 It's taking longer than usual. Yeah, okay, great. The recording has started. Maybe Aran, could you lead us in a word of prayer? Let me pray. Lord, we just want to say thank you for blessing this another new day, another new week to learn your word. Lord Father, we just want to say thank you Lord for being the penalty of sin for us. Lord, help us all to experience and understand your love, Lord Father, as we journey with your wonderful work. And Lord, help us all to so deep and richly in your word and help us in my part of your focus. Yeah, I think there's an issue with Aran's audio. So let me just go ahead and complete that prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you once again Lord for this opportunity to hear your word. We pray that Holy Spirit you will bring us revelation and strengthen us Lord in our walk with you and enable us Lord to build up and edify the body of Christ. We give you thanks and praise. We commit ourselves Lord every single person in this class and myself as well Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, thank you Aran. Thank you for leading and yeah, I understood something probably went wrong in your connection. So that's fine. Yeah, no issues. So before I get into this morning's class, just want to know if you're if y'all can hear me well without any disturbance or can you hear additional sound? That's just my voice. Okay, wonderful. Yeah, clear. Okay, great. No, because right outside my home, there's a lot of noise, some festivals, so they have music which they have put. So I did not want that also to, you know, get into this call. Anyway, I'm happy that it's fine. So we were in Hebrews chapter 10 and we saw how the Lord Jesus was the fulfillment of whatever we have seen in the old covenant practices. We saw how the Lord Jesus is the high priest forever in the true tabernacle in heaven and that he himself has become our perfect sacrifice which was made once for all. So it gave us great clarity on what it is that the Lord Jesus has done through his redemptive work. So that is where we work. And in this passage, we also saw how we can enter into the presence of God boldly because our sins, because Jesus has made, like he has paid up for our sins, that is one thing. But also we see that he does not remember our sins. So God doesn't remember our sins because of the perfect work that the Lord Jesus has done and which is why through the mercy of God, through the forgiveness of God and the grace of God, we can enter God's presence boldly and by the blood of Jesus. And we talked a little bit about the blood and what it has done for us that now we can experience, we can experience the blessings of a new kingdom and which is why we are also encouraged to draw near to God and it says with full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. We saw how we have been cleansed on the inside by the work of the Holy Spirit and also our bodies. An act of washing as far as believers in Christ are concerned, we know that water baptism is what we talk about. So for the Jews, there were many practices, many washing ceremonies that they needed to engage in but obviously here because it's being addressed to the believers, the context is water baptism. So in this way, we recognize that we now have access to God and we can enter his presence in a freeway and therefore the believers are being encouraged to not give up on their faith, to keep holding on and we saw how there is an encouragement to serve one another, love one another because what happens during periods of discouragement, disappointment, we tend to avoid community. We prefer to sort of, you know, just value in our own thoughts and in our own, you know, like we just want to be alone. But then we see how there is an importance in coming together as God's people and one is being encouraged through that fellowship and the other is to encourage one another. So verse 26 we'll pick up from there because we didn't look in detail from verse 26, so we'll see from there. So here the writer is talking about those who sin willfully. Now obviously sin itself is an act of our will most of the time, maybe by ignorance, sometimes we could commit sin but in general we give into our flesh and we know what we are doing. So sin itself is an act of our will. However, you know, once we have sinned we know that the work of the Holy Spirit is such that he calls us to repentance. In John 16 we see that he convicts us of righteousness of what? Righteousness. Let me just quickly look at a judgment. Okay, sorry, I digressed over there. Oh yeah, sin, righteousness and judgment. Okay. Yeah, John 16 and 8 it says sin, righteousness and the coming judgment. So that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Then what is this willfully sin? When we receive that conviction, the sincere believer who wants to preserve his relationship with God and who wants to increase in his walk with God, what will such a believer do? When conviction happens, what are we supposed to do? Anyone? Let's say we've done something against God and the Holy Spirit is like you feel that pricking in your heart. So what are we supposed to do? Confess and repent conviction. Yes, very good. Very good Thomas. So confess and repent. That is the normal Christian life. We need to do whatever it takes to preserve our relationship with God. But when you say a person is willfully sinning, it means that even after the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the person is not yielding to it, no repentance. Okay, but continue to sin. And we have seen when we talked about the mind and how Satan attacks our mind, we said that if a believer will renew their mind and they will walk in God's ways, then that influence can be broken. But when the influence is not broken, it moves further into oppression, then it goes to the higher level where it becomes a stronghold in that person's life. So sin as Ephesians 4.27 it says, it really makes us open the door or give the devil a foothold. It's like Satan has a small entry in our backyard and that's enough for him to pounce on the entire house. So a person who is willfully sinning