Encouragement For The True Believer (Hebrews 10:32-33)

Kootenai Church

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And now please turn to Hebrews chapter 10 again. When you've found your place, let's pray together before we begin.

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Our Father, you are gracious and good to us as your people. You have given us not only salvation in Jesus Christ, but you have given us an infallible and authoritative and perfect and true revelation of who you are and what you have done for us in your

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Son. You have revealed to us what you demand of us, what you expect your people to do and to believe and how we are to behave, how we are to comport ourselves and walk in this world.

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And we would pray now that you would help us to understand that. Open our eyes to your word in our hearts that we may be obedient and that we may understand the truth.

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We pray that in the light of your word that we may see light and that our eyes and ears may be opened and that we may be able to behold in your word wonderful things.

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We set this time apart to you and ask that you would help us in our study and in our understanding that you would be glorified through this time and are looking at your word this morning.

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We ask this in Christ's name, amen. Well, our subject matter the last few weeks has been admittedly a little bit heavy.

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We have been talking about apostates and departing from the truth and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries and judgment and damnation and hell and all of those subjects.

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We come now to verse 32 and we turn something of a corner and from here on out it's going to be a little bit more encouraging because we now are faced with some subjects that are a bit more positive like persecution and trials and afflictions and suffering, reproaches, imprisonment and having your property seized because you are a

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Christian. So you can tell now that the passage ahead of us is a real spirit lifter and actually though I kind of joke about that, the author does address those subjects but it is the way that he addresses those subjects that is very encouraging to the true believer because he addresses these realities of imprisonment and trials and afflictions and suffering and persecution but he does so in such a way as to encourage us, to put courage into us because his goal is not to discourage us but rather to fix our attention and our hope and our expectation and our affection on things that are to come and in the way he addresses the reality of these trials, he is really seeking to encourage us to stand strong and to stay faithful and to continue in the truth in the midst of those trials.

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So the truth that he gives us in chapter 10 is really intended to encourage us, not to discourage us and to make us down.

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So yes, we have looked at the reality of eternal damnation for the apostate but now we come to verse 32 and the author turns his attention back to those whom he believes are true believers to give them some encouragement in the midst of this life and actually all or most of chapter 10 has been addressed to believers and the intention behind that is to encourage us.

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So he has said a number of things in chapter 10, you remember it wasn't very long ago in chapter 10, it was long ago chronologically in terms of weeks of our lives but back in verse 14 in 11 through 14 of chapter 10, the author encouraged us by reminding us that our salvation rests entirely and only and solely on the perfect, finished, complete and infinitely valuable work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. He reminds us that all of our sins have been atoned for.

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Every last iniquity, every last transgression, every last violation of God's law for those who are in Jesus Christ has been paid in full as that sovereign son of God offered himself on the cross to die in our place and in our stead.

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In doing so, he perfected for all time those who are sanctified in him. He encouraged us with that, remember that?

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All of your sins are taken out of the way that in that one death, the Lord Jesus Christ did what all of the sacrifices of all of the

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Old Testament animals could never do which was namely to pay the price for sin and in his one offering which inaugurated the new covenant, he has inaugurated a covenant which has done and is doing something that the old covenant could never do which was to perfect the worshiper.

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And as our high priest who intercedes for us, he has done and is doing what no Old Testament priest could ever do which is to offer a perfect intercession for all of those for whom he has died.

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And he always lives to make intercession for us on our behalf. All of that was encouraging truth.

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And then the application of all of that he says in verse 19, beginning in verse 19 through 25 was that since these things are true, since Christ by his death has gained us access to God, made us acceptable to the

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Father, has perfected us forever and given us a high priest that is over the household of God, since this is true, you and I are to do three things.

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Do you remember what they are? I hope you remember what they are because if you don't remember what they are, you'll never be able to do them. We are to hold fast to our confession of hope.

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We are to gather together with other unbelievers to encourage them to do the same and we are to draw near to God.

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We are to draw near, to hold fast and to encourage others to do the same. Do you remember those three things? I got them in the wrong order because I temporarily forgot them but I'm trying to remember everything else that's in my message.

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You just had to remember those three things. We are to draw near to God. We are to hold fast to our confession of hope and we are to meet with others to encourage them to do the same.

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And those three things end up being an encouragement and a preventative really of apostasy because the apostate is one who does not draw near to God through Jesus Christ.

