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HOLY HELP FOR THE HOPELESSWHO FINISH IN FAITHHebrews 10:32-39INTRODUCTION This summer my brothers and sister and I moved our parents out of the home we grew up in and in which they have lived for 41 years. It was quite a trip down memory lane for us. I found this stack of comic books in a box in the basement. I remember getting up early on summer days and taking my stack of comic books over to my friend's house and he would get out his stack and we would sit on his front porch all day reading comic books. I loved going to the grocery store with my mom. I would sit on the floor next to the comic book stand and read while she shopped and then nag her to buy a couple of other ones to take home to read. When I found this stack I was struck by the fact that I haven't read a comic book in close to forty years. These used to be a central passion in my life but now they are a distant memory. Each of our lives is filled with reminders of former hobbies, relationships, jobs, diets, exercise plans, etc. People and things, which at one time consumed large amounts of our time and attention, are now merely dim memories. Or perhaps we have not quit, we still engage in the activity but without the same passion or interest. We have become disinterested spectators. Most who have been Christians for any length of time will speak with fondness of those early days right after their conversion when knowing Christ and being with his people and talking with others about Christ were pursued with genuine eagerness and joy. But for many, now the flame has grown dim and the activities of the Christian life are attended to in a perfunctory way at best. What is to be done? How do we recover and/or maintain an enthusiastic pursuit of Christ to the end of our days? And, maybe for you this is the more important question, does it matter whether or not I enthusiastically pursue Christ? These are the central questions that this letter to the Hebrews is out to answer. In our passage this morning the author is directly addressing these issues. There is not a single person here this morning that does not need what this passage has to say because there isn’t a person here who does not struggle with being joyfully persistent in pursuing Christ. The author established in chapters 7-10:18 that Jesus is the only one who can successfully represent sinners in the presence of a holy God. He is the only one who can make us fit for heaven by means of his once for all sacrifice and his never ending intercession for all who trust him. Then in 10:19-25 the author showed that the result of Christ’s work is a community of people gathered together in mutual adoration and worship of God who hold unswervingly to a shared confession of hope and who daily think about each other and then work to encourage each other to keep worshipping and keep holding fast. In v. 25 we were reminded of the reason for this letter. Some of those who formally were holding fast have stopped meeting with the church due to the threat of persecution. And so in vv. 26-31 the author bluntly states what will happen to every professing Christian who abandons Christ and his church. All who go on deliberately sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth have excluded themselves from the salvation that Christ died to obtain and can only look forward to eternal, conscious punishment in the fire of God’s wrath, which is hell. Those who once were passionate about Christ but who have drifted into indifference or open hostility to Christ and his church are threatened with the most awful judgment. Now in this passage he is out to encourage them to endure and not give up in the face of hardship. In these verses we can see that the author has no joy in uttering such terrible threats as those in vv. 26-31. He wants them to make it safely to that eternal rest and so he sets out to encourage them. You can see that the foundation of his encouragement is the prize of eternal life that awaits every Christian who finishes in faith. Look at the end of vv. 34, 35, 36 & 39. He asserts that the only reason to persist in being a Christian is the overwhelming benefit that will belong to all who finish out their days trusting in Christ. All who persevere to the end of life in faith will obtain a better and more permanent possession than all earthly possessions, a reward from God himself, the promised eternal inheritance, salvation for their souls. His underlying point is that this “prize” must be kept at the front of our vision if we are going to have any hope of successfully making it to the end. MAIN POINT You will only finish the Christian life successfully if you fix your eyes on the prize because…I. The Christian life is joyfully accepted risk and hardship (vv. 32-34) In vv. 32-34 the author reminds them what the Christian life looks like. He does it by reminding them of how they lived in the first days of their conversion to Christ. When God’s “light shown in their hearts to give to them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” in those first days following their conversion they “endured a great contest of sufferings” (literal). The author is going to enumerate the specific sufferings that they encountered in vv. 33-34 but there is a real sense in which this phrase is a description of the Christian life. The word that is translated “contest” is the word from which we get “athletic”. This is a metaphor that is regularly used in the NT for the Christian life. Paul uses the metaphor in 1 