Well I want you now to turn for
one last time to Hebrews chapter 11 and I want to look at the
verses from verse 23 onwards. You know true religion, and by
that I mean true religion that works acceptance with God. What's the point of religion
that doesn't leave you accepted with God? It's effectual acceptance
with God. Your religion's worthless if
you don't have confidence that you have acceptance with God
on the basis of it. Absolutely worthless. But it's
all, as you know, entirely in Christ. There's none outside
of Christ. There's only condemnation outside
of Christ. There's a guaranteed if that's
the right term to use, but a guaranteed eternal blessing in him, but
nothing but a lost condition, lost estate, condemnation, the
dread of hell outside of him. And it's all on the basis of
his redeeming blood. It's the blood that has purchased
the salvation of his people. That's why Paul was determined
not to know anything other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
because he couldn't talk to the people about effectual acceptance
with God other than in the cross of Christ and the shed blood
of Christ. The blood pays the sin debt. The blood is that which causes
the righteousness of God to be made over to his people. It's
the obedience of Christ, the faith of Christ in his life as
God in human flesh, but his obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. And in that, when he who knew
no sin was made sin for his people, that those people might be made
the righteousness of God in him. There's only condemnation outside
of him, but such blessing in him, and all on the basis of
his redeeming blood. Scriptures are all about him.
You know he said that. These are they which speak of
me. You know that to the disciples on the Emmaus road, beginning
at Moses and the prophets, he expounded to them in all the
scriptures, the things concerning himself. Oh, how selfish. Oh, if he was a man, yes, but
he's God, the savior. What more can he say that's good?
He expounded to them the things concerning himself. And the scriptures
are all about him, and this book is all about him. Writing to
Hebrews, it's all about him, that he's better than angels.
He's better than all the things that the Hebrews regarded as
the rock-solid basis of their faith. He's better than the prophets. The prophets spoke the word of
God, but were all sinners. He is our true prophet. He's
better than all of the priests, the best of the priests. Christ
is so much better, for He stands in that very Holy of Holies in
heaven. He is better than all the kings.
There weren't very many good kings, and even the best of them
committed the most awful sins and crimes, but He is King of
kings and Lord of lords. He is better than all the animal
sacrifices that they performed in the temple. He's better than
the temple itself. He's better than that. He's better
than the altars. He's better than the Ark of the
Covenant. He's better than all of those things that were there.
And Hebrews, this epistle, has shown us all of this very clearly. If you would be pleasing to God,
if you would be accepted by Him, if you would have a lively hope
of eternal glory, surely that's what you want, isn't it? You
know, surely that's what you want. A lively hope of eternal
glory. You must be in Christ. As Paul
said, I want to be found in Him. On that day, I want to be found
in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through faith of Jesus
Christ. the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ. But how does it work in your
experience now? How now does it work in your
experience that you're accepted by Him, that you have a lively
hope of eternal glory, that you know you're in Christ, it's all
apprehended by faith. The just shall live by faith. The old man of the flesh, that
natural man that you are, that you're born in this flesh, that
old man of the flesh, the believer can say with Paul, I am crucified. That old man is crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. yet not
I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in
the flesh as I walk this earth living by faith I live by the
faith of Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me now
Hebrews 11 provides 17 examples I think it is named examples
there are more many more that are implied many more in those
verses 33-34 who are not named but are implied there many These
examples are given. Why are they given? Do you know,
for years I thought they were given because preachers used
to say just look what a shambles lot you are. Now look at these
great, great men and women of faith. There's a couple of women
in here, Rahab and Sarah. Look at these great people of
faith. Look at, oh that's what you need to be. But you're not.
You're nowhere near it. You're nowhere near good enough.
