or repudiate the offer of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, you renounce completely those things that you at least at one time affirmed That's who the warning is for.
And typically, the apostate has no concern. He's not going to go to church, he's not going to read his Bible, he's not going to have this inner turmoil, but he has fully renounced the things of God in Jesus Christ. That's what apostasy is. Here in verses 26 to 31, it's described as well in Hebrews 6.
Now note, finally, in verses 32 to 39, our author returns to his specific audience. I think the connection is more likely with verses 19 to 25. 26 to 31 was an excursus, a warning. Do not refuse, do not neglect, and perhaps the warning is strengthened by the exhortations. If you don't draw near, and you don't hold fast to confession of your hope, and you don't stir one another up or consider one another to stir them up to love and good works, you may fall prey to committing apostasy.
But here in verses 32 to 39, he resumes his encouragement to the people of God, and notice there are two main things we ought to appreciate in this section. First, the reminder of former days in verses 32 to 34, and then the exhortation to them to persevere. He does this a lot in this epistle primarily because of the tendency or the temptation for the original audience to return to Judaism. If, as has been argued, Paul wrote Hebrews prior to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, that meant that temple worship was still in play, that meant that there was still a priesthood operating at that temple, it means that worshippers, or false worshippers, were bringing sacrifice to that temple, and Jewish Christians, Believers called Hebrews, those who had professed faith in Messiah, would be pressured by these unbelieving Jews to turn away from Christ and to go back to that sacrificial system.
That's the press. That's the emphasis. That's what the apostle wants to caution them against. and He wants them to endure, to run, to persevere, and to finish well.
Reminder of Former Days
Well, let's look at this reminder of former days in verses 32 to 34. Notice in verse 32, "...recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings." There's a particular duty or a responsibility. They are commanded to remember. And I think that oftentimes in Scripture we are commanded, or at least shown by example, the necessity for us to remember the past so that we will be steadied in the present and ready for the future.
And I think that's what's going on in this particular section. He says,
Illumination and Its Passive Character
recall the former days in which after you are illuminated. or having been enlightened. This probably speaks to their reception of the truth. This probably speaks to that day when, by God's grace, they had been enlightened. And it's a passive verb.
That means they did not enlighten themselves. They did not illuminate themselves. God enlightened them. God illuminated them.
God, through the preaching of the Gospel, opened their eyes and their hearts to receive the truth. God, in His sovereign power, made them willing in the day of His power and drew them nigh. And so Paul tells them, I want you to remember those days. I want you to recall what happened when you were first enlightened, when you received the truth of the Gospel.
He calls on them to remember their particular attitude, and I think this is helpful as well. Have you ever fallen into that rut, saying, well, you know, when I was first converted, I used to witness a lot. When I was first converted, I would never miss a church service. When I was first converted, I always liked to pray, and I read through my Bible.
When I was first converted, well, Paul's saying, or the Apostle's saying, consider what was going on at that particular time. And if you are conducting yourself more consistently then, remember it with a view to revive it and recover it. In other words, don't be satisfied with stagnancy. Don't be satisfied with lethargy.
Don't be satisfied with the status quo. I think that's all too common in the church today. We want enough truth, we want enough information to get long-term fire insurance. We want enough Jesus to secure our place at the Messianic banquet.
But we don't want any Jesus to sort of usurp our lives now. I mean, we don't really want to have to, you know, stir one another up to love and good deeds. We don't really want to have to draw nigh unto God or hold fast the confession of our hope. We want enough Jesus to secure our future, but we don't want enough Jesus to radically alter our lives.
The Apostle says, banish that type of thinking. Think back to when you were first enlightened. Think back to when you first heard the Gospel, the reality of your sin, the vileness that you've expressed in your rebellion against God, violating not one of His commandments, but all of His commandments. You hadn't loved God, as you ought.
You hadn't loved your neighbor, as you ought. This is the summary of what the Decalogue teaches, our duty to God and our duty to men. And then by God's grace you heard of Christ. You heard of this one who lived in obedience to that law.
You heard of this Christ who died as a sacrifice and a substitute in order to pay the penalty of us having violated that law. And then you heard of this Christ who was raised on the third day. And by the grace of God and the illuminating or the enlightening power of God, your eyes were open, your heart was open, you saw, you believed by grace. There was joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Brethren, don't be stagnant now that you've been in the way for some time. Don't be lethargic or apathetic. Don't be a Canadian or an American Christian. Be what the Bible describes.
