Our scripture reading is from the New Testament, from Hebrews chapter 11, verses 32 to 40.
! And at the very beginning you're going to see in Hebrews 11, verse 32, that the author's going to say,
! And remember that Hebrews is a sermon, and so he's saying something like, do we have enough time to talk
about all these great people here? And so that's what he's saying to us as we begin this reading.
So let's read together, Hebrews 11, 32 to 40.
Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release
so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging,
and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the
sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world
was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
This is God's holy word.
Well, it's lovely to see you all this evening as we come to the end of our chapter that we've been
working through for a couple of months. The end of the chapter, not quite the end of our series,
because David's going to just borrow the first few words, the first few verses from chapter 12
next week as he rounds off our series. But what have we been looking at throughout the past few weeks
as we've been going through Hebrews chapter 11? Well, we've started off by thinking about
these Old Testament heroes of the faith who were commended by God for their faith, for their trust in him,
how they lived their lives that way. And the writer's taken us chronologically. He's taken us right from
the beginning of the Bible. He begins talking about Cain and Abel, the sons of the first man and woman.
And then we move to Enoch. Enoch was, you'll remember if you were here, taken by God, not seeing death,
taken up. We moved on to Noah. And Noah, of course, followed God and he was saved from the mighty flood
that took away the world along with his family. We saw that we moved then on to Abraham. Abraham,
to whom was made incredible promises to him personally, and that through Abraham and through his seed,
the whole world was going to be blessed. We moved through Abraham and his wife, Sarah, to his son,
Isaac. And you'll recall, God tested Abraham's faith. And we moved on to his grandson, Jacob,
and then his son, Joseph, who was taken as a slave into Egypt. And he rose up, didn't he, Joseph, with God's help.
And then we're in Egypt. And we thought about Moses, who led God's people back out of Egypt,
out of slavery. God took them out and to the edge of another land. And then we thought about
the Israelites taking the city of Jericho as they looked for a city of their own, and how
a prostitute called Rahab was saved because she put her faith in God. An extraordinary tale, a family
saga that spans many generations. But you'll notice that this family is not a family of blood. There's
some other people in there who are not direct lineage of Adam or Abraham or others. So this isn't a family
based on who you're born to. This is a family based on who your faith is in. Now, the writer of Hebrews 11
writes by faith 19 times. And he's used by faith every time he's introduced a new historic figure or
introduced the things that they became known for, renowned for. And that's really important because
none of these people achieved these things that they achieved on their own strength in and of themselves.
They were able to accomplish any of these things because they lived by faith. They lived the way
that they lived. They did the things that they did because they had faith in the promises that God made
to them. So the writer to the Hebrews is saying to his audience the same thing that he's saying to us
tonight. He's saying, I know you've had trials. I know it's difficult. I know that following Jesus is
not always easy. But look how these amazing heroes of the path kept their faith in God despite the
things that they went through. The good things that they went through, the hard things that they went
through. Look at what they did and look forward to the fulfillment of what God has promised. So that's a
recap of how we've got to where we are tonight. Tonight we're going to look at that short passage
that Corey read, verses 32 to 40. And I think it divides nicely, for my purposes at least tonight,
into three parts. So first of all, we're going to think about the good things that living by faith
accomplished. And then we'll see the bad things that living by faith allows people to endure.
And then we'll read about the perfect reality Christians living by faith look forward to.
The good, the bad, and the perfect. Okay, let's start with the good. The good living by faith
accomplished. So as Corey already said, the writer begins with, what more can I say? If you've ever
been to like more than one church sermon, the minister's probably said, the preacher's probably said,
I can't fit all of this in. I'd love to say more about this. I just can't say it all.
And the writer to the Hebrews is saying the same thing. He's not saying I've run out of material.
These are all the guys that did really well, all the people that live by faith. And I don't know what
else to say. He's saying, I couldn't possibly fill the pages that I have because of the amount
of incredible things that God did through people who lived by faith. So instead, what he does is he
skips from giving us brief stories about the individuals to giving us a list. And he lists
names Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel. And then he uses a collective term prophets,
which encompasses another whole group of people. And he doesn't explain who these individuals are.
These are household names. Everyone knows. Everyone he's writing to, they know who these people are.
They don't need an introduction. Maybe for us, Gideon was called by God. And he went into his town
and he tore down an altar and an idol that was made to the false God. And then later on, maybe you'll
remember if you've read in the book of Judges, God gives him an army of only 300 men. And he wins an
incredible battle against 135,000. And then Samson, or Barak, sorry, was next. And he obeyed God's
command when he was told to go and attack the mighty Canaanite army. And then Samson is the guy,
maybe we know, he had incredible strength. He killed a thousand people who were oppressing his own people.
