The Loss of True Faith

Throughout the Bible, since mankind first lived on the Earth, God has insisted that we “live by faith”.  Of course, in the beginning, when Adam walked with God in the Garden of Eden, Adam had no doubt, he actually experienced life in God’s presence.  But Adam and Eve fell victim to Satan’s lies and chose to rebel against God’s clear directives not to partake of that one tree, even if the fruit looked declicious.  When that happened, God withdrew His presence from His creation and Everything Changed.

God promised to provide Man with a way to restore that lost relationship (Gen. 3:15).  It would come through being rescued from the penalty for sin and Redeemed by the Savior that God would provide.  That Savior would in the end conquer and put an end to Satan’s crusade against God’s holiness.  God established a relationship with His faithful followers based on their forgiveness as a result of their obedience to offer sacrifices which demonstrated their faith that God would provide Redemption.  Ever since the Fall, man’s relationship with God has been based on True Faith – believing Who God is, and what He is going to do to rescue man from his sin.

The writer to the Hebrews has spent the first 75% of his letter explaining and demonstrating how we as Christians express our faith in God’s provision of a Savior.  Now in this last segment of the letter, the writer takes the next reasonable step after establishing our confidence in Christ as our Great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary.  The writer will now guide us to see  demonstration of our walk in Christ by our exercise of true faith in our One True God.

In Heb. 10:21-25, the writer gives us a Declaration of Faithful Christian Living — “…and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;”  Through the rest of the book, the writer is going to challenge us to have three things:

• Faith (v.22), Heb. 11
• Hope (v23), Heb. 12
• Love (v24), Heb. 12:14 – Heb. 13

The writer begins with a short review of what faith is and how our relationship to God is anchored by true and faithful (persistent) faith.  He wants us to draw near to Christ and have confidence in His priestly work for us, but he knows we can slip into a casual view of our faith, and then possibly lapse into unfaithfulness.  He will conclude the book with illustrations of how faithful followers of God have demonstrated that faith in order to motivate us to follow their example and demonstrate our faith to one another.

Warning #4 – Despising our Faith, Heb. 10:19-39

But first…  You may recall that there are five warning passages in Hebrews (check the Outline of Hebrews here), and now we encounter the fourth warning, this time warning us about constantly living in personal  unfaithfulness.  This unfaithfulness can be described as the opposite of the “persistent” faithfulness of a True Believer in Christ and His Salvation.  This is about a believer whose faith has been weakened and broken down by the attacks of Satan and the world.  If you review the third warning in Heb. 5:11-6:13 (Session 9), you’ll see that the writer introduces this important consideration while considering the younger believer who has “immature” faith.  Now in the fourth warning, the writer is looking at the believer who has continued in immature faith to the extent that he begins to slide into unfaithfulness and unbelief.  He anchors his thoughts on three “let us” verbs – draw near, hold fast, and consider.  These three actions are a sure solution to our stumbling in our Christian walk.

Five challenges are given to the Christian to maintain a faithful walk.  Wiersbe points out that the warning begins with a “gracious invitation” (19-25), proceeds with a “solemn exhortation” (26-31) and concludes with an “encouraging confirmation” (32-39).

Heb. 10:19-20, Embrace the access to God provided by Jesus — God has provided a “new and  living way” into His presence through the New Covenant and our access to God’s Most Holy Place where Christ abides.  Note that everything the writer says in this last portion of his letter is based on the great premise of the previous section, the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest.

Heb. 10:22-23, Maintain an unwavering faith —  We are blessed with an eternal hope and confidence based on Christ’s finished work.  We are able to “draw near” with a sincere heart and hold fast to our faith.  We must not ignore the danger of turning away and rejecting God’s grace.

Heb. 10:24-25, Members of the body of Christ and the Church —  We must support and encourage fellow believers by our active involvement in our Christian community and most importantly as a member of a Bible-believing church.

Heb. 10:26-31, Beware of danger — We must beware of the dangers of abandoning our  faith in Christ (the falling away” of Heb. 4:14-16), which occurs when you abandon your fellowship with other Christians, and the consequences of wilfull sin.

Heb. 10:32-39, Exercise patient endurance —  Remember, this book is written to people who have demonstrated their faith in Christ as their Savior.  They have endured suffering in the past , but don’t throw away that confidence in Christ – live by faith, Christ is coming!

Note these major ways that the book of Hebrews shows how Christ’s High Priestly work impacts our lives:

• Christ made atonement for our sin – Heb. 2:17; 7:27; 9:14
• He gives us strength when tempted by sin – Heb. 2:18
• He gives us grace in our time of need – Heb. 4:15-16
• He brings us eternal life – Heb. 5:9-10
• He intercedes on our behalf – Heb. 7:25; 9:24
• He gives us confidence to approach our holy God – Heb. 10:22

This section of Hebrews provides several memorable expressions of the substance of our faith:

How the faithful Christian responds to this Warning — 

• 10:19 –  We are to have “confidence to enter the Holy place”, where Jesus resides in the True Sanctuary and where we can leave our needs and concerns at His feet (Heb. 9:11-12).
• 10:20 – We are to show “a new and living way” to live for God, the final manifestation of God’s great redemption.
• 10:22 – We are to “draw near” to the throne of God’s grace- as in Heb.4:16, we can come boldly before Him.
• 10:23 – We are to “hold fast our confession”, know the substance of your faith and grasp it tightly, never let it go.
• 10:24 – We are to “stimulate one another”, actively engage in positively influencing one another to godliness.
• 10:25 – We need to be faithful to “our own assembling together”, our local church is a natural bodily function of the Church as a whole to meet all together for fellowship, worship and study of God’s Word.
• 10:27 –  We need to understand “a terrifying expectation of judgment”, an understanding that we will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, 2 Cor. 5:10.

Unfaithfulness is Serious

Unfaithfulness can be minor and recoverable at first, but it can degrade into a complete failure of your spiritual heart.  Apostasy is turning away from God — please review the previous studies on Heb. 2:1; 3:12; 6:4-8, which speak further on this matter of turning away.  If a Christian descends into that “turning away” spiral and if he doesn’t pull out of it, there will be loss of reward (not loss of salvation).  A person who genuinely places their faith in Christ’s salvation is born again, made a child of God eternally, but if that knowledge is handled carelessly and disparaged (Heb. 10:26), that person will still be saved but “though as by fire”, he will suffer loss (1 Cor. 3:15)

Remember, the Just shall live by Faith —

Habakkuk 2:3-4 reminds us to keep in mind that God will finish His plan for us and for all mankind.  “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”

A Final Note

This has been an extended and challenging session, so there are no further study questions for this session.  Please take some time for personal reflection to review these practical considerations and commit to your own strong and faithful walk with God.

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