That type of discipleship that Jesus describes. Taking up your cross daily and following Christ. Denying self. chopping off hands and gouging out eyes, not in order to be saved, but because by God's grace we have been saved. You see the author's rhetoric.
He wants you to recall what it was like when you first believed. Notice, or Calvin says rather, first off, he says, the remembrance then of past warfare, if it had been carried on faithfully and diligently under the banner of Christ, is at length useful to us, not as a pretext for sloth, as though we had already served our time. In other words, you can't say, well, you know, back then I used to witness, back then I used to pray, back then I used to read my Bible. So, you know, not so much now.
Calvin says don't do that. It's not supposed to be a pretext for sloth. He says, but to render us more active in finishing the remaining part of our course. Brethren, I know what it is to get weary in the Christian race.
I know what it is to get discouraged in the Christian race. And I suspect you do as well. And what's the tendency when we get discouraged or when we get weary? We get lazy, we get slothful, we get neglectful.
We don't spend time drawing nigh unto God. We're not holding fast that confession of hope. We're certainly not considering one another, because all we do is consider ourselves in that particular state. It is a difficulty and a trial to be sure, but brethren, We need, by the grace of God, to recall, to remember that enlightenment whereby we see Jesus, whereby we see our sins forgiven, whereby we see a crucified and risen Lord who has loved us and who has given Himself for us.
Brethren, we need to shake off sloth, imbibe or embrace these exhortations, and run with endurance. This is the apostles' argument. You know what radical Christianity is today? Just doing what you're supposed to do.
And that means loving God with your heart, soul, mind and strength. Loving your brothers and your neighbors as yourself. That's radical, faithful, godly discipleship under Jesus Christ.
Sufferings That Accompanied Salvation
Notice what he goes on to say. As you recall this time that you had been enlightened, as you recall this time that you had been brought out of darkness into marvelous light, you'll realize there was accompanying struggles. you will know that there was hardship that you had to face. Notice what he says. Recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated or enlightened, 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.
The believer's salvation by Christ is often closely associated with the believer's trials in Christ, isn't it? Is it the case that we come to God and we come to Christ and we now love Jesus and we hold allegiance to Him and all the world congratulates us? Did you come to work the day after you got converted and they presented you a birthday cake for your new birth? Were people telling tales and minstrels singing over the goodness of God displayed?
No. This world is in opposition to Christ, and so when one is conquered by sovereign grace, they typically tend to be opposed by the world as well. And the author specifies this. The reception of the Holy Spirit in salvation is more often than not punctuated by trials and hardships and difficulties.
I'll give you two examples. The first is David. 1 Samuel 16, David is identified by Samuel as the Lord's anointed. Samuel anoints him with oil. The text says that the Spirit comes upon David.
And what happens from thence on, all the way to 2 Samuel 20? David is in perplexity, trial, affliction. Some of it, obviously, in 2 Samuel, brought on by his own sin and rebellion, but a lot of it wasn't. Trials and difficulties punctuated the life of David.
You cannot escape that. In fact, on Wednesday night, we got to chapter 20, and we kind of get this thought in our own lives that if we have suffered for a while, or if we have been tried for a while, or if we have had difficulty for a while, we deserve a break. In fact, McDonald's used this as a campaign several years ago. You deserve a break today.
That appeals to man, doesn't it? We deserve a break today. Men, we come home after a long day of work, and what do we deserve? We deserve a break.
And sometimes in the Christian life, we think the same thing. We're McDonald's-minded. We deserve a break. We get to 2 Samuel 20 after surveying David's life, and what happens?
The rebellion of Sheba against the crown of David. He didn't get breaks. It's interesting to me. He didn't get breaks.
He didn't get reprieves. He didn't get time off for good behavior. The other example is David's greater son. Trace the narrative in Matthew's gospel and you'll see something intriguing.
Jesus is the true Israel. He is the firstborn called out of Egypt. He passes through the waters of baptism, and then he enters into the wilderness to be tried by the devil. But it is intriguing.
Matthew 3, specifically, when Jesus goes into the waters of baptism, the Father Himself voices His approbation and says, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove. It doesn't mean you go out and worship doves. It was the form of a dove.
And then in chapter 4, verse 1, it says, the Spirit of God led him to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So you see, you cannot say, well, I've got the Spirit now, so therefore my life is going to be one big rosy cheek. My life is fundamentally altered in terms of my relationship with God. I'm a child of the King, so therefore no harm shall befall me.
