Well, turn with me then to that
passage in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, this is the
fourth message from this chapter 11, the faith gallery, as it's
called. And I've entitled this message,
Through Hostility, the Hostility of this World to Glory by Faith. The Hebrew Christians, to whom
I believe it was the Apostle Paul wrote this, many say not,
I don't understand why, it seems so like his writings to me, but
This was written to Hebrew believers, Jewish believers, and these Jewish
believers had a long heritage. What advantage, asks Paul in
the epistle to the Romans in chapter 3, what advantage has
the Jew? Much every way, for to them was
committed the oracles of God. The word of God went to that
people out of all of this world. All the rest just had the evidence
of creation that there is a God, but to them was committed the
oracles of God. And all these people that we
read about in the Old Testament, and these Hebrew believers, these
Jewish believers, revered the patriarchs. We've already seen
about Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
and Joseph. We've already seen, they revered
them, they revered them, and they desired to return as Christian
believers Sometime before A.D. 70, before Jerusalem was destroyed,
before the temple was destroyed, before the Levitical priesthood
was removed and the animal sacrifices were removed, as God had prophesied
it by Daniel in the Old Testament, that he would definitely do,
in A.D. 70 it came to pass, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.
You can see bits of it if you go to the Colosseum in Rome today. They desired to return to aspects
of that Old Testament religion. But those they revered, those
patriarchs that they revered, what the message is here is that
they themselves had looked by faith. What is faith? It's divine
revelation. It's revelation from God. They'd
looked by faith to that which the Hebrew Christians Christ
having come and died and risen again and accomplished redemption,
the Hebrew Christians had seen and experienced and believed
it. Those patriarchs looked by faith to the very thing that
these Hebrew Christians as New Testament Christians had, i.e. Christ fulfilling all the pictures,
because the Old Testament was pictures of redemption, and how
Christ came and fulfilled them all, and finished them all, and
accomplished the salvation for that multitude that God chose
in him before the foundation of the world, his elect. They
look forward to God's kingdom triumphant over Satan's world. They knew they lived in a fallen
world. They knew, these patriarchs knew
they lived in a fallen world, but that God's kingdom would
triumph because God has a people, a multitude that no man can number.
that God loved from eternity. He loved them from eternity.
Why? We have no idea. It's not revealed.
Why us? Why me? Is that not the question
that the believer, when you come to realize the state of the truth
of God and this world and sin and the state of everybody else,
and that you have been called out of darkness into his marvelous
light, why me? There's nothing in me. Why was
I loved by God from eternity? I don't know. But God says he
did. He chose a multitude, not everybody,
but a multitude, a multi-ethnic multitude in Christ. And he singled
each and every one of them out in time. For we were all, as
we were born, children of wrath, even as others. But in God's
good pleasure, in his time, the Holy Spirit came. and singled
out the people of God in time. He showed us divine truth. degree
upon degree, line upon line, precept upon precept. He showed
us more and more of divine truth. And he gave that gift of God,
which is not of ourselves, it is of God. He gave that gift,
which is faith, to look, to see what the natural man cannot see.
To the natural man, the things of God are foolishness, neither
can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned. But God
gives his people spiritual discernment to show us that we've been blessed
with redemption. What does that mean? Blessed
with being purchased from the condemnation that our sin deserves
in the justice of God. Blessed with redemption for Christ
has redeemed. He's paid the penalty for sin. How has he paid it? With his
own precious blood. God in Christ has paid the penalty
for the sins of his people. And he leads each and every one
of us individually on a journey of life to the attainment of
the Celestial City. That's what Bunyan called it
in Pilgrim's Progress, the celestial city, the city of God, the city
which has foundations, that Abraham looked for. Not a city of this
world, but the city which has foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. So the core of the patriarch's
faith, the core of Abraham's faith, of Isaac's, of Jacob's,
of Joseph's, was exactly the same as these Hebrew Christians
had believed when they heard the gospel. God in Christ, saving
his people from their sins. That's what they looked for.
