Daily Devotional Time: Hebrews 10:26-29

The prison chaplain stood in the execution chamber looking at the condemned killer. His crime was horrible, but in the 12 years since he arrived on death row, the chaplain observed something within that inmate that made him think... the chaplain considered the wasted potential of that inmate, and the fact that given another chance, the condemned criminal could possibly do something great.

It was a heart-wrenching decision... the State demanded justice for this man's crime, yet the chaplain desired mercy. So, in an unprecedented move, the chaplain surrendered his own son to be executed in the criminal's place. It was a move that no one could understand... why would a man give his only son to die for a slimeball like this condemned killer? It was indescribable.

There the killer lay strapped to the execution table, and the chaplain approached him...

"Son, come to my house. Let me take you in, let me provide for you, and help you get back on your feet," the chaplain said.

"I dunno chaplain," the killer said. "Going home with you might cut into my newly-found freedom."

Angered by this flippant rejection of his grace, the chaplain threw the switch, and the killer is no more.

We can not understand why anyone would give their only son, or any of their children, up for someone else... but we can understand the rage this chaplain felt that his sacrifice was disregarded.

God gave His only begotten Son, who died on the cross that we might be free... that we might be saved from death and Hell if we repent and believe in Him. Sadly, many flippantly blow off the sacrifice God made for us, just as that killer blew off the chaplain's good grace. There are some strong words concerning this in Hebrews 10:26-29:

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

God gave all that He had for us when He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. For us to avoid placing our faith in Him because we fear the "loss of freedom," if we take the decision lightly, or if we blow it off completely, we spit in the face of the One Who truly loves us. And, if we blow off the decision to repent of our sins and trust Christ as our Savior, we deserve the wrath and judgment that is coming our way.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? If so, cherish the free gift of salvation, and don't trample on it with a lifestyle of unrepented sin.

However, if you haven't accepted Christ as your savior, every moment you delay, you are heaping wrath and judgment on yourself. Repent of your sin and trust Jesus Christ as your savior today.

Daily Devotional Time: Hebrews 10:23-25

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, families gathered around a television, which was tuned to one of three networks. ABC aired the Disney Sunday Movie on Sunday evenings, and we always watched it after church on Sunday evenings. The Disney Sunday Movie was always introduced by Michael Eisner, who often incorporated the moral to the story. One week, Eisner and Donald Duck introduced a movie by learning to "Be Yourself."

"Be Yourself." That slogan might seem like the antithesis of being a Christian. After all, isn't Christianity about reforming your life and getting back on the straight-and-narrow? It is unfortunate that so many Christian leaders have led their flocks astray by promoting a works system.

Being yourself is a Christian concept, but unlike Eisner and Duck's rendition of the slogan, it matters who you are!

Hebrews 10:23-25 says:

23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

In verse 23, Hebrews says "hold fast the profession of our faith." To hold fast means to cling tightly. The profession of your faith is your moment of salvation. It is the moment you repent of your sin and trust Jesus Christ as your personal savior. What Hebrews 10:23 says is to cling tightly to your salvation experience. Keep remembering it, keep going back to it, keep letting it form who you are. Let it be your blessed assurance that you are heaven bound.

While you hold fast to the profession of your faith, verse 24 teaches that you are to gather with other believers and consider one another. To consider one another means to fully get to know each other. Spend time together. Share life experiences together.

What amazes me is how lost people love to spend time together. They go out for nights on the town, have a great time together, take silly pictures and post pictures on Facebook. They lean on each other for comfort, look to each other for entertainment, and encourage each other in their hi-jinks. Yet, many Christians don't like to get together with other Christians. Rarely do they fellowship outside of church.

However, scripture directs us to get together and fellowship together. Verse 24 says we are to provoke, or incite, or encourage each other unto love. We are to encourage each other unto an agape love... a love that places each other in high regard. We are to love each other, encourage each other, lift each other up, entertain each other, and enjoy a great time.

