Next week will be our last service as the Lord has seen fit to consolidate His work in reaching the Jewish people in Buffalo Grove as we merge with Adat Hatikvah.
Your elders are truly excited and blessed at what God has done to maintain the work that began here in 1982. Adat began in 1932 as the First Hebrew Christian Church of Chicago. It moved with the Jewish people from Maxwell St to Lawndale, Albany Park, Rogers Park, Evanston, and now Deerfield.
In fact Adat/First Hebrew Christian Church gave to Chosen People Ministries its ministry center on Kedzie Ave where Joanne and I lived as students at Moody and where Olive Tree began.
We need to remember the work of God through His Messiah is far greater than us. We only part of a greater work, and are called to fix our eyes on Yeshua.
This morning, I want to talk about faith. Hebrews 11 gives us instructions about faith. The context begins in 10:35 with the words “Therefore”. When you see the word “therefore” you should ask what its there for.
The writer of Hebrews speaks of the trials his readers have endured since they came to faith. So let’s look how God’s Word speaks to us today .
In 10:39 we read: “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
Shrinking is contagious. It happens when we’re around people who are easily discouraged, or when we face situations that seem to have no solution.
Shrinking is the opposite of standing firm, of enduring. It’s generally accompanied with doubt, panic, pessimism, and overwhelming insecurity.
If we believe that Heb. 10:38 means what it says – that God “has no pleasure” in the one who “shrinks back”, then we need to know how to cure this problem.
None of us want to shrink in our spiritual life, but sometimes we do. Shrinking is a Biblical term synonymous with “retreating”. The best way to determine if we are shrinking is to examine our responses during trials and testing.
Trials are God’s method of determining where we are in our relationship with Him. As James reminds us in James 1:2-4:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Jacob the leader of the Congregation of Jewish Believers in Jerusalem counsels us to appreciate the tests and trials that come our way because they cause us to grow and not shrink.
In every believer there is a muscle called faith that has great potential. However, like our natural muscles they can easily become soft and flabby unless they are put under stress.
The stress that strengthens the muscles of faith are the trials and tests that regularly come our way. This is a time when our faith is challenged. When the test ends, we experience the reward of faith.
It is in the time during the trial that is the subject of our Scripture this morning. It is during that time that we can measure ourselves to see if we’re growing or shrinking.
In Heb. 10:32: But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,
Let’s consider the context of these words. They were written to Jewish believers who were under incredible stress and pressures. Trials that generally pale in comparison to ours. From their own Jewish brothers as the Romans who ruled them.
The word “conflict” in the original language is the word from which we get our word “athletics” and “athlete”. It is an allusion to the gladiators who were fighting for their life.
In much the same way we can understand our battle during trials. It reminds us of Eph. 6 which tells us of the spiritual warfare we are called to fight.
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
In our passage some examples of persevering trials are given.
- The trial of enduring during verbal attacks 10:33 “By being made a public spectacle through reproaches” The term “reproaches” has in mind “defamation” being made an object of disgrace through verbal abuse.
- The trial of the actions of others – “By being made a public reproach through tribulations” -Tribulations includes the pressure and distress of mistreatment.
- The test of indirect suffering (v.33) “by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.” Sometimes this is harder for us to bear, particularly when our children or loved ones are attacked.
- The test of losing valuable things – (v.34) “And accepted joyfully the siezure of your property” The losses may extend beyond our property to the loss of reputation, health, security, and freedom.
What is the answer? How do I handle my stressful tests? V. 39 gives us the answer. (Hebrews 10:39) But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
This verse is the hinge which opens the door of Heb. 11. This chapter relates to us the history of our fathers who didn’t shrink under the pressure of their trials.
In v. 1 we see the nature of faith. “The substance or assurance of things hoped for”.
Prior to the New Covenant rested on the promise of a coming Messiah, a Deliverer who would bring the Kingdom of Righteousness to Israel. They had no physical proof but put they put their trust in that promise from the Law and prophets.
That’s what faith is. Faith is living in a hope that is so real it gives absolute assurance. Faith gives hope substance or reality. In other words, my faith tells me that God’s promises for my future are as sure and real as what He has done in my past.
Faith is not a vague hope that something may come to pass in an uncertain tomorrow. True faith is an absolute certainty, often of things that the world considers unreal and impossible.