Uh-uh. It's incredible to me how often we imbibe the health, wealth, prosperity gospel while rejecting the likes of Benny Hinn, one of its chief proprietors. We still probably have it deep down in our hearts, don't we? I mean, things should go for me, right?
I'm a Christian. I'm a believer. Well, what was David? David was a man after God's own heart, and yet he was hunted like a dog.
He was rebelled against, he was rejected. In 2 Samuel, David actually has to leave Jerusalem because his own son took his throne and took his crown. Why do we think we're going to get better treatment? I don't understand it.
Then Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Talk about absolute, utter, perfect obedience. And what did it get him at the end? Away with him, away with him, crucify him.
It pleased Yahweh to bruise him, putting him to grief. So you see, brethren, it is a reality that the Christian life, more often than not, when first begun, is punctuated by perilous times. Owen makes this observation, not my grandson, but John the Puritan divine. And it is usual with God thus to deal with his people in all ages.
He no sooner calls persons to himself, but he leads them into the wilderness. He no sooner plants them, but He shakes them with storms, that they may be more firmly rooted." There's a purpose in it. There's a remedial end in view. God doesn't just say, I want to see how much horrible things David can, you know, handle.
I want to see how many horrible things these Hebrew Christians in the first century can handle. It's not like God's up there with some sick mindset, thrusting things at people and just watching their threshold. It is to plant them firmer. It is to stabilize them and make them more solid.
Owen says he does this for several reasons. One, to utterly take off their expectations from this world. It's a good place to be, isn't it? To have our expectations utterly taken off of this world.
Second, for the trial of their faith. Third, for the glory and propagation of the gospel. Fourth, for the exercise of all graces. Fifth, to breed us up in the military discipline of Christ as He is the captain of our salvation.
He says, they who pass through their first trials are Christ's veterans on new attempts. Again, it's amazing to me how often we as Christians can just miss this. How do they train crack military units? Okay, I want you to go down to the beach today, I want you to get the lawn chair out, I want you to roll out the towel, and I want you to soak in the sun. and make sure that you always have a beverage and that you have a fan so that you're not affected by the heat of the day.
Is that how they train crack military units? No, they say, Go down to the beach today, and it's going to be especially cold, so we want you to go into the water and stay there all night until you get hypothermia. And then when you come out of the water, we want you to roll around in the sand while we mock you. And then we want you to carry a big pole so that you'll march 20 miles back to the barracks.
That's typically how they train. I don't know if it's exactly like that. Give me a little bit of liberty here. I haven't studied up on my SEALS training recently, but you get the point.
It's adversity. It's trial. It's hardship. It's carrying big logs for 20 miles.
That toughens the soldier. What do you think it is in the Christian life? bask in the sun, sip your beverage, or is it going to be adversity and trial that conforms us more unto the image of whom Hebrews 5a tells us He learned obedience through suffering? Brethren, God's ways are good. That's why the psalmist says, it was good for me that I was afflicted.
That's why he says, thou art good and you do good. He sees the remedial purpose of God in the trials and afflictions that he faces. He doesn't whine, he doesn't grumble, he doesn't complain, he doesn't reject, resist, or rebel, and he certainly doesn't get lazy and neglect the means that God's ordained. He says, it is good for me that I was afflicted.
And the same is what the Apostle is reminding the people of here.
The Spectacle of Public Reproach
Note the example of their struggle. You know, we have difficulties to be sure, but look at what these guys, or what happened to them. Partly while you were made a spectacle. This is a public spectacle.
The word is where we get the word theater. They were on public display. Has anybody ever raised their eyebrow at you when you went to pray in the work lunchroom, and you found that particularly offensive? What do you mean they rolled their eyes when I prayed?
Well, you weren't made a public spectacle and a laughing stock. You weren't held in derision. They didn't bring you out to the factory floor and throw stuff at you and berate you. We read these letters from Voice of the Martyrs concerning various nations where persons suffer for the cause of God and truth.
Brethren, this is what he wants them to recall. I want you to remember, you were made a spectacle. You were held up to derision. You were put to shame.
You were disposed of publicly. This probably happened, or is recorded, not probably, it did happen, as recorded in the book of Acts. Who was the first great persecutor of the Church of Jesus Christ? If you say the Roman Empire, you're wrong.
The first great persecutor of the Church of Jesus Christ was unbelieving Israel. Trace the history in the book of Acts. Who does Paul face his first problems with? It's with the unbelieving Jews.
They rejected Christ and they reject Christ's people. And these men, these women, these early believers were made a spectacle. Notice, he goes on to say, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. So just to identify with somebody, just to side with somebody caused them to consider you on their side.