Not only are we to get to know each other and provoke each other unto love, but also good works. We are to encourage each other to do great things.

These are things that we are naturally prone to do if we hold fast the profession of our faith. If we hold fast to the profession of our faith, we will get to know each other fully, and encourage each other, and if we are doing all that, we won't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We'll be getting together more often... and we won't be doing it because we're supposed to, we'll be doing it because that's who we are.

When you get to that point, gathering with the church and fellowshipping with other Christians will be something that comes naturally to you. You'll do those things, and all you'll be doing is "being yourself."

So, hold fast to the profession of your faith. Remember your moment of salvation. Keep that memory close to you. As you do, you'll notice some changes in your life... not changes you've had to force, but rather changes that grow out of your identity as a child of God. That is called fruit.

May God bless you.

Heading to Market Place

I'm expecting a down night tonight as my wife and kids are sidelined by illness and there has been another round of controversy at Market Place. Satan just seems to be attacking on all fronts. Tonight, I'm preaching on why we need faith from Hebrews 11:1-3. You can read my sermon outline here. Of course, you can catch up on all my primer articles and devotionals here.

Faith, it's what God wants

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

Faith is a deep-rooted trust or conviction about the truth of anything. In regards to God, it is the deep-rooted trust and conviction that He exists. In relation to Jesus Christ, it is the trust and conviction that He paid the debt for our sins on the cross, died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day so that whosoever believes in Him (has faith... trust in Him) shall not perish but have everlasting life.

I keep going back to these definitions because faith is the prerequisite to any positive interaction with God. It is by grace through faith that we are saved. It is by faith that we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God. It is by faith the elders (i.e. the Bible heroes) obtained a good report. Faith is needed for salvation and spiritual growth. Since faith is so important, we must remember what it is. Faith is not a series of practices and beliefs... that is religion. Faith is not our 21-points of doctrine. Our 21-points of doctrine are basic Biblical truths that are fundamental to Christianity, but they are not faith. No, faith, simply defined, is trust in God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

This faith is once delivered to the saints, as you can only be saved through faith once (and you can not lose it). We are to defend our faith (by being ready to give a reason to those who question the hope that is within us.)

This faith should affect the way we live (the just shall live by faith.) It should be the reason we live morally and study God's Word. It should be the reason we live the way we live.

Faith should be the reason we abstain from alcohol. True, there is no verse that says "Thou shalt not drink Budweiser," but the truth is that drinking alcohol affects our ability to "be sober and vigilant." One beer may not make you drunk, but has it benefitted your soberness and vigilance? Has it helped you grow closer to God? Has it increased your faith? Or is it a small step in the wrong direction?

Faith should be the reason we abstain from sexual immorality. Sexual immorality flies in the face of God's plan for one man and one woman to be married. Sexual immorality means more than two people have cleaved together. What God has joined, man is putting asunder daily. If we trust God and His plan, we should be willing to approach love, marriage and romance from a Biblical point of view.

The reason we should study our Bibles is to get to know God better and thus grow our faith. Furthermore, our faith should move us to action.

However, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Without the deep-rooted trust and conviction about God's existence, none of our morality will please God. Our abstinence from alcohol will mean nothing. Our sexual purity will have accomplished little more than helping us avoid a litany of diseases. Bible study, without faith, is boring and pointless, because it doesn't please God.

The reason actions without faith does not please God is that our existence is not about us. It is about God. That's the way He wants it. Without faith, we make it about ourselves, and that is pride, and the LORD resists the proud, but gives grace to the meek.

So, let's spend time praying to God, that we may grow to know and trust Him more, and that our faith will grow through our study of His Word. Make it all about Him, and not our "works of righteousness." Trust God. Trust Christ. It's what He wants.

