11 Hebrews 11 I'm going to Lord willing finish up this chapter tonight we looked at some of those men mentioned in verse 32 We know David probably better than any of them, and Samuel, but the other ones we didn't know so well. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to bring messages on them individually. But I know this, the Hebrews to whom this book was written, they knew those men, they knew the Old Testament very well. And when in the writing of this book, this epistle to the Hebrews, they had a really, really good knowledge of the Old Testament. He couldn't write this to Corinthians. They'd be like, they'd be lost. They wouldn't know what in the world he's talking about. But in writing to the Hebrews, they could identify with these people. And he points out that These all died in faith, they lived by faith and they died in faith, not by law, not by commandments, but by faith. And the title of this message is THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF FAITH, that's what's mentioned in these following verses. You know Hebrews 11 reads like a family photo album of faith. I thought of it today when I was reading it again, it just reads like you are going through a photo album of the family. And as we look through this chapter we see generation after generation of God's people living by faith in very different circumstances, not all of them experience the same thing just like all of us don't experience the same things but the things we go through is ordained of God and we go through them by faith. So now some and we as we will go down through here and look some experience remarkable victories and others endure deep suffering and great loss and still others gave their lives because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We get a picture of all of them in this photo album of faith. Yet the scriptures tell us that all of them died in faith not having received the promises back in verse 13 which promises is plural but now later on it'll speak of the promise as singular as speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ but we'll I'll get to that but their story is not complete on its own God had purposed it says something better something better for them and us so that they would not be made perfect or complete without us. And the best example I can give you of this is that a body is not complete without all its members, and we are a part of that body, and they are a part of that body, and we all make up the Body of Christ, Old and New Testaments. And there's not enough time, you know, when he mentions these people before all this, but there's not enough time to mention ALL the men and women of faith. There's just not enough time to speak of the faith of every believer in the Old Testament. WE HAVE TOO MANY EXAMPLES GIVEN TO US IN THE OLD TESTAMENT NOT TO BE ENCOURAGED. Because he starts out in chapter 12 verse 1, Wherefore, looking back to what has been said, Wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, we have a cloud of witnesses throughout the Old Testament and we have them now throughout the New Testament that we get to look, you and I get to look back on. It says, LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT AND THE SIN WHICH DOES SO EASILY BESET US. And what is that sin that does so easily beset us? It's one sin, UNBELIEF. It's that besetting sin, UNBELIEF. LAY IT ASIDE AND LET US RUN WITH PATIENCE WITH PATIENCE! You know, for some the race may be long, and for others it may be short. Some may live in the faith five years, ten years, some may live in sixty, seventy years or more. But let us run with patience the race that God has set before us. God has set this before us. We re in a race. Christ is the goal, isn't He? Christ is the goal. Heaven's not the goal, Christ is. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Having that desire to depart and be with the Lord, He's the goal, Christ is. Let us never lose sight of that goal like Peter walking on water HE TOOK A FEW STEPS ON WATER, HE WALKED ON WATER FOR A FEW STEPS, BUT WHEN HE SAW THE WIND AND THE WAVES BEING BOISTEROUS, HE LOOKED AT THEM AND NOT CHRIST, AND HE BEGAN TO SINK. May God help us to continually look at Him when the wind and the waves are boisterous. The trials of life have come, let us look at Him. Look to Him, He's the mark. He's the mark. Now the writer here goes from individual examples to an overall survey of faith and the accomplishments that they achieved by faith. We see that faith is a way of life. It s not the exception of a few. It s the way of life of all God s children. If God has saved you, He saved me. WE WALK BY FAITH, DON'T WE? THAT JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH IN NO OTHER WAY, NO OTHER WAY. AND THIS BELONGS TO ALL OF