This is what you need to be. Look what Abraham did. This is
what you need to do. They're not given as examples
of what we ought to do, not at all. They're not given for that
reason. not that we ought to kind of
mimic what they did it's to see how they lived by faith how they
lived by faith how they lived seeing the invisible as it says
in here seeing the substitutionary redemption that the natural man
doesn't see any need for seeing Christ as the as the messenger
of that covenant of grace who would accomplish that redemption
It's how they lived, hearing God's word, his voice. How they
lived, believing the truth of God. And to believe it means,
you know, you rest on it. If I believe there's a chair
there, and I'm feeling tired, I'll sit down on it. But actually,
looking now, I don't see a chair there, so I'd end up with a very
sore bottom if I did sit down on it, because I'd land on the
floor. Right? You know, You see by faith, and you're prepared
to sit on it, because you so much trust it, I'm gonna sit
on it, there, I know it, I believe it. This is what believing God
is, by faith, living by faith. I believe it, I see that which
the natural man can't see, and I act upon it. I don't look at
just the physical evidences, I act decisively. This is what
they did, this is why they're given as examples, acting decisively. Abraham, The promise is going
to come through your son, who you shouldn't have because your
body's as good as dead, and he's born, and God's fulfilled his
promise, now go and kill him, go and sacrifice him to me. How's
the promise going to come about? God will provide himself a sacrifice.
God will fulfill his purposes. Abraham believed God, and trusted,
and went, and did. He went and sat on that chair
that he saw. He went and believed God. And
God said, don't touch him. I know. I know that you believe
me. I know. So he acted decisively
on what he heard and what he saw and what he believed by faith. And the natural man doesn't receive
the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them. They're
foolishness to him. They don't make any sense to him. They're
a stumbling block. to the religious folks, they
trip over them. Their foolishness to the irreligious
folks, the non-religious folks, their foolishness in the stumbling
block. But to the child of faith, the one quickened by the Holy
Spirit, they see these things and believe them and act. Now
these examples that we're given here, the parents of Moses, Moses
himself, Joshua is implied in verse 30, he's not named but
he's implied in the falling down of the walls of Jericho, Rahab
who was in Jericho, Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, David, Samson, Samuel
and the very others that are implied there in the following
verses. Why did they act as they did?
Why did they act? All the prophets that came after
them, Elijah and all of this, why did they act as they did?
They heard God's voice They heard God's voice. When the natural
man hears only the world and the voice of Satan. How do you
hear God's voice? Oh, you don't hear audible sounds
through your ears, but God speaks, and you hear in your heart. And
the same passage of scripture, we were talking about it this
morning in the car, weren't we, Marguerite? We were talking about
how you can read the same passage over and over again, and one
day, God says something to you. And he says it to you in your
heart. They heard God's voice when the
natural man didn't. They heard him speak of eternity.
They did. Cain could see nothing other
than material gain now. Abel was looking to eternity,
and righteousness, and conscious of sin, and of death, and of
judgment, and of the need to be right with God. And he brought
a lamb, which was a picture of the Lamb of God, who would take
away the sin of the world. They heard him speak of salvation
in a substitute who is God himself, coming as a man to redeem with
his own precious blood. They saw him afar off. All of
these that are given as examples, they saw him afar off. And they
looked, as it says in Hebrews 11, for that city, Zion, the
people of God, the New Jerusalem, which has foundations. whose
builder and maker is God. And seeing these things, and
hearing God's voice, they were totally persuaded of the truth
of God's word. Totally persuaded of the truth
of God's word. You know when you're totally
persuaded of something, you act on it. I've already given that
illustration, so I won't repeat it. So often we're uncertain
what to do. I don't know what to do about
such and such a thing. I really don't. These people
were totally persuaded of what God had said. They knew who God
is. They knew that God is not the God of chance, but the God
of absolute, certain determination. He has a will and a purpose that
he will fulfill, and that nothing can stop it, nothing can deter
him, and he controls all things to accomplish his purposes. And
these people were totally persuaded, by faith, of the truth of what
he says. What he says is true, and what
he says he will do, he will most definitely do. And as a result
of all of that, all of these examples set their ambition on
what God had revealed concerning eternity and salvation. That
was it. They had an ambition. You know,
there are those who will tell you that for the believer you
shouldn't have any ambitions. That's absolute nonsense. Even
in this world, if you don't have any ambitions, you'll achieve
absolutely nothing. I'm not talking about being ravenously
pushy in your career situation in order to become the top at
the expense of everybody else. But you must have ambitions.