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He stays just far enough away to be warmed by the truth but he never embraces it. And the apostate does not hold fast to his confession of faith.

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He abandons it and he walks away and exchanges it or trades it for something else that's not nearly as valuable.

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And the apostate does not gather together with God's people to encourage others to hold fast and to draw near. Instead, the apostate stops gathering with the people, turns his back upon it and it is that abandonment of the truth and abandonment of the people of God that the author says is the willful sin committed in verse 26.

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And so he pauses in verse 26 to give this stern and solemn and very strongly worded warning to apostates, those who would go on sinning willfully, saying to them that if you are to turn from this truth which is so clear and from the salvation which has been purchased by the

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Son, if you do that, you are trampling underfoot the Son of God, you are regarding as unclean the blood of the covenant by which

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He, the Christ, was sanctified and you're insulting the spirit of grace. And if you do this and continue sinning willfully like that you have nothing but the terrifying expectation of a judgment to come as you fall into the hands of the living

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God and that is a terrifying thing. So there is that warning. But now we come to verse 32 and now we have some encouraging words in verse 32.

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Here in chapter, here in verse 32, the author returns back to addressing the audience that he is convinced is mostly made up of believers.

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In fact, he does the same thing in chapter 10, the warning passage of chapter 10 that he does back in the warning passage of Hebrews 6.

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Remember the warning passage of Hebrews 6 after he warns those who have been enlightened and come to taste the heavenly gift, he then turns after warning them of the damnation that will come upon them, that they will be burned up like thorns and thistles.

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Warning them of that, he then turns back to them and says, but we are convinced of better things concerning you, things that accompany salvation even though we're speaking in this way.

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The author has in mind these two groups of people within his congregation. There are the majority of his congregation of whom he is certain that they are saved.

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He rests confidently in the fact that they know the truth, that they understand the truth, that they have embraced the truth, but the author is also aware that there are people within his congregation, people who would be reading this, who are not genuinely saved, they're false converts.

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They're people who have made a superficial commitment to the truth. They dance around the edges of Christianity and they are comfortable with Christianity as long as Christianity is comfortable.

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But the minute Christianity becomes uncomfortable, they become uncomfortable with Christianity and they abandon it and walk away.

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And the author is mostly addressing Christians and believers, so most of the instruction in the epistle is aimed at them, but then he is aware that there are people who are hearing him who are not necessarily believers.

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We can say the same thing about any address that I give here on a Sunday morning, anybody that you hear preach up here. I am confident of the salvation of most of you, but I also know that on any given

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Sunday, we can have a visitor who will step in here and who is comfortable with Christianity as long as Christianity is comfortable.

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And they dance around and they play around the edges of Christianity, keeping Jesus at just enough distance so he doesn't interfere with their lives, and they offer just enough obedience to pass themselves off as Christians, and those are the ones who need that warning.

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And those are the ones that he addresses in the warning passage. Well, in chapter 10, we have the same pattern that we have in chapter six, this dual focus.

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There are people to whom he is writing he knows are apostates in the making, and there are people to whom he is writing whom he knows. He is certain that they are genuine and true believers.

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In fact, that pattern of addressing both of those type of people with a little bit of a different emphasis, it kind of is an illustration of the old adage that says biblical preaching should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

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That is exactly what biblical Christian preaching does from the scriptures. It offers comfort to the afflicted and then it afflicts the comfortable.

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Well, verses 26 through verse 31 is affliction to the comfortable. Are you comfortable with your

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Christianity? Are you comfortable with just dancing around the edges? Are you comfortable with coming here and just hearing the truth, hearing the preaching of the word of God, being warmed by the fellowship and the worship and seeing

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Christianity in action, people loving one another and serving one another, and this makes you comfortable, but yet you are comfortable enough to keep

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Jesus at a distance so he doesn't interfere with your sin, he doesn't call you to account. Are you comfortable with a Christianity that demands nothing of you in this life, no sacrifice, no service, no commitment, nothing but comfort and ease?

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If that's the case, verses 26 to 31 are for you. And you read those verses and you can smell the sulfur, you can feel the heat of eternity, and you ought to because that's the intention.

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But if you're afflicted in this world, which most Christians are, then verses 32 to 39 is for you.

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Let's read it again. But remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.

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For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.

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Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

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For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith.

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And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

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You notice how the emphasis in that passage is quite a bit different than the emphasis in verses 26 through 31. He is aware that there are two people in his congregation to whom he is writing.