And it was apprehended by faith. It was apprehended by that gift
of God, which is the sight of the soul, to see the things that
God has for his people. And so, it says, in the prophet
Habakkuk. The just shall live by his faith. Not the one who is just by nature,
for none is righteous, no not one, but the justified one. Justified
in the redemption accomplished by the Lamb of God slain from
the foundation of the world. The justified ones shall live
by their faith. Their life shall be lived by
faith. As exactly as Paul said in Galatians
2 verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. When he died, I died,
and therefore all of the requirements of the law of God and divine
justice against me was satisfied when I died with Christ, when
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me. Now that is a glorious assurance,
isn't it? That our God, who made all things,
who upholds all things by the word of his power, loved me from
before the beginning of time, and came in the person of his
Son, God, in the person of his Son, the God-man, to pay the
price of my sin. that I might be made meet, fitted,
qualified for eternity, for that kingdom of God. So why did these
that we read about in verses 23 down to 40 of Hebrews 11,
why did they act as they did? I'm talking about the parents
of Moses. Moses himself, Joshua, doesn't
actually name him, but it's implied in the falling of the walls of
Jericho down, Rahab, the inhabitant of Jericho, Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, and many more implied. Why did they act as they did?
Here's some reasons. God spoke to them particularly. God doesn't speak to everybody
in the same way. He speaks to people particularly. He speaks to the people of his
sovereign divine choice particularly, and he leaves the rest. That's
what the scriptures say. You say, I don't like that, it's
so unfair. You take it up with God. This is the God that we
worship. This is the true God. God has
said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And he leaves
the rest to their natural sinful self. Natural men only hear the
things of this world and of Satan, but God speaks particularly to
his people. Have you heard him speaking?
That's a sure sign that you're amongst his people. Have you
heard him speaking to you? The truth of this book? He spoke
to them of eternity. Things that the natural man doesn't
think about. Of righteousness in this evil world. Of sin and
what an offense it is to God. Of its just desert. Of death,
the soul that sins, it shall die. Of the judgment that is
certain. They heard him speak, all God's
people hear him speak by his spirit, through his word of those
things of God. And they heard him speak of salvation
from just condemnation. in a substitute, and it's just
salvation, for He is a just God and a Saviour. God Himself became
a man to accomplish it. In Romans 9 verse 5, could you
have a clearer, if there's ever any doubt in your mind, that
Christ is God? the true God then listen to this
Christ came Romans 9 verse 5 Christ came who is over all God blessed
forever when the Jehovah's Witnesses knock on your door and tell you
that Jesus is not truly God how could you not see it from that
verse Christ came who is over all God blessed forever in him
in that body dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily and he
came to redeem with his own precious blood. Whose own precious blood? Acts 20 verse 28. Paul, I keep
seeing it because it's so important. Look after the church of God,
which God purchased with his own blood. How can God, who is
spirit, purchase his church with his own blood? He became man.
He became the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God, the fullness
of the Godhead there, in a human body with real blood, precious
blood, the precious blood of a lamb without blemish and without
spot, died in the place of his people to satisfy the justice
of God. And these patriarchs saw that
afar off And they saw it in the symbols that God had given them,
the sacrificial animals which were just pictures of the reality
that God himself would come. They saw it afar off. They looked,
as I've already said, for that city which has foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. And they were, why did they act
as they did? Why did they put up with being
sawn asunder, and slain with the sword, and being destitute,
and afflicted, and tormented? Why did they do it? They were
totally persuaded of the truth of God's word. and they trusted
their souls to his care. They knew whom they had believed
and were persuaded that God was able to keep that which they
committed unto him, their immortal souls, against that day of judgment
and to save them in the things that Christ had accomplished.
