If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. And we'll be looking at verse 33
and verse 34. The title of the message is uncompromising
faith. uncompromising faith. Scripture says 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, waxed valiant
in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Now, last
time we met together, we began to look at the consequences of
faith, the consequences or the results of faith as they are
given to us by the example of these men in this chapter. Moses, Abraham, Jephthah, Samson,
David. All of these are great men of
faith. They are examples to us of faith. And we can see in their lives
that their faith had consequences. Their faith had results. We say consequences, usually
we mean in a negative way, but there are good consequences.
So faith has its good consequences and things that go wrong. So
when I say consequences, I want you to mean results. So these
men had results that were tangible, that were seeable. And these
brethren in the Old Testament were not some super saints. These men were men, just like
we are. They were no different. They
were sinners, not saved by the law, but saved by grace. They were saved by looking forward
to the promises of the coming Messiah, the coming King. Abraham believed God, the scripture
says, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And this
scripture is not only so for them, but for us also. He that believeth the promise
of Christ, he believed the promise of Christ. How do we see this? You see him offering his son.
And God promised that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. So
he believed God that if he were to kill Isaac, that God would
raise him from the dead. And truly, God did. He received
Isaac as though he was raised from the dead because God provided
a sacrifice. He believed God. It was counted
to him for righteousness. Now, just as Abraham believed
on Christ, who had not yet come, we believe on Christ who already
has come. They saw Him in types, in pictures,
but those have been removed. And we are far better on this
side of the cross. We have the full revelation of
God. Now, we don't understand the
fullness of this revelation. We will. We're waiting for it
just like they were waiting for Christ to come. We're waiting
for the fullness of this revelation that we have been given the fullness. And we have no further need of
the law as a type or a picture because Christ has come and he
has fulfilled all the law of God. He has established the law. People are always trying to establish
the law. They're always going about trying
to establish their own righteousness. How foolish and errant that is
when Christ has already established the righteousness of God. That's like having a foundation
already built and someone saying, well, I'm just going to add my
own room over here. No, the foundation's built. Built
on the foundation. Built on Christ by faith, we
believe and rest in Christ who satisfied God's law. And by his
death, we have peace with God. We have peace with God. Now,
although this faith was a free gift of God and not of works. The true saving faith is life
giving righteousness, imputing faith of the sovereign and free
will of God, and yet We know this, that this is not some superficial
thing that is done to a man. When God gives a man faith, there
will be evidences of this supernatural, powerful regeneration of the
Holy Spirit. There will be consequences. Faith
that is of God will always overcome. overcome. John says, for whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Now, it's not our faith,
but rather the object of our faith. We have overcome. We will overcome. We shall overcome. Why? Because our Savior has overcome. That's why. Now briefly look
at these first few results again to refresh your memory. These
Old Testament believers who through faith subdued kingdom. This was
the result of God giving faith in Christ, is that the church
of God will endure through everything. How many kingdoms have come and
gone and here we are today. Where are they who opposed our
God? Where are they who tried to stop
our Lord Jesus Christ from coming into this world? Where are they
who opposed Christ as the resurrected Lord and Sovereign of the universe. They are gone! They are gone! And we're still here. Why? Because Jesus Christ said of
Himself, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. I had this in the message Wednesday
night, and I think it's appropriate to use it now. You know, when
kings were to conquer or to win battles against their enemies,
they would take souvenirs. They would take souvenirs. And
the greatest souvenir was a flag. They would take this flag of
the enemy and they would mount that somewhere as a prize, as
a victory. Prince Satan will have no such
flag. He will have no such victory.
There will be not one thing he has ever done that has been victorious
over the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. Not one. He will
not have one trophy. Christ has won the victory. And
we, through Christ, will not fail or falter. So be sure that
the church of God's elect, that all hell, rage and all powers
of the earth and hatred should come against us, we shall overcome
them. How? Through faith in Christ
alone. This is how the church has always
endured. This is how the church will always endure. Through faith
in Christ alone. Now, the result of these men's
faith is that they wrought righteousness. Well, what is this? Well, it's
political and civil righteousness by getting rid of their gods,
their temples. When a righteous king came in,
he would get rid of all of those idols. They wrought political
and civil righteousness. But more than that, when it comes
to you and me, who are believers in faith, We have no such power
to demolish these false churches. That's not in our range of ability. But yet, we as believers in Christ,
we seek to work righteousness in our lives daily. We seek that. We desire that. We know this,
that in our flesh will know good things. But yet, the apostle
wrote to Titus, and he says, concerning the grace of God,
he said, I know it's the grace of God, and it's not of us, not
unto us, but unto Him that saved us and called us by His grace
and His mercy. Be careful to maintain good works. Be careful to maintain good works. The believer in Christ by faith
shall overcome evil when we are tempted by men or self or Satan. And this is not influence, not
by the indifference, but by faith. Indifference is a sin. There's no such thing as standing
on the fence. There's no such thing as standing
on the fence. Indifference is sin. Indifference is the same heart
of the church of Laodicea. He said, you're neither hot nor
cold. You're indifferent. Therefore, I vomit you out of
my mouth. You are a detestable thing. To be indifferent is detestable. And God's people, by faith, wrought
righteousness. In other words, we live what
we believe. That's what he's saying. Live what you believe. Testify of what you know. This
matter of faith should affect every part of our life. And we
are to be careful to maintain good works because we are accepted
in Christ. Not to be accepted in Christ,
but because we are accepted in Christ. We should be careful
for His honor, for His glory. We should walk even as He walked.