Faith is important

So, Jessica, Rachel and I were staying at the Whitten Inn in Abilene watching a History Channel program about ancient man's first trip to America. The show dated man's arrival at 10,000 BC. Jessica and I explained to Rachel that the authors of the program didn't really know when man first came to America, but it could have been no earlier than 6,000 years ago. Any that came over then were wiped out by the flood. All others arrived between now and 4,400 years ago.

"Why don't they know when people came over?" she asked.

"Because they find their bones in the ground and try to guess," Jessica and I replied. "But the Bible teaches that God created the world about 6,000 years ago."

We explained that when her dinosaur books said "millions of years ago," what they really meant was "Long long ago."

Let's face it, sifting through archaeological and geological data can be confusing. I mean, have you ever taken geology? I gave up after two weeks and rode my roommate's coat tails.

If you do not have the proper background in interpreting the artifacts uncovered, you can get lost in a sea of stone fragments. However, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made by the things which do appear (Hebrews 11:3).

Take the Grand Canyon, for instance. Looking at the river flowing at the bottom of it, a logical person would assume it took that river millions of years to carve that canyon. However, an informed person would know that the Grand Canyon was not formed by that river, it was formed by a flood. The river is a byproduct of that flood. So, the things which are seen were not made by the things which do appear. Can a canyon the size of the Grand Canyon be carved out in a 150-day flood (Genesis 7:24)? Sure. An 80-foot canyon near Canyon Lake, TX was carved out in a three-day flood.

And these are things we never miss an opportunity to discuss with our children, so that they will have the faith to understand that God created the world.

Discipleship is a long-range process, especially with one's children. To be successful, one must have the faith in order to pass it on.

Faith gives us testimony

Hebrews 11:2 - For by it (faith) the elders obtained a good report.

What made the Old Testament heroes so pleasing to God? Was it their awesome deeds? Their ability to gain wealth (Abraham), their ability to climb the corporate ladder and find success for themselves and their countries (Joseph)? Perhaps it was their leadership abilities (Moses), or their piety (Enoch)?

No. What made the Old Testament heroes (and the New Testament heroes for that matter) pleasing to God was their faith. It was by faith they obtained a good report.

Now faith, remember, is a deep-rooted trust or conviction of the truth of anything. In regard to God, it is a deep-rooted trust or conviction that God exists, that He saves and condemns. In regard to Christ, which is necessary to having a proper faith in God, it is the deep-rooted trust or conviction that He lived a sinless life, is God in the flesh, and that He paid the penalty for the sin of the world when He died on the cross. A proper faith in God involves also having a deep-rooted trust or conviction that God raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 10:9-13).

Of 'course, we could sum all of this up by quoting Hebrews 11:6, "but without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him."

It is interesting that the first two individuals mentioned in Hebrews 11 are Abel and Enoch. The scriptures record that it was Abel's faith, his deep-rooted trust in God that led him to offer a more proper sacrifice. It was Enoch's trust in God that led him to walk with God 300 years before being raptured (i.e. translated). Very little is written about either one in Genesis, but they are the first pointed out in the hall of faith. (Of course, they are also some of the first people living).

The rest of the men and women mentioned in Hebrews 11 are honored for their faith, not their deeds. It was their faith that led them to perform their deeds. Each one had something that happened in their life that gave them the testimony that God was pleased with them.

If we are to have a testimony that will help us to reach the lost world, we have to please God. In order to please God, we have to have faith. The absence of faith leads to the absence of a testimony, which renders our evangelical work fruitless.

So trust God. If you do, you will have no trouble answering God when He calls you to do something extra-ordinary. Who knows, maybe you'll even get inducted into a future hall of faith by hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

What faith does...

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Many people try to make this verse a definition of faith. However, this verse does more to teach us what faith does than what it is. Faith, remember, is a deep rooted trust and conviction that God is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

The word substance here means essence. The word evidence means proof. Faith is the essence of what we hope for and the proof of what we can not see. What does faith do? It makes things real. Faith makes God real. It makes God's promises real. It allows us to place our lives in God's hands and let Him handle the outcome.

