Don’t Throw It Away
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Title: Don’t Throw it Away
Scripture: Hebrews 10:32-39
Occasion: Freeway Sanford
Date: July 9, 2026
Opening Prayer
Introduction
In 1914, Ernest Shackleton led an expedition to cross Antarctica.
His ship was fittingly named Endurance.
But before they ever reached land, the ship was trapped in ice, crushed, and finally sank.
The men were stranded in one of the harshest places on earth.
No easy road home.
No quick rescue.
No certainty that they would survive.
But Shackleton understood something:
survival would depend not merely on strength, but on endurance.
They had to remember who they were, refuse despair, and keep moving toward rescue even when rescue seemed far away.
That is the burden of Hebrews 10:32–39.
That is why I have titled this sermon, “Don’t Throw It Away.”
Because when following Christ becomes costly, the great danger is not that Christ will fail us, but that we would cast aside the confidence He purchased for us.
The Christians receiving this letter had suffered for Christ.
They had been insulted, publicly shamed, imprisoned, and robbed of their possessions.
And now, after years of pressure, they were tempted to drift, shrink back, and let go.
So the question this passage answers is this:
How do we keep going when following Jesus costs more than we expected?
Here is the main idea:
We remember that Jesus gives us something better that lasts forever, so we don’t let go; we keep trusting Him until He comes.
Transition:
With that hope before us, the writer first calls weary believers to look back and remember the grace that has already carried them this far.
1. Remember the grace that carried you
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,
The first command is simple: remember.
The writer has just given one of the strongest warnings in Scripture in verses 26–31.
But now he turns from warning to encouragement.
He says, “Recall the former days.”
Do not forget what God has already brought you through.
This remembering is not sentimental nostalgia.
It is spiritual warfare!!
He is telling them to bring the past faithfulness of God into the present battle of faith.
He says, “after you were enlightened.”
That is conversion language.
The light of the gospel broke in.
They saw Christ as better:
Better than the old covenant sacrifices, better than the temple, better than the approval of man, better than life itself.
And what happened after they were enlightened?
Immediate ease?
Social comfort?
No.
“You endured a hard struggle with sufferings.”
The word for struggle has an athletic sense.
It is the language of contest, conflict, and endurance.
They were not walking through a garden; they were thrown into an arena.
Verses 33–34 explain it:
sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
They were publicly exposed.
The language is theatrical.
They were put on display.
Their shame was made public.
Some were mocked.
Some were afflicted.
Some visited prisoners and identified with suffering saints when it would have been easier to stay quiet.
And then the text says something stunning:
“you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property.”
That does not mean loss was painless.
It means their joy was anchored somewhere thieves could not reach.
Why could they do this?
“Since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.”
There it is!
That is the logic of the better covenant.
The whole purpose of the whole book of Hebrews right here in verse 34.
“Since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.”
In Christ, we have something better than earthly security.
We have forgiveness purchased by blood.
We have access to God.
We have a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
We have an inheritance that cannot perish, spoil, or fade.
A Christian can lose goods and still have treasure.
A Christian can lose reputation and still be honored by God.
A Christian can be shut out by the world and still have open access to the throne of grace.
Paul says it this way in Phil. 1:21
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Illustration:
Think of an old scar.
A scar reminds you of pain, but it also reminds you that you healed.
For the Christian, past trials are not just memories of suffering; they are monuments of grace.
You are still here because God kept you.
Every scar in this Christian life cause us to do one thing: Remember.
So remember.
Remember when Christ first saved you.
Remember when obedience was costly but Jesus was precious.
Remember those specific moments.
Real Example:
Me and Jess in the back of a building in east Orlando about to take a big step into ministry meaning I would leave my business behind, all that I had been working for.
Remember when you did not know how you would make it, but God sustained you.
Remember the prayers He answered.
Remember the tears He carried.
Remember the grace that did not let you go, beloved in Christ.
Remember.
Application is simple:
Do not interpret your present weariness as proof that God has failed you.
Look back and see that the same God who carried you THEN is holding you NOW.
Transition:
And if remembering past grace strengthens present faith, then the next command tells us what not to do with that faith.
2. Refuse to throw away your confidence
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
Here is the heart of the passage: do not throw it away.
“it” being your confidence.
The word “confidence” is deeply important in Hebrews.
Earlier in chapter 10, we were told that we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.
That confidence is not self-confidence.
It is not personality.
It is not optimism.
It is blood-bought boldness before God through Jesus Christ.
It’s boldness in Jesus.
Under the old covenant, sinners could not simply walk into the Most Holy Place.
But under the better covenant, Christ our Great High Priest has opened the way by His once-for-all sacrifice.
So the believer does not stand before God saying, “Look at my record.”
The believer stands saying, “Look at Christ.”
That is our confidence!
And Hebrews says, “Do not throw it away.”
Notice the wording.
He does not say, “Do not misplace it.”
He says, “Do not throw it away.”
There is responsibility here.
The danger is real.
Weariness can make compromise look reasonable.
