Bible Discussion Thread

(Hebrews Part 24a):

Hebrews 10:36 - For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

For ye have need of patience. Wow! This is one I'd like to cut out and paste on my refrigerator! He's saying you have need of patience. The word patience in the Greek text (HUPOMONE) means to endure, to remain under. Every one of us has what is called a short term and a long term in relation to situations in life.

We see it in the book of Job. Job did great in the short term, even in the midst of some terrible suffering. He lost his family members. He lost some of his possessions. He even lost his health. But he continued to praise the Lord. He would not speak against God.

But then as his health problems continued to linger on, and three of his so-called friends showed up, when they arrived, Job was looking so terrible in his health that they just sat there for an entire week just staring at him and not saying anything. But as time went on, and as the three friends began to share their philosophies and try to figure out what Job did wrong to make him suffer so, even Job began to waiver.

The first thing a trial and tribulation does for us is teach us how to endure the short term. Our greatest need is to endure the long term. The word persecution in Greek (DIOKO) means to chase, to pursue. That's what Satan does to God's people. He does not capture them. He chases them.

And the difference is that Satan chases, and when we're going along strong, he can't do anything about it. He can't catch up with us. But once we begin to weaken, get discouraged, he wants us to slow down, not so that he can capture us because he can't.

(Hebrews Part 25b):

Hebrews 11:1 Continued:

But I can't get away from it. It's a conviction. I can stand before you right now and make the announcement that I am denouncing the Lord and His word, and I'm finished. But I will never be able to get away from Him (Christ), never! I have never been able to get away from it, and I will not now! My beliefs are based on the conviction of God's Spirit that lives in me. That's faith. It's not my faith. My human faith waivers.

But when I look down deep, there's something there that is a stabilizing force that is the basis of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen, spiritual things, spiritual truth.

I have shared in the past that the word faith means persuasion. the word faith in Greek is PISTIS. It is from the word PEITHO which means to persuade. If you're into the study of the Greek culture or Greek mythology, you know that PEITHOS was the goddess of persuasion. But PEITHO is the root word for the word faith. The verb form of PISTIS is the word that means to believe.

People hear the word faith, and they go in all different direction as to what faith is. But faith is PISTIS. And it means persuasion. Also, there are two kinds of faith because there are two sources of faith. One is human, and one is from God as a source. And remember that every time we say faith, we are making reference to persuasion.

(Hebrews Part 25a):

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

That is not a definition. The only definition is found in the meaning of the word itself. In the Greek text, this is a description of what faith does. The description of faith is two things: The substance, or basis of things hoped for, and the evidence, more literally conviction, of things not seen.

Now if I take this description of what faith does, and its definition of persuasion that faith is the basis of things hoped for, why do I have hope for the coming of Christ? Why do I have a living hope that one day when I die, I'm going to go to heaven? Either it's something that I am persuading myself to believe, which means there's a possibility that someday someone will persuade me not to believe, or, my hope is based upon, which the next phrase says, the conviction of things not seen. It's a conviction. That's a persuasion!

There are times when we as human beings doubt what the bible says. Have you ever had those moments when you look over at the bible and you think "It's just a book?" I mean you open it up and it has ink words in it. It didn't fall down from heaven, somebody printed it. How do I know that it's not just our western culture religious book? Other religions have their book, so what's the big deal?

(Hebrews Part 24b):

Hebrews 10:36 Continued:

We have to understand that Satan does what he does in our lives to bring us to a point of discouragement so that we voluntarily, in our own decision making, say I quit, I've had it, I been going through this for so long. The need is for endurance. And the book of James teaches us how God develops in us a faith to endure the long term.

So, whatever you and I might be going through today, and in fact, you might think that your life is going along pretty well, but just know that Satan is there just like an ice pick on that big cube of ice just chipping away, little by little. He wears us down.

So, it's not so much being satisfied today that we have trusted the Lord and have done pretty well, but realize that Satan has an entire method or system of attacks. That's what Paul says in Ephesians Chapter 6 about the wiles of the devil, which is the word METHODEA, and is where we get our word methods from.

It could be that the first five or ten trials that come to your life by Satan are just setting you up. It doesn't have anything to do with the real knockout punch that Satan wants to give. He'll wear us down just like a boxer with his jab, punching, punching, punching, so he can land the knockout punch.

So, remember this, that Satan's desire is to wear us down so that we quit, and we don't want to follow the Lord and trust the Lord anymore, because it's just "too hard." You have need of endurance, he says, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.