My text this evening is found
in Hebrews 11 and verse 38. If you turn to Hebrews 11, we'll
have a reading in a few moments, but Hebrews 11 is where we're
going to be concentrating our attention this evening. And this
will be the third part of this little series that we have called
The History of Faith. And verse 38 of Hebrews 11 is
a lovely little verse. It speaks of a group of the Lord's
people and it says, these all of whom the world was not worthy. These all of whom the world was
not worthy. To go forward a little bit in
our study this evening, just before we think about some more
of these heroes of faith, if you turn over a page in your
Bible and look at the beginning of Hebrews chapter 12, you will
see that we are given there a statement. in verse 2, we are given there
a statement which I suspect will be familiar to most people who
have any Bible teaching at all. And yet I fear that it is a statement
that is grasped by very few. It describes believers as those
who are looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And I think that that little
phrase informs us as to the beginning and the end of a believer's faith. Its source, if you like, The
Lord Jesus Christ is the source of a believer's faith and it's
terminus. True faith begins in the Lord
Jesus Christ and ends in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is received
from the Lord Jesus Christ And it concludes and settles upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. When he is the author and finisher
of our faith, that is telling us where it begins and where
it ends. And our faith is wholly and exclusively
in the Lord himself. So it is a gift from him. He gives it. and it returns to
him. He grants it, he inspires it,
he initiates faith because faith isn't a natural thing. Faith
is a supernatural thing, a spiritual thing. He begins that new spiritual
life, that new spiritual life of faith in his people. And it
returns to him because it focuses upon him and has him as its objective. as its object and as its end. And that faith which the Lord
Jesus Christ gives, it energises us. It gives us power. It gives us
life. It enables us. It enables us
to live spiritually because without that faith, We have no spiritual
life. That faith is the spiritual life
within us that then looks to the Lord Jesus Christ, believingly,
for all other blessings and benefits. He enables us to have a spiritual
life by that faith which he authors. And we thereby follow him. He
reveals Himself as our leader, as our captain, as our shepherd,
and we as His sheep do follow Him by faith. We serve Him by
faith. We acknowledge His majesty. We
acknowledge who He is. We focus upon Him. We are drawn
out of ourselves, as it were. We are looking unto Jesus. We
are drawn out of ourselves and we seek opportunity to serve
Him, to follow Him, to live for Him. And we live by faith. Believers live by faith. We do not live by our wisdom
or our wits or our works, but by faith. Sometimes people use
that little phrase, living by faith, to mean that they don't
make any real provision for themselves and that they're relying on gifts
or support from other sources. And they're believing in God
for those things that they require. Well, that's not really a full
explanation of what living by faith is. Living by faith is
a statement of the life that we have, a spiritual life. For before that life was granted,
we were dead in our sins. But that faith, that enlivening
call, That gift of faith, that regenerating, quickening work
of God the Holy Spirit in the life of one who was dead in sins,
one who had no spiritual life and no spiritual appetite and
no spiritual desire after the things of God. That life is the
work of Christ in us. He who has authored our faith
and begun it. And so we see that our service
to the Lord is not profitable because of those things which
are within us, our strength and our dedication and our commitment. Rather, our usefulness to the
Lord is as we are possessors of that faith which he has given.
And we've been studying in Galatians recently and we have learned
there that we walk the walk of faith. We run the race of faith. We live to Christ by faith. In Galatians chapter 2 and verse
20 we read, I am 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. And if there's anything else
that we bring to the party, if there's anything else that we
bring to the table, if we try to put anything else into the
mix, then we are actually detracting from the sufficiency of the faith
of Christ by which we live. And as sure as man is man and
as sure as flesh is flesh, we will stop looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ in faith. If we add anything at all to
that simple faith that Christ has given us, then we will stop
looking at Christ and we will begin looking at ourselves. What we've done for him. what
contribution we've made, how useful we are in the church,
how exemplary our life has been, the commitment that we have shown
and that dedication which endears the Lord Jesus Christ to us.
