The title of this morning's message
is taken from Hebrews 11 and verse 39, which says, these all,
and that's the all, all of these sinners saved by grace, these
saints of God that he's mentioned, listed here by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, these all, Having obtained a good report through
faith. That's the title of the message.
A good report through faith. Now as Jim said, this is part
of a series that I've been preaching through Hebrews 11. The series
is entitled Saving Faith. Saving Faith. And it says, these
all obtained, having obtained a good report through faith. A good report through faith.
Now, I want you to jump over to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
1. And two weeks from today, Lord
willing, I'm going to begin going through Hebrews 12. But I want to start today's message
off with this, where he says here in Hebrews 12 and verse
1, wherefore, or for this reason. So what he's about to say here,
again by inspiration of the Spirit, is because of what has been written
before in Hebrews 11, wherefore, or for this reason, seeing we
also are compassed, or surrounded, encircled, about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, Now what he's going to be doing in Hebrews
12 is encouraging believers to persevere in the faith, even
through persecutions, opposition, derision, living in a world that
opposes and hates the message of the gospel of God's grace
in Christ. He's encouraging us to persevere. And one of the points that he
makes here, and this is the first point of this message, is because
we're surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses. So great
a cloud of witnesses. Now, who are these witnesses?
Well, as I said, they're everyone he's mentioned in Hebrews 11,
starting with Abel in verse 4. We spoke of Abel, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Sarah, he mentioned Sarah all the way down through. Jacob, Joseph, all of these,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and then he even got into
Joshua and Rahab the harlot. In fact, before this passage
that I'm going to deal with, he mentions in verse 31, by faith
the harlot Rahab perished, or perished not with them that believed
not when she had received the spies with peace. Now that's
the great cloud of witnesses. And now he mentions others here.
Who are these witnesses? Well, first of all, the thing
we need to notice, and you know, I thought about this because
Several years ago, we made a trip to Washington, D.C., and you
know you go into the government buildings and you see all these
statues of the founding fathers and past presidents. All it is
is it's a monument to the greatness of men and women who contributed
to the success of our nation. And then when we come to the
Bible, though, we read Hebrews 11, it's like walking through
one of these halls, and here's Abel, and here's Enoch, and here's
Noah. But this, and I want to emphasize
this, because of this word faith here, he says through faith or
by faith, this is not a monument or a hall of monuments to the
greatness of men and women. This is a hall of monuments to
the glory, grace, power, goodness of God. This faith that he's
speaking of here, the emphasis here, and don't get me wrong,
Abel was a believer. Enoch was a believer. Noah was
a believer, and so on. Even Rahab was a believer. We
read about her in the Old Testament. in what she stated. But even
that believing is not a testimony to the greatness or goodness
of men and women. Because even our believing is
a gift of God's grace. So if we do believe the truth,
believe in Christ, believe the gospel, we still don't have anything
to brag about. Not like false religion today.
We don't have a thing to brag about, in ourselves that is. I cannot tell you that I'm saved
based upon my believing. I'm saved based upon the grace
of God who gave me the faith to believe. And that's what this
faith is. This faith here is the promise
of God. Specifically, as in the context
of Hebrews 11, His promise to send Christ, the Messiah, into
the world, to whom these Old Testament believers look to by
God-given faith. Look at Hebrews 12 again, verse
one. Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. Now, how is that to be done?
Look at verse two. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. You see, it's all about Christ.
When you read about Abel, This is not so that we can admire
Abel and worship Abel or pray to Abel or Enoch or Noah. You know, and don't get me wrong,
you know, up in somewhere close to Louisville, Kentucky, the
guy built a replica of the Ark. And people flock up there to
see it. Why? I got something better. My ark
is Christ. And I'm more impressed with Him
than I am that construction up there. How about you? Somebody, they said, well, they're
wanting to find the remnants of the ark. Why? Reminds me when they found the
serpent that Moses had put upon the pole. Who was it? Hezekiah, wasn't it, that said,
ground it into powder? I may have been one of the other
kings of Judah. Ground it into powder. Because that serpent
was a picture of Christ and Christ is all. And so that's what this is about.
And that's what their witness is about. This great cloud of
witness. What was Abel's witness? And then as getting back to our
title, what was Abel's report? Remember Isaiah said, who hath
believed our report? What are we reporting this morning? What are we telling? We're telling
sinners about Christ, who He is in the glory of His person.
