STAMINA TO GO ON

STAMINA TO GO ON
Heb 10:26-39
"…do not throw away your confidence…." (v.35).

THE READERS OF HEBREWS HAVE gone through trials for their faith. They have been publicly exposed to insult and persecution. They have been forcibly deprived of their properties and possessions (vv.33-34). Nevertheless, they stood their ground.

But past triumphs is no guarantee for future victories. For some reason, the author fears for his readers lest some may give in under pressure and lose their stand. He warns them in the sternest of terms. To wilfully reject God after knowing the truth is to trample the Son of God under foot (v.29). We shudder when we think of the Roman soldiers nailing Jesus to the cross. Yet our Lord prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23.34).

But we know. And what we do is worse, flinging the Lord to the ground and walking all over Him. That is why deliberate, habitual sinning (v.26) is so heinous a thing before God. We despise the blood of Jesus shed for us. We insult the Holy Spirit. We cannot but deserve the full force of God's judgement.

As the author closes this warning section, he seems to breathe a sigh of relief. "But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed." (v.39). It becomes clear that he is only putting forward a hypothetical case to pre-empt any presumption or complacency. John Calvin explains, "Warnings and admonitions are the very means which God employs to secure the final salvation of His people; and to conclude from such warnings that they may finally fall away, is by no means a legitimate argument."

We praise God that our salvation is in His hands, safe and secure. We have a confidence that is unshakeable. But we must never allow ourselves to abuse that confidence, to take for granted God's grace, or to exploit it in wilful sinning. To do so is in fact to throw away that confidence.

How we need such a warning today! When the crisis of persecution is past, when the initial thrill of knowing the Lord has faded, when life settles into a routine, we easily lapse. Like the cross-country run, the most difficult part is the middle. That is when the starting burst of energy is consumed, and the finishing line is still a distance off. We are tempted to give up. May God give us the stamina to persevere till the end (v.35).

Am I still in the race?