You don't do anything if you don't have ambitions. But the
ambition of the child of God is, like Paul said, to be found
in Him, to be found in Christ, to be clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, to be accepted, to be amongst those sheep that the
Father says, come and enter into the joy of eternity. Come, the
blessed of my Father, come in. That's the ambition. Verse 35
talks about it. Look at the end of verse 35.
That they might obtain a better resurrection. That's where their
hope was, their ambition, on a better resurrection. So their
actions and their family. Think about Abraham in Ur of
the Chaldees with all of his family and all of his connections.
Their actions, their family, it doesn't seem right talking
about a career in relation to the patriarchs, but you know
what I mean, the way their lives were conducted in this world,
in the world of commerce and trade and interaction in society,
their career, where they lived, their location, it was all with
an eye to the fulfillment and obtaining of God's promises.
That was what motivated them. Where are we going to live? What
are we going to do? All, that's always there. And that's how
you live. This is how you live by faith.
You know you, whatever you do, wherever you look, a situation
at work, always, always, you're conscious as the child of God
that there is this overriding ambition. There's this overriding
journey that you're on. There's this overriding situation
that you're in, which isn't just the present physical. Yes, you're
in this situation, but you know, really, you know, it's like you
see, you know, with modern communications, you see these security people
walking around and they look like they're on their own, but
they're not. They're talking all the time to HQ and HQ's watching
them on the cameras and they've got backup in place to do that,
which is right. It's that kind of thing. The
believer is constantly aware of an eternal existence and glory
and purpose and God who is in control of all things, keeping
them. So they live in this world. And often, some of these had
many of the material blessings of this world. Not always, but
sometimes they did. Abraham was a rich man. Jacob
was loaded with great riches. Joseph became second only to
Pharaoh in Egypt in terms of riches. Sometimes, with many
of the material blessings and riches of this world, but all
of it held in an open palm. God's put it there for now, I'll
use it while it's there. But he could just as easily take
it away, and what am I gonna do? Break my heart in screaming
to cling onto it or say, he's given? You know, the Lord gives,
the Lord takes away. That's what Job said, blessed
be the name of the Lord. How did you get so rich, Job?
The Lord gave. How did you become covered in
boils and sitting in sackcloth and ashes in such sorrow? The
Lord took away. What do you think of God now,
Job? Blessed be the name of the Lord. Curse him, said his wife. No, no, definitely not. Rather
die than curse him. No. By faith. All that separated
them from their fellow men was not what wonderful upstanding
characters they were, because we know that they did... Abraham
lied and deceived. They all... David murdered, and
committed adultery. None of these are recommendations,
you know? What separated them from their
fellow men was God's revelation, and the Spirit's gift of faith
to believe it. And that's no different, none
of them, are any different to you and me today, if we're trusting
in Christ. you know they didn't get an award
you know we're always seeing award ceremonies for bravery
of armed forces and things like that and they're good as far
as they go but they're not getting an award for what they did as
people or our respect for what they did the message of this
is they did what they did because of what God did and said and
they believed it and they acted upon it so what about us today
Now think, this is very practical. What about us today? We're separated
from most of these examples by anything between 4,000 and 2,000
years, aren't we? More than that. 3,000 years in
most cases, the ones given here. What about us today? How are
we in this world? Are we strangers, like Abraham
was? Read the earlier part of chapter
11. Are we strangers? He left Ur of the Chaldees and
lived in a land, in tents, just wandering, sojourning in the
land, went out. Strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles, looking for a city that wasn't of this world's making. Are we like that, strangers in
this world? Or are we as much of this world
as everyone else all around us? You know, We live in a very polite,
genteel society, don't we, in South East England, you know?
There are parts of this country that are very rough to live,
but there are other parts that are very genteel and pleasant.