These are the sorts of things that people in this religious
world today imagine, recommend them to God. when the reality
is that the only thing that we have is faith, pure and simple,
and that's all that the Lord God is looking for. Looking unto
him, the author and finisher of our faith. And so when the
Apostle Paul says to the Galatians, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, What he's saying there is that I am crucified with Christ. Self is crucified with Christ. It's gone. Self has gone to the
cross with Christ. I have gone to the cross with
Christ. Now, you're not dead. We're alive. But the statement is saying that
the I part of me, the things that would recommend me, the
things of my nature, the things of my flesh, the things that
I can contribute to this, they're gone, they're crucified. And the life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. Let us hold this as a truism. Let us take this statement that
we live by faith and hold on to that tight because that will
be a blessing to you in the days that lie ahead. When you feel
anxious, when you feel troubled, when you have self-doubt, when
you lack assurance, when you've done wrong and you're tempted
and you're tried and all of the difficulties of this life seem
to come in upon you, what have you got? Have you got your commitment? Well, you can be absolutely sure
of that. This commitment of yours will
be undermined. Have you got good works? Well,
if we were to pick those up and look at them, what would we discover
but that they are shot through with self-righteousness and pride?
Have you got your best efforts? Are they really so good? What
have we except this which Christ himself has given us, that which
he has authored? And it's all that the Lord requires
of us. Simple trust, simple faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. So all true faith looks to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that is true now as it was
in the Old Testament. All true faith comes from the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that is as true now as it
was in the Old Testament. And all true faith terminates
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is as true now as it
was in the Old Testament. The sufficiency of his blood
and every grace that he bestows to us that is received by faith. That is all that we hold on to
and that is all that we will have in that day when we stand
before a holy God and we stand before the righteous judge. What
will we have in that day? but our faith in the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the sufficiency of his blood and the good gifts
of his grace towards us. The Apostle Paul encouraged the
believers in Galatia to stand fast. Stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made you free. Well, how do we stand fast? We stand fast when we trust the
promises of God and we don't let the storms and the wind of
this world and all of the beatings and the batterings that come
against us distract us or divert us or turn us around. We stand
fast when we lay hold in faith upon the work of Christ. We walk
in the Spirit when we are trusting the promises of God in Christ. And we run the race set before
us when we trust in the promises of God in Christ. We follow after. I serve with my spirit in the
gospel of his son. That was a statement that the
apostle Paul made. I serve with my spirit in the
gospel of his son. That's all I want. If I can be
like Paul, if I can make a statement like that, I serve with my spirit
in the gospel of his son. That's all I desire, that's all
I want, to serve Christ in the spirit, in the gospel of his
son. And how do you do that? You do
it by faith. That's all just by faith, no
more, no less than trusting the promises of God in Christ. Now, the writer to the Hebrews
has demonstrated in this cloud of witnesses that he speaks of
in the opening verse of chapter 12, wherefore seeing we also
are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, these witnesses
are those that had been enumerated in the previous chapter, this
chapter 11, where the apostle has stated that faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,
for by it the elders obtained a good report. And he has gone
down through and enumerated this great list of individuals who
have testified and witnessed to the presence of faith in their
lives down through the ages. From Abel, who offered a more
excellent sacrifice of blood, to dear Rahab, to whom the covenant
of peace was applied, and the litany of witnesses that we have
seen in this chapter who bore testimony to God's faithfulness
to them in the Lord Jesus Christ. These men and women never saw
the Lord Jesus Christ with their physical eyes, but they looked
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. They looked unto
him just as much as we do look unto him. And Enoch, who walked
with God, and Noah, that preacher of righteousness, and Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Moses' parents, and Joseph,
and all the faithful of the children of Israel who crossed the Red
Sea, they evidenced trust in God. They showed faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. They had hope in the sufficiency
of the grace and the goodness and the promises of God that
he would deliver those things which he had said. And if these witnesses were not
enough, The writer to the Hebrews goes on to list countless more
in confirmation of the principle that he is establishing here. So let us read on a few more
verses in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, and look
at verse 32. And what shall I more say? It's almost as if the writer
is running out of time here. He's endeavouring to make a point
and to give all of these examples. And he says, do you want more?