He didn't even have any proper weapons. He just used whatever he had to hand. And then even at the end
of his life, he relied on God to give him his strength. And he brought down a whole bunch of
other enemies as he was dying. And then Jephthah, he was a mighty warrior. He won a great victory over
another group of people, the Ammonites. And his victory was so impressive that he destroyed,
or he had victory over 20 villages and towns and cities. David's probably the best known of all.
He was the king of Israel. He famously killed a giant. He led the people to many great victories and
many great things. And then Samuel the prophet, he offered the people the words of God, offered great
wisdom to Israel as they lived before God. These icons of the Old Testament, they all achieved
spectacular things, supernatural victories in some cases. But the message, as we've already touched on,
is not, look at how great these guys are. You should try and train like Samson did. You should
study like Samuel did. The real message is, look how powerful living by faith is.
Because when we scratch a little bit further beneath the surface of each of these individuals,
and the stories are all there for us in the Bible to look at, we see that these are not
perfect people. They've not got super faith. When we make Gideon, he's hiding
from his enemies. And he asks God over and over again, God, are you really going to do this? Are you
really going to do this? Are you really going to do this? Are you really going to do this? He's
uncertain that God's going to come through for him. And then at the end, he ends up taking,
making a kind of apron thing out of gold, which is used to worship false gods. And then if you look
at Barak, so he went into battle. Yes, he did. But he would only go if the powerful prophetess Deborah
would go with him. He had trusted the prophetess that he could see with his eyes more than he trusted
in God. And Samson, we maybe know, did many things. He was a Nazarite people who made special vows to
God about the way that they were going to live. And he broke those vows. And he loved to show off
his strength. He chased after women. Jephthah bargained with God. And it was tragic. He made a deal. He
made a vow, a rash vow that ended up in the sacrifice of his own daughter, tragically. And we
know David had an affair with a married woman. And not only that, but he then sent her husband right
into the front of the battle, into the heat of the battle. And he told the captain of his army to
withdraw so that this guy was definitely going to be killed. And then Samuel's flaws maybe don't seem so
obvious. But when we read about his sons who were greedy and they were selfish, they were happy to
take bribes. And he still made them judges, governors over the people. It's not to run these men down.
I'm not trying to say that these guys are not as good as we think they are. It's to demonstrate
that it wasn't because of who they are that they were able to do what they did. And verse 33 of our
passage explains it for us. It says, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. So because we've
worked our way through the whole chapter, we realize that the most important words in that couple of
verses is not conquering kingdoms or enforcing justice. The most important words are through faith.
These heroes are only heroes because God worked his mighty deeds through them, because they lived
with faith. They lived by faith in God's promises. And I hope that's an encouragement for us as we sit
here tonight. Because God's not asking us to be superheroes. He's not asking us to emulate super
saints who had super faith. These were flawed people who merely trusted in God. And that means that
no matter how strong you feel, no matter how weak you feel, God wants you to put your trust in him.
It means you can put your trust in God, no matter what your current circumstances are.
Despite your fears, despite your weaknesses, despite your temptation to walk away from following after
God, to take an easier path when things get hard. You're unlikely to face a lion on the royal mile
when we get out of church tonight, or expect to take up your sword when you go to work tomorrow.
But living by faith is still the way Christians are to live today. Because living by faith is how God's
kingdom breaks into the world. So it's not your own strength that's going to allow you to go into the office
tomorrow and refuse to inflate the price of a job because it would make you look better to your boss.
Or it's not your own righteousness that's going to help you shut down gossip between colleagues.
Or keep quiet when you hear Christians talking badly about other people in ways that's unfair.
It's not because you're exceptionally selfless that you give money to charity when you can think of a
hundred ways that you could use that money yourself. No, it's because you trust in Jesus. You're enabled
to live by faith. Of course, non-Christians do these things too. Lots of non-Christians do incredible good
things. But history shows us that disproportionately Christians do good in the world.
for the sake of others. Faith trusts in things that are unseen. But its effects are seen in the world
all around us, in the lives of people who live by faith. So we get to verse 35. 35 of our passage is a bit
of a hinge section, I think. And it hinges on resurrection from the dead. 35 says,
women received back their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release
in order that they may attain a better resurrection.
The resurrection is spoken about twice here. And I think that when the writer is talking about women
receiving back their dead, we can think about a couple of occasions in the Old Testament
where God's prophets were enabled to bring young men back from the dead after they had died.