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Those, in the words of verse 39, look at it, those who shrink back to destruction, and the second group is those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

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So he is addressing those who need to be comforted in their affliction, and he is encouraging them with the truth of their perseverance and the truth of the reward that they are to expect for their faithfulness and their obedience to the truth.

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Now, before we jump into verse 32, I wanna highlight a few themes that we find in these closing verses of chapter 10.

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Take a couple of minutes just to cover them. There are four of them that I wanna highlight for you. The first is the theme of blessing and reward.

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In verses 26 to 31, we noted how often the themes of judgment and damnation and wrath and punishment and cursing came up, right?

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Almost every verse or every other verse, that theme was prominent in that warning to the apostates.

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Well, the opposite is the case, beginning in verse 32. We have now the themes of reward and eternal blessing and the saving of the soul.

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It is the theme of blessing and reward that is emphasized in verses 32 through 39.

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Notice in verse 34, he talks about having ourselves a better possession and a lasting one, that's verse 34.

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Verse 35, we have a great reward. Verse 36, when we've done the will of God, we will receive what was promised.

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And down in verse 39, we have the preserving of the soul. The author is holding out the hope for us when he talks about a better possession and a lasting one.

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He is holding out the hope for us of a possession that we will receive in eternity in heaven. Our final reward will be a possession where thieves do not break in and steal and moth and rust do not come in and corrupt and destroy, but instead, it is a lasting inheritance.

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It is a permanent inheritance. In verse 35, he says that if we hold on to our confidence, then what we have, what we're holding fast to, has a great reward.

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In verse 36, when we endure and when we do the will of God, which is to endure, we receive the reward.

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What is the will of God that is described in verse 36 when he says so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised?

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What is God's will? That you hold fast to your faith, that you hold fast to your confidence, that you not waver in unbelief, that you approach

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God with faith, with confidence, that you do not waver in that faith so that having not wavered in the face of this hostility and the sufferings and the afflictions that he mentions, you and I will receive the reward if we are faithful all the way to the end.

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And of course, the single greatest blessing and reward that you and I could ever hope to receive is at the end of verse 39.

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He saves the best one for last. We are those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. That is worth more than anything else.

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That is the greatest blessing, the greatest reward, the greatest cherished treasure that could possibly be offered to the people of God, that we would actually have our souls preserved.

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That is worth more than all that this world could offer us, is it not? It would be enough if all that the

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Lord gave us was just the preservation of our soul. If we could just escape this world and receive for all of eternity an incorruptible and uncorrupted soul, glorified in that state, and to escape the wrath of God and just have our soul preserved, that would be enough.

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And if we were to lose everything in this world, all of our possessions, all of our health, all of our comforts, our conveniences, our prosperity, if we were to lose all of that and just escape this world with our soul preserved, would that not be sufficient?

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That would be enough, wouldn't it? This is what Jesus meant in Matthew 26, or sorry, 16 verse 26, when he said, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

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Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? What greater reward can you hope for than to have your soul preserved?

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The wicked are those who gain everything in this life, the apostate is the one who gains everything in this life, but ultimately sacrifices everything in the life to come and loses his own soul.

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The righteous, the faithful, are those who give up everything in this life and ultimately gain the next life and everything in it as well as their soul.

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Do you know what the difference could not be more stark? What would you give in exchange for your soul?

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What better reward could you have than to escape this world and not have your soul suffer the infinite and eternal, everlasting indignation and wrath of God against you for your sin?

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Just to have your soul preserved is sufficient. That would be enough, but that is not all that God does.

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Instead, he preserves our soul so that he may lavish upon it untold blessing, pleasure, joy, glory, and goodness for all of eternity, all of it unmerited, all of it undeserved, all of it actually ill -deserved.

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It's not just that we don't deserve it, we actually deserve the opposite of that. So God not only preserves our soul, but he lavishes us with the blessings to come by putting all of that on our soul.

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If we could just escape this life with the soul and the soul only, we would be of all men most blessed, but that's not what the

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Lord promises us. Instead, he promises that we escape this life with our soul and infinite and eternal reward for our service and our sacrifice and our faithfulness and our sonship, none of which we deserve, all of which is the work of God through us and on us and for us.

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It is all of grace, not even our faithfulness, not even our obedience can we take credit for.