Do you want more? Do I need to give you more examples
than these that I have brought forward in proof of the statement
that I've made? What shall I more say? For the
time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of
Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the
prophets. 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. Women received
their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted. tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, and these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect. Let us just dwell briefly for
a few moments upon some of the names that are mentioned here
in this history of faithful men and women. Gideon is mentioned
and perhaps you will remember the story of Gideon. Gideon was
a man who laid a fleece before the Lord and he was looking for
it to be wet when the ground was dry or dry when the ground
was wet. But he used that in order to
find the Lord's will for him in his service of God. And he laid out this fleece and
then with 300 men, divided into three companies of 100, strategically
placed around the camp of the Midianites, They carried torches
and they carried horns and they routed an army in excess of a
hundred thousand people. Judges chapter 7 verse 18 says,
Gideon speaking to his troops. It's lovely when you see these
Hollywood movies, isn't it? I don't know, Mel Gibson rides
up in front of his troops and he says, Sons of Scotland, I
am William Wallace. And it's always a good thing
if a general can give his troops a rallying call just before they
go into battle. Well, Gideon had to give quite
a rallying call to his 300 troops as they stood and looked at the
camp of a hundred, I think it's around 115,000, whatever the
figure is. Anyway, can you imagine seeing
the tents of those people stretched out before you? And in Judges 7, verse 18, he
says, When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, that's
my hundred, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of
all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Well, that was his rallying talk
to his soldiers, to his troops. And the rest is history, as they
say, because the Lord caused a confusion to fall upon the
soldiers of the Midianites. They woke out of their sleep.
They suddenly felt as if they were being attacked by an innumerable
force. And they drew their swords and
they slew one another. There's an interesting little
phrase, that statement that Gideon made there, he said, the sword
of the Lord and of Gideon. There's an interesting little
phrase in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse seven, and it says
this, awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the
man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the
shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and I will turn
mine hand upon the little ones. Let me tell you what I think
the significance of these two references to the sword of the
Lord is. The first one speaks to us of
the fact that in his judicial capacity, Gideon was rendering
judgment upon the nation of the Midianites. Now look, 100,000 souls perished that night. More
than 100,000 souls perished that night. We take no pleasure in that. But justice will be done. Justice
will be done in this world. And if men and women will have
nothing to do with God, if men and women... I come driving along
the road here just to come into the church and every time I come
off 9th and come along here to park up, there's a little car
sits in the corner of the road and it's got a sticker on the
back of it and I see it every time. I don't want to close my
eyes when I'm driving along there, so I'm bound to see it, I guess.
And it says, Dog is my co-driver. Okay, now see somebody's, somebody's
taking the mickey there. Because some smart person decided
to put a sticker on their car which says, God is my co-driver. And some perverted notion decided
to twist that around a little bit and say, dog is my co-driver. And there's something amusing
in that perhaps. Well, I certainly noticed it.
But the attitude of man, and I would be equally as judgmental
perhaps as the idea of God as my co-driver, because what a
flippant thing to say. But then to take that and to
twist it around in such a statement of mockery, someday, and I thought
about this as I passed it today, someday that person is going
to stand before a holy God and all of their preconceptions and
all of the things that they thought were amusing and all the things
that they thought were clever and wise and are going to just
fall away. and God in His holiness, and
God in His purity, and God in His majesty is going to demand
of every man and every woman, what did you do with my son,
the Lord Jesus Christ? What did you do with him? And 100,000 men died in an instant,
in one night, in one watch. And that's what that judgment
was about. The sword of the Lord was unsheathed. So what does it mean then when
Zechariah says, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd and against
the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Well, it means
this, that for those who are the Lord's sheep, That judgment
has been taken out already upon the shepherd of the flock. That judgment has already been
enacted. That sword has been unsheathed. That just righteousness has been
satisfied in the soul of Jesus Christ. We sometimes talk about
the sword of God's righteousness being put into Christ. Well, that's where that image
comes from. Zechariah chapter 13 verse 7,
a Waco sword against my shepherd. Barak was another fighter in
the armies of the Lord. He fought against the Canaanites
and he rallied to the call of Deborah And though he was weak
and it seems that both he was in a sense weak as an individual
and also weak as a commander with respect to his army, nevertheless
he was enabled by God through faith. to overcome a much superior
army of greater strength. The enemies of the children of
Israel fell before the army of Barak. Samson, he taunted the Philistines
and he brought judgment upon the enemies of the people of
God. I think the story of Samson is
a lovely picture of the Lord Jesus. Samson was a Nazarite. and he did not take strong drink
and he did not have his hair cut and he was, right from his
earliest days, separated, set apart, which is what the word
Nazarite means. It's a separated one, separated
from the womb to deliver God's people. And you remember the
story, we spoke about it a few weeks ago, how Samson was a child
of promise. He was promised to Manoah and
his wife. Isaac was a child of promise
and Samson was a child of promise. He was promised to Manoah and
his wife and he would be a Nazarite from birth. because he would
be set apart by God as a judge to bring about the destruction
of the enemies of his people. And there's a beautiful picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ there, because that is also what the
Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross. As it were, as he went
to battle for his people, as he secured the victory over the
enemies of his people, when he answered all of the demands against
his people, the Lord Jesus Christ was victorious for us. And therefore, that's why he
was called a Nazarene. It's the same word. Samson was
a Nazirite. The Lord Jesus Christ, though
he was born in Bethlehem, he lived in Nazareth and he was
called the Nazirite. And it's a picture, he's the
antitype of the type which was Samson and thereby he proved
himself to be that one foreshadowed prophetically in the life of
Samson. who would fulfil the deliverance
of his people. Jephthah. Now here's a name that
you didn't expect to find in Hebrews chapter 11. Jephthah. Jephthah made a vow to God that
upon success of his battle, he would deliver up as a sacrifice
the first living thing to meet him after his victory. Maybe he thought it was going
to be his dog. It was his daughter. And we can read about that in
Judges chapter 11. And it's a strange story. And you need to read it, and
you need to read it thoughtfully, and you need to read it reflectively.