And you can read about those 1 Kings, 2 Kings. But there's a New Testament scholar called Douglas
Moo. And he says that we can think about these resurrections, young men who died and were brought
back to life. More like resuscitations. Because they were brought back to life. And that power was
supernatural from God. But these young men are going to die again. When the Hebrews writer talks about a
better resurrection, the second time he says resurrection, he's talking about a resurrection
that will never end. An ultimate resurrection. Being raised from a life that will be eternal.
To a life that will be eternal.
The bad. So the bad things that living by faith enables Christians to endure.
I think Christians are just like everybody else. We sometimes look back. At times gone by and we say,
weren't things better then? Ah, the good old days. Everything was easier. If only I lived then instead
of now, I'd be a better person than I am. And after all the great names that he's just gone through,
maybe the Hebrews are tempted to think the same thing. Maybe they think things were just better
the way that they were. The way that they were. The way that they once were. And the writer here stops
them from looking back misty-eyed and pining for a better day. Past glories. And he reminds them that
while the historic church, the great heroes of the faith, are famous names for living by faith,
and they achieved great things, it's also full of suffering.
Verse 36 says,
others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned. They were sawn in two.
They were killed with a sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats,
destitute, afflicted, mistreated.
And there's lots of real examples of these things happening in the Old Testament. But what more can
I say? I don't have time to pick them all out tonight. But what we see here is a stark reminder
that living by faith does not mean avoiding suffering. Living by faith means enduring suffering.
In chapter 10, the one before this, the writer to the Hebrews has already acknowledged that he knows
that these people have endured hard times. He says,
there wasn't a good old days when Christians lived in a paradise on earth, when everything was worked out,
when they just had to say a prayer and God would make everything happen. In chapter 10, he says
that he knows they had been publicly
reproached and afflicted.
Some of them had been mistreated,
seen their friends mistreated, some were put in prison,
and they accepted their property
being taken away.
But he's reminding them that this is the case.
This has always been the way.
This is the way
in the Old Testament. This is the way for the Hebrews.
This is the way for us.
We're not to live
expecting to be given and given and given everything that we need in order to make our life smooth and gentle and easy.
These people that he references did not have health or wealth.
They were dressed in animal skins.
They're not walking about in fur coats.
They're living in abject poverty.
And unlike the names which introduced the amazing winds
in verses 32 to 34,
the summary of these sufferings,
which is in 35 to 38,
it doesn't include any names at all.
We can find these things
applying to people in the Bible.
But the anonymity, I think,
it shows that while living by faith
is for the most famous people
in Bible history,
it's also
for the exact opposite category.
the suffering,
the afflicted,
the mistreated,
the homeless wanderers,
the people
on their own,
without a home,
complete unknown.
These people,
the complete unknowns,
are to live in exactly the same way
as the most famous names in the Bible.
They're to live by faith.
And this is also reassuring for us
because most of us
are not famous.
many of us
are not going to be.
But we're all sufferers.
We've all
either come through suffering,
living through suffering,
or you're going to suffer.
And to be able to endure that,
we need to live by faith
in God's promises.
So,
if you're here tonight
and you're sick,
or if you're here tonight
and you're
feeling low
about your living situation,
or your relationship status,
or you feel embarrassed
about losing your job,
well,
know this,
that in this world,
living by faith
does sometimes look like losing.
Sometimes living by faith
feels like we're losing.
Sometimes in the eyes of the world,
living by faith is losing.
But know too,
that worldly riches
or success
are not a reflection
of your faith.
true faith
holds on
in suffering.
True faith
that holds on
in suffering
is a guarantee
that something much better
is coming.
Something
that won't fade away.
Something that lasts forever.
Verse 38,
the writer says,
of whom the world
was not worthy.
He's talking about
these suffering people.
And he says,
in the eyes of the world,
these poor souls
wandering around
dressed in primitive
animal skins
in the wilderness
among the animals
with nothing to offer.
They're poor,
they're destitute,
they're mistreated
because they were believed
to be worthless.
But the Hebrews writer
is spinning this round
180 degrees.
Worthy,
he says.
It's the world
that wasn't worthy of them.
Because these people
were looking forward
to something far greater,
far better
than even the greatest
comforts
and riches
and powers
and pleasures
of the world.
Okay, thirdly,
and finally for tonight,
the perfect.
The perfect reality
Christians living by faith
look forward to.
So in verse 39,
the writer frames
this whole section
of his letter
that's filled with examples
of what it means
to live by faith.
He frames it
with the idea
of being commended
for faith.
So we can see that
in verse 2
at the very top
of our chapter
and then we see it again
here in verse 39.
He says,
and all these
being commended
through faith.
And then he's commending
them at the beginning,
he's commending them
at the end.