He's God in human flesh. He's the one who accomplished
redemption for His people to enable God to be just, to justify
sinners based on His righteousness imputed. That's what we're talking
about. He's the life giver. If you do believe, and I've said
this many times, if you do believe the gospel, you are a walking,
talking miracle. of God's grace. You're not reporting
of the fact that you rose above the rest of humanity and believed
when they wouldn't. That's not your report. That's
not your witness. And that's not, you know, some
people say, well, that's talking about their reputation. Well, I'm going
to talk about that in just a moment. But that's not your reputation.
If you believe Christ, if you're resting in Him as the Lord your
righteousness, He's your reputation. And no matter how good you try
to be, and no matter how others admire you, you still report
to them, I am not righteous in myself. I have one who is righteous,
and that's Christ. Don't look to me. Look to Christ. John the Baptist. Man, if you
were going to have him preach in your Bible conference, what
a billing you could have given him. Here's John the Baptist. He's the last of the Old Testament
prophets. Boy, how'd you like to put that
on your resume? He baptized the Lord. You know, people worry today
about who baptized. John baptized the Lord Jesus
Christ. I went to a little church down
in Florida years ago, in Palatka, Florida. And they had on the
outside of that, this is where Billy Graham was ordained. Well,
big deal. That was one there, you know,
everybody come here, you know. My friend, John baptized Christ. John was a miracle birth, wasn't
he? I mean, but what did John say? What was his report? Well, behold
the Lamb of God. Don't look to me. He said, I'm
not even worthy to carry his shoes and untie his laces. That's my reputation. He said,
he, Christ, must increase, and I've got to get out of the way.
I must decrease. That's John's report. You see
what this is saying? Well, look here. Everyone mentioned
in Hebrews 11 from Abel on And these that are mentioned here
in Hebrews 11.32, look, he said, what shall I more say? For the
time would fail me to tell about Gideon. You know about Gideon
and how he was empowered by God to defeat the Midianites. You
can read about these people in 1 and 2 Samuel and in the book
of Judges. Barak, Samson, you know about
Samson. Jephthah, David, King David,
and Samuel, and of the prophets, all these that he's mentioned.
He said, now listen to this, it says, through faith they subdued
kingdoms. Now, everyone that's mentioned
here, not only in this verse 32, but even all through Hebrews
11, hear from the judges, from Abel to the judges and the kings
and the prophets. You know what they were? If you
go back and read about them in the Old Testament, you know what
they were? They were weak, sinful people. You say, well, Samson
wasn't weak, he was strong. Oh, well, go back and read about
him. He had his weaknesses, didn't he? Weak, sinful people, but
because of God's promise And because of God's power and because
of God's grace, they accomplished great things. They subdued kingdoms. Remember Joshua fought the battle
of Jericho. Now who's the glory go-to in
that? Joshua? No, goes to God, doesn't
it? It says they wrought righteousness.
That means working righteousness. Now, working righteousness does
not mean there that any of these performed any work that would
meet God's standard of righteousness. There's only, you know, there's
only one person who ever did any work that would meet God's
standard of righteousness, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you believe that? So that's not what this means.
But here's what it means. They acted in the manner of justice. They were instruments of God's
justice. When Joshua fought the battle
of Jericho, God said he was bringing judgment and justice down upon
Jericho. Joshua was his instrument. It
was God's justice. It was God's power. And Joshua was the instrument.
Joshua and the people of the Hebrew children. It says they obtained promises
here in Hebrews 11.33. They obtained promises. Now,
keep in mind that later here in Hebrews 11.39, it says they
received not the promise, but over here in verse 33, it says
they obtained promises. So we see that the statements
got to be qualified by the scriptures. Well, they did receive the promises.
They received the promised land, didn't they? God made a promise
to Abraham, he fulfilled it, he gave it to him. Spiritually, when it comes to
believers, they received the promise of salvation by God's
grace and faith to believe. But that was all by God's grace. Abraham believed God and it was
imputed to him for righteousness. Who was Abraham's righteousness?
Christ. Christ was Abraham. God imputed
righteousness to Abraham even before Christ actually came and
worked it out on the cross. You say, well, how could God
do that? Because it was always sure and certain that Christ
would do the work. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and in him. Amen, 2 Corinthians 1.20. It says here they stopped the
mouth of lions. You remember Samson did that.
You remember Daniel. He's not mentioned in Hebrews
11, but he was a believer. They threw him in the lion's
den and God protected him. They quenched the violence of
fire. That's God's judgment. Remember Lot was pulled out of
Sodom. Remember the three Hebrew children,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace? There was
a fourth man in that furnace. That was Christ, the God-man.
They escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness, were made
strong. I think about Paul. He says, when I'm weak, I'm strong.
Why does he say that? Is he just being poetic? Is he
being contradictory? No, he's saying this. He said,
I'm totally dependent. on Christ. I'm dependent upon
His grace, His power, His goodness, His righteousness for my complete
salvation. I'm never left to myself for
any of that. It says they grew valiant in
fight, turn to flight, the armies of aliens. You can read about
it in the Old Testament. Why was all this accomplished?
Because of their greatness, their goodness, their power, their
wisdom? Absolutely not. It was all because of God's greatness,
God's goodness, God's power, God's wisdom. And mainly because
of God's promise to send Christ to save His people from their
sins. Then we see the miracles that
only God could accomplish. Look at verse 35. Women received their dead, raised
to life again. Now listen to me. You can think
about the widow of Zarephath, the Shunammite widow. Children
raised from the dead. Now here's one something I can
tell you right now. Man cannot create, give, or sustain life. How many years has man sought to conquer death through medicine,
lifestyle, vitamins. It doesn't work, does it? Man cannot create, he cannot
give, and he cannot sustain life, but God can. And you want eternal
life? This old body's dead because
of sin, Romans 8. The Spirit is life because of
righteousness. And that can only be found in
Christ. Next, he mentions those who were
persecuted and killed for the cause of God and truth. Look
at verse 35 again. It says, women received their
dead to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance. In other words, they chose to
be tortured rather than to be set free. And I'm going to tell
you something, that takes the grace of God. That they might obtain a better
resurrection. That better resurrection is the
resurrection unto eternal life. That comes through Christ by
God's grace. Verse 36, others had trial of cruel mockings and
scourgings. They were whipped. Moreover,
bonds of imprisonment thrown into prison. 37, they were stoned. They were
sawn asunder. That means sawed in half. tested,
tempted, were slain with the sword, wandered about in sheepskins,
in goatskins, they were made destitutes, what that means,
being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. Skip the parenthesis
there, I'm going to come back to it. Verse 38, they wandered
in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the
earth. As Jim said, we think we've got
it bad. We've been spoiled, haven't we? And we've been blessed to live
in a day. That's why I pray all the time.
Lord, I pray this for our country. I don't care who's president
or who's in Congress. Lord, please maintain our freedoms and allow us to worship without
hindrance from the government. and keep this gospel here until
the Lord comes back again. That's what I pray. I don't know
that he will, but I will be done. Could you imagine how we would
act? I think about myself now. Could
you imagine how we would act if we returned to these days
where they were tortured and imprisoned? Somebody says, well,
I know I wouldn't deny him. By his grace, I wouldn't. But it would take his grace,
because old Bill just doesn't have it in him. It would have
to be God's grace. Wouldn't you think about it? But he mentions these persecution
and martyrdom in themselves do not prove the truth or the cause. But to be persecuted for righteousness
sake, for Christ's sake, that's what he's talking about here.
Over the gospel, because the world hates the light. That's
what it says. Marvel not, Christ said, if the
world hated you. It hated me before it hated you. Our message just does not fit
in this world. And yet it is the most fitting
thing that this world could ever hear. Because what do sinners
need? We need grace that reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. But
look at that parenthesis, I love this. I love that the Holy Spirit
inspired the writer of Hebrews to put this in there. It says,
of whom the world was not worthy. The world does not think that
the true church, the witness of Christ who report the glory
and the power and the goodness and the wisdom and the grace
of God in Christ, the world does not think we are worthy of them.
They think we're beneath them. They do, in doctrine. I'm not
talking about our position in the community and our families.
I'm talking about in our doctrine. How many times have you said,
somebody would say, well, we go to Eager Avenue Grace Church.
Well, they believe something weird over there, don't they? Something weird? Yeah, it's weird
to the world. And nobody likes to be called
weird, do you? I don't. Maybe I am weird, but
I don't like to be called that. It just doesn't fit with the
thinking of the world. We just don't want to be different.