And, you know, everybody's polite and courteous to their neighbours. I know not everybody, you can
go to places where you find some really quite difficult people
to live with, but, you know, there are places which are so
nice and comfortable. Are we Comfortable with that. Are we as much of this world
as everyone else all around us? This is serious. We need to think
about this. Is our ambition, our affection, are our hopes
for our future, for our children, for our family, for all of these,
are they here or are they in eternity with Christ? And I'm
asking myself that question. Very much so. These examples
demonstrated what Christ said. Christ said to the disciples,
You can't serve both God and mammon. You cannot. Oh yes, God
will give you what you need to live, but you can't serve both
God and mammon. It's one or the other. You know
when God says he's a jealous God? And the world would think,
well, what an evil thing. God condemns jealousy as a deadly
sin. God condemns it as a trait in
human nature that is most reprehensible, yet God is proud to say that
he is a jealous God. Why is it alright for God to
get away with being jealous and not man being jealous? God is
a jealous God because marriage to Christ is utterly intolerant
of adultery with false religion and the world. It is. It's utterly intolerant. It can't
tolerate it at all. Marriage to Christ, which is
what believing Him and trusting Him is, is total commitment to
Him. You remember at the end of the
book of Joshua in chapter 24, And there we see Israel yet again,
because of the waywardness of the human heart, is in danger
of committing spiritual adultery and going after false gods. And
Joshua says to them, choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve. Choose, don't sit on the fence,
make up your mind. Choose for yourselves this day.
Praise God, he makes his people willing to choose him in the
day of his power. But his people do choose him.
They most definitely do. They don't fatalistically sit
back and do nothing. They choose him because he's
made them willing in the day of his power. Commit to him. Live for him. Deny self for him. Put my desires and my wants to
the back. Look to him to provide what I
need. We need to think about these
things and apply them to us. Now let's look at the remaining
examples that are given here and just draw some lessons from
it briefly. First of all, verse 23. Think
of those things. Think what I've been saying about
how this applies to us in terms of commitment to Christ and the
faith to see the truth and the purposes of God. verse twenty-three
we have the example of Moses' parents who were not named apart
from being Moses' parents. By faith Moses when he was born
was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper
child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. Now
you may say that's odd language, a proper child, you know, is
there such a thing as a not proper child or an improper child? Moses'
parents were living in Egypt they were the children of Israel
and they become very numerous and they were in a situation
now of slavery because it was 400 years since Joseph and there
had been new pharaohs, and you think back, well you can't think
back, but look at your history books, 400 years ago to the early
1600s, 1612, King James on the throne, something like that,
only just United Scotland and England, you know, that's 400
years, a long time ago, before Oliver Cromwell. That sort of
era is what we're talking about. Things have changed, there was
a new pharaoh, there was oppression, but what was the faith? that Moses' parents had. It was
that spiritual sight. to hear the voice of God, to
see what he promised. They knew what he promised. It
had been handed down. I'm sure that pure line of true
religion had been handed down, you know, that came down through
Abel and Seth and so on, right the way down through Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and all the way down. It had been preserved,
the true line. Despite all of the idolatry and
waywardness and going away from God, yet that had been preserved
and they knew that God's promise stood, that in their ancestor
Abraham from their descendants would come the one by whom God
would save his people, the Lamb of God. And where he would come? He would come in the land of
Canaan, in the promised land, the land that God had promised
to Abraham. And they were here in Egypt in
a state of oppression and being subdued. And this baby was born
and somehow God said to them, this is the one through whom
I am going to do things for you. This is the one through whom
I am going to fulfill my purposes. And it's not going to be here
in Egypt. It's going to be where he promised
to do it. And somehow they saw that this was a proper child.
Now, it means fair to God. This child was fair to God. There
was something special about this child. They somehow knew. I don't
know how. Today we have the Word of God
completed, and what more can He say than to you He has said?