Now, the result of faith is obtaining the promises of God. These men
lived by faith, having never seen or heard the fullness and
completion of the gospel. Look at verse 39 in your text
here. It says, And these all, having obtained a good report
through faith, received not the promise. In other words, they
never saw the coming of Christ. They never saw what they were
promised. Now, I know this. We were not
there when Christ was born. We have not seen the risen Christ
with our eyes. But yet by the word of the apostles,
by their word that was given to them by the Holy Spirit, we
do confess and believe in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. We confess this. And we've not seen Him. I love
that. He said to Thomas, he said, you
believe because you have seen. More blessed are they that have
not seen and believed." Because faith has nothing to do with
sight. Faith has everything to do with
the gift of God and the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. Peter
says, "...who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time." Wait, isn't
salvation revealed to us? Yes. It is. Christ is revealed
to us. But Paul says, we see through
a glass darkly. We don't fully understand the
greatness of this salvation. We don't understand the complete
fullness of the righteousness of God. We've not experienced
it yet. But we're waiting. By faith,
we're waiting. And lastly, This is what I want
to talk about the most. Through faith, there is no compromise. Look at the second part of 34,
33, the last part. Stopped the mouths of lions. Now, who is that speaking of?
We know that this is talking of Daniel. We know that this
is the faith of Daniel. Daniel. Though a friend of the
king, Daniel was an important man. He was a friend of King
Darius. And yet King Darius, being a
lost man, a wicked man, he was deceived. He was tempted into
pride. And they told him, said, nobody
should pray. Nobody should pray unless they
pray to you. But Daniel, knowing the law,
refused to obey human law. and continued to pray unto God
as he did before. Now, some things, you see people
pretending. Daniel's not pretending. He did
this long before there was ever a decree to not do this. Daniel had opened his window,
faced toward Jerusalem, and prayed three times a day. You could
set your clock to him. He would pray three times a day.
Now, Daniel didn't do this for the sight of men or to be glorified
of man. He did it long before this law.
And now, then, this law is coming. What does Daniel do? Does Daniel
now shut his window and say, I'll just pray in secret so no
one will see? Does he change his life to fit
the laws of man? Now, logic would tell us that
we could pray anywhere at any time. They can tell me not to
pray, but I'm just going to go ahead and pray, and they're not
going to know it. I'll just close my eyes and pray, and they'll
never know the difference. Now, faith doesn't do that. Faith
does not compromise with such things. In other words, we continue
to do exactly as we have done. We're not doing it to impress
men. We're not doing it to seek attention. But we are going to
continue to do what we've always done. Faith doesn't compromise. And as a result of this, he was
thrown into a den of lions. Now, Daniel had no promise that
he would not be eaten. Don't think that Daniel was thrown
in that den. He expected those mouths of the
lions to be shut. No, he did not. He had all full
assurance that he was going to die. And he went in to this place
and God shut the mouths of lions. Why? To testify of Daniel's faith
in God. And he did shut those lions'
mouths. And those men who did that to Darius, they were thrown
in and the mouths of lions weren't shut. And the second thing here is
to quench the violence of fire. Now, who is this? These are the
three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These
are the ones that quench the fire, that the fire was quenched
by the power of God. You remember that they were told
bow down to an image. Nebuchadnezzar made an image
of himself, and he said, when the music plays, everybody bow
down. And these were the only three
standing. And I'll tell you what, you would
have to stick out like a sore thumb. You imagine all these
thousands of people hear the music, bow down, and there's
these three just standing there, not bowing down. Go to Daniel
3, I want to read it to you. Because what they say here is
tremendous. It's something that we could
take as believers in Christ. And we should be able to say
no matter what. It's Daniel chapter 3. Daniel
chapter 3 and verse 12. It says. There are certain Jews
whom thou hast set over the affairs of the providence of Babylon,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded
thee. They serve not thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar,
in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar
spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden
image that I have set up? Now, if you be ready, at what
time do you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp,
the sackbut, the psaltery, and I have no idea what that instrument
is, and all kinds of music, when you hear the music, You fall
down and worship the image that I've made you in. What is he
saying? I'm going to give you a second
chance. Maybe you didn't understand what I was talking about. Maybe
I just didn't make myself clear enough. What I mean is when the
music plays, you're supposed to bow down. And if you don't. I'm going to kill you. This was not an idle threat. This was a sure promise. He said, I'll throw you in the
fiery furnace. And he said, who is that God
that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego answered and said unto the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we
are not careful to answer thee in this matter. Friends, don't
be careful to answer men concerning the gospel. Don't be careful. In other words, don't be cautious
in this. We're not. We're not careful
about this. We are not going to bow down. We're not going to listen. We are not careful about this.