Corinthians 9 and in 2 Timothy 2 & 4. You can see that 12:1-3 uses this as an extended metaphor. Here our author says that the Christian life is a contest of sufferings. What does that mean? If you ran a marathon someone might say to you something like this, “You endured a great contest of 26.2 miles.” If you competed in the decathlon in track and field someone might say, “You endured a great contest of ten events.” The idea is that the contest is the miles run or the events competed in. So in this phrase the sufferings are the contest. When God made his light shine in your heart he signed you up for an athletic contest that consists of a variety of sufferings, which you have to endure in order to successfully finish the race. You win the race by not quitting. You win the wrestling match by overcoming the sufferings. You lose by being overcome by the sufferings and thus quitting. Just so you know that I’m not making this up listen to these statements from throughout the NT which also describe the Christian life as a life of enduring various kinds of suffering: “All men will hate you because of me.” “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” “In this world you will have trouble.” “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of heaven.” “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” “In this salvation you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” “Now if we are children, then we also are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” "Anyone who would come after me must deny himself and take up his cross and follow after me." This is only a small sample of the scores of statements that tell us that the Christian life is a great contest with sufferings. The NT is quite clear that there is no other kind of Christian life than one that is a great contest of sufferings. In the case of these Christians what kinds of sufferings did they endure? Verses 33-34 are a carefully constructed statement consisting of four clauses. The first and the fourth clause are synonymous and the second and third are also. The first and fourth describe suffering that happened to them whereas the second and third describe their response to the suffering of others. They were verbally insulted and assaulted. They were beaten and thrown into prison with all the horrors that went along with prison in those ancient days. They had their property taken from them and/or destroyed. Then in the middle two clauses: They were partners with those who were treated like this. They had compassion on those who were thrown into prison. In other words, when their Christian brothers and sisters were being assaulted either verbally or physically they came to their aid and sought to put their body between their friends and their persecutors. When their fellow Christians were unjustly accused and thrown into prison they petitioned for their release. They went into the prisons to provide food and medical aid and spiritual comfort. They openly identified with those in prison thus putting themselves directly in the line of fire of those who had imprisoned their friends. When people attacked the property of their friends they went to defend it and recover it and if it was all taken they used their own property to replace what was taken. They shared their resources with their brothers and sisters. So all the suffering these people endured was the result of their openly living like Christians. They either suffered because they were Christians or they suffered by caring for those who were being persecuted. Being a Christian was for them the goal of life and the highest and greatest good. Nothing compared to the benefits of belonging to Christ and so nothing could prevent them from living like Christ. What I want you to notice is that in v. 34 they joyfully accepted the confiscation of their property. In other words this endurance was not some detached endurance or a begrudging endurance. Rather they were full of joy while in the midst of this great contest with sufferings. They acted like John and Peter, who after being arrested and beaten for preaching the gospel went out of the prison “rejoicing because they were considered worthy to suffer shame for Christ.” This is Paul and Silas in the jail in Philippi, again falsely arrested and beaten but joyfully singing hymns. Why were they full of joy? It was because they knew that they had better and abiding possessions. Here were men and women who were not intimidated by the risk of identifying themselves as Christians and they were not destroyed by the loss of everything because they knew that what Christ had gained for them by his sacrifice was better and more permanent than everything that humans normally hold dear. They are like people who have their car stolen out of the parking lot of the state office building where they are receiving their multi-million dollar check for winning the lottery. They don't care the car is gone because they are set for life. They are like parents whose child is rescued out of the burning house. They are full of joy even while the house burns to the ground. Our joy is not in the suffering but in the fact that the suffering cannot take what really matters from us. The best thing that can happen to a human being has happened to us, we are loved by God and we will live with him forever. Losing your house or your freedom cannot take God's love away from you and so you can joyfully accept the plundering of your property. We are not currently people who are experiencing serious persecution like