Hebrews 10:32-39 Enduring Faith–Everlasting Life!

**PRAY**

INTRO

Heb 13:22 calls itself a sermon. Preached in its entirety, it would be about 50 minutes.

Its recipients were addressed as being lazy and dull of hearing, sluggish (PS. 22:29) negligent of their responsibility to learn, study and teach. lackadaisical (Heb. 5:11-12).

You may be wondering why is there so much talk about death and blood in Hebrews? Why would Jesus have to shed his blood, why would he have to die? Why talk about death?

Because sin is deadly serious and that is why it is death for those who un-repent-ant-ly continue in it– demonstrate that they have not faith, hope, and love but instead have fire, fear, condemnation and are being consumed.

While in our course of studying Hebrews, we have so far studied 4 of the 5 warning passages, this passage is an exhortation. The author is encouraging the believers in these things, do these things. Encouraging them how to live.

How are God’s people to live?

Since we have been going through the epistle of Hebrews we can ask this question with reference to its recipients, the believing Jews…how were these believing Hebrews to live? What about the time before Jesus? How were God’s people before Christ to live? And what about us, those who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior, how are WE to live in 2022?

From this text, we are going to learn that God’s people are to live by faith remembering his faithful promise and assurance of salvation…yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 32, If you like to take notes, this text breaks down itself into two main points...

1. REMEMBER! from where your help comes (vv. 32-34).

Heb. 10:32-34 “32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 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.

In last week’s sermon, Jordan gave us three responses to Christ’s sacrifice which were to 1)Draw near to God, 2) Hold fast without wavering, and 3)Pursue community with God’s people. Verses 22-25 along with our text today, verses 32-39 sandwich one of the five warnings found in Hebrews.

The fourth warning ch. 10:26-31 can be summed up by this…that the listeners of this epistle are to maintain, to continue in relationship with God, knowing that God judges willful disobedience.

The writer with this warning is attempting to provoke fear, trying to get their attention, that anyone taking sin lightly should fear falling into the hands of the living God, that they should repent of their sin and stop regarding God’s grace as frivolous.

Our passage in verse 32 starts with a BUT, thus we need to understand this in context to the previous passage.

Heb. 13:22 As a sermon, this epistle was meant to be read out-loud and the writer here after a stern warning which should effectually get their attention, turns to encouragement all while keeping the warning in sight.

Exhorting them to RECALL which also could be translated REMEMBER. The force of this word is best seen with an exclamation!

BUT REMEMBER!

What is it they are to remember?

They are being reminded first of the grace they received after being enlightened but also to remember that God was their sure help during great struggles, sufferings, and afflictions.

We see that it is not an empty or bare remembrance as they it is said in v. 32 they “endured!”

What did they endure? They endured taunts, afflictions, hard struggles with suffering.

33 sometimes being publicly exposed...The Greek word used for “publicly exposed” is related to our word theatre which helps us understand that some of this was done quite publically for the entertainment of others.

Some struggle, suffer with great afflictions without hope. Can you imagine? Living in this fallen world without hope? But they are said to have endured and not only that but have done so joyfully.

How is that possible? How could they have faced such persecution yet remain strong in their resolve to follow Jesus at all costs?

The writer just a bit later in Heb. 12:3 says to “Consider him (Jesus) who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Christ endured so we could endure.

Or as the apostle Peter says, 1 Pet. 5:10 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

In the apostle Paul’s ministry, after himself being dragged out, stoned and left for dead, goes back through the cities that had just run him out encouraging, exhorting the believers, the disciples… Acts 14:22

“. . to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)

The point of this passage is that they were REMEMBER

Not to remember the hard times and suffering, not to remember the BAD.

No! They were to REMEMBER that it is GOD who brought them through, REMEMBER, do not forget how you experienced God working in you, knowing that God will bring you through to the end.

This biblical truth has been referred to as the Perseverance of the Saints or eternal security.

The psalmist understands it is God who preserves

PS. 121 “1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. . . 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

We are to remember our dependence upon Christ and any capability we have in Christian perseverance is only a quality initially because it is a gift of God.

Knowing where their help comes, the writer says in v. 34 “since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.”

There are two truths in v. 34 that we need not miss.

First is an assurance, the second is a promise.

A quick illustration…when I was a kid, I acted like a kid. I was selfish, had bouts of anger, lost my temper especially when it came to my sister.

She will tell you know that many times she intentionally worked to get me in trouble.

Well one day I guess I had enough and threw my shoe at her which missed but successfully broke a window. Next thing I know is my mom telling me to stay in my room until my dad came home promising that he would dish out the punishment.

Let me tell you, that I knew without a doubt that I’d get a good spanking! I had an assurance and it had me dreading it the rest of the day. If I only knew he would ask for one of my belts, I’d hid them all! Let me tell you, that assurance I had was a fearful thing.