One man says, anyone who expressed and displayed sympathy for persons who had been socially condemned and disgraced by seeking to minister to their needs suffered a similar fate. In other words, if somebody's in jail for worshipping Jesus as Messiah, and you bring them food, that's something we need to remember. The empire didn't feed the prisoners three hots and give them a cot. If you ate in prison, it's because you had friends.
That's why Paul in Philippians is so happy that they sent Epaphroditus, who ministered to my needs, because if he didn't minister to my needs, I would have died. Paul wasn't a disembodied spirit. He needed nutrients, he needed proteins, he needed carbohydrates, he needed fats, he needed all those things that sustain life and health. So if you took lunch to Paul, everybody's going to think you're with Paul, right?
And that's a legit understanding. And he says they did that. And then he gives concrete examples in verse 34, the manifestation of their conduct.
Compassion and Deprivation of Goods
Note their compassion. You had compassion on me in my chains. There's a variant that says either compassion on me in my chains or compassion on the prisoners. The end result is the same.
They had compassion on Christians who were in jail. And this compassion wasn't just a feeling, oh, I feel so bad for them. It was prayer, it was visitation, it was giving food, it was giving drink, it was bringing a cloak, it was a manifestation of the compassion that they felt in their hearts. They moved on it.
You see what the apostle is saying when he gets to the exhortations in the first section? Consider one another. Now he's reminding them that they had at one time considered one another, don't relinquish this, don't stop this, don't tire of it, don't conclude, well, I've done so much good, I no longer have to do anything. No, you need to persevere, you need to endure, you need to go forward.
Notice they suffered their own deprivation, again a manifestation of their conduct in terms of this spectacle and this reproach and this tribulation. You had compassion on me and my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods. That probably means exactly what it says. either in an organized, sanctioned manner by the state. This would develop later on in the empire.
By the time that the apostle writes here, it's not just on believing Israel anymore. It is the Roman Empire. Initially, it looked at the Christians as a subset of Judaism and didn't really mess with Christianity much. until Christianity started messing with the empire. Not by having sit-ins, or love-fests, or drinking chamomile, or any of that.
It was through preaching the gospel. That's how God used the church to turn upside that world at that time. The empire gets increasingly concerned, and the pressure and the persecution is on. And so it was either a state-sponsored deprivation of their property or mob violence.
People get mad, they get upset, they know you're a Christian, they come and take your stuff. He says, that happened to you. What's he indicating? There was a time in your life when you did, in fact, hold fast the confession of your hope.
You say, well, I want my TV. I'm going to renounce Jesus. I want my couch. No, you joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods.
You didn't crave it and hold on to it. You didn't say, mine. You didn't invest your soul and your life and your joy and your hope in that stuff. And then note the reason that he gives for this.
Because you knew that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Again, there's a bit of a variant here. I think the idea is clear. You did this.
You had compassion on me, if it is indeed Paul. You had this disposition of joyfully accepting the plundering of your goods. Why? Because you know things in terms of eternity.
You understand there's something bigger than couches. You understand there's something bigger than comforts. You understand there's something more joyous than the stuff of this world. Knowing, he says, you have an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
It's interesting. How many times are these people called on to endure? In fact, in our next section we're going to see it. What does he say about this possession?
You endure for an enduring possession. God's gift, God's goods, God's kindness, God's mercies and graces, they endure. You see what the author is saying? We need to endure for a time because God, in His enduring grace and love and mercy, has given us all things in Christ.
It's a beautiful sort of way to think through these things. So that's the reminder of former days.
Exhortation to Persevere
Now let's look at the exhortation to persevere in verses 35 to 39. I think the connection's obvious. Here's what you used to do. Therefore, in verse 35, keep doing it.
Dazzling exegesis, right? You guys are all going to go home and say, wow, Facebook, there was some exegesis. It's obvious. What's he saying?
It's a reminder of the past as an exhortation for present duty to fit them for service on into the future. Davis observes this in 1 Samuel 7. We stand in the present, but dwell on the past in order that we can be steadfast for the future. We need to be thinking about the past in terms of God and His faithfulness to us.
We need to be sturdy and steady in the present so that we may endure, that we may persevere. Notice, He says specifically, therefore do not cast away your confidence. This confidence is also translated boldness. It's what we see in Hebrews 4, 14.
We have a boldness to enter. Here we see it in Hebrews 10, 19. We have boldness to enter the holiest. Don't cast away your boldness.