is that kind of a person. Who is totally unrepentant. Now, what does the Bible say about such a person? It is said that they have received the knowledge of the truth, but there is no longer a sacrifice for sins. Jesus has paid the price, but what's happening is it's as if that is not applicable anymore because repeatedly the person is engaging in sinful habits and we are warned and told for such a person there will be a fearful expectation of judgment. Even now when we look forward to judgment as believers, we have a sense of awe and reverence. Finally, God is going to look into our life and assess whether we, first of all, whether we have accepted Christ. Yes, we have. And then now that we have accepted Christ, thank God, we will be taken into the presence of God into heaven, but God will still see our works and based on that, the rewards in heaven are kept for us. So it's in a way sort of a joyful expectation which we have as believers, but a believer himself or herself who is willfully sinning will have a fearful expectation of God's anger and judgment coming in a sort of a condemning way. Not because God has done it to the believer, but if you recall going back to our passage in Hebrews 6 where a believer has rejected, they have rejected the cleansing work of the blood, they have rejected the sacrifice of cheeses, they have rejected the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit so on and so forth. So the willfully sinning believer has to face the consequences and we are told that they will have this fear of God's judgment. It is like looking forward to an angry teacher or an angry parent. They told you not to do something and you've done it. So how do you face them? So that kind of a thing. And so we have to be really careful and also you see that we are told that believers who live their lives like this, it is as if they are making the work of Christ at least. It's like the value of that work. In their eyes it's diminished and therefore the power of what has been done is not coming into their lives. So you see such strong words he's using. He's saying, taught worthy who has trampled the Son of God under foot. It's like that as if this believer has walked on or disrespected Jesus being crucified on the cross and counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing. But again, no value to the blood of Jesus and we are also told that such a person it's as if they have insulted the spirit of grace. So it's really a warning similar to Acts chapter, Hebrews chapter 6. Then we are told that we need to remember while we talk about God's nature being a nature of grace and love and mercy and peace, he at the same time is also a God of justice and righteousness. So how can God shut his eyes and say that everything is correct? We will never do that. And so the believer is being warned of this kind of lifestyle and told that the Lord will judge his people and to also remember that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God or in other words as I told earlier somebody who is disobeying a child that is disobeying the teacher or a parent and let's say they've got lot of grace, lot of opportunities and still they have done the same thing which the teacher said don't do it. It's scary, isn't it? So in the same manner it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We would never want to be found in that situation. That is a warning for us. So we continue to see here verse 32 onwards that the believers they are now being encouraged that you endured a great struggle with sufferings partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations. So they've been through a lot of challenges because they have been through these things he is encouraging them that you have something better coming up. You also have a reward in heaven. So this is like an encouragement to all believers when we go through so many tribulations you know sometimes we wonder what is the value of what I'm going through. God can you not give me a way of escape? You see just by virtue of the fact that we are on the earth we are not immune to difficulties trials tribulations and more so persecutions. So when we go through these things one thing is under our control and that is our attitude. We can have a good attitude simply because you know is it a good thing to be afflicted by a trouble? No it's not nobody wants it but if at all I'm going through it you know I can know that if I go through it righteously then I have a possession inheritance for myself in heaven. God will reward me according to that and not just that we will study the book of James. When we study that book we will understand that externally something valuable will be our possession but at the same time our character will also be built up when we go through difficulties in a righteous way. So for a struggling believer here is the if you want to summarize what the writer of the Hebrews is saying he's saying y'all are going through a challenging time don't get so discouraged that you let go of your faith because if you let go of your faith remember you have to face God and everything that he did you're making it look worthless so don't let go of your faith. On the other hand he's encouraging them we saw even when he spoke about falling away in Hebrews 6 nicely he covered up with an encouragement and he said but your labor is not in vain so even now he's saying it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and then he goes into encouraging he said you've been through a lot of things but remember that you will get something from God for your faithfulness and verse 35 again he encourages them he says don't cast away your confidence which has great reward so our faith and our confidence in God will fetch us his blessings and his reward so we must not let go so now he introduces a term and we will look at this term a little more in Hebrews chapter 12 he says you need endurance okay what is endurance? Endurance is the capacity to bear up under pressure okay now if we take up let's say a 400 meters sprint usually people who are participating in 100 meters will quite easily finish it okay one round