I invite you to turn this morning to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10. And speaking with Pastor Contreras, and since I thought that we've been working through Matthew, we'll pick that up again at the beginning of a new year. We take a break from that this time. We're going to come back to Hebrews chapter 10, and we felt the need to remember this great call for endurance. and So I'm going to be looking at Hebrews 10, page 1194, and verses 39 through the end of the chapter.
It's the word of the Lord. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with suffering. 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 abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. 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. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
There. In this morning, the reading of God's word. Well, this is a very uh special section in the book of Hebrews as it really comes to the application portion of the book. And it really does give us a proper perspective on Christian life and what the Christian life is and the challenges of it.
One would think that in coming to Jesus and that having all of this, this life would be an easy walk for the Christians. And we all know that what we find is exactly the contrary. And at times we don't understand why that is. At times we don't have any sort of perception as to what's happening. We don't think about these things; we are just trying to get through it all to get back to the rainbows and butterfly life that we all think we should have.
Well, why so many difficulties? Why so many hardships? Why does this for God's children have to be so difficult? And then uh there are very rocky periods in this Christian life where things come upon us. And the biblical perspective on it all something like Psalm 90, which is a kind of a a shocking perspective unless we are just fatalists or take the take the idea that this is all by chance that Psalm 90 and the scriptures maintain: God sent it. God sent it upon you. And that requires questions. That requires thought. That requires spiritual inventory to think about. In God's providence, why he sends these things.
And in good and hard times, we should be sensitive at these moments in conscience to his word that is spoken to us. That's how he comes and helps. That's how he comes in remedies. That's how he comes and consoles. That's how he comes and clarifies to the word that is spoken to us that that word comes alongside us in these things
And gives us great insight and great reflection and great help and so in this context the lord helps us through these things by describing a need that we have that we rarely speak of. Maybe in Reformed circles we have not spoken enough about this, mainly because we talk about the perseverance of the saints and we think that's all God's business. Amen. It is God's business. But you come to the book of Hebrews and he wants us to think about the need for a continuing grace in our lives that we must appeal to, that we must seek after, that we must call upon him for, and that is the grace of endurance.
It's a beautiful thing that is here set out in Hebrews chapter 10 that God uses means, and he preserves us through this grace that he gives to us, this grace of endurance through his refinement of us. Through his refinement of us, he gives us a grace that we have to constantly realize we are in need of. For when we lose sight of this great need as Christians, it's easy to lose course. It's easy to lose sight of the ball and what we're aiming for in this life. We all have need of the grace of endurance.
And i'm it's not past me that as we come to the close of a year and there's much weariness that something like this, I'm sure, is much needed for us in the congregation.
And with this thought in mind, the author turns now to this crucial subject in the book of Hebrews that addresses what you might call weariness. Weariness. He wants us to think about weariness. It is a big subject in this book. It's an important subject in this book to combat. Here what we have, the many forms in which weariness comes upon us.
And what you'll notice in this section following this, in chapter 12, is that he turns us to Christ and he wants us to look at christ which is always the goal in this and to remember and consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself. And here's the application of that: "As you consider him, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."
This is a very pastoral book. We went through it a few three four years ago. uh It was so pastoral because that's the aim: is to help Christians through this and to understand Christian life. What is he concerned about? He's concerned about that weariness over time was leading many of them down some kind of not always the paths we think, but some kind of in the many different forms it takes path of departure exit distance giving up on the mission the calling that he has for them in this life. the did you notice this at "The end the will that he has for you it's a will that has been appointed for you. And ultimately, his great concern in the book is a departure from the faith itself, which is called big theme in Hebrews: apostasy. Knowing the truth of the gospel, receiving the truth of the gospel, knowing it, and then willfully departing from it is apostasy.
And the great call of this text, I think, is so powerful. In verse 36, he says it's crucial that you don't cast off your confidence, which has great reward. Notice the encouragement to that. And then he gives the summary statement of this whole section: "For you have need of endurance."