And so they set their ambition. Because of what they saw, they
set their ambition on what God had revealed. concerning eternity,
concerning salvation. Look in verse 35. They received their dead to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance. Why? That they might obtain a
better resurrection. That was their ambition, that
they might obtain a better resurrection. It's appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment. We will all rise to that judgment
seat all but to be in Christ at that judgment seat. And hear
the words, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So why did they
act as they did? Their actions, their family,
their career, if you could put it that way, where they went,
where they lived, was all with an eye to the fulfillment and
obtaining of God's promises. They were living in this world,
and often with many of its material blessings and riches, all held
in an open palm, because God can give and God can take away. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away, said Job. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
All held in an open palm, but they were totally separated from
this world. They lived in it, often with
its riches, but they were totally separated from it in their hearts,
from the affection of the world, and its baubles and its riches
and Satan's kingdom. All that separated them from
their fellow men was God's sovereign choice. Not their choice. Not them being good people, choosing
God. No, you didn't choose me, said
Jesus, I chose you. All that separated them from
their fellow men was God's sovereign choice, which he backed up with
his revelation. and the Spirit's gift of faith
to believe it, as us today, if you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and trust him. So what about us today? Are we
strangers, like Abraham, in this world? Or are we as much of the
world as everyone else around us in society? Is our ambition,
our affection, our hopes for the future of our children and
families, et cetera, Are they here on this world, in this world,
on this earth, or are they in eternity, those hopes and ambitions? Are they in eternity with Christ?
These examples, these people mentioned here, demonstrated
what God said, what Christ said. Jesus said, you cannot serve
God and mammon. You cannot serve God and the
things of this world. It's impossible. It's one or
the other. You cannot ride two horses at the same time, one
or the other. God is a jealous God, he says. You say, that's not a very nice
thing for God to say. Well, that's what he says about
himself. He's jealous because marriage to Christ Marriage to
Christ, we are betrothed to Christ, we are married to Christ in believing
in him. Marriage to Christ is utterly
intolerant of adultery with false religion and affection of this
world. It's utterly intolerant of it.
You cannot do both at the same time. So let's just look for
a few moments at these remaining examples of faith before, looking
forward to next week, we move on into chapter 12. In verse
23, Moses' parents, it says by faith Moses, but it really means
his parents. He was hid of his parents for three months. When
Pharaoh in Egypt, they'd been there for 400 years or more since
the time of Joseph. Pharaohs had come and gone. Think
about where we are today, 2024. So think back to 1624. You can't, it's a long time ago,
isn't it? Long before any of us were born. Well, that's the
sort of timescale we're looking at. You know how things were
then, the days of, the kings that were trying to take us back
to Catholic religion and all of that. strife that was going
on. It's that sort of time period
that we're talking about. But now, pharaohs had come and
gone and there's a new pharaoh who knew not Joseph, who had
no respect of Joseph and what he did. And there was oppression
of the children of God, the Israelites that were there. In Egypt, in
this, Egypt has always been in scripture a picture of this world.
But there was a vision of salvation through the Redeemer from Abraham's
descendants in the promised land. Moses' parents had probably heard
that. There was this vision of redemption
through one who would come from Abraham's descendants in the
promised land of Canaan, not of Egypt. And there was divine
revelation concerning the baby Moses. They saw that he was,
strange expression, a proper child. We could translate it,
he was fair to God. He was of a fair countenance
to God. In other words, there was something
about him that had the hand of God upon him. That he was chosen
for the purposes of God. And that this would accomplish,
this would lead to the purposes of God being worked out in time. And that's why they hid him from
Pharaoh, who had given the instruction that all of the children of the
Hebrews under two years old were to be killed, because there were
too many of them. That's why they hid him from
Pharaoh. They did that because God had given them faith to see
something that others did not see. And then Moses, verse 24,
down to verse 29, when he was come of years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He could have been. because Pharaoh's
daughter found him in the little bulrush ark in the side of the
river Nile, and took him and raised him as her own son in
the palace. And so this one, this proper
child, this one in the purposes of God, was raised in the very
palace of Pharaoh, the one who was afflicting the people of
God. He refused when he was come of years. When he grew up, he
refused to be called Pharaoh's daughter's son, adopted son,
he refused it, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God. He knew it was of the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Oh, be in
no doubt to the flesh, to fallen flesh, sin is a pleasurable thing. But he refused that. He esteemed
the reproach of Christ. He esteemed that for which the
world hates Christ and his people. Jesus said, if the world hated
me, it'll hate you too. If you believe in me, the world
will hate you. He esteemed the reproach of Christ, greater riches
