Thursday, 20th January 2022
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-3 The Definition of Faith
In this chapter, we not only see faith, but also the love and trust of the Father. In the Garden of Eden, God created everything for Adam to enjoy, even for the one tree that Adam was not allowed to touch, God did not put a barrier around it because He trusted Adam. Even when God created the laws and the Ten Commandments for the Israelites, He did it to protect them from sinning and out of His love and trust for them. But for the Israelites, all they saw was the rules, limitations, and restrictions, they did not see the good intentions of God and of their authority. The life of the Israelites was not right, they were unable to face God and receive the love from God. they requested to listen to Moses only instead of seeing God face to face.
We are also like this, we do not see God’s good intentions for us behind all the rules and restrictions, we focus on what we want and what we don’t have; and we did not see the even better plan God has for us. So how can we access this treasure God has instore for us? We must have the key to unlock the secrets. V1-2 ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.’ The substance is also the essence of what we desire in our hearts, it gives us motivation to strive forward. Without this faith, we are unable to press on and to endure.
V3 ‘By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.’ We don’t know what will happen next, the recent volcanic eruption of Tonga gives us a wake-up call; no one foresaw it and no on predicted it; we must believe that the end times are near, whatever God said in the Bible is coming true. We must have this faith, then God will give us the strength to face what’s ahead. When we are willing to humble, to obey, to deny ourselves and to benefit others, then God will provide us more than enough. Do not compare with other people, because comparing will only bring worries and burdens.
We must have our own testimonies; we don’t need to share other people’s testimonies because God has already allowed us to experience Him enough to share. But what is our faith? Do we have the faith to believe and the faith to share? When we learn to always give thanks to God, we will see more and more of God’s miracles in our lives. When we don’t have a thankful heart, we will think that everything we have is by our own hands, we cannot trust God, we cannot feel loved by God.
Section Two V4-38 The Testimonies of Faith
All the testimonies and all the stories motivate us to press on and not give up.
Section Three V39-40 The Fruits of Faith
Jesus taught us the lesson of waiting, but we don’t like to wait, we want to see fruits, we want to know the end result and we want our problems to be solved straight away. Even Jesus Christ Himself is still waiting for the timing to come back to the world. V39-40 ‘And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.’
希伯来书 11 – 唯独信心
2022年1月20日 星期四
潘锡安牧师
希伯来书不仅讲到信心，我们也从信心看到天父对我们的爱和信任。神创造天地万物时，对人唯一的提醒就是伊甸园中的分辨善恶树上的果子不可吃，但其他事情都可以做。神对亚当有爱和信任，所以没有围住分辨善恶树。我们看律法，常常看到很多不可以做的事，却没有看到，在这些“不可”之外，我们被神信任，可以有自由做其他事。律法的颁发不是让我们死，而是体现出神对我们的爱和信任。每天早上从晨祷中得到亮光、在教会中被权柄要求，我们可能会觉得很受限制，因为我们对我们的权柄没有爱和信任。我们听不懂神的话，不明白神和我们权柄的心跳，就像以色列人当初不明白神，就没办法直视从山上下来被神的荣光充满的摩西。当我们生命不对的时候，我们就无法对神有爱有信任。一条又新又活的路摆在我们面前，就好像一台高级的法拉利或特斯拉车放在眼前，我们要有钥匙才能开动，唯有信心才能让我们走在这条又新又活的路上。
一、v.1-3 信心的定义
V1 “实底”就是“精髓”，是最重要的东西，从”能力” “之下”而来（substance = stand under）。若没有信心就无法完成“所望之事”，我们所盼望的事情就只是昙花一现。这里的“所望之事”不是指在地上的物质祝福，而是永生、天国、永不毁坏的盼望。在疫情严重的时代，人们盼望的是不会被确诊，但我们的盼望不会这么小，因为这个世界终究是要过去的。我们常常会被世界或者我们的老我挑战，质疑神的话语，若我们不相信神说的话，不相信审判会来，我们就需要悔改，不要因为现在没有什么事发生就抱着侥幸的态度。我们看不见，因为没有信心，没有信心就没有能力为所盼望的事情摆上。“确据”就是证据 – 神已经给了我们圣经，他每一天都在跟我们说话，我们是否愿意遵行，是否愿意谦卑舍己？在这个末世，我们是否看的还是银行的存款、我们的房子和自己拥有的东西？当我们看见别人有我们想要却没有的东西，我们会给自己带来很多压力、担忧。当我们单纯凭信心走进神的命定，虽然可能会经历辛苦，但神不会让我们羞愧，他会亲自为我们做事。
V2-3 我们对神的信心的凭据不是世界上发生什么超自然的神迹奇事，而是神的话 – 我们已经有圣经了。我们是否认真读圣经，还是觉得很难懂就放在一旁？我们是否在神的话语上花功夫，靠着圣灵来领受神话语？我们所能看见的并不是人手能够造的。我们是否能够每天找到10件事情来感恩神? 如果找不到，说明我们觉得所见之物都是人的努力造出来的，看不到神所做的工，所以没有信心去花时间读经祷告寻求神。
二、v.4-38 信心的见证
这一段讲的就是“古人”所留给我们“在这信上得了美好的证据”的一系列事迹，激发我们对神话语的信心。
三、v.39-40 信心的果效
前一章的经文提醒我们“等候”的功课（来10:13）。连主耶稣基督都在等候父神让他再来的时刻，但我们想要马上看到果效，因此不想等。本章所列出来的“古人”“因信得了美好的证据，却仍未得着所应许的”。只有在耶稣再来的时候，这些人才与我们一起领受神给我们的应许。当我们还在自己的软弱当中，我们要看的是什么呢？是否只想让神或人马上解决自己的问题？我们是否愿意借着祷告、禁食来靠主得力，还是在软弱跌倒的时候责怪神的话语没有办法帮助自己？神和我们的权柄对我们有爱有信任，不会逼着我们遵守神的教导，我们是否愿意对神有爱有信任，愿意等候？让我们在这个黑暗的时刻，为神作光作盐。