Now, the old school reform preaching would take a little phrase like that, and throughout the course of the sermon they would say it over and over and over and over. I I think that's what I need to do today. I need to be old school. You have need of endurance. And just stop every paragraph and say it.
Well, I'm not going to do that, but I hope you take that to heart. You have a great need of endurance. You have a great need of the grace of endurance.
And notice how he couples that with: You have confidence. Do not cast off your confidence. What is that? It's your confidence in Christ. It's your confidence in Christ that you rest in him and all that you've heard and all that has been received of what the gospel has said to you.
God has given from his resources, from his own resources his son to you who met the requirement for you to be right with God. Oh, he gave his beloved son. He is our confidence. He is our life. He is our everything. He is our all in all. Don't cast that off.
Now, why would you even get to a place like that? Why would you have to tell Christians don't do that? Why would you have to get to a place of saying how easy it is for you your eyes are off Christ? Consider him who endured the hostility.
Like anything, it's because of weariness that takes you completely away from the focus you once had. And that's why this passage is saying you have a great need in the faith.
So his goal is to pastorally encourage them, and the way that he does it is very simply: to say, let's look at the past, and then let's look at the present experience, and then let's go to the future. Past, present, future that's the whole outline of this text where he does those three things for them. And it's It's applicable. It's important for you to do the same.
He covers the whole of the Christian life. He wants you to think about where you once were, what God did for you, where you are now, and where this is all going. You've got to have hope. You've got to know that.
Chapter 10 is extremely important because in this book, it's the great application to what he has been explaining about the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ for us, that he shed his blood for us, that in him we have full forgiveness of sins by the once for all atonement that he made. There is no more shedding of blood. That is shed. That blood is shed. And he has atoned for your sins. He has passed through. He is seated. This book covers all that.
And so here he wants us to think about the power of the gospel in the life of the believer. And he had said things. He said lots of people in this life don't take very serious where the power is. That's why in this chapter he will say: You need to remember, you get to come with boldness in worship to the throne of grace. You're there right now. You are in the presence of God. You have boldness to come to the throne of grace.
And something wonderful is happening. You you get your consciences cleansed. That's why we read the law and we confess sins, and if you're hearing that word and you are confessing your sins, he's actually cleansing you. He's actually doing that for you. Your body's washed with pure water, symbolized today in baptism. You maintain the confession of your hope. You get to serve in the body of Christ.
But he said there's people who neglect this. "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some." They just depart. They see no power in this. They see no place in this.
So he's thinking about right response to the gospel and the benefits that we have in Christ. But then he rehearsed that this wrong response that because life is hard, because life's difficult, people often abandon the path they're on.
Think of the parable of the sower, where you have those those jesus is i think this is taken right in the author's mind right from this where Jesus described that one soil as "For what was sown on rocky ground: this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but endures for a little while, for when tribulation when it gets hard or when persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away."
This is what Hebrews is describing. He's keeping us from that. Knowing the power of the gospel to abandon it and reject reject it is apostasy. And we'll see the comfort at the end: God's sheep can't do that. They won't do that.
So the the book of Hebrews provides us this sort of paradigm for this. What most people do not appreciate is that this entire book roots our existence and compares our existence to Israel in the wilderness. It duplicates it for us. That we are traveling and that we're entering a rest Hebrews chapter 4 and that we should strive to enter that rest, Hebrews chapter 4. That we are traveling like Israel.
And if you've ever studied Israel in the wilderness, it was a weary travel. It was a difficult travel. It was a hard travel. It was full of all kinds of tests. And you have to ask the question: Where did those tests come from?
In this period of trial, before entering the promised land, see, that's where we are. We haven't entered the new heavens and the new earth yet. We're traveling to it. It's a forward moving as Paul says upward call of God in Christ. This life is a testing ground, and the means by which those tests come is the providence of God as he tests us.