this. However, it is no less true for us that the Christian life is a life of joyfully accepted risk and hardship. If you openly live like a Christian in our culture you will probably not be thrown into jail but you will experience some awkward moments. You will be ostracized and perhaps insulted. You will probably not be the first person your family members or your co-workers call when they’ve got extra tickets for the Packer game. But even more certain than experiencing the small slights of non-Christians is this: if you live a life of love towards others in your family and in your church, and in our community then you will most certainly suffer as your needs go unmet while you meet the needs of others. You will suffer the loss of your property and your time and your need for respect if you pay attention to others for the purpose of encouraging them. As was the case for these Christians at the beginning of their Christian lives, you will only take these risks and suffer these losses if you are convinced that you have a better and a more permanent possession than those possessions you are losing in the loving service of others. As the next two verses show us, we will only live like this when we know that the long-term gain is superior to the short-term pain. You will only finish the Christian life successfully if you fix your eyes on the prize because…
II. Only confidence in long term gain will enable you to endure short term pain (vv. 35-36) Verses 35-36 are a description of how to live the Christian life that he has just described. How do you joyfully accept the plundering of your property? Verse 35 describes it by telling us what not to do and v. 36 describes it by telling us what to do. If you are here this morning as a Christian or as a person who wants to be a Christian you need to pay attention right now. I'm going to spend most of my time on v. 35 and then briefly show you how v. 36 is saying the same thing from a different direction. When he tells them not to throw away their confidence he is making a play on words. If you will remember this word “confidence” is a key word in his description of the benefits that Christ has won for us. Back in 4:16 we were told that because Jesus is our high priest we should approach the throne of God, which is a throne of grace, with confidence to receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. In other words, because Christ is at God’s right hand as our high priest we have the right to enter into the center of all authority and power in the universe and ask Almighty God to give us grace and mercy to help us hold on when we are in trouble. In 10:19 we were told that because of Christ’s shed blood and because of his broken body and because of the cleansing, regenerating work of the Holy Spirit we have confidence to enter into God’s very presence forever. We who were God’s enemies and abhorrent to his holy eyes have now, by the work of Christ, been given the right, the confidence to live as his beloved children forever. So, on the one hand, confidence is an objective fact for all who belong to Christ. However, there is a second way that this word confidence is used in Hebrews. Rather than referring to an objective right that we have as a result of what Christ has done it also refers to our subjective experience of confidence. In 3:6 the author said that we are his house if we hold fast the confidence we had at first. Here, in this passage, it is clear that "throwing away your confidence" is throwing away the way they lived at the beginning of their Christian lives. They were confident that they belonged to Christ and that they had an inheritance reserved for them in heaven that could not be touched and so they openly and confidently lived as Christians, bearing witness to Christ and loving others no matter the cost. Thus the author is exhorting them to not throw away their confident lifestyle and not to throw away their right to live in God’s presence forever. If they throw away their confident way of living in the world as Christians they will also throw away their objective right to live with God forever. The two things always go together. William Lane expresses this in his commentary: “Precisely because he enjoys free access to God through Christ’s sacrificial death and heavenly intercessory ministry, he can confidently acknowledge his faith before the world.” In other words you can confidently give yourself away in love to God and neighbor without fearing what will happen to you because you are confident that you belong to Christ. Look at the end of v. 35. That’s the point. If you don’t throw away your confidence then you will receive God’s great reward. What is that reward? We saw two weeks ago that the reward is living with God forever in his presence. God himself is the reward. Everyone who confidently trusts in God’s faithfulness to be and do all that he promises receives the great reward of living with God forever. I want to try to help us see how absolutely practical this is by talking about marriage. Before I make my point I need to say something to all of you who have honored me by inviting me into the inner workings of your marriage. I have had the privilege of talking with many of you about your marriages to help you get through a difficult time. As I share what I’m going to share right now you may feel like I’m talking about you, but I’m not. You will recognize what I’m sharing but I’m not thinking about any particular marriage when I say what I’m going to say. Additionally, what I say about