I did some reading last night on Cassie Bernall. Cassie was one of the victims of the Columbine school shooting. A witness told investigators that one of the killers asked her if she believed in God, to which she replied, "Yes." She was then shot.

Michael W. Smith wrote of Cassie:

This was her time
This was her dance
She lived every moment,
left nothing to chance.

She swam in the sea,
drank of the deed,
and embraced the mystery of all she could be.

(There has been a lot of investigation and effort expended to disprove her martyrdom... I'll post thoughts on that at another time). However, whether or not Cassie did indeed die for her faith, we know that throughout history people have died for theirs. We also know that Christians outside of the United States are dying for their faith as well. Why?

Because faith has made God real to them. They trust God enough to know that He will either deliver them, or call them home. There is no doubt.

When you have faith, the promises of God are not just things you hope might happen, they are things you know will happen. Your faith then becomes evidence of the existence of God.

Look at Stephen in Acts 7. What did he say as he was being stoned to death? "Behold I see the Son of Man... standing at the right hand of God." Do you think this convicted his persecutors? Did it offer proof of God? Would he have continued to proclaim God as he was dying if he did not really believe?

Faith makes the things of God real to us, proves God's existence and gives us a testimony... testimony... We'll discuss that next time.

I have been there

Hebrews 4:15-16 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Faith

Faith is defined as a deep-rooted trust or conviction of the truth of anything. In relation to God, it is the deep-rooted trust that He exists, thus meaning that we are separated from Him by our sin, but reconciliation to God comes through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ.

Or, as Hebrews 11:6 puts it, "But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

Why have a study on faith? Because I have heard sermons on Hebrews 11:1-3, 6 preached several times. Many of these sermons butchered the topic of faith. I have even preached some of those point-missing sermons. Some have tried to define faith in Hebrews 11 as our 21 doctrinal statements. Some have tried to define it as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (And what does that mean, really?)

However, upon delving into word studies on faith, I found what faith really is... a trust in God. I spent the next year trying to instill that in my congregation at Denson Springs. Why? Because faith is the bedrock of the Christian life. If you don't have faith, or even understand it, there will be no Christian growth, maturity, or understanding of the scriptures (2 Peter 1:5-8). Without faith, all morality is in vain. All good deeds become hypocritical acts. Without faith, brotherly and agape love are impossible (in the Biblical sense).

So we really need to understand faith so we can better understand how to let our faith grow. Once we get to that point, we'll be poised for serious Spiritual growth and empowerment.

Over the next few days, I'll continue to share my thoughts on faith on this blog.

Entertaining Angels

Hebrews 13:2 Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.



... now, if only I could figure the video out.

In the news

You don't mind if I share some of my secular work with you, do you?

I am continuing my series on Running the Race from Hebrews 12:1-2 in my weekly column in the Cherokeean Herald. This week's column has to do with Christian heritage, as we study the link between Hebrews 12:1 and the Faith Hall of Fame (a.k.a. the Faith Ring of Honor) in Hebrews 11.

My coverage of the search for a new football coach in Rusk has been picked up by The Old Coach Network. My latest story is here. It also ran on the Cherokeean Herald's online edition here.

Of course, no reading of the paper would be complete without perusing the Sports page.

Holding pattern

It's been a productive morning so far. I had breakfast with Bro. Calvin Gould, pastor of East Side MBC of Jacksonville, TX. Then, I took pictures at Rusk Intermediate School for a feature story our newspaper is working on. Then, I scheduled appointments to interview two softball/baseball coaches Monday. I also have a school board meeting that night.

Later, I contacted the Texas Department of Transportation about upcoming highway construction projects, most of which are on hold pending funding issues. It turns out, the Federal government is rescinding highway funds allocated to the state, so I've put in a call to Congressman Jeb Hensarling, and now I am waiting for someone from his office to return my call.

In the meantime, I'll share this week's column with you. I'm beginning a series on Hebrews 12:1-2. You can read it here.