Fear can make silence look wise.
Disappointment can make retreat look safe.
Sin can make Christ seem less necessary.
Suffering can make the old life seem easier.
But the writer says, “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.”
This does not mean we earn salvation by endurance.
The theology here is clear: salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
BUT the same God who ordains the end ALSO ordains the means.
The saints in Christ will persevere, and God uses warnings, promises, fellowship, discipline, and hope to keep them persevering.
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
You have need of endurance.
Not hype.
Not novelty.
Not constant emotional intensity.
Endurance.
Endurance is faith over time.
Endurance is obedience when obedience is no longer exciting.
Endurance is showing up when you are tired.
Endurance is praying when God feels silent.
Endurance is clinging to Christ when the cost becomes personal.
Illustration:
A soldier in battle does not throw away his shield because the battle is hard.
That is when he needs it most.
Christian, do not throw away your confidence because life is hard.
That is when you need Christ most!!
And notice:
Endurance is connected to doing the will of God.
In Hebrews, perseverance is not passive.
It is not sitting back and saying, “If I am elect, I will make it.”
No, the elect endure.
The regenerate fight.
The justified keep coming to Christ.
The sheep hear His voice and follow Him.
Application:
So what does this look like practically?
Do not stop gathering with the church.
Do not stop confessing sin.
Do not stop opening the Word.
Do not stop praying.
Do not stop repenting.
Do not stop encouraging weary saints.
Do not make peace with the sin Christ died to forgive.
Do not trade eternal reward for temporary relief.
God’s says, because your confidence has a great reward, my dear weary saint.
Not because your endurance purchases you a ticket to heaven, but because Christ has purchased heaven and gives endurance to His people.
Transition:
And because our confidence has reward, the writer lifts our eyes from what we remember behind us to whom we are waiting for before us.
3. Run toward the Coming One by faith
For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
The writer quotes from the Old Testament, especially Habakkuk 2.
Habakkuk lived in confusing days.
The wicked seemed to prosper.
Judgment seemed delayed.
God’s people had to wait.
And the answer God gave was this: “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4b)
Hebrews takes that promise and shows us its fulfillment in Christ.
“The coming one will come and will not delay.”
Who is the Coming One?
Jesus.
The One who came once in humility will come again in glory.
The One who offered Himself for sin will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those eagerly waiting for Him. (Hebrews 9:28)
The One who endured the cross will return as King.
This is why Christians endure.
Not because suffering is small, but because Christ is near.
Not because the world is safe, but because the promise is sure.
Not because we see everything clearly, but because faith trusts the God who cannot lie.
Faith is not pretending that pain does not hurt.
Faith is not denying that obedience can be costly.
Faith is living on the certainty of God’s promise when the fulfillment is not yet visible.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The opposite is shrinking back.
That is the language of retreat.
Pulling back from Christ.
Pulling back from His people.
Pulling back from public identification with Him.
Pulling back because the pressure feels too great.
Verse 39 gives the final word:
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
What a pastoral sentence.
(That’s why I believe the author of this letter is Paul.lol! It’s so pastoral in nature)
He warns them, but he also encourages them.
“We are not of those who shrink back.”
He does not flatter them.
He strengthens them.
He speaks to them according to the grace of God at work in them.
There are only two paths here: shrinking back to destruction OR faith to the preserving of the soul.
That is sobering.
But it is also deeply hopeful.
True faith may tremble, but it keeps looking to Christ.
True faith may stumble, but it does not finally abandon Christ.
True faith may feel weak, but it is held by a strong Savior.
The perseverance of the saints does not mean strong saints hold tightly enough to save themselves.
It means Christ holds His saints, and because He holds them, they keep believing, repenting, enduring, and coming.
Illustration:
A child crossing a dangerous street may say, “I am holding my father’s hand.”
That is true.
But the deeper truth is this: the father is holding the child’s hand.
That is why the child makes it across.
Christian, your faith matters.
Your endurance matters.
Your obedience matters.
But underneath your grip on Christ is Christ’s grip on you.
So live by faith.
When mocked, live by faith.
When tired, live by faith.
When obedience costs, live by faith.
When the world takes from you, live by faith.
When Christ feels delayed, live by faith.
The Coming One will come.
The very last words of the very last book of the bible is the words of Jesus, here them afresh today weary pilgrim (Turn there in my bible):
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Conclusion:
Shackleton’s men survived because they kept enduring toward rescue.
Their ship named Endurance went down, but endurance itself did not.
Hebrews 10 send us a far greater message tonight.
Christian, your earthly comforts may go down.
Your reputation may go down.
Your possessions may go down.
Your strength may feel like it is going down.
But your Savior will not go down.
Your inheritance will not go down.
Your better possession is abiding. (What Jesus has given you can never be taken away!)
Your King is coming.
SO: Do not throw away your confidence in Christ.
Remember the grace that carried you.
Refuse to throw away your blood-bought confidence.
Run by faith toward the Coming One.
For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not delay.
Let us pray.
PRAY