Faith is that power within us which makes the things of the next world seem as real to us as the things of this world — which, in turn, makes the things not seen, clear and sure to us as if we could see them with our very eyes.
For instance (Hebrews 11:26) Moses considered the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. Moses took a stand on the Messianic hope, and forsook all the material things he could touch and see for a Messiah who would not come for more than 1400 years.
Daniel, Shadrach, Mishak, and Abednego, were confronted with the choice of obeying Nebuchadnezzar, whom they could see very well, or a God they had never seen. They chose to obey God.
Our natural response is to trust our physical senses, to put our faith in things we can see, hear, taste, and feel. But the man of God puts his trust in something more durable and dependable than anything he will ever experience with his senses.
Senses may lie; God and His Word will never lie. So, faith is the substance or assurance of things hoped for. It is also:
The evidence of things not seen. This speaks of an outward manifestation of something inward. The person of faith lives his belief. His life is committed to what his mind and his spirit are convinced is true.
Noah is a good example of this and is cited in v 7. A person who does not believe God cannot comprehend that kind of spiritual faith. He has no means of perception.
He has no spiritual senses. He is like a blind man who refuses to believe there is such a thing as color because he’s never seen it.
In v 2 We see the testimony of faith. The “elders” gained approval from God because of their faith and nothing else. God has always accepted and recognized the person of faith.
This verse implies that God makes His approval known to those who trust Him. How God shows His approval varies, but every saint has God’s witness that his faith is pleasing to his Lord.
Faith is not simply one way to please God; it is the only way.
(Hebrews 11:6) And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
No matter what we may think, say, or do in the name of God, it is meaningless and worthless apart from faith.
In v 3 faith is illustrated in the created universe. This speaks to those who believe there is a creator but not so sure about the Messiah.
Those with that kind of faith did not see God’s act of creating, but they could see His creation and they believed in the Creator. They had a start of faith.
The origin of the universe continues to frustrate philosophers and scientists. Centuries of investigation, speculation, and theories have brought them no closer to a solution.
Every time a consensus seems to be developing about a particular theory, someone comes up with evidence that disproves it or makes it less plausible.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, a truth the world’s most brilliant thinkers have not discovered and cannot discover on their own.
It is beyond the realm of scientific investigation, but it is not beyond knowing — if we are willing to be taught by the Word of God.
We who Believe have no reason to be proud of our knowledge. It is a gift from God, like every other blessing of faith. By our own resources, we could no more discover the truth about creation than could the atheist.
The person of faith believes that all truth is God’s truth. Some of it–the natural world–is discoverable with our eyes, ears, touch, and intellect.
However much of it must be accepted by faith. The things we understand by faith are revealed to us in God’s Word the Scriptures. Faith comprehends what the mind of man, no matter how brilliant, can’t fathom.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9 quotes Isaiah: but just as it is written, things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.”
By faith we can see what our learned Rabbis will never discover on their own. God’s greatest truths are discovered by simple faith through the Messiah.
VV. 1-6 gives us at least 5 truths regarding faith:
- Faith involves confidence and conviction. V 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The term “assurance” comes from a word meaning “to stand under” this word was used in the context of a foundation under a building.
- Faith always relates to the future. v.1 …things hoped for”
Based on a Messiah who has come and is returning soon for not only us but also for the national salvation and revival of Israel.
- Faith has as its object “things that are not seen” With that truth operational in our lives, we possess the ability to see as though they were already accomplished. To see them as already complete.
- Faith is basic to pleasing God v 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. And v 6 “without faith it is impossible to please Him.
- Faith means focusing on God fully (v.6) for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
For those of us who find themselves in the process of shrinking, here is a practical prescription we can follow.
Ask yourself a question: Why is faith a constant struggle for me; do I have some unresolved conflicts, some lingering bitterness that I’m holding onto that I haven’t released to the Lord?
Remind yourself to take one day at a time. Don’t get caught in anxiety and speculation about tomorrow.
Matthew 6:25-34 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? … if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! {31} “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear … for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. {33} “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Ask God to help you find someone you can get close to who loves and knows Him and His Word who can walk with you when you find yourself slipping backwards.
If you do those things you will find your faith strengthened and be able to withstand the trials that we all experience. You will be like a tree standing by the water, bearing fruit in its season.
