In Ezekiel 16, we see God’s compassion and mercy for us . God took us, cleansed us and washed us with His Precious blood and clothed us, we became the children of God. He clothed us with robe of His righteousness. God loves us and it is a great privilege for us to be called God’s children. Now what’s next?
Hebrews 10:38,39, ‘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 to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Hebrew believers. They went through problems, trials, difficulties and sufferings. ‘But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,’ ‘For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.’
Holy Spirit is encouraging them, in V35, ‘ 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 was promised.’ And also, in v39, ‘but we are not of those who shrink back to destruction’. God is also encouraging us, with these words. In the midst of our trials, temptations, problems and sufferings, which are common in a believer’s life, we will have to face them but the Holy Spirit is encouraging us, all these things which we go through, should not make us shrink back because God Himself is saying that ‘My righteous one shall live by faith’. This is what God is expecting, from us and encouraging us, to keep faith in Him throughout our lives.
John 16:33, ‘“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”’In this world, we will have the troubles, trials and sufferings and this is the reality, but takes courage, we can overcome the world.
1 John 5:4, ‘For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Our ‘living faith will lead us to the victory in overcoming the world. Without Faith we cannot please the Lord. The righteous shall live by faith. We live, not by sight but by faith.
Matthew 6:34, ‘So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
We can see two types of believers here.
- Those who shrink back – once they were on the path of righteousness and they were going on the path of the narrow way, but later they turned back and they shrank back and chose a broad way, that leads them to destruction.
- V39,’Those who have faith and are saved and having salvation from the power of sin’ and pressing on to perfection. They have chosen the narrow way and that path is leading them to life.
Matthew 7:13, 14, ‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it’. ‘For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.’
God says, ‘ BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.’
This is God’s will for us. God is encouraging us to be in the path of righteousness and going in the narrow path and by Faith we can be overcomers. Never get side-tracked from our Faith. Always press on to perfection. We are growing spiritually when we are running in this race in the way of narrow path. There are many things coming up in our lives to slow us down, when we are running in this race, trying to distract our focus. Many things will try to influence us.
Hebrews 12:1, ‘Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,’In NLT translation we see, let us lay aside, every weight and every sin, that so easily trips us up. Our burdens, anxiousness, anxiety, worries, every worldly thing that we care – these things are slowing us down in our Christian journey. Let us run this race by fixing our eyes on Jesus. ‘2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’
We see the words of faith from Caleb, which is very encouraging in Joshua 14:10 -11 ,’Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.’The Holy Spirit says here, Caleb says my strength is same today at 85 years, just as he was strong at 45 years, for war and for going out and coming in –‘going out to defeat and coming back in victory. V12 ‘I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken’.The secret of his boldness is in v14, ‘because he followed the Lord God of Israel fully’. Caleb was whole-heartedly following the Lord. He was in close connection with the Lord. That gave him the strength to overcome and he was confessing the words of faith in God who has spoken.
Numbers 13:30, ‘30Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”’We see his words of faith, ‘we will surely overcome it’. We should also like Caleb, should speak the words of faith always in our life. By His power, we can overcome all the problems. We should not be like the other ten spies, who are talking words of unbelief’. V31, ‘31But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”’
Habakkuk 2:4, ‘4“Behold, as for the proud one,His soul is not right within him;But the righteous will live by his faith’.We see Habakkuk also went through problems in his life, he was declaring his words of faith in 3:17-19, ‘17Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, 18Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places’.
Habakkuk says, ‘I will praise God, whatever happens in my life because nothing can shrink me back or will get me side-tracked from having the closeness of the Lord. This must be our desire, when we face any difficulties or trials. v19, is very encouraging, ‘The Lord God is my strength and God makes me walk on my high places’. We see the new covenant spirit here, where he is always pressing on to perfection. He is climbing to reach the top of the mountain. God is strengthening us, to reach the top of the mountain, that is to perfection, where we are conformed into the likeness of Lord Jesus Christ. That faith we need to have. Our real faith should always lead us to be conformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
We see the old testament, men of faith, listed in Hebrews 11 – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham are all commended for their faith. In New covenant, God wants our faith to result in ‘conforming into the image of Jesus Christ’. Hebrews 11:39, ‘39And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.’ God has kept something better for us. They did not receive what was promised.
Galatians 3:14, ‘14in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith’. By faith, we need to receive all the promises God had promised. 11Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 12However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”
Jesus became a curse for us, this curse became a real blessing for us through Abraham’s blessing and it is the new covenant life of Jesus, which is imparted to us and we have to manifest His life, through our life because God has blessed us, with all His spiritual blessing, so we must receive all His spiritual blessings through faith.
Ephesians 1:3, ‘3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,’
The real faith, is not having faith in receiving material blessings or in prosperity. Real blessings always leads to be conformed to the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the new covenant life and it is the way of the cross. Let us have this living faith, let us have this hope, speaking the words of faith.
Romans 8:4, ‘so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.’ This is the requirement, ‘do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit’. This is God’s will for us and He is encouraging us, ‘My righteous one shall live by faith’. As in Luke 17, Let us come to God and ask ‘Lord, increase my faith’. God will help us and strengthen us to reach the top of the mountain (press on to perfection) by overcoming the giants rules in our lives. May God bless us .