than the treasures. He could have had all the treasures
in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. He had respect to what God had
in store in his eternal kingdom. That affliction of the world
was going to lead to eternal bliss. Against that was worldly
pleasure for a few years, the reproach of Christ or riches
in Egypt. He saw the true reward, the recompense
of reward. And he aligned with the Hebrews,
not fearing Pharaoh's wrath, says that in verse 27. He forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as
seeing him who is invisible. He saw God. He saw the things
of God, and he was in exile for 40 years, seeing that which God
was preparing him for. He kept the Passover, verse 28,
when he'd come back and the children of Israel were about to leave
Egypt in the Exodus, he kept the Passover. Why? Because he
saw what was involved. Looking to the one pictured by
that lamb that was slain, whose blood was painted on the doorpost
and the lintel, so that the angel of death coming to destroy every
firstborn in the land would see the blood. When I see the blood,
said God, I will pass by. It was the Passover. I will pass
over you. I will kill all of the firstborn,
but not where I see the blood of the substitute, the Lamb in
its place. And the Lamb of God shed his
blood for the sins of his people. And he saw God avenge his people's
suffering in the death of the firstborn that Passover night,
and the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea when they had
passed through on dry land. when all else had failed, when
they came there, when the taskmaster's whips The Egyptian taskmasters'
whips were no longer whips, they were soldiers' swords coming
to kill them. And there was no escape, and
they're trapped between the wilderness and the Red Sea. And Moses said
to them, trust God. He said this, he said, stand
still. What should I do? Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And the Red Sea parted,
and they all went through, however many there were, a million or
more, on dry land, not harmed in any way. And the Egyptians
tried to pursue and they were all drowned. The Egyptians are
saying to do were drowned, verse 29. It was because of what they
saw then going on. 40 years later, Jericho, Joshua,
Capturing Jericho. They must possess the land. Why must they go back there?
They must possess the land into which the Christ must come. And the godless must be removed,
that God's purpose in salvation must be accomplished. Is anything
too great for God? Is anything too great for God? No. Obey his voice. He said to them, walk around
the walls for seven days. Walk around the walls, and then
walk around, I think, seven times on the last day, and then blow
the trumpet. What, what's that gonna do? Believe God, the walls
fell down. The walls came tumbling down,
and there was a citizen and her family in there, Rahab. She wasn't
of the children of Israel. She was a Canaanite. In Jericho,
she was of a heathen culture, of a God-hating culture. She
was not only that, but in herself, she was a harlot, she was a prostitute.
But she believed what God had revealed to her. She believed
that this people was the people from whom the Messiah would come
and the kingdom of God would be triumphant. She was the one
who, being saved from the destruction of Jericho, was then married
into Israel, and from her came Boaz, from him came Obed and
Jesse and David, King David, and so on down the line of genealogy,
and from this heathen prostitute came the Son of God into this
world. Christ came according to the
flesh, amazing. And on the way, Ruth, a Moabitess,
another heathen, joined herself to the people of God, and from
her came Christ according to the flesh. And Rahab tied, it
doesn't say it here, but she tied a scarlet cord in the window
of her house to show the invaders, the Israelites coming in, that
she was the one that they'd said they would save. The scarlet
cord symbolizing blood, the blood of the one who would come from
her seed. And the others, it says, what
more shall I say? Do we need more examples? Do
we need more examples? You get the idea. Apply it to
every single one without exception of God's saints, then and now. So who are we speaking of? We're
speaking of Daniel. Stop the mouths of lions. Daniel
in the lion's den, by faith, believed God. Quench the violence
of fire. When you walk through the fire,
says God in Isaiah 43, I will be with you. And Nebuchadnezzar
looked into that fiery furnace where he had thrown, I always
forget their Hebrew names, but their Babylonian names were Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. And they'd been thrown into the
fire for refusing to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's idolatrous God. And he threw
them into the fire and then he looked in and he saw Isaiah 43
fulfilled. When you walk through the fire,
I will be with you. They quenched the violence of
the fire. They said to him, whatever happens,
our God will save us. Whether we burn here, our God
will save us and take us to his kingdom. Whatever you do, King
Nebuchadnezzar. through their weaknesses were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight. The widow of Zarephath
received her son to life again. The martyrs in the days of Antiochus
Epiphanes, between the end of the Old Testament and the start
of the New Testament, they were treated so badly, they were despised
by the world, and yet the world was not worthy of them, because
they were the people of God. They didn't see Christ come in
their lifetime. They received not the promise
means that they didn't see Christ come in their lifetime, but we
and them together will attain to that glory. For we look back
at Christ having come in the flesh and accomplished all of
these things. We could say so much more, but
I won't for the sake of time, because I just want to close
with this thought. What is at the root of all of
this? We've seen all these different
ones by faith. What's at the root of it all?