GOD'S CHILDREN. NOW WE COME TO THIS, VERSE 33 AND 35, WE SEE HERE GREAT VICTORIES WERE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH FAITH, BELIEVING GOD. THEY CAME UP AGAINST SUCH IMPOSSIBLE ODDS, IMPOSSIBLE NUMBERS. WHO THROUGH FAITH SUBDUED KINGDOMS MUCH GREATER THAN THEMSELVES. THEY WROUGHT RIGHTEOUSNESS, OBTAINED PROMISES, AND STOPPED THE MOUTHS OF LIONS. THEY ACHIEVED NATIONAL AND MILITARY VICTORY. HOW? THROUGH FAITH. THROUGH FAITH. MOSES THROUGH FAITH CONQUERED EGYPT. Samson, David, through faith. It doesn't say through his military might. It doesn't say by his sword, by his power. He did it by faith. He believed God and acted upon it. That's what he did. Joshua, when he went in and rode out to Canaanites, he did it by faith. and they wrought righteousness, they administered justice is what they did. They administered justice on the ungodly nations and they administered justice and their civil laws and everyday life. We've been going through Exodus and reading those laws. They administered righteousness. It said wrought righteousness and they did not work out righteousness. We know that. We've been taught better than that. Jesus did that. He worked out and wrought out a righteousness for you and me. All His elect But here it's judicial. They administered justice as God told them to. They did not bear the sword in vain. And then listen, they received what God had promised, and how did they do that? They obtained promises. They did it by faith, the same way we obtain promises. We obtained them by faith, that's how we obtain promises. They overcame their own doubts and fears through faith. It says, Sarah conceived by faith she conceived. Abraham, when God gave him a promise of the seed, he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He believed God against all what looked like impossibilities. BOTH OF THEM OLD! THEIR BODIES, IT SAYS, BEING NOW DEAD, HER WOMB WAS DEAD! BUT GOD'S NOT DEAD. NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD. HE CAN MAKE LIFE, AND HE DID MAKE LIFE LIVE IN HER DEAD WOMB. HE BROUGHT IT TO LIFE. BUT THEY BELIEVED GOD. THEY BELIEVED GOD. And she conceived and bare a son. His name was Isaac. I could go on and on with these obtained promises. And it says that they overcame wild beasts. They stopped the mouths of lions. Well, we saw that in Samson, didn't we? We saw that in Samson. And David, David killed a lion with his bare hands, didn't he? He also killed a bear. And Daniel, see he's reaching back to men and situations that they were very well aware of. And he's saying these men were delivered by faith, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the same one we believe in. They were delivered believing God. Daniel was put in that lion's den and they didn't even touch him. Who shut the mouth of those lions? God did. God did. And Daniel believed he would. I have no doubt Daniel believed. I think Daniel was like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, however this goes, it's all right. It's all right. Quench the violence of fire. Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. THEY WOULD NOT BOW TO THE GOD THAT WAS MADE, AND THEY WOULD NOT BOW TO HIM. THEY WOULD NOT BOW, AND THEY WERE THROWN IN THAT FURNACE. And that king said, DID WE NOT THROW THREE MEN IN THERE, AND NOW I SEE FOUR, AND ONE IS LIKENED TO THE SON OF MAN, SON OF GOD? By faith they quenched the violence of fire. They believed God. They said whether it be so or not, I'm going to paraphrase, if God's pleased to save us, so be it. If God's not pleased to save us, so be it. We're not going to bow down to your God because when this is over, we're going to be with Him. They KNEW they were going to be with Him. They escaped the edge of the sword. David and Goliath. David is a lad, he's not very old, teenager, I won't say teenager, but he came and he faced Goliath in the name of the Lord. He knew, he believed that God would deliver that giant, that well-seasoned warrior Into his hand. And he took a sling and put a stone in it and put it right between his eyes. God did that. David believed God. He trusted God to deliver Goliath into his hand. And how about Saul? Going to kill him. He threw a javelin at him once, didn't he? He threw a javelin at him. And it missed him. I wonder how it missed him. Does he not know how to throw? God guided that. Just like that arrow, that one shot at adventure, it came right through the chink in the armor. The only chink in his armor, the arrow went right through it. Oh, if you and I could only get a hold of how minutely God is in our life. I mean, nothing can bother you. I mean, a gnat can't bother you without God's permission. That's not exaggeration. That's not exaggeration. I just would to God we could get a hold of it and live, live like