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Overcoming Today’s Trials – Hebrews 10:19-39 – Bible study

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OVERCOMING TODAY’S TRIALS

Heb. 10:19-39

by Cooper Abrams

Introduction: Have you ever watched an airplane take off. First the engine is started and the pilot makes his cockpit checks, makes sure all is in order. Next he pulls the plane onto the runway, revers up the engines and applies the power. Then with the burst of power the plane rolls down the runway gains speed and then takes off and is airborne and turns toward its distination. It will arrive safely and reach its destination as the power must continually be applied. If power begins to weaken the plane begins to stall and is in serious trouble

God assurances the believer that he will arrive safely in heaven and thus knowing this a Christian totally trusts the Lord to see us to heaven and His presence. Paul said, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6) However, on the way to the Lord final distination for you we all will experence storms and the flying can get difficult. It would be wonderful if we did not have to endure trials, suffering and problems in life. I am sure we all strongly desire not to have to deal with circumstances that drag us down and cause us such stress and often worst. The answer God gives is not to promise we will not have to face these things, but to give us the strength to get overcome their depressing and troublesome effects in our life. Realistically no one can promise we will not be upset and depressed by these troubles, but God says we can even in the midst of trouble, be at peace with God and ourselves. Therefore a Christian’s life must also be lived with the God’s power continually applied. Of course the power I speak of is the power of the Holy Spirit in one’s life. One get’s in serious trouble if he stalls and loses power.

All believers, in varying degrees, find times in our Christian lives when we lose the power of God in our lives. Sometimes the power is applied through our disobedience to the Lord or at other times when we forget the Lord and go on our own.

The Bible says we forget the fuel of the Christian life is faith. Faith can be compared to the accelerator that we use to apply the power of God. For the Christian it is never a matter of having an empty tank because we have the power of God in our lives. The problem is that we pull back on the controls by not trusting in the Lord and we began to stall…and to waver in our faith.

ILLUS:A student was taking a flying lesson when the plane began to run into to a strong head wind. The plane lost speed and began to stall. The student panicked and cried, “Were are going to crash!” The instructor reached over pulled the throttle out further and the engine increased in power and the plane began to climb. The instructor said, “Did you forget the throttle?” The student replied “Oh, yea, I forgot that.” The instructor then replied…if you forget it when flying by yourself your lapse in memory will kill you. This is not a perfect illustration, but it does make an important point. Two reactions to lives perils can cause us to lose our peace and joy. One is that we do not know what God’s word says and therefore are ignorant of His promised comfort and help. Second is that we may know, but like the student pilot, forget to apply what we know the Lord promises. God’s promises are absolute and real and are to be lived by faith. Often it does not seem like God is working and in those times our faith may wane. But the key is that we by faith know God’s promises and we trust Him, knowing that He will never forsake us.

I WONDER HOW MANY OF US HAVE STALLED IN OUR FAITH OR COME IN DANGER OF STALLING BY NOT FULLY TRUSTING IN THE LORD.

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10:23; 32-39, 11:1, 12:1-2

The Book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians. These Jewish believers were in danger of losing their zeal and wavering in their faith because of their lack of trust in the Lord’s promises. They had accepted Christ from Judaism. These Christian Jews worked hard and endured great persecution fully expecting Christ to soon return. There hope was in Christ’s soon return to end their suffering. When under persecution they stood fast. They had FIRE, under fire. However, now things were better and persecution seemed over and the everyday routine has set in. The work was not as exciting, not as challenging and Christ had not returned as soon as they thought He would. Now the the work was hard and laborious! Their faith was waning and they were losing the spiritual strength that faith brings.

In Hebrews 10:22-38 are six things that God tells those that waver to do.

V22 Let us draw near with a true heart.
V23 Let us hold fast our profession of faith w/out wavering.
V24 Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.
V32 Let us call to remembrance the former days.
V35 Let us not cast away therefore your confidence
V38 Let the just live by faith.

I. Let us first draw near with a true heart. V22.

2. Our heart in Scripture represents the very center of both our physical and spiritual life.

B. In simple terms God is saying we are to draw near to our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, with a true commitment.

2. Easy believism rules our day. The churches have become a place of entertainment instead of worship. Preaching has become a practice of making people feel good rather than preaching the Word of God and having people to learn and be convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit. People join a church and feel they have done their responsibility to the Lord so they come to church once and awhile and have spirits of faithfulness or getting involved in the ministry of the church, but it is not really a priority. When other things conflict with worshiping the Lord, their worship is set aside. Sadly, they are not even concerned about it. They are told they are going to heaven so why worry too much about worship and being faithful to God’s house.

3. However, the Bible says that true salvation brings a full commitment to the Lord, yet it is easy to get in the routine and only give lip service to the Lord. Most people who fall into this trap do not set out to do it. It comes in small stages and grows larger and larger until it become the rule.

< 4. To be saved is more than getting a ticket to heaven, joining a church it is a life long conversion to following the Lord. Jesus in Luke 6:46 said, ” And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” To say one is your Lord and not follow them is a lie.

