Foundational Faith-1

FOUNDATIONAL FAITH-I—Hebrews 10:39-11:3

Attention:

As a kid, I lived in a newly developing neighborhood. There were new houses being built all the time. I spent a good deal of time searching thru newly framed houses pretending they were forts or some such. But every house was built with a particularly strong foundation. The foundations were all of differing configurations but each of them were a minimum depth & width. The mold/hole/trench was leveled & then plumbed at 90˚ angles from the bottom in order for the cement to harden with the greatest downward strength to support the house above. They would pour the cement, set the anchor bolts, & wait a certain number of days before attaching the base of the frame.

I used to try to envision what the house might look like which would sit on such a foundation.

The foundation enabled some very foundational things to take place above it regarding the house’s integrity.

In like manner, the foundation of your faith enables foundational spiritual realities to occur in your life in Christ.

Need:

The writer’s audience was told of the substance/nature of biblical saving faith.

Christians must be reminded of the foundational nature of biblical saving faith.

Why is such faith foundational/essential?

4 abilities/acquisitions making faith foundational.

1—Foundational Faith enables...

A Foundational DISTINCTION(:39)

Explanation:(10:39)

10:39—“But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”

“But”(rather)=In contrast to previous statement(:38) of those who draw back.

“We”= The writer includes himself with his readers.

The writer ensures his audience that he & they are “of those” who do not “draw”/shrink back. To “draw back” now is to undergo certain “perdition”/destruction eternally.

The “faith”(:1) which the writer is concerned with is a particular “faith.” It is a faith which is accountable for preserving/possessing/saving the very “soul” of a person. How then can a person be certain of the state of his/her “soul”?...By the state of their faith!

The writer(at least) is of the same ilk as those who have a peculiar quality to their faith which results in the preservation of the “soul” instead of its destruction.

*A sharp contrast is drawn here between “Drawing back” & “Believing.”

This tells us that there exists a faith which does NOT have the same result! It instead brings one to “perdition/destruction.”

*Thus there are two kinds of faith which have very different results!

1)There is saving faith in Christ alone for salvation.

2)There is a non-saving faith which causes one to “draw back” from Christ...so that ‘salvation’ is found in any & everything else.

The “soul” is the very essence of who I am. This is why my soul can be separated from my flesh(clothing) at death, yet I am still me in heaven even aside from my flesh! This is also why I can be ‘clothed’ in heavenly garments as it were.

Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living & powerful, & sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul & spirit, & of joints & marrow, & is a discerner of the thoughts & intents of the heart.”

2Cor. 5:1-9—“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body & to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

1Cor. 15:42-44, 50-54—“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, & there is a spiritual body.”.....“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh & blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, & the dead will be raised incorruptible, & we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, & this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, & this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.””