Rebecca Watson, an internet blogger made famous for her religious skepticism and atheism, said, “I once was a born-again Christian…but I’m not any more.” Every once in a while I a comment accusing me of being a liar, saying it’s impossible for me to once have been a “real” Christian and now to be an atheist. Of course, the people who SAY THAT didn’t know me as a Christian.
Here’s my story: I was 9 years old.  “Jesus loved us”, the pastor said, “and gave his life freely to save us from sin and hell. Wouldn’t anyone like to accept Jesus tonight, this holy night of Jesus’ birth? If you would, get up out of your seat and come down to the altar, and pray with me now.”  I didn’t get up. I sat quietly in my seat as a few adults walked up to the front of the church to be saved. But when Pastor had the new converts repeat the sinner’s prayer, I closed my eyes and said the words silently in my heart.
About twenty years later, I stopped believing that Jesus was raised from the dead. But I still believed it emotionally.  I still felt like the stories were true. So I kept telling people that I was a Christian, and by doing so, I was “confessing with my mouth.”  But eventually my feelings caught up with my thinking.  Soon I no longer believed with my head or with my heart.  It was a startling thing even to me that I could no longer honestly call myself a Christian.
I know I can explain this until I’m blue in the face, and few Christians will understand or believe me. They’ll say my heart is hard or I’m not spiritually open. (but) I no longer need to believe in a supernatural God, a virgin-born savior, a resurrected Lord to validate my journey or to give meaning to my life. Everything that happened to me when I was a Christian was real. My born-again experience was as serious, life-changing, numinous, and yes, real, as that of any person on this earth. <<It just wasn’t caused by God. ((not supernatural)) It was caused by my own thoughts and emotions and by the communal ecstasy in evangelical Christian church services.>> ((Memerized))
This breaks my heart… but this woman… in deliberate and calculated fashion… believes now that Jesus is a joke.  Mental suicide.  His death and resurrection means nothing to her anymore.  It didn’t DO anything… it didn’t MEAN anything… it isn’t NECESSARY for anything in this life or there hereafter (if there is one).  She’s rejected Jesus’ offer of forgiveness… she’s rejected the Holy Spirit’s pleading to turn around… and she knows better… And it breaks my heart!
Last week we learned… it is a “dreadful thing to fall into the hand of the Living God.” God retains the right to make all things right …someday… and for the one who has spurned Christ… to fall into the hands of the Living God… with no offering for sin… is a TERRIBLE THING!  … … …That’s why… If you know someone who is teetering on the edge of walking away… … if you see a person flirt with the sin of rejecting Christ knowledgeably… … you do ANYTHING IN YOUR POWER to say, “Don’t DO THIS!”
Well that’s not us…  At least that’s not what the writer thinks… On the other end of the spectrum are those who believe!  What do THEY look like?  Well they’re those who respond in faith!
I think most people in the rough and tumble of life… when the opposition is STRONGEST and FIERCEST and most COSTLY… … THAT when most people’s faith COMES THROUGH in spades!  When it’s RIGHT in your FACE… you STAND UP in its face and God gives you strength and you… take your stand!  …the problem was (for them and for us) in the LOooong intervening years … …the opposition took the form of a low grade fever… that sapped them of energy and passion… it grew HARDER to PERSEVERE.  And so he TELLS them to REMEMBER… to ponder past expressions of faith… and remind themselves of what they REALLY… …DEEPLY… BELIEVE!
In v. 32-34 he paints a picture of their faith, describing it in 3 actions and 3 convictions, by turning to a page in their past.  32Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, (they received the light just the same as the shrinkers did in v. 26… only… the shrinkers didn’t respond at all… these people DID!  Notice their faith in action!) when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. (They, literally, “bore up under pressure”) Apparently believing in Christ invited trouble from other people.  The NAS calls it a “great contest” or a “great conflict of suffering”.  ESV says “a hard struggle with sufferings”.  The word “contest” you read in the NIV is “athlesis”.  It’s the word from which we get “athletics”.  And the whole point… is that sometimes being a Christian isn’t EASY.  Sometimes it’s like a FIGHT!  Sometimes you BELIEVE… and you immediately run into opposition!
Q: “Well, in the game of faith… this “contest”… what happened?” 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; They withstood being mocked… and shamed!  They were insulted!  They were verbally mistreated!  “Oh, Yeah!  You Christians!”  In fact, did you know that the early use of the word “Christian” was a derogatory term?  It was a stabbing label for those who believed in Jesus!  They’d say “Oh!  There’s one of those ‘little Jesus’!’ …one of those ‘little Christ’s’  ‘…a Christ…ian!’”  It wasn’t something nice!  It wasn’t something that you felt GOOD ABOUT.  It was a derisive term used to ridicule followers of Jesus!  “Oh! Little Christ!  There goes a Little Christ!” … … …you find out what you really believe when people say unfair and unkind things… ABOUT YOU or TO YOU… because of what you believe!  Doesn’t feel good…  Nobody likes it at all… but THEY ENDURED… the SOCIAL PRESSURE of being WALKED OVER and MOCKED… because they believed!  And THEY said… “Well, I guess say what you want… I’ll TRY not to take it personally… but He IS the Lord!”