But here's the principle that we have from it, and we can speak
about that on another occasion if you would like to do that.
But he made a vow to God, and he satisfied that vow. He carried
that vow out. Now, Chris and I have had a conversation
about this in the past. I would suggest to you, and come
back at me if you would like, that it doesn't actually tell
us in scripture that he slew his daughter. And I think that
there's another way of interpreting this passage. But the point is
this, that he was faithful to his vow. He was faithful to his
prophet. And we can, at the very least,
say this. that the writer to the Hebrews
commended him because he did this in faith. You know what? Your life isn't going to be nice
and easy and without its trouble and without its problems. And
you're going to be compromised and you're going to feel inadequate.
And there are going to be times when you just can't do right
for doing wrong. But we act in faith. And it's
our faith. It's our faith in Christ, Christ
who is the author and finisher of that faith, which recommends
us to God. Not your good and not your bad, but your faith. And Jeff Thigh is here commended
for his faith amongst a catalogue of the greatest people in the
Old Testament scriptures. Jephthah was amongst them. And
David, David's next, who fought against Goliath, an armed giant. And he took with him a sling
and a stone. And again, David is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ who stands against that strong man
armed, who entered into his house, who came as our captain, as our
leader, as our representative, and he entered into flesh. flesh
that was corrupted by the fall, flesh that was weak, and flesh
that was inadequate. And the Lord Jesus Christ took
upon Himself our flesh, and as the perfect Son of God, He entered
into this world. He faced our foe in a way that
we never could. That God-man, who knew no sin,
and yet carried this fallen flesh. He did battle on our behalf.
He stood against Satan and he bound the strong man and he spoiled
his goods and he won for us the victory. And Samuel, Samuel perhaps
nominated here amongst the prophets speaking of all the prophets,
faithful in their own day to deliver the word of God to an
often perverse people in Israel, and yet witnesses every one to
the Lord Jesus Christ, to his coming and his redemption. Why was it important to follow
the Lord? Why was it important to be the
people of God? Why was it important to be those
who waited upon the promises of God? Because someone was coming. Someone was coming who would
change the world. Someone was coming who would
open the door. Someone was coming who would
give us a way back to God. And despite all of our weakness
and all of our sin and all of the judgment which is upon us
rightly and properly at the hand of a holy God, that one would
deliver his people from their sins. Isaiah chapter nine, verse six.
says this, it wasn't Samuel, it was Isaiah who wrote it, but
it was one of the prophets of whom Samuel is the figurehead. Here's what Isaiah said, for
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder. and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. Beautiful verses, shame on us
if we only ever read them at Christmas time. See the way the
world deals with the scriptures, puts it into a little compartment,
locks it up for 364 days. Beautiful, beautiful words, speaking
to us of the Lord Jesus Christ prophesied so long ago, understood
by the men and women of faith as the one to whom they should
look forward. But, but, let's look at these
verses at the end of the chapter. Look at 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, waxed valiant in
fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, and women received
their dead raised to life again. Here we see victory. Here we
see victory manifested in the lives of these heroes that have
been enumerated to us, listed before us. The women that received their
dead raised to life again were like the Shunammite whose son
died and whom Elisha raised to life again. This is the history
of the Old Testament. but it's not all a history of
victory because the verses that follow tell us something of the
cost that is also to be borne by those who are people of faith.