Ecclesiastes describes it: "There's a time for everything, there's a season for every activity under heaven: time to be born and a time to die. Time to plant and a time to uproot. Time to kill and a time to heal. Time to tear down and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them. A time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing. For everything, there's a time."
And then you stop and you say, "Well, I'm always fighting for the time to dance, right? I'm always fighting for the time to laugh. I'm always fighting for the time to build. I don't want to deal with the tearing down times. I don't want to deal with the affliction in the trial."
You know how we answer God's providence? In the Heidelberg Catechism: "It's the almighty and ever-present power by whereby with his hand he still upholds he's still doing that heaven and earth and all creatures. And so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed all things, come to us not by chance, but from his fatherly hand."
That is amazing if you think about it. And sometimes we need to be in tune with what he's doing, lest we're standing in the way. Isn't that true? You realize that hardships, he tests us when we do stand in the way. The sufferings, at times, are appointed. Until you appreciate this, you have no way forward.
I was once listening to a preacher, and there was a very hard circumstance in the life of the congregation. It was a hard death. And I remember his sermon to this day. I was a young kid. I listened to this sermon, and I was shocked by this sermon. He took Psalm 39, and he read this. He preached this: "I was silent, and I would not open my mouth. This was some great affliction, some great hardship." And then this verse: "For you are the one who did this. You did this." Read the old King James: "Thou didst this. You did this."
Now people rail at that. "What kind of God is that? God did this?" People need to think at times like this. People who have everything just want the time of dancing. We just want couches. This is what Luther said: "It's not fit for Christ to wear a crown of thorns and his people to ride on in the kingdom on couches."
And that's why I think at times we can say things seemingly come out of nowhere that we can't explain. All we can say is: God, in his providence, has sent us something, and that what he is telling us is he's moving us forward.
If the travel for Israel was all rainbows and butterflies the whole way, they'd never leave that field. They'd never get up and go. We're a forward-moving people. We're moving to the promised land. We're moving to glory.
And here the book of Hebrews says, "Yeah, they're in a season of real weariness as a body, as a people. Feel like giving up. They looked at the situation they're in, the hardships, the sufferings, the following of Christ, and they said, We don't see this. working. We don't see the light in this. We don't think, in the context of the book, new covenant worship is exciting. We can't see him. Give us something sensory.
And this is where Protestants have fallen into the very danger of Roman Catholics who've wanted a great experience and to make things sensory and to make it all about the grandiose of it all. Old Testament types, at least, we saw, we touched, we handled, you know. What is this?
And you know, the long, prolonged struggles, weariness comes. So what does he do? He says, "Go back for a minute with me and consider your life." It's powerful.
Verse 32: "Recall your former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings." That's a remarkable statement. That is really a powerful statement. "Recall what you went through a long time ago and recall the light you had in that. That's how you've always faced your hardships. God's always given you help. God's always given you light, and you've forgotten that. Recall your early days. You've been brought through a lot."
Now, if you all went through the course of your lives, you forget, maybe, or there's some circumstance you just can't forget, and you know how painful it all is. But the life that you've walked, the course that you've walked, has been full of this. How did you ever get through it before? That's what he wants them to think about. You've, by grace, been brought through a lot.
And he rehearses some of it. He says, "You've forgotten what God brought you through." In your former days, you were publicly exposed to reproach and affliction. Huh. Has anyone here been publicly, for their faith, exposed to reproach and affliction? That's quite, quite a testing. And sometimes partners with those so treated.
And he says, I recall how many of you, in the next phrase, says, had compassion on those in prison. That means that these early Hebrew Christians had been in prison, some of them, for their faith. And he says, "Do you remember how you handled that? When you first went through these kind of things, you cared about those in need."
What we have him saying here is: Before, in all your hardships, you were being treated terribly, but your eyes were not on you. Your eyes were not on you. You were thinking about those in need. You had a mindset of what this was all about. It was beautiful. About those who were actually in prison for the faith. And your care was for the needy. Your eyes were on them.