And that’s not all they endured… at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. Not only did they continue to believe even when laughed at and mistreated… THEY ACTUALLY stood up for those people who were BEING MISTREATED!  When they weren’t being TARGETED… and saw somebody who WAS… THEY WOULD IDENTIFY with them!  They’d say, “You going to say that and do this to THEM… well, you’re going to have to say it to me too, because I believe in Jesus too!  He’s my Savior too!”  Boy!  That’d ratchet up the tension wouldn’t it?
They also took heat from the government… by accepting the risk of being associated… 34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted wait a minute!  Don’t go too fast over that comment.  You “sympathized with those in prison” what’s the big deal there!  This is not talking about a prison ministry where people go and visit inmates to help them in their correctional program.  …the prisoners… are people who WERE SO… because they were CHRISTIANS!!!  IN OUR prison system you get a bed, a blanket, three square meals a day, recreation, cable TV, time to work out and a library… THEN… you didn’t EAT WELL (if at all)…  you didn’t get clean clothes… or bedding… nothing was provided… you lived in a dungeon… and you rotted… unless someone cared enough to help meet your basic needs… ONLY… in THIS CASE… any person who DARED TRY… would endanger themselves… by ASSOCIATION… and then they, themselves were then TARGETED!  …They did it anyway!  “If we’re targeted, we’re targeted!” (The gov. said, “This is EASY!”)
And also… they lost their property and possessions… and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, about a dozen years before this was written the emperor, Claudius, expelled all Jews and Christians from that city.  They were told to “Leave immediately!”  During this time they were forced to vacate their homes… other people just ransacked and squatted whatever was left behind.  I know this must sound crazy to you but it would be the same as if the government came in and said, “Okay, all of you who go to Impact Church and other Christian Churches in the community… YOU’RE the HEADACHES making life difficult… we want you GONE by Friday!  You’ve got till Friday!  You’re OUT!  If you’re not gone… if you’re STILL HERE… you’ll spend the rest of your life rotting in a dungeon… or we kill you!  Whatever doesn’t matter to us… you have a 5 day head start… go!”
So what’d they do?  THEY LEFT!!!  And when they came back… they didn’t HAVE ANYTHING left!  And how did they respond?  Were they bitter?  Were they frustrated?  Did they get ANGRY?  Did they say, “THAT STUPID CLAUDIUS!  That RIDICULOUS GOVERNMENT!”  No!  What did they do?  It says they joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, WHAT? It wasn’t because they DIDN’T HAVE any property… It wasn’t that they DIDN’T CARE about their property… it was because of a DEEPER CONVICTION and a very WIDE ANGLED view of life!  WHY IN THE WORLD would they let that happen… JOYFULLY? The answer is… because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. Here’s the first conviction, THEY LOST STUFF JOYFULLY BECAUSE THEY KNEW SOMETHING BETTER!  Joyful hope trumped temporary loss and risk.  They had a DEAD-SET belief… THIS LIFE isn’t all there is!  And to GRIP about losing ANYTHING in THIS LIFE… is to short-sell what we know is COMING by a LONGSHOT!  They believed Jesus… when he said… “You know if you ever want to invest in anything… invest in… eternity!  In forever!”  And at THAT POINT… even when you sustain LOSSES… you’re FINE!  Even JOYFUL!!!
Well, what else can we learn about these believers?  Well they stood their ground under duress.  And they express, now, a present confidence in Christ!  35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. That doesn’t mean they have a spiritual swagger… this confidence… or boldness… is what he talked about in v. 19-24.  19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, … …23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  … That’s the point.  I can approach God freely and confidently with no fear and a CLEAN CONSCIENCE.  Why?  Because I’m good?  No.  Because I don’t sin?  No.  Because I’m SO committed as a Christian?  No.  It’s because JESUS DIED… FOR ME!  And holding firm to that faith… in the face of severe opposition… …WE demonstrate… a supernatural CONFIDENCE!
He’s telling us to hold on to confidence!  Every so often someone comes to me troubled about their own sin because they REPEATEDLY screw up or they’ve done huge stupid things…  And they wonder, you know, “Am I saved?  I’m just a mess.  I’ve done wrong THINGS.”  I’ll tell them, “Okay, don’t be spiritually sluggish!  Don’t DO stupid and foolish and sinful things!  …BUT DON’T THING YOU ARE NOT FORGIVEN!!!!  You are FORGIVEN… and you’ve been given a NEW LIFE… It’s not what YOU HAVE DONE… or what you PROMISE to do…  IT’S WHAT JESUS DID… and what we SAY to our sin is:  “I’m so glad… I have a Savior!” (repeat)  We ought to say that to ourselves… a thousand times a day.