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All of it is by his grace and all of it is his reward. And again, there is this contrast with the apostate who sacrifices all of that for a brief moment of pleasure, taking everything this world has to offer so that he may not have any sufferings or afflictions in this life.

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And that is the second theme of this passage, is suffering and affliction. See, in the next life, there is nothing good in store for the apostate, nothing.

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And in the next life, there is nothing bad in store for the righteous, nothing. That is such a marked contrast.

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In the next life for the apostate, nothing good. In the next life for the righteous, nothing bad. Everything the righteous ever endure that is bad is in this life.

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And what is it, it's 100 years? You'd trade your soul, you'd trade your soul for a mess of pottage, really, 100 years, and everything in this world is gonna be burned up and it's gone.

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And the righteous will get their soul and everything of eternal and lasting value in the life that is to come.

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Suffering and affliction, that is the second theme. It is the major theme of this section and we've already looked at a bit of the language.

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Look at verse 32. He talks about enduring a great conflict of sufferings, being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations.

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Look at verse 33, they had become sharers with those who were so treated. They showed sympathy to the prisoners.

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There were some of them who had been imprisoned. They accepted joyfully the seizure of their property. Some of them had had their property seized and then, that's not all.

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You get down to verse 38 and 39, sorry, verses 37 and 38. That's not the only mentions of suffering.

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Verses 37 and 38, when we look at that in its context, where that comes from in Habakkuk chapter two, that passage, again, reminds us that in this life, the righteous will suffer.

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Even his quotation from the Old Testament is a reference to the suffering of the righteous in this life.

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So one of the major themes here is suffering of the righteous in this life. Contrast that with the apostate.

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You see, it is often to avoid affliction, it is often to avoid imprisonment and having their possessions taken that the apostate turns from the faith and sins willfully by abandoning the people of God.

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Because when persecution comes and the people of God are threatened from without by men, the apostate says,

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I'm not willing to pay that price. Words are cheap, but persecution is not. So I'm not willing to endure imprisonment.

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I'm not willing to associate with those who are so treated. I'm not willing to have my possessions taken away from me.

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I have built up too much. I have enjoyed too many conveniences. I'm not willing to align myself with the

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Christian people and have all of that disappear just for the hope of pie in the sky in the by and by.

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The apostate is not willing to enjoy any of that. He's not willing to endure any of it. And so he departs, he leaves.

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But the true Christian, he endures a great conflict of suffering. The true believer is made a public spectacle.

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The true believer is willing to be in prison and willing to have everything in this life stripped from him, knowing that he has a great reward in the life that is to come.

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That again is the contrast between the righteous and the apostate, the true believer and the fake believer. The third theme is that of endurance and obedience.

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And this runs through the passage as well. Look at verse 32. Remember the former days after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings.

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He is reminding them of their perseverance and of their endurance. Verse 36 says that you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what was promised.

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The will of God there is again a reference to their endurance and continuing in the faith. It is disobedience not to endure.

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In fact, it is disobedience and apostasy to turn from the faith and to walk away from it and instead exchange the confession or profession of faith in Christ for the ease and convenience of this world.

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That is an act of disobedience. And the one who does that will not receive any reward. So all the way through this passage, the author is trying to get us to persevere and to not shrink back to destruction, verse 39, but instead to have faith to the preserving of our soul, to continue in the truth, knowing that it may cost us everything that is described in verses 32 to 34 so that we may, having done all of the will of God and been faithful and obedient in the midst of all of that to actually receive the reward that has been promised to the faithful.

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That is his point. The fourth theme is the theme of faith. Now that's not something that marks the apostate.

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The apostate has a faith. He has a belief. Remember, it is an intellectual consent. He intellectually consents to certain things to be true.

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And he looks as if he has faith. He looks as if he believes certain things because he gives a superficial and outward show of embracing some of those truths and some of the prospects of Christianity, but he doesn't actually have genuine saving faith, which is a gift from God.

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He does not have the faith that will endure and persevere all the way to the end. So though the apostate makes an intellectual assent, he does not have the faith to the preserving of the soul, as is mentioned in verse 39.

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Look at verse 38. My righteous one shall live by faith. Again, that is a quotation from Habakkuk chapter two.

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That verse is quoted three times in the New Testament, and you're gonna find this fascinating when we get there. That verse is quoted three times in the

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New Testament, once here, once in the book of Romans, and once in the book of Galatians. In the book of Galatians, the emphasis of the author on quoting from Habakkuk chapter two, verse four, is on faith.