And at the heart of that comes a calling in life, a will of God in this life. See, whatever was presently happening, such love, such care, such understanding, such perspective was gone. It was gone. Why? Weariness. It's like saying: At one time in Providence, you were in sickness and difficulty. Remember how much strength God gave you then? And in that, you were more concerned for others than you.
And you say, I think that captures what weariness does. It clouds purpose. It clouds meaning.
He even says here, "You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property." They were treated terribly by the world. And he captures the perspective that got them through it. All you got through it, he says, because in your minds and your hearts, you believed, isn't this beautiful future, You have a better inheritance. You have heaven. Here we don't have an enduring city." And he's saying, "That's how you handled it before. That was the grace given to you before. And he's saying, I've seen that evidence in you before."
Which is encouraging, isn't it?
So what does he say? "Therefore, here's the great, therefore: Don't cast off your confidence. See, that's such a pastoral appeal in the midst of whatever it is. Don't cast off your confidence, which has great reward. You have need of endurance. You have need of this grace of endurance from God."
Well, if their present circumstances were not any worse than before and they were on this pathway of now forsaking the assembling of the saints together as is the manner of some And some were giving up, what was going on
And what was the solution? And I think this is where this present address for them is so helpful, and I trust for you too. You know, I look over my years in the church. There are many people who don't seem to endure their callings in life, their conflicts. They're always on the run. That's usually the evidence.
And this ties to his first concern in chapter two: "You have the most earnest need to give heed to the things that you have heard the word of God, lest you drift. Lest you drift away." That's like a boat that was the illustration anchored and tied up, at the shore and all of a sudden the anchor's up the rope's off and you're just drifting out away. Well, that's very real.
What that looks like is retreat, withdrawal, isolation, running, abandonment of duty, remembering what this is all about. And in these seasons, we are called to spiritual inventory. There's a reason it's happening. There's a reason it's happening. God did it. God did it. Psalm 39 you can read it.
The wrong answer is to check out, to lose a drive in life. You realize your circumstances and hardships can put you on the same path of losing confidence in Christ and his kingdom, and you have to be aware of it.
I've seen people early on invested in the kingdom of God with joy, and in conflict, years later, it just changes them. I won't use his full name, but when my dad was a basketball coach, he had this player who I looked up to, and I thought he was the greatest thing ever. I wanted to be like this guy. His name was John. And I saw him 30 years later. He was not the same person. He was so joyful. CJ was my nickname. "Back to CJ!" He'd come up and hug me. Years later, after a divorce, after conflict, after nothing but hardship, I didn't know him, and it crushed me. That's not how I remember him. I still bothers me to this day. What happened to him?
I'm not talking about just putting up with things. Endurance means resting in Christ, and endurance means doing the hard things, the right things, the will of God. But you have need of it. He says, see, that it's a need for you. And if it's a need, he's going to supply it. constancy is what it means. Under difficulty in the faith. It has athletic overtones. You're running a contest. You're you're you're running. Endurance is the key for the runner. You can't be a runner without endurance. Any runner knows this.
And he encourages them to it, verse 36: "You have need of endurance. That after you've done the will of God, you notice how beautiful, done the will. There's a will for you. He's appointed a will for you. You may receive the promise."
What he's saying is: God has a will determined for you. Isn't that beautiful? To fulfill. And your present circumstances are appointed because he's testing and trying and forming us.
What is your calling in life? What is your call? Well, you have a basic call as a Christian. You have a call in your vocation. You have a call to your family. You have a call to your husband and your wife. You have a call to the kingdom of God. You have a call to behave like a Christian. If you're in leadership, to lead. If you're in serving, to serve.
You have need of grace and endurance. Why? Well, what is he doing through the testings? "Not only so, but we glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces what? Perseverance. And perseverance, character. Here's purpose. And character, hope. And hope doesn't put us to shame because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us."