Don't cast away this access. Don't trip up. Don't stop. See, this is probably one of the most difficult things in the Christian life, isn't it?
Persistence, perseverance, endurance. You know, just a real live illustration here. My children went to a Christian school, and I would observe that once in a while they would have these sort of, you know, rah-rah fests, as I like to call them, pep rallies for Jesus. And then it would be common, at least in that day and age, the expression of this was praying at the flagpole.
Praying at the flagpole. If you show up and pray at the flagpole, that's what good godly people do. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with praying at a flagpole. And I'm not saying it's wrong for a school to try and encourage people to follow Jesus.
I'm not saying that at all. But it is intriguing that the flagpole sort of manifestation didn't last all year. I personally think God would rather have you in your closet, you know, at 6 a.m. or 5 a.m., for you Spartans out there, rather than showing up at the flagpole. I mean, the flagpole should be gravy.
Your closet shouldn't be neglected. We want gravy in the Christian life, don't we? We want all of this stuff out here, but we're oftentimes not faithful in what the Apostle sets down. It says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the custom of some, even the more so as you see the day approaching.
Remember when we reflected on that? What day is it? It's either the day of my death, or it's the day of the final judgment, or it's the day of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Each one of those, however, interpreted by at least some Christians today, would be a reason not to go to church.
If I knew I was going to die tomorrow, I might not go to church today because I need to spend time with my family. If I knew that the city was going to be destroyed tomorrow, I might not go to church today because I've got to get my guns and get my stuff and my beans and my rice and my oats and load up the car with gas and head out. If I knew it was the day of final judgment, same thing, I want to gather my family around. Do you see the apostles' logic?
Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the custom of some, even the more so as you see the day approaching, whether it's the day of death, whether it's the destruction of the city, or whether it's the eschatological day of judgment. If that was going to occur on Monday, do you know where God wants you today? Right where you are. Right where you are.
Until you die. God wants you to read your Bibles. He wants you to pray. He wants you to fellowship one with another.
Not in these fits and starts. Not in these, I'm going to go like a madman and read 20 chapters for, you know, three days and then fizzle out because I don't understand Leviticus 11. It's steady acquisition over the long haul. How often we forget Aesop's fable.
Who's the better competitor? It's the tortoise, brethren. Slow and steady wins the race. Not fits and starts.
I'm going to read 15 chapters today and tomorrow I'm going to, you know, watch sports, whatever. This is what the Apostle says. You have, I'm sorry, verse 35,
Do Not Cast Away Confidence
therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward. In other words, endure with the context of understanding what God has laid up for endurers. In other words, think about heaven once in a while. I think we need to be reminded about this.
We need to think about heaven. This comes out in this passage. You've got to think about the promise. You've got to think about what God has laid out for you.
This will help you to run with endurance the race that is set before you. It will help you to press on. Persevere. You know that at the end of your course, what will you hear?
Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your rest. That's what the author is reminding the people of God here.
The Need for Endurance
Notice the reasons that he gives in verse 36. For you have need of endurance. The Christian life is hard, isn't it? The Christian life has challenges, doesn't it?
We've spoken of persecution, we've spoken of reproach, we've spoken of public derision, but we've got an on-board sort of alien opposer. It's our own remaining corruption. When you pop out of bed in the morning and you think, boy, I'm going to read my Bible. Do you ever get opposed?
Oh, no, not me, Pastor. It's always just great. Paul notes this principle present in Romans 7. When I seek to do good.
Do you know when that opposition or that remaining corruption shows itself probably the most? It's when you're actually trying to do what God wants you to do. I know in our lives, Sunday mornings were always the most difficult. It wasn't like everybody bounced out of bed and combed their flowing locks and brushed their teeth and had their breakfast and all went out in a single file line, and we drove our way to church, always there early, always there punctual, holding the door open for the older folk.
That was a mess. Running out without shoes, yelling at them to go get shoes, get in the car, we're going to be late, My kids heard that once, they heard it a million times, I don't want to be late, and you're still late. Why is that? If you're going somewhere else on a Tuesday, it's typically not that hard, is it?
I'm not saying that's true in every case or every instance, but we have this sort of onboard opposition to God in our own hearts. We are prone to wander, as Robert Robinson wrote, and as we sing, prone to leave the God we love. Therefore, he says, you have need of endurance. Notice how he connects this to the will of God, so that after you have done the will of God, it is God's will for you to endure.