it's over great but somebody who's doing a 400 or an 800 or a cross country when you are going into a longer race initially you have that excitement that you want to win it and you will make it so it's somewhat easier but once that excitement is gone there comes the test there comes the pressure what pressures physical tiredness exhaustion also mental stress will I make it will I not make it will I get the price will I not get the price so you know all those things internal acts and lots of pressures are there when there is pressure you're still in the race that is called as endurance it's getting tougher and tougher but you know you're there you're there you're bearing that you're going forward you're going forward you go so it's as if the people who can endure through that rough patch are the ones who will actually make it and they will fulfill God's plan for the life so that's what he's saying just because you're going through a rough patch now don't give up you need endurance okay because after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise so God is faithful he will give you the promise so he continues to encourage them and he reminds them that you know it's just a little while and God has promised that he will come he was promised he will come he will not delay and that the just shall live by faith so we have to continue forward living by faith don't get discouraged and also remember that God is not pleased with those who give up so God doesn't you know give up on the faith so he says anyone who draws back draws back is you just give up on your faith God is not pleased with that kind of an attitude but again you know he it's it's very nice it's showing a very pastoral side of the writer because he wants he is strict you know it's like giving a nice beating but then you know telling the child okay okay you know I did it because you're what you did is not correct and you can I know that you can do well so kind of encouraging and you know the ultimate goal is encouragement the ultimate goal is to make sure that the child learns good behavior and you know child becomes a good citizen and a good human being so in the same manner with this writer here and there he he unleashes you know his his his hangar but not not in a sense that okay you are like this you are not good enough not in that manner but that you seem to be tending towards discouragement how can you do that don't be discouraged because you know God is not pleased if you draw back if you fall away it's very it's impossible for people like that to come back okay so all that he just adds it there and gives them the very real picture of this is the reality be warned but soon after he comes back you know in a soothing way and says but I know that you we we will speak of better things about you know why should we why should we even think that you will draw back or that you will fall away you will not fall away I'm sure so even now he is concluding here by saying but we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul meaning you will not fall away I know that you're going to do well and you're going to come out victorious so that is the encouragement okay so now we will move on to the very famous chapter not just in the book of Hebrews but also in the Bible itself you could say Hebrews 11 this is a passage that talks about faith so before I move into that I just want to ask all of us because we know different people in the word of God can you all there are five people on the call right now so can you all just tell me who is your example of faith it can be anybody from the Bible okay who is your example of faith okay Aaron says Abraham okay it's Paul for Siddharth Abraham for Canon and for Dave it is Moses so can any one of you tell me why this whoever you have chosen is is your favorite person of faith you're all on the call right yes ma'am okay okay so anyone anyone if you could share why you consider this particular individual I'd like to talk about Noah yes many examples are there in Hebrews 11 but some people get their attention because when Noah God asked to build an ark and in in those times no rain at all the water should the earth but Noah I don't know how he believed God and he was believed in the ark but that kind of faith that's the obedience of his faith taken from him yeah thank you thank you Thomas that's so true you know when you've not seen something to believe that that is going to happen then it's not easy isn't it so different ones a few for many such reasons you know that each of these people believed God for something something that was not easy so for that you have chosen these names come in ads so thank you Thomas thank you for sharing and come in says Abraham because of Abraham's obedience before God okay so that is the reason he has chosen Abraham so let's get into this passage here that talks about many many people of God both men and women and we shall understand why each of them has been included in this passage okay so yeah let's just get started yeah so it begins by saying that now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen okay so we begin with a definition of faith you could say now this faith has been lived out by many people in scripture already but we are given an opportunity to understand what is faith what is the meaning of faith so faith is a spiritual substance because it is spiritual um you know it is something you could you could I mean I'm just using the word like you have it internally okay now faith is to do with things in our lives and we are told that it is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen so certain things let's let's say let's call these things as I'm just using you know maybe the promises of God there are certain promises of God which we know are going to take place we hope for them and in our spirit we have faith or we have the substance the spiritual substance remember we have the spiritual substance inside or a knowing or a surety inside that this is going to take place you're hoping that this is going to take place and the evidence of things not seen it is a surety that things are going to take place