And he’s saying not only “Remember it…!  He’s saying… and don’t chuck it when times get hard, either!”  You’ll notice he doesn’t SAY… “don’t throw away your confidence, and things will bet better!”  THAT “RICH REWARD”… happens after you die!  So when times get HARD… Christianity turns to a FIGHT… He’s just saying, “Well that means it’s just time to decide WHAT YOU BELIEVE!  And HOW MUCH YOU BELIEVE IT!  Cause to the faithful… chucking confidence… and pulling the rip-cord on Christianity… ISN’T AN OPTION!  And here’s why… … …
People of faith possess a rock-solid stability… believing in Christ’s coming and waiting for His promises.  When faith takes deep root, one of the base expressions …is to look at more than the past… we look also to the FUTURE!  36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God,  To trust in Jesus… confidently in Christ… daily as best as we know how… you will receive what he has promised. (that’s a focus on the future) The problem with all promises is that there is always an intervening time.  A PROMISE is a DEAL… where I make you WAIT… for your end to pay off… and you have to have FAITH… that I’ll make good on my PROMISE… AND THAT’S WHAT THESE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED… WERE DOING!!!  And here’s what they were believing… 37(GOD SAYS), “He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38But my righteous one[f] will live by faith. 37For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38But my righteous one[f] will live by faith. In framing God’s time table… the writer reveals the wide angled perspective we Christians are supposed to have… how broad a picture… to which our hope is fixed… IT’S BEEN 2000 YEARS… … and it doesn’t call it, “a while” … it doesn’t even call the past 2 millennia “a little while”… … the writer says WHAT’S COMING… WHAT OUR HEARTS MUST REMAIN FIXED ON… THAT GOD WILL MAKE GOOD ON HIS PROMISES TO US… “in a VERY… LITTLE… WHILE!”  It’s funny what word he uses… the word is “micron”… it’s the smallest conceivable measurement unit… in modern science… it represents .0000039” <<SNAP>> ?!?!2000 YEARS!!?!? THAT’S VERY LITTLE WHILE!?!?! ON WHO’SE TIME SCALE?!?!  GOD’S TIME SCALE!
As their faith was coming under fire… the writer reminds them… that EARLY ON… THEIR FAITH… HELD STRONG… they WAITED… and BELIEVED… they DIDN’T SWERVE… even if it GOT WORSE!!!!!   They TRUSTED… that God would make GOOD on His promises… SOMEDAY!  Even though letting go made PERFECT SENSE to some… INSTEAD they BELIEVED BOLDLY… and made DECISIONS… in light of WHAT GOD HAD GONE ON RECORD AND PROMISED THEM!!!!  AND IT WAS A DEMONSTRATION OF UNBLELIEVABLE FAITH!!!
For FAITH to show up in your life… you are going to need to TRUST HIM… that He’ll fulfill His promises!  (“micron”)
The whole point of this passage is not that “some people just fall away…” “or it’s good to not quit” but that “when genuine faith… SHOWS UP… it LOOKS LIKE perseverance!”  It’s not about persisting in Bible study… or not missing church… (though that would be nice if more than half of our people came half the time)… it’s not about persisting in your diet and exercise program though that’s a very good thing to do… or your persisting in prayers when most of us are only compulsory… get this… PERSISTENCE… PERSEVERANCE… and ENDURANCE… is not the point!  FAITH is the point!  And when genuine faith in Christ SURFACES… it LOOKS LIKE endurance.  “WHY… IS THIS PERSON… NOT BACKING DOWN… OR GIVING UP… OR GOING AWAY??”  It’s impressive intestinal fortitude… sheer willpower… uncanny human perseverance…  No… It’s because… He REALLY believes something!  … … … … Something happened powerfully in his PAST… where God touched them in a way where they can never be the same… and it’s working itself out in the PRESENT… and has given them unshakable resolve for the FUTURE!  He REALLY BELIEVES!  That persons faith… … is so distinctive!!!!!!!!!
Faith behaves kid of like love… kind of like this… … … “I love my wife… I’ll stay with her always…” Those are nice words… … … when she buries me… … … and cries because she has lost her best friend… you can believe the words.
Here are some other words, “Jesus… is the only way to God… He’s my Savior… His death paid my guilt COMPLETELY… He died for ME… I’m FORGIVEN… He SUSTAINS me by His hand… He’s coming again to bring me to a better place…” Those are nice words too… and when I hold to those words… till I die or it kills me… you can believe those words too.
People… Jesus is raising believers… who are able to say… “I would die today for my faith.”
“But (you) are of those who believe and are saved.” (O how I want God to say that of me).

1. You Blogged!!!

   and the layout is almost readable

   Comment by Vince — January 22, 2009 @ 5:25 pm

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