The
Perseverance of Our Faith Part III
Scripture
Reading
Hebrews
10:23-25
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.
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering; (for he is faithful that
promised;)
How
do we hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering?
Only
those who believe in the faith, are determined in the faith, and remain rooted
and grounded in it will not waver. We know there is One Lord and One Faith
(Ephesians 4:4-6). If you do the will of
the Father which is to obey his word, you will not waiver, because you are
built upon the ROCK: JESUS.
Ephesians
4:4-6 King
James Version (KJV)
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in
one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord,
one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through
all, and in you all.
Matthew
7:20-29 King James Version (KJV)
20 Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 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.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name
done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the
rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the
sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds
blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the
people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the
scribes.
Life
happens: trails and testing of our
faith. In verse 23 we are encouraged to
keep our profession of our faith without wavering and to remember God is
faithful in his promises.
Study
Matthew 5-7, “The Sermon on the Mount.”
Here Jesus specifically teaches us about life, who we are, how we are to
behave, what it actually means to be blessed, etc. Take time to develop the character that
Christ taught us we are to exhibit.
These chapters are not all inclusive.
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4).
We need the entire bible.
The Bible is Life’s Instruction Manual. It teaches us how we are to live, if we live
it, God will keep his promises to us.
There are also promises he will keep if we don’t live it: one is eternal
damnation in hell. (Read Deuteronomy Chapter 28, there are blessing
of obedience verses 1-14 and consequences of disobedience verses 15-68.) Romans 6:1-2 teaches us we are not to
continue in sin because we are under grace.
(Grace is a separate study and it is misunderstood) Grace is not a license to sin, it is God’s mercy extended to you.
Romans
6:1-3
King James Version (KJV)
6 What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. …
23 Let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful
that promised;)
Locate the promises in the following scriptures:
I
Corinthians 1:9, 10:13; I
Thess. 5:24; Hebrews 11:11
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love
and to good works:
consider:
to see with one view: suneidon. To think about or ponder: noeo.
To take account of: logizomai.
In the Greek, the word provoke is paroxysmos in
the positive connotation means to “stir
up”. Cooks and bakers understand when you stir something up; you generally
blend (stir) ingredients together. All
of the ingredients become one. Just as
we are to become one with Christ according to John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in
you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in
me.” We cannot bear fruit without
abiding in Christ. To abide means to remain.
When we remain we are one with Christ.
In the Book of Acts, the early church the
disciples of Christ were known as brethren and demonstrated love one to another
by the good works they did. They all provoked each other to love. Love is not a four letter word L-O-V-E. Love
is an action. By their “acts” love was demonstrated, even as
the Father has shown us his love, by his act
of giving his Son Jesus, to die for
our sins. Love is always an action. The word says, “If ye love me, keep my
commandments.” Keep is now the action.
We show him we love him by keeping (obeying) his commandments.
In Acts 4:31-37 the believers were of one
heart and one soul, no one lacked anything thing of possessions. This is true love in action. But there was a man and his wife that were
not of one heart and one soul: Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5:1-11. They had no
love. The sin was not keeping back part
of the money; it was lying to the Holy Ghost.
They lied and were full of hypocrisy.
It was not in their heart to give, they apparently did it out of
obligation of what others were doing. We
are to be willful cheerful givers, not out of obligation, but out of truth and
love. Ananias and Sapphira sinned and they died. Although we are under grace,
God clearly
demonstrates grace does not cancel sin. The Spirit of Grace that is extended to us is
God’s mercy, longsuffering, kindness, etc. which NEVER
gives us a license to SIN.
Christians, as we hold fast our profession of
faith we are to thoughtfully consider to provoke each other unto love and to
good works (works of righteousness with a pure heart). Jesus went about doing good, thereby showing
his love and compassion for people.
Read
Love Demonstrated: Acts
2:43-47,
Characteristics of Love: I
Corinthians13:1-8.
As we learned in I Corinthians 13:1-8 we can
go through the motion of giving and not have love. We can speak in tongues of
men and of angels, have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge and all faith and bestow all your goods to feed the poor and give
your body to be burned and have not charity (love). You probably thought this was love. Love is not a feeling and love is not simply
giving either.
What
is love?