This is where we look. God doesn't speak outside of
this Word. His Spirit applies this Word
and reveals to us the things of Christ. this is the way God
speaks but then somehow I don't know how those parents were showed
that Moses was instrumental to be instrumental in bringing those
people out of that land of bondage with all of that pictured into
the promised land because there God's promise to Abraham would
be fulfilled God's purposes that he revealed to Abraham that a
Messiah would come that a Christ would come that it would be God
in human flesh who would come from the loins of Abraham, the
seed, the promised seed to redeem his people, to redeem the people
of God. And so they hit him when Pharaoh
wanted to destroy all of the baby boys. in Egypt to try and
subdue the prosperity of the Hebrews because although they
were in bondage they were fit and healthy and strong and fertile
and prospering and increasing in numbers much more than the
Egyptians were and they were thinking hold on if this goes
on you know how it is you know You don't have to go very far
politically in this country to hear those voices that say it's
no longer Britain. In the last 40 years, it ceased
to be Britain. There's places where you can go where you don't
feel as though you're in Britain anymore. And the Egyptians were
sort of thinking that about the Israelites. They were thinking,
they're running, they're taking over the place. There's no Egyptians
left. We need to do something about it. In those days, they
were a bit more brutal. Kill all the babies. Kill all
the baby boys. So Moses was hid. He was hid
in an ark, in bulrushes. That's what his parents did.
They did it, they did it by faith, seeing he was a proper child,
fair to God, in the fulfillment of the purposes of God. They
acted at great danger to themselves. All the physical evidence said,
don't you dare do that, you'll be in dead trouble. Boy, Pharaoh,
Pharaoh will chop off your head. If he sees what you're doing,
you'll be in such trouble. No, they believed God. They knew
that God would fulfill his purposes. God had said, this is a proper
child, this is fair to me, this one, preserve him, do something
with him. Let's move on. Moses himself,
verse 24, down to verse 29, by faith, Moses, when he was come
to years, he grew up. Would you believe this? That
Moses, who should have been killed at Pharaoh's command as a baby
boy of the Israelites, was hid by his parents for three months,
was put in an ark, a little boat, which was pitched and made waterproof,
and we have a visual aid down at the back there, which is very,
very good, and he was put in it and set to float in amongst
the bulrushes by the side of the River Nile, and hid there. I fancy doing that. God's gonna
fulfill his purpose. And then who comes along to bathe
in the River Nile? none other but Pharaoh's daughter
who finds this bonny little baby and takes him and she knows he's
a Hebrew but no she's going to have this one I'm going to keep
this one I remember when I was a little boy and the dog that
we had had a litter of puppies, and I seem to remember there
were seven puppies, and there were cruel days with those days.
You used to drown puppies unless you were in the business of dog
breeding. And I remember pleading with my dad, please can we keep
one, because they were so cute. And one of them got kept. You
know, it deserved to drown with all the others. but one of them
got kept. It became a nasty dog actually.
But you know, Pharaoh's daughter, oh no, she knew it was a Hebrew
child, but no, keep him, preserve him. Why? God moved, and he grew
up. in Pharaoh's house and he learned
Egyptian. Why do you think he learned Egyptian?
God purposed that one day he would come back and have to speak
in the court of Pharaoh and know the language of the country and
know the politics and the customs and the workings of that place
and he grew to years And he grew up as Pharaoh's daughter, but
he made a choice when he came to years. Are you going to be
Pharaoh's daughter, Moses? No, he refused to be called the
son of Pharaoh's daughter. No, I'm not going to be that
because I'm a Hebrew. Well, so what does that mean?
Does that just mean that you're xenophobic against Egyptians?
No, God has a purpose for his people, a purpose of redemption,
a purpose of salvation. that must be accomplished, not
in this land, but in the land of his promise, the promise made
to Abraham. No, he's not going to do that.