Out of all mankind, why these? It says in Isaiah 51 and verse
two that it was Abraham alone that he called. Why Abraham alone? Why his nephew, who was a wayward
character, wayward lot, from lot came people who were the
enemies of the people of God. Why wayward lot? Because he's
called righteous lot. Righteous lot. Why Rahab, a heathen
prostitute? Why Saul of Tarsus, who sought
to destroy the church of Christ? Why even the wicked King Manasseh? There was no king more wicked,
yet in the end, God saved him. Why wicked Manasseh? And all
the rest of them? Why you, if you're a believer?
Why me? If we're numbered among God's
people, it's because of sovereign grace. The sovereign grace of
God outworking in divine love. I was thinking, what is it? What can speak to us from these
people? Jeremiah 31, verse three. You
know these scriptures. That doesn't matter. Think about
them more, meditate on them. It says this, in Jeremiah 31,
verse three. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Of
course, that is speaking of his servant who would come, but all
of his people in him. The Lord has loved his people. When did he start, speaking of
time, loving his people? Before time. It's an everlasting
love. There never was a time when God
didn't love his people. What, even when we were children
of wrath, even as others? That's what it says. Look at
Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine and verses
15 and 16. God says to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,
of God that shows mercy. Look at 1 John, 1 John chapter
three and verse one. Behold, what manner of love. Why these people, why did they,
the love of God is at the root of it. Why do you believe him?
Why has he given you faith if he has given you faith? Because
he loved you from eternity. He loved you from eternity. Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. In chapter four of 1 John, verse
seven, beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. This is it. God loved them, God
loved us, God loved all of his people. He that loveth not knoweth
not God, for God is love. And in this was manifested the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfected in us. Verse 19, we love Him,
Why did these people love God and obey Him and seek to serve
Him? Because He first loved us. It's beyond our comprehension.
It's inexplicable to human reason. Some would say it's grossly unfair.
But how blessed we are, of all people, to have this revealed
in our souls. that I live, as I said earlier,
Galatians 2.20, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me. And in God's good time, all who
have this faith, all who love him, will experience the consummation
of that love of God in his glorious kingdom. Jesus asked Peter, after
he rose from the dead and before he went back to glory, Three
times he asked him in that morning meeting by the lake, Peter, do
you love me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you.
Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you.
Peter, do you love me? Why three times? Because three
times Peter had said, I know not the man. I know nothing about
him. Do you love me? Do I love him? Do you love him? How do you know
that you love him? I think this is the clearest
test of all. Our feelings are so fickle, but
I do know this. I cannot envisage living this
life without God. I can't envisage living without.
Is that not to love someone? You know, a husband and wife?
Can you envisage living without each other? It's so hard, isn't
it? Can you live without God? That's
how you know whether you love him. Is that your hope? Is that
your confident expectation? If you're not sure, ask him to
show you. For he has said, he who asks,
it shall be given to him. So may God bless these thoughts
to us now. And next time we'll move on,
God willing, into chapter 12.