another very good way of understanding this is the in the amplified you know it says faith is the title deed title deed is let's say you're going to make a large purchase it could be a land or it could be a very big equipment okay when you go to pick up something like that generally what people do is they will ask for a down payment and once you know you've made that you have discussed and the papers are signed they will give you a title deed which shows that that particular place belongs to you okay now you don't have that you have still not stepped into the land but is that land yours yes that product has still not that equipment has still not reached your house but is that yours yes because you can show a paper or you know title deed and say that I already have it now people might question where is it you're just showing a paper where is it where is it I can't see any land or equipment title deed that's what faith is so in our spirit there's a title deed of things hoped for the promises of God you know the the rewards of God things that we hope for and we know about the biblical hope that it is not the English hope because again if you go back to the Greek here you would get a sense that the hope which is being spoken of here it it is sure it is a sure thing but the hope in English the interpretation of that word is more like I hope it rains today if it rains it's okay if it doesn't rain it's okay you know but there is a surety as far as um the the promises of God are concerned so that is faith we don't see it right now but we know that God is at work and it will happen so that is faith you know what is faith faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen and we are told that by this the elders obtained a good testimony in this passage you'll see so many different names why are they all here they have a good testimony we have something to learn something godly to learn from their lives because they were all people who carried the substance in their lives and notice it's told by faith we understand and it's talking about the creation of the world that the world was framed by the word of God now again we might have this question sounds very blind to me where is logic you know where is science where is evidence that by faith the words were uh by faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word of God how can God's word form the world it is through faith that one understand so uh I would like to put it this way we don't we don't um know how to explain many things you know at at some point in time but we believe by faith because I you know we know that God is alive and we know that faith is is um a reality so we believe God first because obviously he's the creator and he's the one who knows the science behind everything else and the evidence or the logical scientific evidence to that could catch up later or maybe there are things that we may never get the explanation for but we believe God because we know that he is true and his word is true um and you see here it says by faith we understand how can you understand faith people take it as blind if there is faith don't talk about understanding not necessarily you know there is a spiritual understanding no which God gives us through faith it does not mean that it is illogical or that you know it is blind we can definitely say that we are unable to explain at this point in time but the spiritual faith that we are talking about it's a real thing it's a real substance and uh by faith we understand now moving on we'll start talking about the uh names of different people at any point if you have questions you can always stop me and ask me okay so we just discussed faith now about able to able in the bible you don't read about him more than once he's a brother of um k and son of adam and eve and uh he came to offer to the lord a sacrifice now god accepted able sacrifice but not canes it's only once he sacrificed and look at this he has been included as a man of faith because you know what was the difference between the sacrifice of uh able and k people think that k brought to god vegetables maybe that's why god was not happy and you know able gave me but no one act in the life of a man is precious in the sight of god because you see here that able offered by faith okay so when we do something for god it could be a small act of faith maybe you you you give to the lord or you give to other brothers and sisters in christ or you went to encourage somebody they're going through a rough patch you went to encourage them or you know your pastor asked you to come and share god's word you went and shared god's word or anything anything you see here that able he offered a sacrifice to god one action but why did it become so excellent that god did not forget it he included it in the bible it was more excellent than k because there was one ingredient in it and that is faith so whatever we do if we do it with faith god accepts it god is pleased by it and you see here that able is called as a righteous man just like abraham abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness or accounted to him as righteousness so what able did he also did it by faith he believed and therefore he was counted as righteous and god testifying of his gifts or a sacrifice and we see though he be dead still speaks okay now um sometimes we would look at the lives of some people who are probably dead and gone now but when you see what they have done for god or by faith those actions they still glorify god they still speak that you know god is great and god is good that's a blessed life we all can also be encouraged to do that that we live our lives in such a way that every action let it be an action of faith and let it still speak when we are gone you know maybe some of us you leave behind you know till today we sing some songs isn't it the people who wrote the songs are no longer there but those songs it still speaks faith in god people have written books it still speaks people have built up ministries people have you know built up buildings where where god's work is continuing medical places where god's work is continuing