But it is different. It separates us from the religious
world because we preach God's grace, righteousness through
Christ and no other. But he says, this is how God
sees it, of whom the world is not worthy. Christ said, these things have
I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the
world you'll have trouble. Be a good cheer. I've overcome
the world. But look back at verse 39. These all, having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise. Now,
as I said, some say, well, that's a good reputation. Some say it's
a good witness. The essence of what he's saying
here is they're witness of the gospel of God's grace in Christ
for which they were tortured. and killed many of them, and
through the word of God and his faithfulness to his word, along
with his power to perform what he had promised and what he promises
to do." Many things about these individuals that are mentioned
did not serve to help their reputation. I mean, Rahab was a harlot. Now
somebody might argue, say, well, after she was saved, she stopped
being a harlot. Well, I believe that's true,
to be honest with you. I believe Rahab was the great-great-grandmother
of David. I can't prove it, but I believe
that's true. But I'll tell you what, the Bible
teaches once a sinner, always a sinner. The only thing that
can wash away those sins is the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And then you think about some
of the others here who are mentioned. And here in Hebrews 11 is listed
the good things of their lives because the emphasis here is
on the promise of God, the power of God, the goodness of God,
the faithfulness of God, the grace of God in Christ. That's
the emphasis here in Hebrews 11. We could go back and study
their lives as recorded in God's Word and see much sin and much
weakness. Here in Hebrews 11, he talks
about Abraham, but there's no mention of Abraham's lying to
the king of Egypt about his wife, giving her up. That's what happened
there, so that to save his own skin. It didn't do a whole lot
for his reputation, did it? And we could go on and on with
that. Jacob, we could talk about him, all of it. Even Moses, when he struck the
rock twice, all of that. But it was through faith that
they obtained a good report. And you want to know something?
It's the same with us. Now, I hope that everybody in this building
has a good reputation in the community. I hope you do. I hope I do. I hope we're not known to be
religious jokes and scoundrels and liars, all that. I want us to maintain a good
reputation. But in the sense that he's talking
about here, our good report, our good reputation, our good
witness is through faith And here's what it is, I'm a sinner
saved by grace and my righteousness is in Christ as evidenced by
God-given faith in Him. That's it. In other words, if you watch me closely day by day,
You're going to see a lot of sin and a lot of weakness. But
that does not identify me. Not in God's sight. My sin does
not identify me. My weakness does not identify
me. What does? My Savior. Who is
my Savior? What did he accomplish for me? My Savior is God in human flesh. My Savior is Emmanuel. My Savior is my righteousness
before God. I have nothing. I have absolutely
nothing by which to stand before God and gain entrance into the
blessedness of glory. except Christ crucified and risen
from the dead. His righteousness imputed to
me. I mean, that's it. That's my report. That's my reputation. Now you may see me on a given
day and you say, how in the world can that guy be a preacher? I'll
tell you how. Here's my report. My hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
You might see me on a good day, when you might say, oh, Bill's
the prince of preachers. But here's my report. Here's
my witness. Here's my reputation. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. You see what I'm saying? My sin
doesn't identify me. My morality does not identify
me as far as my relationship with God. It's Christ and His
righteousness alone. Now it says here they received
not the promise. Obviously what he's talking about
here is the promise of the actual advent coming of Christ into
the world. These all died in the faith looking
forward to the accomplishment of that grand and glorious promise
of the actual coming of Christ into the world. And he says in
verse 40, God having provided some better thing for us. That's
the better thing. You know, the whole theme of
the book of Hebrews is Christ is better. Look at the law. Think about,
you know, it says, have you ever heard anybody say, they say,
well, if I could have just lived back in the times of Moses and
saw the Red Sea open and all that, then I would believe. No,
you wouldn't. We've got something better than
that. Christ came and lived, died, was buried, and arose the
third day. That's historical fact. He ascended
unto the Father. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father ever living to make intercession for His people.
What's better than that? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen from the dead and is seated at the right hand of
the Father making intercession for us. Do you know that the
majority of the people who stood on the shore of the Red Sea and
walked across it perished in unbelief? They saw everything
that people say they want to see. But you want to know something?
Not one person who looks to Christ as the author and finisher of
their faith and submits to him as their righteousness before
God has ever perished. Isn't that better? That's something
better. And he says that they without
us should not be made perfect. The idea here is to be made complete. The Old Testament believers were
all justified, made righteous before God, based on Christ's
righteousness imputed to them, just like us in the New Testament. When he died, we all died. That is all of God's elect. Old
Testament, New Testament. When he was buried, all of God's
elect were buried. When he arose from the dead,
all of God's elect arose from the dead. And we're made perfect
in him, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and you are complete in him. That righteousness was not accomplished
for us all at one time, it was accomplished for us all at one
time by our redemption on the cross by Jesus Christ our Lord.
For by one offering, Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. One offering,
isn't that something? That's amazing. Well, whose offering
was it? It was his offering to his father
of himself. And what did it accomplish? our
perfection because His righteousness. Our sins were imputed to Him,
His righteousness to us.