we believe it. Live like we believe and out of weakness were made strong." Well, that list is huge, but that word weakness can also mean sickness, disease. And I thought of Naaman the leper. God healed him. At first you know the story, he was mad and then his servant convinced him to do it to do it and I'm not going to go through the whole story but to do it and he did and I have no doubt he did it in obedience he believed it and he came up whole as could be the leprosy was gone but that list goes on I mean that's a that's a long list and I thought about the Apostle Paul I know he's writing about the Old Testament but you and I have the advantage now of the New Testament You see, we can reach back to the New Testament believers and see what THEY went through. Paul said he was given a thorn in the flesh, and God said to him, My grace is sufficient for thee. And Paul made this statement, When I am weak, then I am strong. Out of weakness they were made strong. THAT'S WHEN WE ARE STRONGEST, THAT'S WHEN GOD USES US, WHEN WE ARE WEAK. WHEN WE ARE WEAK. WHEN I STAND IN HIS PULPIT, AND I SAY, AND I KNOW FROM MY HEART, I SAY LORD I CAN'T DO THIS. I CAN'T DO THIS. THEN HE ENABLES ME TO DO IT. HE ENABLES ME TO DO IT. trying to think of a story that Charles Charles Spurgeon told I probably wouldn't get it right so but he was thinking I was thinking of a young man that just ran up into the pulpit and preached and just fell on his face And I'm telling you what I can remember of it. And it just fell on his face. And he just came down out of the pulpit, weeping. And I think it was Spurgeon, and it may be somebody else, but I think it was Spurgeon said, if you'd went up like you came down, you'd have done a whole lot better. And you don't just jump up here. And waxed valiant in fight. These were men of courage. You know, Gideon was said to be a man of valor, yet he was afraid to go to face the army and took his servant with him, remember? Then he heard the dream. But God said they were men of valor. They were valiant in flight, men of courage. And they turned to flight the armies of the aliens, victory against overwhelming odds. God told Gideon, you got too many men. you got too many whittled him down to 300 men then sent him into battle the lord works in a way that we know the victories of god we know it's of god it's your own way it could have happened it's of god they escaped sheer death overcame physical weakness and victory against overwhelming odds through faith, through believing the Lord, resting in Him. He said so. He said so. You know, that's my confidence in salvation. My confidence of being saved is this. Lord, you said, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I call on your name. You said, He that comes to me I'll never cast out. Lord, I come to you. And without realizing it, without realizing it, that's faith. That's faith. You know what courage is? It says here, they waxed valiant, they were men of courage. Courage is facing your fears and by faith plowing through them anyway. That's courage. Courage is not people who don't have fears. It's when you have a fear and you face it, and by faith you go on through it. That's faith. And then we have here the restoration to life in verse 35. Women received their dead raised to life again. You see, faith at work In situations where death seemed final, but faith was at work. Now the widow did, these widows, the widow of Zarephath, remember Elijah raised her son? Then you had the Shunammite woman where Elisha raised her son. Those women weren't standing there saying, I believe, I believe. THEY BELIEVED AND DIDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE THEY BELIEVED. THEY JUST BELIEVED GOD. THEY BELIEVED GOD. AND ELISHA BELIEVED GOD. AND GOD RAISED THESE TWO SONS FROM THE DEAD. You see, FAITH IS NOT PASSIVE BELIEF BUT ACTIVE TRUST THAT MOVES GOD'S PEOPLE TO OBEDIENCE AND COURAGE. THAT'S WHAT FAITH IS. James said in James 2, verse 18, Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Faith is seen by conduct. It's seen in the things we do, even though we may be fearful, but we believe it's the Lord. You think it would, well I'm not going to use myself here, let's go on. Then we see here FAITH EXPRESSED in SUFFERING AND LOSS. You see, we had FAITH EXPRESSED and VICTORY WON, VICTORY WON, GREAT MILITARY VICTORIES WON AGAINST ALL ODDS with a SMALL ARMY DEFEATING GREAT ARMIES. God did it, and a lot of times they just took the armies, they went to the hill, and God did the work, I mean God did the rest of it, all they did was watch. That's really basically all it is, watch. But here's a crucial transition, and we need to get this, because some will fall into despair. I'm glad he brought this up. FAITH DOES NOT ALWAYS LEAD TO EARTHLY SUCCESS. Don't think