It is God's will for you to even suffer for the cause of Christ. It isn't haphazard trials, it isn't haphazard reproaches, it isn't haphazard tribulations. You don't live in a world governed by impersonal faith. You live in a world governed by a personal God who is absolutely sovereign.
And whatever He does, or whatever He pleases, He does. Our trials are orchestrated by God. Our suffering, our running, our endurance, our perseverance, all of this is according to the will of God. And then again, points us to that promise.
You are to anticipate the promise. You may receive the promise. Run with endurance the race that is set before you, thinking about the promise. Think about heaven.
Yeah, it's tough on this earth, isn't it? It's hard in this life at times, isn't it? Do you realize we're going to a place where there's no more pain, no more sorrow, no more suffering, no more tears, no more death? The final enemy that is judged or rendered incapacitated is death itself.
We're going to be with Jesus. You need to ponder this as you endure, as you persevere, as you run. This is what the author says. And then
The Appeal to Isaiah and Habakkuk
notice, he appeals to Scripture, and his appeal to Scripture is absolutely crucial in this particular context. He hasn't joined upon them to exercise certain graces. You are to run, you are to endure, you are to persevere, you are to remember the past, to stir up present faithfulness and constancy. But note the specifics of what he says in verses 37 and 38.
This is a conflation. That means a bringing together of two passages. Isaiah 26, 20 and 21. This is probably the, for yet a little while.
And then Habakkuk 2, 3 and 4. And he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. The idea is simply this.
In Isaiah 26 and in Habakkuk chapter 2, there were specific contexts of impending judgment. And so God highlights the difference between the people of God and the non-people of God, and that difference is faith. Appreciate this particular connection. He calls us to run, He calls us to endure, He calls us to persevere, but these are manifestations of graces flowing from that foundational principle of faith.
This then leads him to go into Hebrews chapter 11, the great faith chapter. Well, it comes on the heels of verses 37 to 39, where he enjoins the power of faith, or enjoins how important faith is for the people of God. Perhaps Owen can explain it better. Unto this end, with reference to exhorting them that they have need of endurance, that they are not to cast away their confidence, which has great reward, unto this end he commends unto them the necessary use of confidence and patience, as those graces which would carry them through their difficulties and support them under them.
But these graces are not the root whereon constancy and perseverance do grow, they are all branches of it. He says, They do not give strength unto the soul to do and suffer according to the mind of God, but they are the way whereby it does exercise its strength, which it has from another grace. It is faith. From whence alone all these things do spring.
You see, what is he saying? What does he come back to? What does he highlight? It's that city of faith, belief in God, belief in the truth.
How do we endure? How do we persevere? How do we go forward? How do we stand up under public insult?
How do we take the deprivation of our goods? It's by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself for me. The citation of Isaiah 26 and Habakkuk 3 puts us into those contexts where there's a judgment coming. And specifically in verse 37 here, He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
In other words, Christian church, your Jesus is coming back for you. There will be troubles. There will be hardships. There will be trials and difficulties.
But He gives us the remedy or the antidote in verse 38. Now, the just shall live by faith. This is how you function, this is how you move, this is how you go forward, this is how you comply with drawing nigh unto God, holding fast the confession of your hope, and considering one another to stir them up to love and good works. It's by faith, grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Now,
Faith as the Ground of Salvation
note his specific application to his audience in verse 39. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. 26 to 31 was a reminder of apostasy. It was a warning concerning apostasy. But the author, at least for this moment, suspects or assumes that his audience is with him.
He tells them, by way of encouragement, we are not of those who draw back to perdition or to destruction, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. What about this statement? We are not of those who draw back to perdition. Is there a drawing back not unto perdition?
Yeah, it's called sin. Every time we sin, we draw back from God, don't we? Every time we commit something God says not to do, every time we violate the law of God or we do not conform to it, it could be seen as a drawing back. But the drawing back to perdition is the apostasy described in verses 26 to 31.
Let's listen to Gil here. I wish, I hope, I pray that sometime when you struggle or when you have difficulty, instead of picking up the latest Christian fad novel, you pick up Gil. Gil will steal your soul in the midst of hardship and difficulty. He says, very pastorally and very practically as well, I might add, there is a drawing back which is not under perdition.
Persons may be attended with much unbelief, may be very cold and indifferent to gospel ordinances, may fall into great sins and may greatly backslide, and yet be recovered as David, Peter, and others. And there is a drawing back to perdition when Christ is rejected as the alone Savior, when He is not held to as to the head, when false doctrines and damnable heresies are given into, and when men draw back and never return, nor are they, nor can they be returned, and their apostasy is total and final. I love this. He says, but true believers do not and cannot draw back in this sense because They are held fast in the arms and with the cords of everlasting love, are chosen of God unto salvation, are given unto Christ and secured in Him.