Jesus also spoke in Matthew 7:21 saying, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Clearly Jesus was saying that lip service is worthless.

ILLUS: A mother once asked me to visit her daughter in the hospital. She had been in our youth group. She graduated from High School and had quit coming to church. She was living with a boy friend. She got really sick and I visited her. I was amazed as I listened to her in glowing terms tell me how she loved the Lord and how much he meant to her. She explained she and her boy friend were going to get married as soon as they had the money. She said her boy friend was wanting to be in Christian music and was now working in a night club playing rock music so he could get the money to go into Christian music. I asked her if she thought how she was living honored the Lord? She still insisted that she truly was saved and loved the Lord. I think Christ would say to her “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?”

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

C. Having a true heart is a matter God saving us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

2. Salvation is the work and gift of God alone. Living by faith is our responsibility and the normal way of life for believer.

ILLUS: My younger brother once went to the eye doctor to get glasses. He has been having trouble seeing for some time. He was in his middle forties when all our family has had to get corrective glasses. For a long time he has struggled with trying to see even at time getting mad about it. But he would not go to the doctor. He tired to buy glasses at Wal-Mart, but they did not work. He tired everything he knew, but nothing helped. Finally he went the eye doctor and can now see with his new glasses. He now has the solution to his problem of not being able to see. He put off going for a long time, but what if he refused to use the glasses? Do you see the point. God has given us His power to live our lives, the solution to our problems, but we must accept it, put our trust in the Lord and then live according….or it is of no benefit to us.

II. Let us hold fast the profession of faith without wavering. V23

A. Before you were saved..doubts, insecurity, never able to be satisfied..afraid of death..living only for fleeing pleasures.

B. You heard the gospel message…Christ died for your sins. Death/burial/resurrection of Christ. As you heard the message you received the strength to:

C. But later troubles comes. You wane in your trust and fail the Lord. Sin overcomes you. Even after a person is saved there are things in our past lives that will still surface and tempt us. Old desires, pleasures, habits can bother us.

1. As with airplane you can run into turbulence. I have never been on an airplane flight yet that did not experience turbulence. But you know, I love flying and even though the flight can get bumpy and at times even scary, I still love to fly. I have some real stories I could tell also of several hair raising events I encounted while flying in Germany when I was in the Army.

ILLUS: Carolyn, I and our son Bryan years ago visited North Carolina’s beautiful Stone Mountain park. Below this great solid stone mountain was a beautiful green valley. We stopped and sat down and for some time watched climbers scaling the face of the great rock cliff. It seemed to be a bald rock and impossible to climb. We noticed there were orange markers along the face that showed they way. Each of the climbers began..steadily they moved ahead. …then the seemed to almost stop. But through the binoculars I could see then slowly inching forward …working the ropes, placing new pitons, and attaching their ropes. The slow pace continued for several hours, but they inched slowly forward. Carefully they would access each move. Once satisfied of their preparation, they would swing out or take the next step putting their trust in the rope, toe hole, etc. Then suddenly..they are at the top are up and over and victory! You see them on the top, laughing waving to those below enjoying their great accomplishment. It is always easy to go down….it is difficult to go up.

D. It should be like that in the believer’s life. Slowing moving forward. Learning the promises of God and then in trust moving forward putting our very lives in God’s capable hands. We have many examples of those who in great difficulties were not swayed by the troubles:

ILLUS: William Carey the pioneer missionary to India labored seven years before he had one convert! Reaching India on Nov. 11, 1793, he endured six years of extreme trails before establishing the noted missionary colony at Serampore. He persisted and by 1814 had helped establish 20 churches in India. When Carey was preparing for ordination in 1785, he was rejected when he gave his first sermon as a candidate. It took two more years for him to be eventually ordained to the ministry. His wife had poor health and they lost three children. Yet, he made the famous statement, “expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”

So did Adoniram Judson who God sent to Burma. In 1810 he helped form the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; two years later he and his new wife, Ann, sailed for India. When the Indian government refused them entry into the country, they went to Burma where they worked for six years before winning a convert. During those years they were plagued with ill health, loneliness, and the death of their baby son. Judson was imprisoned for nearly two years during which time Ann faithfully visited him, smuggling to him his books, papers, and notes which he used to translate the whole Bible into the Burmese language.

>Soon after his release from prison, Ann and their baby daughter, Maria, died of spotted fever. Judson withdrew into seclusion in the interior where he completed the translation of the Bible into Burmese. In 1845 he returned to visit America, but the burning desire to win the Burmese people sent him back to the Orient where he soon died. As a young man he had cried out, “I will not leave Burma until the cross is planted here forever.” Thirty years after his death, Burma had sixty-three Christian churches, one hundred and sixty-three missionaries, and over seven thousand baptized converts.