You should know if you don’t already that God says all souls are his and the soul that sins shall die. He will judge and judge rightly.

That there is assurance for punishment for those against God but an assurance of deliverance for the righteous.

Prov. 11:21 “Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.”

First, assurance: when the text says, since you knew (or could be translated) knowing in yourselves speaks to the Hebrews firm conviction of heart concerning their heavenly home.

This assurance of salvation comes by the indwelling and firstfruits of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:23) who bears witness to being adopted as a child of God.

Because of this supernatural grace which regenerates and gives birth to a new heart, one evidence is this, that the true believer NOW has... new desires, new joys, hatred of their own sin, a desire to be more like Christ.

Scripture does call us to examine ourselves...

Hosea 6:3 “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; ...””

GEORGE WHITEFIELD, the most famous preacher in the 1700 who preached to an estimated 10 million people said, “I know by sad experience what it is to be lulled asleep with a false peace; long was I lulled asleep, long did I think myself a Christian, when I knew nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Do you KNOW, do you have an assurance of salvation or could it be a false peace?

The second point drawn within this one verse 34 is the promise of an inheritance.

What is the text saying here? “a better possession and an abiding one?”

Paul's epistle to the Ephesians helps us to understand Ch. 1 verses 10-11 …that In Him we have obtained an inheritance, then in verse 13

Eph. 1:13-14 “13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it....”

In verse 34, where it says “since you knew”...what did they know? They knew that they were heaven-born and heaven-bound by the indwelling guarantee of God’s Spirit and because of God’s faithfulness to save regardless of persecution.

But watch this, I want you to see what this text is talking about... is that for believers, their help comes from the Lord and their hope is not found in the things of this world but their hope is in “a better possession and an abiding (lasting/eternal) one”

Their better and lasting possession is their eternal inheritance, sealed by the presence of the Holy Spirit within them.

And for every true believer, they have been given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of the promise that they will not be forsaken, that the Lord would keep their life.

What an amazing gift, assurance of salvation, by grace through faith, knowing that God is the one who will preserve you!

Believing in a better possession, a lasting abiding possession is only because they had faith that God is faithful, that his words are true, that he does not lie.

Num. 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

Why can God be trusted? Because he is faithful to always do what he said and fulfill what he has promised.

Aren’t you thankful of God’s attribute that he is faithful and true to his word!

You see, the ability to be joyful, to have peace that surpasses all understanding, to have hope in a hopeless situation, these are not natural qualities of man but supernatural gifts from God.

They faced great persecution, suffering, loss of property yet they endured joyfully. What a testimony of someone facing such trouble to be joyful.

What a great example of shining the light of Christ!

This is the testimony of so many Christians who stood firm in their faith throughout church history, those who have suffered great loss, made a spectacle.

And in following Christ, all the apostles died a martyrs death because of their faith.

TRANSITION: The author then shifts the focus from encouragement by having them remember or recall God’s faithfulness, remembering from where their help comes, to an exhortation, to how they should live which leads us to our second point...

2. Living by faith and looking toward the promised reward (vv. 35-39).

35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

Their reward in verse 35 is the gift of righteousness purchased in the blood bought payment of Christ, it is the forgiveness of sins, the promise of eternal life in relationship with their Creator, a lasting eternal possession .

The writer is saying that they have confidence, confidence in the gospel… DO NOT throw it away.

v 35 ties back with 10:19 that they as believers have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. That they have access to God.

Why would they even consider throwing that confidence away?

Jumping way back to chapter 5 (Heb. 5:11-13) says... they were dull of hearing, unskilled in the word of righteousness, still needing the fundamental truths of the gospel and acting like kids.

Do you remember what happens to those whom the gospel seed is sown on rocky places?

The seed is only temporary and when affliction or persecution arises the hearer falls away. (Matt. 13:20-21)

For some, the truth they heard was only temporary, only temporary because it sounded good at the time, was a benefit to them but when things got tough, they turn tail and head back to easy living, to comfort… they fell away.

Why would they even consider throwing that confidence away?

Some were fearful of affliction or persecution...In a letter written roughly 40 years after the Hebrews epistle confirms that some who were accused to be Christians renounced their faith and were then made to offer worship before a statue of the emperor and even cursed Christ.

In this letter The letter of Pliny (the Roman governor), says something quite profound… “People say that real Christians cannot be made to do such things (renounce their faith, worship the emperor, curse Christ)...”

He goes on, “But some were asked if they were Christians, asked a second and third time threatening with punishment and if they continued to confess (Christ) were ordered to be put to death (2000 Years of Christ’s Power, p. 98).

Citing again from Hebrews Heb. 3:14 “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

To the end is till your last breath, when this life ends.

So the exhortation is that those who truly have confidence, those who are true believers continue believing, they hold their original confidence.