They are redeemed and purchased by Him. They are united to Him and built upon Him. They are interested in His prayers and preparations and are His jewels and His portion. They are regenerated, sanctified, inhabited and sealed by the Spirit of God and have the promises and power of God on their side.
You see, this finishes the thought. The apostates do what he says in 26 to 31. But we, brethren, he includes himself, we are not of those who draw back to perdition. Then he makes this glorious statement, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
Notice what the saving of the soul is connected with. Not your perseverance, not your endurance, not your ability to fight and run. The saving of the soul is connected to faith in Christ. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to be sure.
Salvation is not according to our works, our power, our capability, our endurance, our perseverance, but he says, of those who believe to the saving of the soul. That's why when you come to Free Grace Baptist Church, hopefully the gospel you hear isn't, go out and do better, go out and try harder, go out and make yourself nicer. but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because salvation is connected to faith in Him. Now that faith by the grace of God doesn't remain alone. Our confession speaks to this in saving faith.
Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of faith. Yet, it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead faith, but worketh by love. So in other words, we are those who believe to the saving of the soul. And because by the grace of God we have believed to the saving of the soul, we will endure, we will persevere, we will run.
But when we finish the race, God's not going to say, it's because you ran, it's because you persevered, it's because you ran or endured. It's because of my Son. His life, His death, His resurrection and salvation is by grace, through faith as the instrument. That means by which we come into saving contact with that Christ.
The author is not telling you to run with endurance, to persevere, or to pull up your bootstraps. He is telling you to look unto Jesus. In fact, he will do so very clearly in chapter 12. After 11, he gives all these examples of great faith.
Chapter 12, he tells us, as runners in the Christian race, what are we supposed to do? We're to look unto Jesus. the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him despised the shame, suffered on the cross, and was raised on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Sorry. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Application: Remember, Draw Near, Hold Fast
So, in summary, in conclusion, here's what the author wants. If you have come to a place in your life where you are slothful, you are lazy, you are lethargic, you are apathetic, you are indifferent to the things of God, remember what happened when you were first enlightened. Remember what it was like when you first gazed upon Jesus Christ. Do you ever do that?
Do you ever think back? I think Paul wants us to think back on our baptism, you know, in Romans 6. One of the arguments so that we don't present our members as instruments of unrighteousness is to remember our baptism. Do you ever think back on your baptism?
Ever think back on what that was like to publicly identify with the triune God in the waters of baptism? It's glorious, isn't it? By God's grace, we believe. By God's grace, we've gone into this water and we've come out.
Think back to that. Think back to that zeal you had when you went to work and you couldn't help but tell people about Jesus. Think about that zeal you had when you realized that if the church doors are open, I'm there. Think about that zeal you had that, I can't go to bed without prayer.
I can't finish a day without, you know, my Bible. What's happened? Has Christ changed? Has Christ become less lovely?
Has Christianity lost its allure and its attractiveness? Listen to our author. Remember those days. They cost you sorely.
People in the lunchroom made fun of you. People in the city square threw rocks at you. You came to visit me in my prison, and they thought you were a Pauline sympathizer. But you did it.
Why? Because of what Christ has done. Now, don't settle on your lease. Don't grow moss in the church.
Don't be one of those apathetic deadbeats that profess the faith, but you could never tell when looking upon them. He says, do not cast away your confidence. You have need of endurance. If one of the challenges in the Christian life is long-hauled perseverance, the way to achieve it is not through laziness, it's not through sloth, and it's certainly not through neglect.
It's through doing what God calls you to do. Draw near. Imagine that command, I want you to draw near to me. That's a great command, isn't it?
We have access to the holiest, according to verse 19. We have access to the presence of God, and God says, I want you to use it. How can anybody say Christianity is harsh, it's vicious, it's mean, it's unkind? God says, I want you to spend time with me.
Imagine you children hearing your father say, I want you to hang out with me, and I want to just bless you. Oh man, my dad's the worst. Really? That sounds pretty awesome to a guy who didn't have a dad.
Sounds pretty great to me. The second thing he says, I want you to hold fast your confession. Don't let go. That Christ has conquered you, that Christ has saved you, that gospel is your everything.