These all that we have mentioned, perhaps we could say even in
the last three weeks, right from the very beginning, right from
the testimony of Abel, they all exhibited faith and they all
overcame great odds in securing victory and demonstrating the
power of God in their lives. And yet there is another witness
to faith. And there are other souls that
ought not to be forgotten and ought not to be neglected. These ones are not named. I wonder
why they're not named. I'll tell you why they're not
named, because nobody knows their names. Nobody knows their names. These are the multitudes who
suffered and died. These are the ones who were brutalised
and hurt. These are the people that we
don't know who they were, because some smart guy with power, with
a sword, with the government's authority, simply dispatched
them and said, you're not worth the breath that you breathe. and left them as dead and left
them abandoned and left them ruined and spoiled and grieving. What does the scripture say about
these that are not worth the breath that they breathe? The
scripture says that the world wasn't worthy of them. We have spoken about the author
and the finisher of our faith. And we've seen the victory that
was achieved by many in this catalogue of faithful men and
women. But this list would not be complete,
except we are reminded of those whose faith led them into hardship
and led them into suffering. A little verse in Philippians
1, verse 29, And it's something that I think
we all ought to remember. It says this, for unto you it
is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
also to suffer for his sake. If faith is given to you, that's
faith to believe in him. For unto you is given in the
behalf of Christ, for Christ's sake, not only to believe in
him, but also to suffer for his sake. And these two aspects,
these two elements, need always to be recognised and held together. Those who believe in Christ,
those who have faith in Christ, will suffer for his sake. we will enter into the promises
of God through much tribulation. There have been many who have
suffered for the sake of Christ. They've been tortured for the
Lord Jesus Christ's sake, mocked, scourged, bound and imprisoned,
stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain
with the sword. And what is said of one applies
to all of these who suffered in this way. They didn't accept
deliverance. that they might obtain a better
resurrection. They faced down their foes as
it were they opened their breasts to the sword because the cost
of naught would have been denying their saviour whom they love. and for the promise of a better
resurrection, they did not accept deliverance at the hands of their
persecutors. A better resurrection. Do you
know that in a day to come, all men and women that have ever
lived will be raised and caused to stand before the great white
throne of God? There will be a resurrection
that everyone participates in, but there will be a resurrection
to separation and damnation, and there will be a better resurrection,
a better resurrection than that, a resurrection to everlasting
life and joy and peace and satisfaction and fulfilment in the presence
of our dear Saviour. And that is the better resurrection
that these people suffered and died for. Would you prefer to be a Gideon victorious in life against great
odds, or a tortured, mocked, imprisoned, and slain nobody
who's anonymous, who's forgotten in time, but of whom the Holy Spirit says,
the world was not worthy. You are precious. You are precious
to the Lord Jesus Christ. In your sufferings, you are precious
to him. And while their names are long
ago lost and forgotten in time and in history, and the tears
that they shed will never be noticed, never marked down in
a history book, never recorded in some soldier's notebook, never
given any prominence, any place, any prestige, just another one
of those Christians that were better off the face of the earth
than we're pleased to be without them. Yes, we can admire and aspire
to be a hero of the faith, but the faithful, they mostly
suffer. Mostly that's what they do. They
wandered about in sheepskins, goatskins. They were destitute,
they were afflicted and they were tormented. We have no idea what suffering
is. they elect have endured in this
world. We have no idea what suffering
they have endured. And their foes have ravished
them, ruined them, separated them from their loved ones, murdered
them in their very presence, and the viciousness and the brutality
and the cruelty that was inflicted upon them is beyond comprehension. The loss and the tears, the hurt
and the grief, that which they experienced and that which they
endured, and these are the Lord's people. These are Christ's people. These are the cherished of his
heart. These are they whom he loves. And they were destroyed at the
hands of an enemy that I dare say invariably thought they were
doing the will of God when they took their lives and they caused
them hurt. From Saul of Tarsus, to Islam,
to Roman Catholicism, and Anglicans, and Presbyterians, and Puritans,
and Protestants, there has been so much damage done to that little
flock that it's almost beyond our comprehension. And many of
the Lord's little ones have gone to eternity to the jeers of their
foes and the callous disregard of their enemies, fulfilling
the Lord's own parable of the unjust judges in this world. Luke chapter 18, verse seven,
we read these words. Shall not God avenge his own
elect? Oh yes, he will. All those little
ones, all those hurt ones, all those that went fast into the
presence of Christ at the hands of their enemies, they will be
avenged. They will be avenged. Shall not God avenge his own
elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long
with them? Christ's words, these are Christ's
words. I tell you that he will avenge
them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth. Something beautiful about this
little parable that the Lord spoke here. He was saying about
these people, these that we've read about, the last few verses
of Hebrews chapter 11, he was saying, well, they will be avenged.