He wants you to look at everything this way. Everything. that Every hardship and trial can be used to fulfill the will of God for you. He doesn't want you to grow weary in doing good.
So what does endurance look like? It is looking again to your Savior, and that motivation of chapter 12.
When you open it: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such great clouds of witnesses, let us a cloud of witness let us throw off everything that hinders and here's a big one That often leads to a lot of discouragement and weariness sin that so easily entangles some of you may have a deep sin in your life maybe running to alcohol maybe sexual immorality and what he is saying is: You're going to be discouraged if you're giving into those things. You're going to be weary, and you're going to want to give up if you're giving into those things. You need the grace of endurance.
So let us run with perseverance. Let us run with endurance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Who is he? is. For the joy set before him, endured the cross. Why did he do that? Because he loved you, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
"Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you do not become weary and lose heart."
It's the will of God to bruise him. It was. And he endured that, entrusting himself to him who judges justly. And he did that because he came to save you, and he completed it. He sat down. He atoned for your sins. He's forgiven you. It's not in question. He wants to incentivize us. It's to motivate us.
So don't throw away your confidence. It'll be richly rewarded. He says to close this out, your reward is coming. And he gives them a huge encouragement for the future as he says here as he motivates them to endure.
Endurance. He says: After you've done the will of God, you will receive the promise. He's not slow to give us that promise. He's not slack to give us that promise. He has a will, and part of that will is the mission, and part of that mission is to save people. And we're all part of this grand project.
So he brings together two quotes of the Old Testament to encourage you. Isaiah 26 20 "Yet a little while. Yet a little while. It's fascinating what he does. This is from Isaiah 26: Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while" He takes that for a little while until his wrath has passed. See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. That's coming. And he singles out just a little while. And then he takes this and he brings it together with this:
"And he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now, the just shall live by faith. But if anyone shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."
He wants us to live by faith. It's just a little while. I want you to live by faith. I'm coming, says the Lord. I'm coming, and my reward is with me. You have need of endurance.
Now, let me close today by saying: I don't believe for a minute the author thinks you can persevere yourselves. Okay? He's calling them to it. But when you read, "You have need of endurance," and that such endurance fulfills the will of God for you, you need to know that endurance is itself a free gift of his grace.
And that's why the book says come to him in time of need. Our Heidelberg says it so beautifully: "He will not deny his Holy Spirit and help to him who asks." That's why prayer is a big part of this book. Come to him with boldness and ask for it. And come to worship. Change your attitude. Change your thinking. Isn't that what the last line encourages you with?
"But we are not of those who shrink back or draw back to perdition. We are not apostates," is what he's saying. that's an encouragement who renounce Christ? and hardship Who give up on christ No, no. no who give up on the faith no no we are not of those who shrink back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul that's that's an encouragement to you. So don't shrink back. It's a gracious statement, and that's the confidence he wants you to have.
Beloved, don't lose heart in the struggle. Endurance is the mark of grace in one's life. We all need it. All of us.
So when he says, "We have need of endurance," we say, "Amen, Lord. Grant me to endure what you have appointed for me. Give me the content heart in Christ. Let me rest in him. See his work. And that in him I have everything I need."
And the message is: Don't lose heart, dear Christians. It's just a short time. And after we have suffered a little while, he himself shall perfect, establish, and strengthen you in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And that is his promise.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for a word that we need of endurance, of the grace of endurance. Bless us and help us by your Spirit. Give us strength by your Spirit. And thank you, Lord, for encouraging us with these words. We can look back to our past and we can see your delivering mercies. We can look in the present and be refreshed in them and know for the future great hope is laid out for us. So let us fulfill our callings and let us be about the will of God and not shrink back from it. But give us diligence. Give us the grace of endurance. And after we have gone through this for a little while, we will see the reward that is promised to us: to see our Savior face to face. In that confidence, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.