Gary Gleans

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.     By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.     For he was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.     By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.     Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. We often think of faith as being something mystical and all about “spiritual” things.  The reality is that faith is about normal everyday “stuff” like where we live and our family. ...

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.     By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.     And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.     By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. The three heroes of the faith highlighted in this passage are all said to have been commended by God.  This must be the true purpos...

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.     For by it the people of old received their commendation.     By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Faith is the means by which we are saved from our sins.  It is also the way that we are able to walk in our Christian life in a way that is pleasing to God.  This chapter will provide numerous examples of faith along with the challenges and rewards of the faithful.  This introduction to the chapter helps us understand the faith that will be the subject of this chapter.   THE DEFINITION OF FAITH: There are two words here that provide a clear understanding of what faith is: assurance and conviction.  Those who have faith must, by definition also have hope.  God has made many promises about how He is going to redee...

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.     For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.     Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.     For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.     For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”     But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Endurance...

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.     Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.     How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?     For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”     It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This is one of those passages that absolutely MUST be understood in context of the argument of the entire book.  An isolated reading of this passage can cause one to...