it always leads to great success. It doesn't. It does not always end with a loved one being raised from the dead. Sometimes they go ahead and die. I saw that one. Sometimes they go ahead and die. The whole church prays I mean sincerely, and the Lord took her anyway. But they'll raise in the resurrection now. They will, all of them will raise in the resurrection. And this is why we must be careful not to judge our brethren. We've got to be careful here not to judge our brethren. I've seen believers whose lives were relatively calm. I have, I've seen, there was believers at 13th Street, there were older believers there, and all the time I was there, their lives seemed to me to be relatively calm. And then there were others who always met with hardship and trouble. It seemed like every time they turned around, it was trouble, trouble, trouble. And we had to be careful that we don't judge the one to whom trouble is happening to that there's got to be a problem. And the one who's blessed and it seems to be going along smoothly that they must be really pleasing God. No, God gave both of them their lives on this earth. He gave both of them a life in which to glorify Him. Some is going to be in trouble and some will be in riches, they'll have riches. Some will. Solomon had great riches. That's why we have to be careful not to judge our brethren because all things are of God. All things are of God. Boy, when you really start to mature and grow up in Christ, it makes a world of difference how you look at each other and deal with each other. It does. then we have the EXPERIENCE OF FAITH, HOW IT DIFFERS AMONG BELIEVERS, THOUGH THE RESULT IS THE SAME, IT'S THE SALVATION OF OUR SOULS. That's what Peter said there in 1 Peter 1, 9, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul. So whether we have a difficult time through life or an easier time through life, the end result is the same. In Christ, it is the salvation of our souls. And then look here, others refuse to compromise. In verse 35, for He has given them, wow, what He has given the Hebrews, such encouragement and just flooded them with example after example. others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Some believers chose suffering over deliverance that would require them to deny God. All they had to do was recant. NOT ACCEPTING DELIVERANCE. All you have to do is deny the Lord and I'll let you go. All you have to do is deny the Lord, deny the Lord and we'll let you off the rack. They would pull him into that rack. Just deny Him, deny the faith. John Bunyan in prison 12 years, all he had to do was recant. And we don't have that in our day yet. Who knows what's ahead? I don't know. But in that day, they were tortured, tormented, and we'll see here other things done to them. But it doesn't happen like that to us, does it? I don't know anybody that's been tortured for their faith in Christ. You see, in our day, It's a whole lot more subtle. It's a whole lot more disguised. In our day, it's conformity. Be not conformed to this world. It's so subtle. It's just some conformity. It's acceptance of our differences. We're not that different. We're not that far off. You see, that would be denying Christ. Compromise would be denying Christ. Compromising the gospel, that's denying Christ. It's just far more subtle in our day than what they dealt with. And here's the reason why they did not accept deliverance, that they might obtain a BETTER RESURRECTION, not a temporary one, as if they would be let off the rack. It would be like a temporary resurrection from pain and suffering. You see, faith values eternal glory with the Lord above temporary relief. It really does. And look at these different forms of persecution that they went through, verses 36 to 37. And others, and I know what s being said here, you Hebrews who have been thinking about LEAVING I want you to pay attention here to what happened to your forefathers in the faith, and they didn't leave. They didn't leave. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings. I think of the Apostle Paul, how he was whipped and stoned. Yea, moreover bonds and imprisonments. You know, the Holy Spirit revealed to him that bonds and imprisonments awaited him in every city. But he's speaking here of the Old Testament saint, Joseph. He was imprisoned for a few years, falsely accused. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder. They were sawed in half. These are our brothers and sisters. You have family, you have brothers and sisters. What if one of them is sawed in half? What if one of them is going to be beheaded? These are our brothers and sisters we are reading about. I'm reading to you about our family. They were tempted, they were slain with the sword. THEY WONDERED ABOUT IN SHEEPSKINS, GOATSKINS, BEING TESTITUTE, AFFLICTED, TORMENTED. And here's why, 2 Timothy 3.12, YEA, AND ALL THAT WILL LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS SHALL SUFFER PERSECUTION. He won't compromise. He won't go along to get along. YOU WILL STAND WITH THE TRUTH, AND YOU WILL SUFFER FOR IT. YOU WILL, IF YOU DO, YOU DO. When you have the opportunity to stand up instead of shut up, you?ll find out that they?re really not your friends. They?re really not your friends. But what?s the assessment of this? in verse 38, "...of whom the world was not worthy." You know the world is NOT WORTHY of YOUR PRESENCE. It's NOT WORTHY of YOUR PRESENCE. That's what He says here. MOVED by the Holy Spirit to write this. He said the WORLD is NOT WORTHY of YOUR PRESENCE. NOT WORTHY. NOT WORTHY. your neighbor who does not believe is not worthy to have you as a neighbor. That?s true. The world is declared unworthy of such believers. God?s approval stands in contrast to human condemnation. What they condemn is totally opposite of what God approves in the believer. You see, true faith is measured not by outcomes, true faith is not measured by outcomes, but by COMMITMENT TO GOD UNDER TRIALS NO MATTER THE OUTCOME. COMMIT IT TO HIM. LORD, IF IT IS YOUR WILL, GIVE ME THE GRACE TO GO THROUGH IT GRACIOUSLY. Gratitude enable me to honor you in my conduct as I go through this difficult trial help me to do it help me Because some some through faith win great victories But some don't some will they still have a victory the victory is is Christ in the end But sometimes we we got to go through it We got to go through it. But in the end, we see the unity of God's redemptive purpose in all of this. Here it's a promise, it's the Messiah, it's Christ, He hadn't come yet. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, receive not the promise that is the Lord Jesus Christ, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. All believers, all the New Testament are commended FOR THEIR FAITH. GOD RECOGNIZES FAITH. HE KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS AND HE KNOWS THEM THAT BELIEVE. YOU KNOW THE LORD SAID, WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMETH, SHALL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH? I LIKE THE ANSWER HENRY GAVE, HE WILL FIND IT WHERE HE GAVE IT. HE WILL FIND IT WHERE HE GAVE IT. And then we see God's purpose is centered in the Lord Jesus Christ ending in perfection together in glory with the Lord. This is what it's all about. It's all about us finally being in glory, the whole family of God being in glory with the Lord Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, our King, our Sacrifice, our All-in-all. We're going to be there! We see the history of redemption is undivided. Old and New Testament are one. We call it the Old and New Testament, but it's really, it's one book, isn't it? Made up of 66 books, but it's one book. One message. One salvation. One faith is called common faith. We have a common faith here, and we have a common faith with the Old Testament saints, all of them. All of God's family have a common faith and it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in Him. And Old Testament believers look to Christ who was to come and the New Testament believers look to Christ who has come. We look to Him and they look to Him. We look, you know, you take people, all the peoples ever lived on this earth and lived all over this earth EVERY ONE OF THEM HAS LOOKED TO ONE SON GOING ACROSS THE SKY. AND ALL GOD'S CHILDREN IN ALL AGES LOOK TO ONE SON, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. GOD'S PEOPLE ACROSS ALL AGES FORM ONE REDEEMED FAMILY. We're family. We're a family. And I close with this, FAITH MAY LEAD TO VICTORY OR SUFFERING. It may lead to victory or suffering, but NEVER FORSAKEN OF GOD. Never forsaken of God. GOD'S PROMISES ARE CERTAIN. ALL THE PROMISES IN HIM ARE YEA AND AMEN. Then the ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT OF FAITH IS THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL. is to be with the Lord. These are the achievements of faith of our forefathers in the faith. And he wrote this to the Hebrews and they knew full well the Old Testament. And he encouraged them, Don t go back, don t add anything to it, just keep on keeping on. YOU JUST KEEP ON MARCHING TO ZION. YOU KEEP ON LOOKING TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. YOU KEEP ON PRESSING TOWARD THE MARK OF THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS. KEEP ON! Don't you stop, don't you look back, don't you add anything to it. And He gave them a really good example. He gave them many good examples and He's given them to us also tonight. We got to look at it again tonight. These are the achievements of faith in Christ.