marriage applies to every sort of relationship that is beyond mere acquaintance. It is the case that husbands and wives are often grieved and angered by how their spouse is treating them. Husbands and wives regularly fail to live up to their wedding vows and actually do things that their spouses find offensive. These shortcomings regularly result in significant marital adjustment discussions, commonly referred to as arguments. Regularly husbands and wives feel that their spouse is not listening during these discussions because they do not observe any changes along the lines they made clear during the discussion. Thus a new discussion ensues. Pretty soon both spouses are firmly entrenched in their position that their spouse is not cooperating and is thus unworthy of expressions of kindness and acceptance. The marriage becomes highly conflicted. What is to be done? Verse 35 gives the answer. “Don’t throw away your confidence for it has a great reward.” The way forward is for one or both to say to themselves: “Self, I belong to Jesus Christ. I have the right to ask the God of the universe to give me grace to live like a Christian in this time of trouble. I, wicked sinner that I am, have the right to live with God forever because of what Jesus has done for me. The purpose of my life now is not to have a husband, a wife who loves me exactly like I want to be loved. The purpose of my life is to confidently live like a Christian in every circumstance of my life. Just like being persecuted and thrown into jail could not stop the Hebrew Christians from living like Christians, so my spouses’ unwillingness to love me the way I want cannot stop me from living like a Christian. He or she cannot in any way stop me from the great reward that belongs to all who belong to Christ. Therefore, I will not throw away my confidence. I will boldly love my spouse by" ….then you fill in the blank. Usually it means I will give to my spouse what they are asking for from me without requiring that they pay me back in any way. Listen to me, if you refuse to do this then you are throwing away your confidence. If you refuse to love your spouse until they give you what you want, then you are merely demonstrating that the right to enter into God's presence means nothing to you. You are treating that great reward of living with God forever in his heaven as if it is nothing. You are acting as though having a spouse love you the way you want to be loved is an infinitely better reward than Christ giving you the right, the confidence to live with God. This is the way it is in every relationship. We exhibit our confidence in the reward of heaven by how we treat those who mistreat us, by how we respond to the losses and disappointments in our lives. If we refuse to live like a Christian, full of confidence in God and thus full of love for others, then we are throwing away our confidence and our hope of reward. Notice how v. 36 says the same thing a little differently. We are to persevere in doing the will of God so that we can receive what is promised. The will of God is described earlier in chapter 10. It refers to God’s will to save his people through the sacrifice of Christ. It was the will of God to save us by killing his son. Jesus came to do that will. He loved God and loved us by his willing death on the cross. Thus we persevere in doing the will of God when we persist in dying to our demands that life go our way and pour ourselves out in love to God and others, just like Jesus did. One final point needs to be made. In both these verses we are told that we receive the reward, obtain the promise by what we do. However, this is not talking about earning the reward. Rather this language is describing what faith looks like. If you believe that Jesus has done what he has done and if you believe that you have obtained all these benefits by what Christ has done then you will confidently persevere in doing the will of God. You will gladly endure short term pain because you are so confident that what you are going to receive in the future is so much superior to the minor costs incurred along the way. Being with God forever is so much superior to having a cooperative spouse that I will faithfully love my uncooperative spouse out of my sheer joy in belonging to God forever. I will gladly turn off the TV and call my Christian brother or sister to find out how they are doing. I will joyfully gather my family to worship Christ together. I will respect my parents and obey them because I am so astonished that Christ loved me and gave himself up for me thus obtaining for me all the promises of God. You will only finish the Christian life successfully if you fix your eyes on the prize because…
III. Persevering, public faith is the only faith that saves (vv. 37-39) The author does here in vv. 37-38 what we have seen him repeatedly do in his letter. After making an assertion he then backs it up with a quotation from an OT text. He aims to demonstrate that what he is telling them is not something he is making up but rather an application of what God has said in his word. He is taking lines out of two OT passages, Isaiah 26 and Habakkuk 2. Both of these passages are addressed to God's people who are in the midst of suffering at the hands of human enemies. In both passages the people of Israel are under attack by the surrounding nations and are either suffering or in danger of suffering the same sorts of things listed in vv. 32-34. By referring to these passages the point the author makes is that it has always been the