so many things so i'm talking about some of the big things maybe some small things even like when i think about my grandmother she was a believer in god and she used to tell us stories she's gone now but her life has made such an impact her act of faith those were the early seeds of faith you know in in my lives in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters so every act of faith it's not about big or small it's about whether there is faith in it or not and that is the example of abel he's mentioned once in the bible but you see that he's included in uh he was 11 because of the faith with which he did that one action of offering a sacrifice to god now coming to enok enok what is special about enok what is special about enok anyone familiar what happened to enok okay dev says he did not die that's true so we are told that he was taken away because of his faith so he did not see death that's unusual that's unusual because we just saw in he bruised nine that it is appointed for man to die once but there is a person like enok who did not taste death okay um and how could that happen because of the faith which he carried and we are told that without faith it is impossible to please him all the people who have pleased god have done it by faith now if i um live my life without faith and my actions have no faith uh i cannot expect you know god to be pleased by my life and uh so let us come to the lord with faith let us believe um that god is the one who he claims to be and that god is also a rewarder and sometimes no we tend to be very self-righteous where we say that god i will believe you and i know that uh you know i will go through a lot of difficulty because i i will believe you but i know there'll be no um a reward there's only diff struggles because i've chosen to trust in god but look at verse six here he bruised 11 6 it says that he who comes to god must believe first of all it is it is impossible to please without faith it is impossible to please god he who comes to god must believe that he is and that he is a reward of those who diligently seek him so god is a rewarder so when we live our lives and we do our acts of faith remember that god is faithful maybe right now we are not seeing the results don't get worried about it but surely god will bless us surely you know things will uh uh take place by gods you know blessing on our lives so that faith we have to maintain and that is what keeps us uh running that is what keeps us doing the work of god okay uh and particularly in the tough times so keep that faith i've come into know what was so beautiful about know us know us faith you know as um thomas pointed out noah believed that there is going to be a flood and he built an ark um and we're told that he was warned divinely warned of things not yet seen which is the flood see noah could have rejected this warning but know us faith is like the faith which james speaks about faith without action is dead but if you say you have faith then show me your action no one knew that what god was saying was true and so if a flood is coming then with godly fear he was moved with godly fear prepared an ark for the saving of his household and one more thing remember we said that these were the shadows uh it's very interesting you can also go back and read but be careful that you don't over interpret you know um some people read between the lines and they come up with some new new interpretation which does not have scriptures backing them up but then uh if you would say that know us ark it's like the lord jesus christ what is unfolding before us you know it's a corrupt world with sin and um destruction is unfolding and we know as we tend towards the end times there will be much more destruction but what did god do in the midst of that he forewarned us that these things are going to happen and he sent the lord jesus christ for the saving of mankind so jesus is like that ark when we are saved no we um uh we are protected in that ark okay so just a way of understanding uh what what is told in the old testament and how you know the lord jesus can be seen even in those passages so noah believed god and we are told that through his faith he even condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness of god so that is the testimony of noah he was a man of faith now going to um abraham abraham uh obeyed when he was called to go out to a place where he would receive an inheritance so we know about the life of abraham um that it really it really required faith for someone to step out when you don't have the final destination in mind how many of us we have traveled without knowing where we are going anybody have you prepared for two or three days packed your bags um and uh you know just left home if your family members asked you or friends asked you where are you going your answer would be i don't know anybody have we done that no we have never done that but in the case of abraham god told him go to a place that i'm going to show you and abraham packed his bags and he went where don't know it takes faith to trust god like that and no wonder abraham is known as the father of faith so he went you know following after god and he had no clue where god was leading him and you know he dwelt it is said in foreign country with his sons isaac and jacob because they all lived in tents they were all trying to find that land of promise okay so look at this it's the faith of a man but it is also the faith of his descendants so faith of many generations what are they all believing god has promised my father that he is going to give us an inheritance so what is happening abraham is moving towards that abraham is dead and gone isaac is moving towards that jacob is also searching towards that and we know that the children of israel moses later led them into the land of canaan but no there were generations who were living in tents and they were moving towards the promise they were moving towards the promise all right so let's do one thing let's take a break we've run out of time we'll come back and complete this chapter we'll meet at 10 o'clock okay so let's break for now thank you