FAITH THAT OVERCOMES

uh hebrews chapter 11 today we are concluding this section and um i could have spent a lot more time on this but it seems to me wise to follow what he is doing here um where he sort of snapshots now and catalogs and captures a whole bunch of names at once obviously not wanting to go through all their stories but have the us to think about them briefly and then think about the main point of what he's been driving through this this he's been emphasizing in this entire chapter so i'm going to read at verse 30 to the end of the chapter and then next week we come to a great passage looking to jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross we'll be able to come there for the lord's supper this is the word of the lord by faith verse 30 the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days by faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies and what more shall I say for time would fail me to tell of Gideon Barak Samson Jephthah of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, putting foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two they were killed with the sword they went about in skins of sheep and goats destitute afflicted mistreated of whom the world was not worthy wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth and all these though commended through their faith did not receive what was promised since God has provided something better for us that apart from us they should not be made perfect. And there we'll end the reading of God's Word. Well, we conclude today our great treatment of Hebrews chapter 11 as we have spent a lot of time in this particular chapter um for me at least it was well worth it i hope it was for you what a wonderful section uh to study and to slow down and see what the author has been doing and teaching us i thought it's important to sort of um end where we began for a moment with that crucial question of what is faith what is faith uh you remember hebrews 11 1 as we work through it and a bit of a paraphrase here but as we we spend our time with this now faith is the reality the substance or reality of what is hoped for and the strong conviction of what is not seen strong conviction of what i have not seen yet what the author has been doing is is showing how how faith is tied to hope very important how faith is tied to hope the hope of the heavenly inheritance which has been the driving theme in this chapter of what abraham looked for the city that has foundations whose builder and maker is god in this way what he has been intending to do throughout this chapter is to show us how faith is lived out through various hardships in this life especially the worst of hardships that we might ever have to endure and that is persecution that would be considered the worst thing that we would have to go through it would be persecution and something that all of us recoiled even think about because we haven't faced it to the what we just read of people sawn in two that makes you stop doesn't it they were sawn in two i think it's important to say up front here what we've not been considering is faith as the instrument of justification that that's a distinction i i think we need to think carefully about just for a moment when we speak of faith in relation to justification how we are right with god what do we say about faith faith trusts faith rests faith receives that's really important for all the problems in our day where justification has been tampered with and the doctrine of faith alone has been wrecked by building into it works into the very definition and nature of justifying faith we've had that problem and we have dealt with but what we have been looking at in hebrews 11 is something different it really is faith in the life of sanctification if you could put it that way and that's important to make that distinction what the author has wanted to show us is is that a life of faith as paul says in in some of the epistles the walk of faith which is clearly talking about sanctification the walk of faith the life of faith brings certain blessings to us in hardship and that there is real power given to us in hardship it's not that whatever god has for you it's not that whatever god has specifically appointed for you to face in this life you're on your own now after having been justified by faith in your own strength to get through this and to figure this out that is not what the whole point of hebrews 11 is the whole point of hebrews 11 is the exact opposite what the author is saying to us is that there's power given to us by faith this is how vosk your heart is vosk said it so helpfully years ago there's another power which enters into the believer's life to offset, notice this, the power of persecution. There's another power that enters the believer's life that is given to offset the power of persecution. This power, he says, comes to us through faith. And that's what I've been trying to capture here as we've worked through this. This is really encouraging to us. Some of you will say, how did these people ever get through it? I have thought about bringing it. I have an old 1583 Fox's Book of Martyrs, and the thing is this big and this wide. It's seven inches thick, I think. And you've seen the little abridged version that's maybe 50 pages. This thing was over 2,000 pages tracing, as John Fox did from the beginning of the early church to the time of the Reformation, about 1550s when he captured it up to, 2,000 pages of persecutions. And you even have these woodcuts of William Tyndale there on the fire, being burned to death, who translated your Bibles for you on the fire saying, Lord, have mercy in the caption. Well, it's just a really amazing book. You can come, boys and girls, you can come see me in my study and I'll show it to you. They didn't get through that on their own. they welcomed it they didn't get through that on their own and they welcomed it and that's the point of hebrews today that as we look to christ he gives you power in whatever the appointed challenge is and that's how all these saints got through the difficulties and hardships of life and that's why i want to end today on that note the blessing of god's power that is given to us to overcome as these hardships and trials and testings. He wants to encourage you to live by faith and to not think that if you're not going through the big things