So what does he do, verse 25? He chooses rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God. He suffers the subjugation that
the people of God, the Israelites, were suffering. he could have
enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season because to the flesh
be in no doubt sin is pleasurable to the flesh sin is pleasurable
it's sweet you know like you might love candy floss when you're
young I tell you when you get to my sort of age with my dietary
condition I can't think of anything I less want to eat than candy
floss it's just the thought of it is revolting to me but to
children, candyfloss, oh wow, could there be any sweeter, nicer
food? And I just hate it. Moses chose
to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. He esteemed, he considered, he
thought about it, he counted the cost as Jesus says, he weighed
it up and he thought, look, on the one side there is the reproach
of Christ And it was the reproach of Christ. You'd say, well Christ
hadn't come then. It was the reproach of Christ
because Christ would come from this people. The purposes of
redemption would be fulfilled through this people who must
come out of that land and go back into the promised land.
The reproach of Christ. The persecution of Christ for
the world will always persecute Christ. The religion of the world
will always persecute Christ. Will always hate the true gospel
of grace. the reproach of Christ, and on
the other side, the treasures of Egypt, and he considered the
reproach of Christ. Why? Why did he do that? Why
on earth would he do that? Because of what he saw by faith,
because of that ambition, because of that objective, because of
that better resurrection to which he was looking. What did he do?
He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. He probably knew
that God had said to his great ancestor Abraham, I am thy great
and exceeding reward. By faith, verse 27, this was
when he saw an Egyptian taskmaster cruelly treating a Hebrew slave
and he slew the Egyptian and he forsook Egypt and he could
have been terrified of the wrath of Pharaoh, but he wasn't. He
went, he knew he was doing this for God's purpose. He endured
as seeing him who is invisible. He endured what? He endured 40
years in the wilderness, in Midian. until he came across that burning
bush that day when God spoke to him and said, go now, bring
my people out. Through faith, when he'd gone
back and gone through all those plagues, through faith, through
faith, through that which only the soul of the saved sees by
the grace of the Spirit of God giving awakening, through faith
he kept the Passover, that first Passover. You know, kill that
lamb. Paint its blood on the doorposts.
The angel of death is coming through the land. Every firstborn
is going to be slain. You say, what an unfair thing
to do. Wasn't it Pharaoh that wanted to kill all the firstborn
of the Israelites when Moses was a baby? Isn't God just in
his recompense? Wasn't God just giving them their
due for what they wanted to do? And he kept the Passover. and
the Passover lamb died in the place of the children of Israel's
firstborn and their firstborn didn't die because the lamb had
already died in their place and so it is. Do you have that faith
in Christ? Do you know that though it's appointed to man
to die once, to you and me, and then the judgment for which I
must die, that one has already died. The fire of the wrath of
God has already fallen, has already burnt up that ground. If you're
in Christ, you're standing on ground that's already burnt up
under the judgment of God, and that fire can fall no more there. He kept the Passover by faith,
looking forward to that. Looking forward to experiencing
exactly the same thing. The sprinkling of blood, lest
he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them, because he
knew outside of that blood, he that destroyed the firstborn
would kill their firstborn too. If you're outside of Christ,
there's no hope. No family connection will save you at all. It's for
you, personally. By faith they pass through the
Red Sea, as we read earlier in Exodus 14. They came out of Egypt. They had been under the whips
of the taskmasters of Egypt, and now they're terrified. God
has brought them out. Pharaoh has said go, but no sooner
have they gone than he comes pursuing them. And this time
he comes pursuing them, not with whips. Oh, they knew all about
the whips, but now he comes pursuing them with swords. and spears
and they're terrified and it's a great army coming after them
and they come to the Red Sea and they can't cross it and there's
nowhere to go and it's a lost cause and it's all up for them
and the Egyptians are coming after them and what are they
going to do and they're crying out saying it would have been
better if you'd left us there in Egypt and Moses says this
by faith Moses believed God Moses didn't say, right, get ready
to fight. Moses said this, stand still and see. Just stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. God is going to save you.
Take your rod, wave it over the Red Sea, it will open, and you'll
go through on dry land. Do I believe it? Of course I
believe it. Do I believe God can do anything
that he says? Of course I believe it. Oh, aren't
you a scientist? By training, surely you don't
believe such nonsense. Red seas don't just part with
walls of water on either side. God, who in Christ upholds all
things by the word of his power, is the one who is sovereign over
all of his laws of nature. And if he chooses for a moment,
or for a time, or for his purpose, to suspend or alter those laws,
to perform that which is miraculous, that which is non-natural, he
can do it, and I don't have the slightest problem believing that
he did do it. And the Egyptians were drowned.
