THEME FOR LESSONS

For this series of Bible Lessons we are greatly inspired with the subject of faith in the great Almighty God and how it worked in various men and women in Bible history.  These wonderful accounts have been preserved for the benefit and inspiration for us to help us to attain to this vitally important way of heart and life.  We pray that the Spirit of God will bless this series of Bible Lessons for the good and encouragement of all who partake of them.      —Bro. Leslie Busbee

HOLDING FAST THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

Hebrews 10:19  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
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.
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.
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;  but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

MEMORY VERSE:  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.   Hebrews 10: 38, 39

CENTRAL THOUGHT:  God desires and wills for us as His mortal creation to be fully persuaded of Him and all of His works and believe and fully trust in Him for our eternal salvation and victory over sin and death.

WORD DEFINITIONS

Hebrews 10:19,  “boldness”:  Strong confidence.  “holiest”:  The very presence of God.
Verse 20,  “through the veil”:  In the Old Testament this was the veil that in the tabernacle hung between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, which was a type of Christ’s body that He offered for our sins, enabling us to enter into the fellowship and presence of God.
Verse 22,  “our bodies washed with pure water”:  Our hearts and lives
made clean through obedience to the pure Word of God.
Verse 34,  “enduring substance”:  Everlasting possessions.
Verse 38.  “faith”:  Trust and firm confidence; firm persuasion and conviction of God and Christ and full belief and reliance in them.  “draw back”:  To turn away from believing and obeying God’s command and will.
“perdition”:  Eternal damnation.
Hebrews 11:1,  “substance”:  Confidence and assurance.  “evidence”:  Strong proof and conviction.
Verse 2,  “elders”:  Those of ancient times including those mentioned in this chapter.  “obtained a good report”: Testified a good witness for God.
Verse 3,  “framed”:  designed  completely and brought forth.  “things which are seen”:  The visible, material, and earthly realm.  “not made of things which do appear”:  Brought forth by the eternal and invisible Word of God.

LESSON BACKGROUND

We begin our study of faith from the writings of what is generally believed to be that of the apostle Paul.  We start with what the writer was encouraging the Christians of his day concerning their experience with the Lord in this New Testament age.  By having faith and obedience to Jesus and His teachings, we enter into the Holy of Holies, into the very presence of God and our Saviour.  We enter the realm of confidence, trust, and firm persuasion of the eternal treasures of life everlasting in the world to come. We cease from living to the flesh and the vanities of this mortal state and lay hold of confidence and trust in eternal values that Christ through His risen life and presence at the right hand of God has made available for us.  This is the faith and persuasion that is presented to mankind through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verses 37 and 38 are quotes from Habakkuk 2:3, 4.  It reads somewhat differently but basically is the same:  Verse 4 reads: “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”  The terms “lifted up” and “drawing back” are the same essence. Being lifted up is pride and drawing back is unbelief. These are the basis of people’s rejection of God’s truth in His Word.  And let us notice verse 3 that shows how the heavens and the earth were designed and brought into being by the Word of God.  This is the basis of faith.  Believing that the world and all things therein were the creation of God Almighty is an important basis of the faith we must have if we make any worthy progress

in being men and women of true and unfailing faith.

In Hebrews 11 we begin the wonderful history of several who were great testimonies and examples of faith in God.  We have the definition of faith clearly expressed along with the example expressed in God’s wonderful creation of the worlds, the heavens, and earth.  This shows that the material earthly realm along with the beautiful heavens were made of invisible sources, the Almighty Word of the Almighty God!         —Bro. Leslie Busbee

QUESTIONS:

  1. What must we have to draw near to God and Jesus Christ?
  2. What assurance and confidence can we have in this grace?
  3. What causes a person to draw back and cast confidence away?
  4. Why can we draw near with a true heart in full assurance?
  5. What is seen in Creation that assures us of the reality of God?

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

One of the greatest testimonies of the greatness and goodness and reality of an Almighty God and Creator is to look around us and behold His great works.  It surely is as stated in Psalm 19:1-4:  “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.  Day unto day (day after day) uttereth speech, and night unto night [night after night] sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.”  Paul quotes from this speaking of the gospel in Romans 10:17, 18: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”  So we see that all creation is a vivid testimony and declaration of the reality and truth of an All-wise, All-loving, and Never-failing God and Creator.  And this also helps to assure us concerning the Almighty God and His faithful and gracious Son, Jesus Christ.  The same God that brought Jesus into the world and worked in Him with all the miracles and healings brought to pass is the God who created the beautiful world that is evident day after day.  Having faith in God is no problem when one opens his eyes to what is before him.  I marvel as I look at the grasses and many things that can be grown in the soil, along with the beautiful trees.  It is a splendorous testimony of the reality of God Almighty, and is an incentive to help us to believe the gospel that is proclaimed concerning Jesus Christ and His great salvation!          —Bro. Leslie Busbee 

REFLECTIONS

The Race

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face, my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race. A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well, excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell. They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place. Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son, and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire, to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.  One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd, was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”  But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip, the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.  Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace, and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.  As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.  Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face, which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”  He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,  and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.  So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win, his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.  He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace. “I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”

But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”  So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last. “If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”  Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten… but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.  Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye. “There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?  I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.” But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all, for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.  Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place! You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”  So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit, and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.  So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been, still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.

Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again. Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place, head high and proud and happy—no falling, no disgrace.  But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place, the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.  And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud, you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.  And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”

“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face, the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.  For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all. And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.  And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face, another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”                            — Author Unknown