like that, that your life doesn't matter. It does. To live by faith in whatever He's called you to. All of it's important to him he's going to see you through to the end to trust him so believe him and have strong conviction in christ faith in christ even though you don't see everything put under his feet yet hebrews 2 now that's where we are today he closes this by presenting to us a variety of old testament examples as if to say this is the pathway god has for you notice how contrary this all is to the health and wealth gospel and entertainment model of ministry that comes in gives you an artificial sense everything's great they're lying to you there may be real suffering given for your life that's appointed by god health and wealth message doesn't work with that and i say that to a people who have who are put together today to remember this so this is where he closes out and it's a really simple outline that what he's simply saying is all these saints if i could run this in a little story here all these saints live by faith that you know of in the scripture before in every circumstance they live by faith so you do the same because god's got something better for you it's a really wonderful message if you think about it the main point being this great encouragement application and surprise that comes at the very end of hebrews chapter 11 and it's a big surprise so last time we concluded our reflections in the life of moses now he moves quickly through a bunch of examples to set the point in stone for us that all these saints in all their hardships learn to live by faith the walk of faith to walk by faith we begin in verse 30 by faith you'll notice what it says the walls of jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days by faith rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given friendly welcome to the spies you know we have just gone through joshua so i'm not spending a lot of time on this this would have merited a whole sermon had i not gone through joshua so um but remember the heart of joshua what was the lord telling them the whole time as they faced all the enemies be strong be courageous for the lord your god is with you wheresoever you go well the entire previous generation had refused to walk by faith and and what a tragic outcome i I mean, what's your alternative? It is to not walk by faith and to not live by faith and to deny the Lord and then perish in the wilderness. But what a remarkable outcome of Joshua. They walked by faith and they walked up to the first city, this mighty city of Jericho. Boys and girls, a city that was mighty and way too strong for them and had glorious walls all the way up. and he said march around that city seven times remember and then on the seventh time you blow the trumpet and you all shout and by faith they believed and those walls came tumbling down and Rahab the harlot Rahab the whore Rahab the prostitute didn't perish either by faith that was the shock of the narrative when we went through it God chose a little prostitute. See, faith takes down all distinctions. Faith takes down all barriers of people, of all different kinds of people, all different ethnicities, all different classification of sinners that we have. She believed and she was justified by faith and she hid the spies she's commended for that act of deceiving the king by faith she did this she walked by faith and she said i know and my family remember the scarlet cord was tied that was tied back to the exodus and the painting of blood on the doorpost the scarlet cord was tied to her window so that when the destroyers came in they saw it and they spared her i know me and my family that the lord is god and that there is no other god in heaven and earth except him faith faith the author at this point can hardly seem to contain himself like pastor gordon can't really right now what more shall i say time would fail me you know if time would fail him it should probably fail me too if i tried to do all this right time would fail me to tell of gideon and barak and samson and jephtheth and also david and samuel and the prophets i wouldn't have the time to begin to today to go through all these stories and show you how they all live by faith well i guess we could make this point for hours but hopefully by now how many sermons have we done through Hebrews 11 do you get the point have I done my job I hope so think of the list of names mentioned here Gideon the mighty army of the Midianites had come against him and and remember what happened what did the Lord do they all summoned up the greatest warriors and they all wanted to go fight and the Lord said no you take some men down to the river and those who lap like dogs they're my warriors so you take 300 of them with unconventional weapons who drink like dogs from a river and you give them torches and you give them lanterns and you give them trumpets and you tell them to go stand around and you tell them to blow and break when i say and you watch what happens and sure enough they all killed themselves by faith they did that they believed but how what a crazy idea who would who would go into battle like that i was talking to a elder this week about all his plans in his church for revitalizing the church and um and uh they had a they have a music director and they have this and they have all this programs and they got you look at their list of of people doing all these things and he says we're going to give life back to this church and i said well what if god chooses 300 people who lap like dogs to do his work in other words the point was our plans for power and greatness and strength are not the lord's have we learned it yet by faith we will believe his word by faith we will live under that word and not try to manipulate him to win you see by faith he goes on barack led an attack against sisera the entire entire canaanite chariot army fell and he won samson you mean even samson got in here it seemed to me i would have never chosen him the worst of examples so many ways you know not a moral character problem with foreign women there's one shining moment after a life of rebellion his eyes were gouged out And he's placed between pillars. And the Philistines make sport of him. Bring him on in so we can mock him as they have a feast with thousands of Philistines. And they mocked him and they laughed at him. And I think this is what the author's thinking of. And Samson prayed to the Lord, Sovereign Lord, remember me. Even the prayer seemed selfish to me. hold on, please God strengthen me just one more and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my eyes. But he believed. Even as faulty as the prayer was. And he reached towards the two pillars. Think of your children, sons and daughters maybe even, who you've wondered where's the strong faith. Do you have the encouragement in this? He reached to the pillars, bracing himself against them on his right hand and on his left. Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. Then he pushed with all his might. It wasn't his strength. See, I'm talking about power given to you. It wasn't his strength. By faith, power was given, as Vos said. He pushed with all his might, meaning the Lord pushed. And down came the temple on the rulers and all the people. Thus he killed more when he died than while he lived. Seth's faith is of a mustard seed that moves pillars. Greatest moment of weakness, he executed God's righteous judgment on enemies who hated God. Jephthah, the man who made a foolish vow that cost his daughter her life, right? Won wars against the Amorites. What of David? A little shepherd boy who could take out Goliath with a few stones by faith. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine to defy the armies of the living God? That's faith. It's not arrogance, that's faith. Read the Psalms. In the worst of circumstances, he demonstrated faith. Samuel, in the most degenerate of times, God raised up a prophet. Last of the judges and a prophet to judge Israel and who unwaveringly by faith led God's people out of apostasy and the prophets. See the big picture? They lived by faith. What are we studying? Power came on them. This is Ephesians 1. What is the immeasurable? I pray for you so that you may know and receive what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and above every name that is named. So in other words, the same power that raised Christ from the dead rests upon you by faith. That's unbelievable in human terms. Same power. They were all given power to accomplish whatever the plan was that God had for them. and it's true in all of your lives. It's true in mine. You'll see today in the newsletter a little report card from Miss Kesting that we put in there when I was in fifth grade. He doesn't listen to oral directions, and he's your pastor. Power. They subdued kingdoms. They worked righteousness. They obtained promises. Verse 33, they stopped the mouths of lions. Like Daniel, right? They quenched the violence of fire like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember what they said? Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If the God whom we serve exists, then he's able to deliver us from the blazing fire. The furnace from your hand, O king. But even if he decides not to do that, let it be known to you, O king, we will not serve your gods. Faith. Faith. We will not bow down or worship the golden statue you have set up. Think of our culture right now, what they're calling you to bow down to. By faith, you can't do that. You see? They escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong. They became valiant in battle. They turned to flight armies of the alliance. The women received back their dead. Raised to life like the widow of Zarephath. And you see the encouragement in this, beloved. What we don't need are a bunch of retreatists huddled up in some corner of the country living in fear of the government. That is not what we need right now, which is what's happening. God has a will for each and every one of us. It's by faith that we overcome and God does surprising things to accomplish His will. Surprising things. Surprising. Imagine a church folded in our day of people of faith. Hasn't our problem been a people of fear? He wants to encourage us wherever He has us to trust Him. As one pastor asks, how are we to overcome great obstacles? How are we who are so weak find the strength our circumstances require? What are we to do to overcome tragedies? It's the same answer. Continue to walk and to live by faith. Whatever it is, wherever He has you, whatever is before you. I had someone say to me this week, they lost a loved one who died. Suddenly, I was so angry with God. I said things to God I shouldn't have said. Why do we respond to God that way? Is it not because we have life planned out on our terms? You think you own your life and that you come and say, Heidelberg, one, I'm not my own, But I belong, body and soul, to somebody else who purchased me. You don't own yourself. That was surrendered. And then we get discouraged when it doesn't go as we have it planned. Well, because he's planning your life. He's planned it. This is the problem with the first century Christians. The author is saying, in this life, tribulation is expected. It's appointed. But look at what's before you. By faith, they overcame. They experienced from the Lord in the midst of hardship, power from on high. And the surprise of it was that God's power rested upon them. And if it was his will. Now listen to this. This is the shocking encouragement of this. Kingdoms were overturned this way. Lions mouths were stopped this way. When some were thrown into the fire, only the ropes burned off them this way. It's His will and purpose that's playing out. But it's through the things that turn and twist and turn that His will will be made evident in the worst of circumstances as we live by faith. That changes how we look at everything, you know. How much distress has come upon us in recent years? How much worry? I'm just as guilty of this as anyone else. How much fret? How much fear? How much resentment? How much anger? How much all of it? What's it accomplished for us? What has any of that accomplished for you except bitterness? He's going to warn about Esau in the next chapter. A root of bitterness overcame the man. What does it do for you? Well, what some have done with it is take it and deny Jesus. And that was the problem in the book of Hebrews. That's what precipitated its writing. Then you've lost everything. What has all of our fear and worry and fret caused? What has our sleepless nights caused us? Health problems, facilitating deadness in our walks. When he's encouraging you, I'm with you. Look at the encouragement here. By faith, righteousness