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It is by faith. Sorry, it is the just. No. Yeah, that's right.

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No, sorry, Galatians chapter five. Again, you come here to hear me think out loud. Galatians chapter five, the emphasis of the quotation of that is on the one who lives.

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In the book of Romans, the emphasis is on the just, and in the book of Hebrews, the emphasis is on the faith. So three times that verse is quoted in the

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New Testament, and the emphasis is slightly different each time. The just shall live by faith. And the author quotes it here because he is gonna transition into a discussion of faith.

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So we get to the end of chapter 10. We get down to verse 39. We've read about faith and the righteous living by it in verse 38.

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Then in verse 39, he says we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

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And then we would say, well, it seems as if faith is the thing that distinguishes a true believer from a make believer.

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It seems as if true and genuine faith is that which marks out the true from the false.

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And if that is the case, if all of this apostasy versus non -apostasy comes down to faith, if abandoning the truth or holding on to the truth comes down to the nature of faith, then wouldn't it be good if we had maybe a definition of faith, maybe a few examples or illustrations of what faith might look like, if we could maybe have a discussion on faith so that we could see what faith looks like in the real world and a few examples of people who persevered and endured under faith.

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Wouldn't that be a good idea? And then what do we have in chapter 11? It is the Hebrews faith hall of fame.

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All those examples in the Old Testament of men and women who endured through faith, all of the themes of verses 32 through 39 and this warning passage and the encouragement that he is trying to drill into us in verses 32 through 39, all of those themes come together and they are woven through the lives of those figures from the

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Old Testament who are featured in Hebrews chapter 11. So do you wanna know what faith looks like when it results in the saving of the soul and trusting

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God to cover your sin? The example is Abel. Do you want to know what faith looks like when it issues in obedience to the command of God?

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Then you turn to Abraham. Do you wanna know what faith looks like when you are hoping for and longing for the fulfillment of promises that you do not even see fulfilled in your own lifetime?

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Then the example is Abraham. Do you wanna know what faith looks like in the life of a man who faces nothing but physical limitations and seeming impossibilities but he is faithful all the way to the end and yet still never sees the fulfillment of those promises?

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Then the example is Abraham. Do you wanna see what faith is when it endures in the face of hostility and suffering?

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The example is Noah. Do you wanna see what faith looks like when it embraces the reproaches of Christ and turns its back on all of the conveniences and the treasures and the ease of this life?

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Then your example is Moses. Do you wanna know what faith looks like that endures all the way to the point of death?

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Then you look to those who have been sawn into and put to death by the sword, men and women of whom the world is not worthy.

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All Hebrews chapter 11 is, well not all it is, but one thing it is, is example after example after example of men and women who did the very thing the author is encouraging us to do.

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That is to face the hostility and the hatred and the opposition, the reproach of an ungodly world and to be faithful and obedient and steadfast and unwavering in the midst of it.

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Are you facing a hostile world? I haven't checked recently, at least not since this morning, but is the world outside hostile against Christianity?

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Do you get the sense that it is a little bit? Do you get the sense that the world outside is becoming more and more hostile toward us as time goes on?

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Even just a little bit more and more hostile or a lot bit more and more hostile? A lot bit more and more hostile?

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A lot bit, I don't know if that's a word, but it should be, it's a lot bit more and more hostile. Friends, I want you to ignore in the weeks to come the chapter break that is the end of chapter 10 and 11 because verses 32 through 39 is the introduction to the faith hall of fame.

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What is the author getting at verses 32 to 39? You have to be faithful and obedient and unwavering and you do not turn your back and you do not sell your soul and all of its eternal blessing for a pot of porridge in this world which will vanish and will burn up.

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Instead, we are to be like the men and the women of old. Abel and Abraham and Moses and Noah and David and all of the faithful patriarchs from the

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Old Testament. They are examples of people who endured in faith, even some not even receiving the promises in their own lifetime and yet they endured in faithfulness and obedience, unwavering in their belief and their conviction that when they have done the will of God, they will receive what was promised.

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That's what they were looking for. God promised me this and his word is true and therefore I will receive it.

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I just need to endure faithfully all the way to the end and even if it costs you your life and you are sown in two or you are killed with the sword or you're thrown to lions or whatever it is,

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God will give you the faith to endure and our job is to endure and to persevere and to not waver at all against the world and its hostility and its hatreds for Christians and the truth.