>In writing home to England sets a great example of why God used him so greatly in Burma. Many thought him a failure and because of all the difficulties urged him to quit. He begged the churches to have patience. He wrote home to England and said, “If a ship were here to carry me to any part of the world, I would not leave my field. Tell the brethren that success is as certain as the promise of a faithful God can make it.”

>God gave them nothing that He has not given to each of us. We too have the power to overcome and excel for the Lord if we will trust Him and let Him use us. What made these men different. Do you not think that they struggled with being homesick, tired and heart broken when they seemed to be getting no where. In the midst of Judson struggles his friend back home wanted to cut his support and bring him home because he did not seem to be making any progress. Do you think that was a good feeling and made things worse with all the pressure on him it caused?

III. Let us consider one another to provoke to unto love and good works. V24.

B. We call families “dysfunctional” when they are not protecting, providing for, preparing and supporting the family members in their daily lives and in their preparation for the future.

2. A family cannot function and achieve its propose if its members are not each understanding their responsibility to each other.

3. There can be no love unless there is a commitment to love each other.

4. There can be no happiness unless each person takes their responsibility to help the other.

5. There can be no peace if each member is not committed in love to “seek the other’s well being” and to live unselfishly.

C. Most Christians have struggles to some degree. Some are worst than others.

2. Can’t be apart of a family if you are never there.

ILLUS: How many families are destroyed because the father, or mother, or children had interest in other places or things they thought more important of than their family. Each has their own little separate life, their hobbies and friends and have little or no time for their own family. The fed their our selfish desires rather than understand and fulfill their responsibilities to their children, wife, husband. Many families are failing because they a seldom together and selfishly each member has his own agenda and has no time to build the family.

If you want to make a church weak….just stay home. Sadly, who then suffers? You do first. You miss the fellowship, the instruction, God fellowship, because you forsake His house and His people.

If you spend all your time in the world with worldly people you will be worldly too. You will begin to love the world, think like the world, and dress like the world. This new fad of church promoting that they call casual dress services does not honor the Lord.

ILLUS: It is like the Christian who got all involved in tournament bass fishing. He joined all the clubs, brought expensive new tackle and a new fast bass boat. The tournaments were on the week-ends so he missed church. He said he never had been able to tithe because he did not have enough income…..yet he spend thousands of dollars on his hobby. His family too dropped out of church because they needed to be with him to support him. He got involved in drinking because his bass buddies had a lot of parties. He still professed to be a Christian and that he really loved the Lord, though…!

ILLUS: This past week I Carolyn and I returned from Logan where I was getting prices on material for our new building. We came through the country and passed several LDS churches. The parking lots were full and we met couples dressed in suits and ties headed to church. The children were dressed nice and many of the boys had on ties and the girls pretty long dresses. I thought about this…these dear people are worshiping a god that does not exist… but they honored their god by their dress and in their worship…. Yet, some many who have the truth….do not seem to understand this clear biblical principle. These things are not important to us.

God’s plan for believers is to have a strong family in the home and that family reflected in the church. Those that have little or no commitment to their families will have a hard time being committed to God’s family.

B. Often the reason we fail or do not get the victory over some problem is we really are not trusting the Lord.

2. Sometimes we get discouraged..sometimes when we grow weary of waiting for God to work we jump ahead.

3. We start blaming God or others when the problem is really ourselves.

4. Our intentions and motives are true..but instead of exhorting..we judge and condemn!

5. We don’t need to compromise with sin. Look at verses 30 & 31

6. Christ is the judge and will judge, BUT John 3:16-17 says he came not to judge or condemn but to save.

7. This is the age of Grace..Not judgment, but grace must be accepted and received.

C. Believe God! If God calls you to a work… He’ll see to it you accomplish His will. If you are given a job in church do it will all your heart. That is what being faithful means.

IV. If wavering in your faith, then go back and remember the past when you were saved.

B. We must understand and accept what has happened. That means confess our sins to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Look back at when you professed Christ.

C. Remember too of past trials and problems God saw you through.

2. Remember that nothing has changed.

3. You are still a Child of God and in His care.

D. Remember your past work for the Lord and how satisfying it was to be in fellowship with God and to help others.

V. You Will Not Waver or Fall If You Are Living By Faith. v38

B. What is faith? Let me paraphrase Heb. 11:1.

“Faith is the substance of the things we hope for..the proof or inner conviction of things not seen.” Each those mentioned in the chapter face uncertainity, difficulties, criticism, persecution and come even death. Yet, they remained faithful in spite of their situation and in faith, in trusting in God kept going forward because they knew God’s faithfullness and promises.

FAITH’S HALL OF FAME.

2. Enoch..He pleased God.

Note the break here: Without faith it is impossible to please God! V11.

4. ABRAHAM: Left UR of Chaldees, father, house, kindred, country! God did not tell him where he was going! Long time before Abram became Abraham, he lived by the promise of God to make him a great nation and that the Messiah would come from His decedents.

Conclusion:

2. Look back at your Christian life.

ANSWER IS SURE:

B. If you have been faithful..then you are in God’s Hall of Fame.

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