was worked. By faith, promises were strengthened in the hearts of people. On and on and on. Okay, Pastor, that all sounds dandy and fine. Thanks for that. But I'm not sure, you know, anything good comes out of what I've faced. Tell me, what good has come out of it? I've seen nothing come out of some of these sufferings in me. And then the author turns. And he comes to the worst of circumstances. Think of the worst kind of things that could come upon you. Go ahead. Look at what faith and the power of God did for them. Verse 35. Others were tortured. some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. That's probably speaking of the Maccabean martyrs who were tortured and murdered. Seven brothers at once. They were scalped, mutilated, tongues torn out and burnt. And in that moment, they could have got out of it, but they said, nope. We don't even want deliverance because we got a better resurrection that's power they did they couldn't do that on their own but faith gave them real by god's grace power as voss said was given to them my point is is if the lord's on your side you have nothing to fear he continues to to go on still others had trials of mockings mockings and scourgings yes of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two you know history has it that that was the prophet isaiah by manasseh sawn in two they were slain with the sword they wandered about and sheepskins being destitute afflicted and tormented they wandered in desert deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth these are the extreme examples obviously but he's pressing us to ask the question what was given to them in these extremes it's a sobering section, isn't it? The other night we were reading this passage and we read this passage and talked about Isaiah and talked about the Maccabean martyrs and then I told my kids to get up and to go do dishes. And a fight broke out in the kitchen over dishes. And my wife came in and said, Stop it. You're not being sawn in two. Perspective, isn't it? All of them triumphed. That's his point. All of them triumphed and won the victory in what seemed like in this life a terrible end because power was given to them to be his witnesses even unto death. So that they said, what can man do to me? Christ has said, I have Christ. I have the resurrection. I have everything. Deliverance in this life was not even in their circumstances attractive to them. because they were strongly convinced of a better resurrection. Most likely, most sitting here today will not have to face this. Look at the course of your lives, you know. I remember a dear old Saint Linden who handed out the bulletins every week faithfully, was such a faithful servant in the church, and a quiet servant, and nobody would ever think was a great man in the kingdom of God. and he was faithful in that task and he was an encouragement to everyone that walked in the door. I'll never forget getting the call at 9 a.m. on Sunday. Al died in bed. Well, by faith he overcame the greatest enemy, death. A man who would be the little man that was god's plan for him that was god's purpose that's what god had for him if the lord's on your side why are you worrying faith will overcome in every circumstance and hardship as a specific calling god has for you and he throws a huge encouragement here listen the world was not worthy of them i love that the world was not worthy of them and guess what the world's not worthy of you either because you're his kid you're his children you don't belong here this is the whole point of hebrews we have don't have a continuing city here that's in the next section we belong to something better a sweeter place we're going and whatever the lord has whatever wherever he carries me i will not fear i am free it's his plan it's his purpose and the lord has promised i will never leave you nor forsake you i want to close with a surprise real quick all of these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise god having provide something better for us better something better. That's been a huge word in Hebrews. This is better. You get something better than them. You get to enjoy the covenant promises. You get to see the reality. You have Christ. You see what all the prophets longed to see. You have everything given to you by faith. For you know that Christ loved you and gave himself for you. And has said, as he will in a minute, let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content, for he himself has said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. All of these are still waiting for what? You to come in. They're all waiting for you to come in right now. They are not perfected yet in the resurrection. Their bodies have not been given to them because you're not in. the martyrs are in heaven are saying how long oh lord and the lord says just rest a little while longer until the rest of your brethren come in and that's where he ends they are not made perfect they have not achieved the resurrection yet they cannot be made perfect apart from you. They're waiting on us. That sets up the cloud of witnesses. When the Lord's going to return and bring us home. They're waiting on you and your life of faith and the appointments God has for you. So what are you worried about? Well, it's easy to say. All the fears we are called today to walk by faith. God is promising you that his power will come from on high and will rest upon you in whatever you have. So trust him. You will soon, and this just feels so far off, but it's soon, you will soon enjoy what he has said to you today. In the midst of these afflictions, eye has not seen nor heard nor entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. And so I say today, as Hebrews 11 has taught us, live and walk by faith. The Lord promises you his help, his power, and his care. He himself has said, i will never leave you nor forsake you amen heavenly father thank you for this wonderful chapter thank you for encouraging us what an appropriate chapter for our times grant us by your spirit the privilege to walk by faith in whatever you have for us what a blessing and an encouragement and we thank you today for your living powerful word that's sharper than any two-edged sword piercing right into our hearts to discern us and may lord it discern a people who live and walk by faith in jesus name amen number 476 we'll rise and sing the stanzas