experience of God's people that we suffer because we are his people. And it has always been the case that God's people must endure in faith if they are going to receive what is promised. In both of these OT contexts the one who is coming is God himself. However, as we have seen before in Hebrews, the author shows that the Son of God, Jesus, the Messiah is the one who is being described. The return of Jesus is soon to occur and when he comes he will fulfill all the promises that God has made to his people throughout the centuries. He will come in judgment to separate the wicked from the righteous. He will come and destroy evil and all who do evil and he will come to take his own to his Father's house where he has gone to prepare a place for them. His coming is near; it is soon. When the NT talks about the soon or near return of Christ it means what Jesus said to his disciples prior to his death that he could return at any time and thus we must always be ready for that return. D.A. Carson has shared I think the most helpful illustration of how to understand this language. It has been true for the past 2000 years that "In a little while the one who is coming will come and will not delay…" Dr. Carson says we are to think of the immanent return of Christ in this way. It is like a person walking along the edge of a long cliff. He is always near the edge and it would take very little for him to fall off it. However he can walk along it for a long distance. In the same way, we are to see that Christ, in his first coming, has done everything that needs doing in preparation for that final great day and thus every generation of Christians can always see that "in a very little while the one who is coming will come and will not delay." How do you prepare for the soon return of Christ? The author uses language from Habakkuk to answer that question. We must live by faith. The only people who will be prepared when Christ returns are those who are living by faith. God will only be pleased with those living by faith at his return. If you are not living by faith at the return of Christ, if you shrink back/depart then you will fall into the hands of the living God who repays people according to their sins. As v. 39 says, you will be destroyed. All of these descriptions of how to live the Christian life culminate in this one. Enduring a great contest of suffering, not throwing away your confidence, persevering in doing the will of God are all different ways of saying that we are to live by faith. The entire next chapter is an examination of what it means to live by faith through looking at various members of God's people in the OT who lived by faith. In the immediate context I want you to notice the contrast with living by faith. The opposite of living by faith is "shrinking back." This is an interesting word because it also means "to depart from." This is exactly what some of these people have done (v. 25) and what the author fears others may do. He fears that they will withdraw from an open and public expression of their faith. The danger he fears is people claiming to be Christians privately; to shrink back from their previous public identification with Christ and his church. God is not pleased with this shrinking back because he is only pleased with those who live by faith (11:6). Finally, after all of these dire warnings the author ends on a positive note in v. 39. He asserts that he is confident that they and he do not belong to that company of professing Christians who shrink back from Christ and his church and from a lifestyle of loving others and so are destroyed but of those who have faith and so live with God forever. He has this confidence because of what he has observed in their lives. He has seen the marks of faith in their lives in the past and so he has confidence that they will persevere in faith to the end. This passage again confronts the modern teaching that you know you are a Christian because of something you did in the past. You cannot know if you are a Christian because you asked Jesus into your heart one time in the past. You cannot know you are a Christian because you had some kind of spiritual experience in the past. You cannot know you are a Christian because you were baptized or you became a member of the church. You become a Christian by faith in Christ alone and you know you are a Christian because you continue to live by faith in Christ alone. All who have faith in Christ openly identify with Christ and his church, draw near to God in prayer and worship, love God's people in visible, tangible ways regardless of what it costs. We are people who believe that Jesus has actually made us fit for heaven and thus we have a secure future that cannot be taken from us no matter what happens to us or what people do to us. We give ourselves away in love because we believe Christ is right now interceding on our behalf. The question that this text forces upon us and which we are going to be confronted with throughout the next chapter is this: Do I have true faith or is my faith a sham? Is my actual, lived experience evidence that I believe that receiving the reward of God is my greatest good or does my actual lived experience give evidence that something else or someone else is my real treasure, my real hope? May God help us to see ourselves truly and so live by faith in Christ alone. You will only finish the Christian life successfully if you fix your eyes on the prize because…
© Copyright 2007 John Swanson.
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