Hi and welcome back to afaithtalk.com. I’m glad you’re here. The verses we’re going to walk through today have been on my mind since this past Saturday when I read them for the first time in a long time. I hope they bless you with the encouragement they’ve blessed me with these past several days.
First let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, I’m asking, show us exactly what you want us to see in these five verses today. They include verses from other books too. So help us see. Grow our faith, Lord. In Your name we pray. Amen.
Before these verses, the writer is talking about the persecution faced by the believers that they endured after they had ‘seen the light’. It’s a great chapter, many lessons in it. But we’re going to just walk through these five verses.
Hebrews 10:35-39 NIV
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”[Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3]
38 And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”[Hab. 2:4]
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Now let’s go back and see what we can see…
35a: Do not throw away your confidence;
That’s the part that’s been going through my mind over and over and over these past few days. This is faith. Faith is confidence, and it’s totally possible to keep growing in faith.
35b..; it will be richly rewarded.
Faith will be richly rewarded. I didn’t really need the reminder of that, I’ve seen that in every study I’ve done for the past several months. It’s all over the Scriptures. I call it Faith Benefits. Faith is all you absolutely have to have. Here are some other Scriptures to help you figure out how your faith is doing.
Read Matthew 8:23-27
How does Jesus describe the faith of the disciples?
Read Matthew 5:5-13
How does Jesus describe the faith of the centurion?
Read James 2:20-23
How is Abraham’s faith described?
On a mid-August Saturday morning in Charles Stanley’s In Touch devotional, he wrote this, “No matter how long you have been a Christian, God wants you to continually grow in faith.”
36a: You need to persevere
Persevere in faith. Persevere in confidence.
36b: so that when you have done the will of God…
the main overarching will of God is that we would believe in His Son. There are other things after that. But faith is the important and required first step.
36c: you will receive what he has promised.
Richly rewarded. So many wonderful promises and every one of them is Yes in Jesus. Guaranteed. You will receive.
37: For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”[Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3]
He’s coming. In just a little while. He’s not delaying. He is coming.
38: And, “But the righteous will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”[Hab. 2:4]
Live by faith. Living in faith is righteous because Christ is righteous and through faith in Him, he imparts that righteousness to us. It’s a confidence that He who promised is faithful.
39: But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
We do not shrink back because we have faith.
Faith, the one thing you absolutely have to have.
How wonderfully encouraging these five verses are. Keep growing your faith. Hold onto your faith. Do not lose your confidence. What wonderful promises are yet to be fulfilled.
Persevere in faith. It will be so worth it.
Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, I ask that in all these things, in the reading and the writing and the cooking and cleaning and the whatever else there is, Lord, I ask grow our faith. We believe, Lord, remove any of the unbelief still harboring in us; remove any weeds filling areas of weak faith in us and make our faith stronger every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.