Charity/Love suffers
long
Charity/Love is kind
Charity/Love does not
vaunt itself
Charity/Love is not
puffed up
Charity/Love does not
behave itself unseemly
Charity/Love does not
seek its own
Charity/Love is not
easily provoked
Charity/Love thinks
no evil
Charity/Love does not
rejoice in iniquity (sin)
Charity/Love rejoices
in truth
Charity/Love bears
all things
Charity/Love believes
all things
Charity/Love hopes
all things
Charity/Love endures
all things
Charity/Love NEVER
fails
Look at
what love is and is not. Do you see
Jesus Christ? Do you see yourself?
“I
am provoking you unto love and good works.”
Read James
2:14-26 (Study carefully)
Love
one another: I John 3:11-23
(Study carefully)
As Christians, our lives should always provoke
our brothers and sisters unto an attitude of love which in itself, will bring
forth acts of good works and deeds as a natural expression of Christ dwelling
in us.
The
perseverance of our faith will
cause us to demonstrate an attitude of love first toward Christ and then toward
one another. Our good works are a
natural result of the Love Christ demonstrated toward us in his life, death,
resurrection and promise of eternal life to come because we have been engrafted
into the vine and are now able to bring forth good fruit. Without him we can do nothing.
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.
This is a
commonly quoted scripture and partially understood and sometimes used for
selfish reasons. In Hebrews
10:23-25 all these passages of scripture go together, they must be
stirred up.
Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together is more than an admonition for
weekly church attendance. Let’s dissect the scripture: Let us hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and
to good works. How else do we do
this? By “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but exhorting
one another:…”
To
attend church services on a regular basis is essential to the spiritual growth
of a Christian, because we are to hear the Word of God from the mouth of a Sent
minister of God. (Romans 10:14-15)) The
Word of God (scripture) is sent by inspiration of God by the Holy Ghost, for
doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness that we may be
perfect (complete) thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
II Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the
man of god may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Attending church services in itself, is not enough, we must
hear the word and become doers of the word as God sends his word to provide his
doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. (James 2:22-25) We must apply the word to our life.
Church is not the only place Christians assemble (gather),
if two or three are gathered together, there am I in the mist. Mathew 18:20
Where ever we gather, Christ is there and we are to exhort one another. As Christians we are the body of Christ and
we are to function as the Body of Christ as the Lord intends when we assemble
in his name to worship, fellowship, and learn.
There are various
ways to assemble as Christians:
1)
Church
2)
Our homes
3)
Bible Study groups
4)
Over coffee
5)
Breakfast
6)
Dinner/Lunch
7)
Conferences
8)
Retreats
9)
Social Gatherings
10)
Prayer Meetings
11)
Family Time*
I had one of the greatest experiences of
assembling ourselves together in our Singles Ministry at a church I attended for
approximately ten years. We did
everything together: hiking, picnics in the park, birthdays, weddings, prayer
in each other’s homes, bible studies in each other’s homes, dining out, movies,
theme parks, vacations, moving each other, fellowship, visiting the sick,
ministering to each other and to the unsaved, etc. We did not forsake the assembling of
ourselves together and Jesus was always the center of our gatherings
(assemblies), even when training for ministry in our church. There are so many
other ways to assemble yourselves together.
The key is to let the Lord be the center of your assembly. In all of our life’s activities we truly
exhorted each other in the word. We grew up together in Christ.
The bible tells us in Colossians 3:17 And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him.
The scripture teaches us as we assemble we are
to exhort one another. Colossians 3:12-17 teaches us about Christian virtues that
must be demonstrated in love and in your faith in Jesus Christ if you profess
Christianity.
Exhort: parakaleo- to beseech, to admonish, to urge on to pursue some course of conduct (always prospective, looking to
the future, in contract to the meaning to comfort, which is retrospective
having to do with trial experienced.) to advise, to warn: paraineo.
As
we do life together and assemble ourselves together we are to admonish each
other to be doers of the word because… “the
day is approaching” that is judgment day.
God’s people should always assemble themselves together providing an
opportunity to provide spiritual growth and encouragement, strengthen each
other, and stir up each other to strive to enter in at the straight gate. We
are to exhibit constant participation in worship and fellowship, within the
church building and without the church building. We the body of Christ, we are the
Church. Outside of the church building, we are to constantly assemble
ourselves together in fellowship, searching the scriptures and prayer as the
disciples did in the Book of Acts. Jesus and his disciples assembled frequently
for greater understanding on the teachings of Jesus, for instruction and for
prayer.
The
Perseverance of Our Faith Part IV of VII Coming soon…..
Scripture Reading:
Hebrews 10:26-34
Hebrews 10:26-34
King James Version (KJV)
26 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?
30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
33 Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.
34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
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