Don't hold it with some limp-wristed chamomile-drinking tea hand. Hold fast the confidence of your hope and don't let go. And then look at your brethren. Care about the saints.
Love the people of God. Pick up the phone. Send them an email. Text them.
Send a carrier pigeon their way to drop something nice on. Do something for the people of God. You get the prayer emails concerning the brethren. Do you pray for them?
Have you ever thought about calling them? Have you ever thought about actually visiting them? Brethren, this is what the Apostle says we are supposed to do. We're to consider one another.
We're to try and stir them up to love and good works. Always amazes me, people that don't want to come to church, they say, well, I don't do anything, I don't preach, I don't play the piano. You encourage others. You know what stirs this heart up to love and good deeds?
It's just to see you on Sunday. Just to see you, you don't have to come and hug me, you don't have to kiss me, you don't have to say, Jim, you don't have to say anything to me. If I just see you, I'm encouraged. It makes me happy.
I go home and I'm happy. Praise God, because that's what it's about. The Christian life is not exhausted by church attendance, but it's not less than church attendance, it's not less than Bible reading, it's not less than prayer. These are all vital elements of the Christian life.
So the apostle wants you to shake off the sluggishness, to put to death the dispositions or the hard-heartedness that you may have imbibed over the years. Throw it off. Remember the past and be steadied in the present so that you can be useful in the future. That's the thrust of the section.
That's what he wants us to get. Owen says, the apostle would have them so called to mind as to consider withal what supportment they had under their sufferings, what satisfaction in them, what deliverance from them, that they might not despond upon the approach of the evils and trials on the same account. If we remember our sufferings only as to what is evil and afflictive in them, what we lose, what we endure and undergo, such a remembrance will weaken and dispirit us as unto our future situation. In other words, brethren, that sounded too puritanical to convey into the modern parlance.
Here's what I think he's saying. When you remember the past, what are you specifically remembering? Yes, when by God's grace I looked to Jesus and lived. Yes, by God's grace I went through public reproaches.
Yes, I went through some afflictions. Yes, people took my stuff because I loved Jesus. But what's more important to remember? God sustained me in the midst of it.
God upheld me through it all. You remember the past so you can see God We're going to do this tonight, specifically in Habakkuk 3. Because the Apostle cites Habakkuk 3 and 4 here, I want to look at Habakkuk 3 tonight to show you that Habakkuk needed to put into practice Habakkuk 2.4, the just shall live by faith. Habakkuk is facing trial, difficulty, hardship, vis-Ã -vis the Babylonian captivity of Judah.
He's facing real, live issues, and how does he deal with it? Well, I think it's instructive for us, so we're going to look at it tonight, Habakkuk chapter 3. But brethren, it's God. It's what we remember, that's what we see, that's what we look back into the past to.
Oh yeah, that person spit on my face, but the Lord encouraged me through it all. Oh, that person took my lunch, and yet the Lord strengthened me through it. Oh yes, I went through that hardship and that pain, but the Lord saw me through it. You see, you reflect on the past because there is God acting for you.
He is one you have tried and proven. This will steady you in the present to fit you for the future and to run with endurance the race that is set before you. So brethren, I hope that this is an encouragement to you. I hope that this is a help to you.
And I hope that each and every one hearing the sound of the Word of God today will indeed, by God's grace, find themselves in verse 39. I hope and pray that you are those who believe to the saving of the soul. You are those who believe to the saving of the soul. You need to believe on Jesus.
You need to look to Christ. You need to get your eyes off of self. You need to get your eyes off your own works. And you need to look and live at that one who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, gave his life a ransom for many.
Please, do not depart without thinking through this. I know we do this every Sunday, and I suspect that you could probably rehearse it to me back. Think about it. Think about the truth.
If you don't believe, there's no saving of the soul. If by the grace of God you believe there is saving of the soul, you don't want to be unsaved, you don't want to be lost, you don't want to be damned, you don't want to be those who are drawn back to perdition or destruction. You, by God's grace, want to go forward into the blessed arms of the one the Bible describes as altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for the Word of God, and we thank you for the fact that you have not left us alone in this world, but you've given us Scripture, you've given us the Spirit, give us grace to put these things into practice. We would probably all confess, I don't want to confess sin where it isn't God, but I suspect many of us struggle with that ideal, that situation wherein we first found ourselves, full of zeal and full of earnestness for the Lord Jesus. And as time goes on, our hearts grow cold. Do forgive and do cleanse and do wash us in the blood of Jesus and cause us to run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.
And we pray in His most blessed name. Amen.