To answer thee in this matter. If it be, our God whom we serve
is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of
thy hand, O King. But if not, be it known to thee,
O King, And we will not serve thy gods, nor worship thine image
which thou set up." They're not careful about this. Now, this
was a despot. This was their very life was
in the hand of this despot. And they said, look, we're not
going to do this even if it means our death. And he said something important,
that every believer in Christ should know. He said, we know our God is able. Now, we don't know if it's His
will. But if not, if He doesn't deliver
us from the fire, we know this, either way, He delivers us from
you. Is that not the kind of faith
we desire? Do not care what this world thinks
of us or what we believe or who we believe. We're not careful. The gospel of Jesus Christ, I
don't have to be offensive. The gospel is an offense to them
as it is. I'm not careful to say that God
has chosen a people. I'm not careful to say about
that. It doesn't cause me any fear
or anxiety to declare this, that our God sovereignly chose a people
for Himself, for His own glory. And He put those people in Christ.
I'm not ashamed that Christ was the surety of those people. I'm not ashamed to say that all
that the Father gave Christ, He died for on the cross, and
He had accomplished all their salvation on that cross. I'm not ashamed that He has risen
from the dead, and He sits on the throne of God, ruling all
things after the counsel of His own will. I'm not ashamed to
say that by the preaching of the gospel, the foolishness of
preaching, God has been pleased to save his people by the power
of the Holy Spirit through his grace and mercy. And every one
of the elect shall believe and they shall believe until the
end. Because we are kept by the power
of God. We have the righteousness of
God by Jesus Christ. We have His promise. We have
His authority. When you read those words in
Scripture in the name, you understand that that's authority. If I were
to baptize, when I baptize someone, I baptize in the name of the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But truly, Peter
said it in the name. We baptize, be baptized in the
name, by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can baptize
those who believe in Jesus Christ. Not by my authority, but by His
authority. So we're not careful about these
things. We shouldn't be careful in front of men. They should
be ashamed. Not us. Nebuchadnezzar should
have been ashamed of himself, making an idol and expecting
God's men to bow down to that piece of metal. I'm not careful about this. I
won't worship your God. And friends, I'm not careful
concerning people who call themselves Baptists or Armenians. I'm not careful about that. We
believe in a different God. I'm not careful to say that,
that's just so. We believe in a different Christ
and I will not bow down to their Christ. I will not bow down to
their God. Their God is nothing, nothing. And I'm not ashamed to tell them.
I'm not careful about this. I don't go around trying to offend
people. I don't try to yell in people's
face. I don't have to. When people
hear plainly and clearly what I'm saying, they'll run themselves.
I don't have to run them all. And it doesn't matter if they
hate me. It doesn't matter if they kill me. I know this. My God will deliver me either
way. Either way, faith, friends, is
uncompromising. We are not careful to declare
that salvation is of the Lord, because by faith we may wax strong and turn the
enemies to flee. Let us be confident. Do you realize what turned the
world upside down in the first century was uncompromising faith? Not revolt, not demonstrations,
not picketing, not trying to elect a certain candidate. They didn't care who was Caesar. They didn't care what Caesar
had done to them or would do to them. They just knew this. We will not bow down and worship
Caesar. And for the life of them, the
Romans could not figure out these Christians. You see, the Christians didn't
take loopholes. They didn't try to find ways
out of It was very simple. They put
a statue of Caesar. And they said, look, you don't
have to believe. You don't have to even believe
Caesar is God. All you have to do is light an
incense. And they said, no. We will not
consent. Why do you think the church is
so weak? compromise. True faith stands
firm in Christ. I pray that God would bless this
to our hearts. Father, thank you for the time and thank you
for the blessings. Honor yourself and your word.
Dismiss us with your blessings. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.