All of this was by faith. Trusted God. Saw what he was
going to do in his purpose of bringing salvation. They wandered. Obviously the people are constantly
chastised. We're going to come on to the
chastisement of God in chapter 12 of Hebrews. But they're chastised
and they spend 40 years in that wilderness rather than going
straight in to possess the land. They spend 40 years of chastisement,
an entire generation dies out and they come to Jericho and
it's so strong and the people there are so strong and they're
terrified of them and there are the walls of Jericho and it says,
by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed
about seven days. Here's Joshua and the people,
they must possess this land The godless must be removed from
this land to fulfill God's purpose in salvation because the promise
was to Abraham that in this land that I shall give you there shall
come forth a Messiah who will be the savior of his people.
Is anything too great for God? Not at all. Obey his voice. Whatever
he says to you, do it, said the mother of Jesus to the disciples.
Whatever he says to you, do it, however unlikely it appears.
Walk around this fortified city. Have you ever walked around York
or somewhere like that? Or Egmont in the south of France,
which has got incredibly thick walls, you know? That's the sort
of thing we're talking about. You know, there was no such thing
as Semtex or Gelignite or TNT to bring them down. None whatsoever. The best you could hope for was
a big battering ram. You'd hammer away at them. Walk around it
seven times and blow a trumpet. Michael can make quite a racket
with his trumpet, some very tuneful notes as well, but he can get
some volume out of that trumpet. But walk round the walls, priests
with trumpets, seven times and blow the trumpets. By faith,
do what God says, he will accomplish his purpose. By faith, the walls
of Jericho fell down, the land must be possessed. Rahab, Rahab,
by faith, the harlot Rahab, perish not with them that believe not."
When she'd received the spies. She was in Jericho. She was a
harlot. She was a prostitute. She was
a woman of disrepute, but God had spoken to her and given her
faith to see his purposes of salvation. Why did he do it to
her? Because he's the God of sovereign grace. And no doubt
she's saying in glory, why me? Just as all his people will be
saying, why me? She was in the same situation
of destruction, but she believed what God had revealed to her.
A heathen harlot. Do you know who came from her?
Do you know who came from this heathen
harlot who was given faith? She wasn't one of the Israelites.
she, I forget who it was that she became, Obed wasn't it, Obed
she married and Boaz was her son and Boaz married Ruth and
Ruth was a Moabites and wasn't an Israelite Boaz married Ruth
and then from Ruth came Jesse, I might be missing out
some generation, Jesse who was the father of David. David all
the way down to Christ. Rahab the harlot. was one of
the ancestors by flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ by faith she
was chosen to do this and others what more shall I say he says
in verse 32 do we need any more examples is what he's saying
you get the idea apply it to every single one without exception
of God's saints then and now look it applies now to God's
saints now verse 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
out of weakness were made strong, and so on. Read it for yourself.
All instruments in God's hands, fulfilling God's purposes in
the redemption of the people, the multitude. No man can number
from all nations that he chose in Christ before time. History
is the history of redemption. History is the outworking of
God's purposes in redemption. What these verses are telling
us is that the great empires were all in God's plan. The lion's
mouth that Daniel faced was all in God's plan, and by faith Daniel
stopped the lion's mouth. The fiery furnace that Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego walked through, all in God's purpose.
The widow of Zarephath received her dead son. Elijah came to
her, received her dead son. Those who were persecuted by
Antiochus Epiphanes in that terrible persecution. then and in the
martyrs of the Reformation and ever since. Martyrs to this present
day. They all looked to that better
resurrection. They all looked to God's promises
of eternal salvation by the coming of Christ and the shedding of
his blood. What if anything, I leave you
with this, what if anything would be said of us in a list of faith
like this? Think about it, pray about it,
meditate upon it. Amen.