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Now let me offer you an outline for verses 32 to 39. The section actually divides quite naturally into two sections.

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In verses 32 to 34, we are encouraged to look back to something. Notice in verse 32, he says, but remember the former days.

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He is telling them to look back to something, namely the reproaches that they endured. True saving faith and casting our lot in with Jesus Christ is going to ensure that you and I face hostility and adversity and suffering and affliction in this world.

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Paul said in Acts chapter 14 that it is through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God and Jesus said if the world hated me, it will hate you.

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Well, the world did hate him and it killed him and so the world is going to hate us because we're not of this world but we're chosen out of this world and so if we're going to cast our lot in with the one who was himself the object of all of the world's hostility and hatred, their scorn and their reproach and their anger and their vitriol, if we're going to cast our lot in with him and claim that we belong to him and we want to be like him and we want to have the same approach to the world that he had, then guess what you should expect?

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The same reproach and shame and hatred and animosity and vitriol that the world poured on him, you yourself should expect that and if you do not expect it, you're a fool and if you're not willing to endure it, you're not a believer, you're an apostate.

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You must be unwilling to sell your soul for the pot of porridge that is this world and what it has to offer.

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Expect the tribulations, expect the reproach and so the author says you ought to look back in time to those times when you endured that reproach in the name of Christ and for the sake of Christ, you are to remember those things, look back to the reproaches of faith.

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Verses 32 to 34 is all about the reproach that faith brings in the light of the world. It's a reproach that brings to us tribulations and imprisonment and sufferings and affliction and even the requirement that we throw in our lot with those who are so treated.

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That's the reproach of faith. Look back on the fact that you at one point cast the world behind you and said,

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I'm willing to embrace Christ. You look back to that and all that you endured in your afflictions and your sufferings.

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You look back, verses 32 to 34. Verses 35 to 30, verses 35 to 39, you have to look forward to something and it's not the reproaches of faith but the reward of faith and that is where he talks about us having a better possession and a lasting one, a great reward that we receive what was promised.

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In verse 39, ultimately the preserving of our soul. Verses 35 through 39 describes looking forward to something and that is the reward of faith.

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Verses 32 to 34, the reproach of faith. Trials, tribulations, suffering and affliction, the world's hostility.

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Verses 35 to 39, the reward of faith. You get what was promised. You want an example of people who endured the world's hostility, the reproach of faith and ended up receiving the reward and some of them yet to receive that reward.

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That is verses 32 through 39. That is Abraham and Noah and all of the saints of Hebrews chapter 11.

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So we must look back to enduring the reproach of faith. Verses 32 to 34, we must look forward to receiving the reward of faith.

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Verses 35 through 39. And by this point, you're looking at the clock and you're saying to yourself, much to your chagrin,

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Jim, that sounds eerily like an overview of the passage and not really a studying of the details of the passage, right?

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If that is your fear, listen. You're absolutely right. That is exactly what it is. But it was a necessary overview of that passage so that we can understand how all of this in chapter 10 and 11, that's all connected.

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And how the themes go from one chapter to another. There's no chapter break there. What the author wants us to do is understand what true faithfulness, what holding fast in faith unwavering looks like.

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We might find out what it means to need to be unwavering at some point in our lives.

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And verses, chapter 10, verse 32, through the end of that faith chapter, that's gonna give us example after example of exactly what that looks like and what it looks like in our world.

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So we will start looking at that next week, let's pray. Father, your mercy to us is great and your word is so clear.

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It is encouraging to us. It lifts our hearts in joy and affection to you. Your word has the power to sanctify us and to steal our hearts, to give us the courage, the unwavering faith, and the grace to obey your word in all things.

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And so we pray that you would do that work in us and that you would accomplish those good fruits in our lives so that we may glorify and honor you.

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Make us at the same time a bold and unwavering testimony to a lost, dying, corrupt, and wicked world.

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Fill our hearts with compassion for those around us who need the truth and need the gospel so that they may escape the damnation that is to come for sin.

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And also fill our hearts with affection for Christ in saving us from that sin. And we pray that you would fill our hearts with courage and the desire for obedience, that we may love you and that we may boldly testify with faith unwavering in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, all to the glory of Christ our

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Lord, in whose name we pray, amen. All right, this is for you, yeah.