Maybe you’re going through some great struggles and questioning if God knows or even cares? Hold firm to your original confidence! Don’t let anything in this life remove your sure and steady anchor.

36 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…in v 32 they were being told to REMEMBER! YOU ENDURED!

They endured persecution, struggles and afflictions in the past but he is saying you have need, need of endurance today, need of endurance tomorrow!

Friends, what we need is endurance!

Hebrews 12: 1 says “... let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” (live this life trusting God regardless of the circumstances)

What does he mean, what is endurance?

It’s the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty (patience, fortitude, steadfastness, perseverance) or the act or state of patient waiting (expectation).

As an athlete trains and trains, doesn’t give up we are to be steadfast, have fortitude and continue.

v. 36 so that when you have done the will of God

You may ask, well what is the will of God?

1 Thes. 4:3“For this is the will of God, your sanctification...” the will of God is for us to become like Christ day by day.

Why the need for endurance (v. 36), steadfastness in Christ, patience in suffering?

Luke 21:19 “By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

Heb. 6:12 “so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

The focus is on the future promise, the constant expectation of Heaven but until that day...they have need to continue, to endure.

Back to our text, 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay

The author citing Habakkuk 2:3-4 says that the coming one will come, will not delay…this is an encouragement for believers that the Redeemer Jesus Christ will come again

1 Thes. 4:13, 16 “13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope… 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel (ark•angel), and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

Rev. 22:20 ““Surely I am coming soon.”

Christ the head of the church will return and he will gather those who are his and to this we the church say Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Do you believe this? That Christ will return, that he is returning for his own?

We should take notice that this next verse is important because four times in Scripture we read “shall live by faith.” (Hab. 2:4, Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, and Heb. 10:38)

38 but my righteous one shall live by faith

Paul said to the Galatians... Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

If there is no faith, then there is no future with the Father…and saving faith, the kind of faith we are talking about is a gift

Eph. 2:8-9 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

But this verse also says that the righteous one shall live!

How are we to be made righteous?

By the blood bought payment Jesus made on the cross of Calvary!

He calls those who are to believe, to repent and trust in Him.

We who believe are made righteous by Christ alone!

Christians by their very nature live in this life by faith knowing that their eternal life is their true and better possession.

verse 38... my righteous one shall live by faith

38b “… and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

Notice that the text doesn’t say NO MORE pleasure, it says (my soul has no pleasure in him) for that would contradict God’s love and faithfulness to those who are true believers ...yet sin.

Remember Peter, denying Christ three times! God had no pleasure in Peter’s denial but Peter was forgiven and restored!

God is the one who preserves and he is faithful to forgive us of our sins when we cry out in repentance.

Romans 8:35-39 “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … (nothing) will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

You may ask why is it the author is encouraging them to not fall away, not shrink back but then say they are not of those who shrink back.

The apostle Paul in Col. 1:21-23 “21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith...”

The writer of Hebrews along with the apostle Paul knew that many people had joined in the fellowship of the church by professing their faith in Christ and even been baptized into membership of the church, but some were missing the true saving faith…faith that would endure till the end.

Those who do not continue in the faith show that there was no genuine faith in the first place. That they had not been truly born again.

But those who continue, who endure, who have a steadfast faith would be presented holy and blameless.

Continuing to live by faith, enduring in hope, not shrinking back into to a life of wilful sin is the example the author of Hebrews gives believers to know if indeed they are Christians. That they continue in faith as God preserves them till the end.

Heb. 12:1-2 “1 ...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith...”

What a great encouragement knowing that Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith! I didn’t start it and I can’t ruin it, I am called to continue in it. Keep the faith.

Isaiah 40:31 “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

We are almost finished but we must ask...how does this text apply to us?

1. Examine your faith! Live by Faith!

2 Cor. 13:5 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

We should examine our faith but we also are to live by faith. How?

Take up your cross daily and be crucified with Christ. Live this life as for him, the Savior of your soul.

If you lack faith, pray and cry out that by grace he would give you more faith.

2. Endure by Faith Until the End!

Today you may be facing some real struggles. Hebrews clearly instructs believers to continue in the faith, to endure joyfully knowing your hope is in the Lord.

Let us seek to train as an athlete, gaining a steadfast faith that trusts God regardless of circumstances , knowing he alone preserves true believers till the end.

Rom. 5:3-4 “...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope”

3. Seek an Assurance of Salvation

Heb. 10:22 “let us draw near (to God) with a true heart in full assurance of faith...”

Heb. 6:11 “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end,”

If someone asked you today, if you have an assurance of salvation, what would you say? Many would say they really don’t know for sure. Would you like to know? I’ll be down front after the service if you want talk or you can speak with any one of our pastors or elders.

If the Lord is drawing you to him today, don’t delay in crying out to him in repentance for he is abounding in mercy and grace.

Friends, our greatest need is Jesus!

Let’s Pray!!