Yeah, you see, faith isn't unnoticed. The whereabouts and circumstances,
the situation of the elect doesn't go unnoticed and unattended by
God. And he will do right. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, will he find faith upon the earth? See, that question's
for you. And that question's for me. Because
we're on the earth when we read these words. So here's the promise, yes, God
will avenge his people. But what about you? Will you
believe? Will you exercise faith? Do you
exercise faith? Do you see yourselves in the
context of this people who are the Lords? And maybe you're not
a Gideon, and maybe you're not an Abraham, and maybe you're
not one of these heroes of the faith. Maybe you're one of those. Sheepskins and goatskins, you
know, nowadays we probably cherish having a sheepskin coat. But
in these days, they were destitute, afflicted, and tormented that
wore such garments. So here's a question to challenge
us all. I'm sure that when the Lord Jesus,
I am sure that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, he will
find plenty of religion in the world. But will he find faith? I'm sure he'll find plenty of
good works. Plenty of people who are out
doing good and helping their neighbour. But will he find faith? He'll find plenty of self-satisfied,
self-righteous, legal obedience in this world. But will he find
faith? And that's what the Lord wants
to know. That's what he wants to know. The implication of his statement
is that it will be very rare. It will be very rare. Hebrews 11 verse 39 says this,
and these all, all these faithful witnesses, having obtained a
good report through faith, received not the promise, that means that
they did not yet see Christ, whom they looked to and waited
for. God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
What is this better thing that we have? What did they not have that we
do have? What is that better thing that
we have? it's Christ manifest in the flesh.
They never got to see Christ manifest in the flesh. They lived
and died by faith. Some of them exhibiting faith
for the accomplishment of great feats. Others, others who wouldn't allow themselves
to reject their Lord, even if it was to be as a way of escape
for their life in this world. They waited and they watched
and they suffered and they died without receiving that manifestation,
that tangible evidence of their hope in this world. And yet the promise was sure. And those saints that we've read
about in Hebrews chapter 11, those saints of a day gone by
are perfectly justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are absolutely
holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are saved to the uttermost
in the Lord Jesus Christ. but the complete manifestation
of the body of Christ. We who are the children of faith,
we who are the children of Abraham, the church, the body of Christ,
they could not be made complete, justified as they were, holy
as they are. They could not be made perfect. They could not be brought to
completion without us. We have to be added to their
number. We who have seen the manifestation of the glory of
God here upon earth. You and me. The history of faith is not yet
at an end. We've come to the end of Hebrews,
but the history of faith is not yet at an end. It is not yet
complete because the last of the elect has not yet been called. The gospel applied by the power
of the Holy Spirit has not yet reached that last individual. Because when it does, this will
all be over. And we, as the body of Christ,
will be translated into the presence of our bridegroom. there to dwell
with him forever. Soon, soon it will be complete. So is the Lord going to find
faith upon the earth when he comes? Yes, he will. For his body will still be here. His church will still be here.
My life My life is as far away from Gideon's life or Moses or
even perhaps one of those weeping widows of past days. My life
is as far away from that as is possibly imaginable. Could any
of these people be it in the wilderness, at that burning bush,
or somewhere in the battles of the Lord's people against his
enemies, or terrified in some hole in the ground, huddling
away, trying to protect her little infant in the midst of the cold
from those ravenous beasts that were out to kill her and her
baby. Could she possibly have imagined what my life is like
in this day and age, right here, right now? 2019. And perhaps I shall not encounter
the persecution of those martyrs of days past. But when the Son
of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth. I tell you this, if he does,
it will only be by grace. It will only be such faith as
was authored by him and finished by him. And it will only be because
our faithful saviour says of us, I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren. Amen.