You Gotta Have Faith!

Hebrews 9; Hebrews 10; Hebrews 11
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Scripture

1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

Observation

You have to have faith, but you have to have faith in the right thing or better said in the right Person. God has called us to live lives of faith. He has called on us to believe in things that we cannot yet see.

Faith has always been costly. In the first part of chapter 11 one would think that having faith in Christ would always lead a person to victory and success. If we only read the first part of the chapter and read things like the children of Israel walking through the red sea on dry ground and then later walking around the city of Jericho seven times and watching the walls of the city fall down, and of course we have the account of Daniel in the lions den etc.

But when we get down to the bottom of the chapter and the writer of Hebrews talks about people having to hide in caves and having to hide in holes in the ground because of their faith, having their back torn open by whips, getting sawed in half, being stoned, dying by the sword, having to wear sheep and goat skins for clothing and having to wander out in the wilderness, I don’t like that part of the chapter. The Christians in China, in North Korea, in the Sudan and in many other countries can relate to this part of this chapter very well. And their reward will be greater in Heaven because of their lives of faith. And I agree with the writer of Hebrews that those Christians are too good for this world!

Application

I will continue to pray for Christians living where the cost is very high to be a Christian.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for letting me have faith to believe in so much that I cannot see. I know by faith that Heaven is going to be wonderful. I believe that You are constantly working all around me and that You will save those that I am praying for.

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