And in between
the 30 verses or so,
he's established
that the life of faith
is a life of ups
and it's a life of downs.
It's a life of triumphs
and it's a life
of sufferings.
And that living
through faith,
we cannot,
we do not become
puffed up
by our achievements
because it's not
through our own strength
that we've achieved anything.
But we don't give up
in our sufferings
because it's
by faith
that we can endure
the things
that we're going through.
Despite our own weaknesses,
we hold on
to the God
who always keeps
his promises.
But then look
at the second half
of verse 39
and it says,
and all these
though commended
for their faith
did not receive
what was promised.
And this is a repeated
statement from verse 13
so we can't miss it
in this chapter.
But how can that be?
How can it be
that the good
and the suffering
who put their faith
in God's promises,
who endured
all these things,
who achieved
all these things
because they had faith
in the promises
that God made them?
How can it be
that they did not receive
the things
that were promised to them?
Well,
throughout their lives,
Abraham and Sarah
and Isaac
and Jacob
and Gideon
and Barak
and all the others,
they all suffered
and they all lived
with their eyes
fixed above,
looking to heavenly things,
looking to God
as they walked
through life.
And we know
verse 33 says,
maybe you picked it up
when you read it,
it says they did
obtain promises.
They received
the fulfillment
of some promises,
but while they were
living by looking up,
they were also
looking forwards
because the promises
that they did receive
were like a down payment
on the real promise,
the big promise,
the final promise
that was to come,
the ultimate promise.
Right back
in the beginning,
the beginning of the world,
in the garden,
Adam and Eve,
they sinned
and they broke
the special relationship
they had with God
and the punishment
that they deserved
was death.
But despite
mankind
sinning against God
so grievously,
God wasn't going
to leave them to die.
He put them
out of the garden
to wander.
He dressed them
in animal skins.
Sounds familiar
to the passage
that we're in tonight.
But God made a promise
and he said
that one day
the seed of the man
was going to come
and he was going to
crush the serpent
who tempted Adam and Eve
to sin against God.
And then we jump
forward a few generations
to Abraham
and again God
makes promises
and he says
he's going to bless Abraham
but he also says
the whole world
is going to be blessed
through his seed,
through his offspring.
So it's with those promises
in mind
that the whole world
is going to be blessed
that we arrive
at verse 40.
God hasn't yet fulfilled
his promises
to them,
to the great heroes
of old
and the great sufferers
of old
when they died
because there's blessing
still to come
that they were
looking forward to.
verse 40 says
God has provided
something better
for us.
And it's a sudden switch
of talking about them
to now talking about them
and us together,
all of us
in one.
He's saying
all the Old Testament saints
and on the Hebrew
believers,
every saint
of the church
they're going to receive
blessing together
because the serpent crusher
from Adam
and the blessed seed
of Abraham
is the same one
who's going to
ultimately fulfill
all of God's promises
for them
and for us.
And this is Jesus,
God's own son
who came to save
his people,
past,
present
and future
all believers
across all ages
saved
by the saving work
of God,
of Jesus
on the cross.
And Jesus
is the better thing
that's been provided.
Verse 40 says
that apart from us
they should not
be made perfect.
And the way
that that's phrased
is interesting,
it doesn't say
that they would be
made perfect
with us,
he frames it
negatively
to give it emphasis
that they should
not be made perfect
without us.
So the patriarchs,
the Old Testament
heroes
and the Old Testament
sufferers,
they lived
by looking up
for heavenly guidance
but they also
looked forward,
looking forward
to the day
of the Christ
when the Savior
would come,
the long
expected
Messiah.
And today
we live
looking up,
we look
for heavenly guidance
from the Holy Spirit
to help us
as we walk
through our trials
and through our troubles
and to give thanks
to when we have
good things happening
in our lives
that we know
that we don't deserve
because we're better
than anybody else.
But we also
look back,
we look back
2,000 years
to the cross
when the long
expected Savior
came and lived
and died
and rose again.
they look
forward
to the arrival
of the promise
and we look
back
to the inauguration
of the fulfillment
of the ultimate
promise.
And
Reformer John Calvin
tells us how privileged
we are to be
in this situation
right now.
Compared to the people,
the old people
of faith,
we've got
incredible blessing.
He wrote,
a tiny spark
of light
led them
to heaven.
But now
that the sun
of righteousness
shines on us,
how can we have
any excuse
not to live
by faith?
They had a tiny
spark of light
and that's what
they looked forward
to.
But we've got
the sun of righteousness
to look back on.
What he has achieved
on the cross.
What a blessing
to have the account
of Christ crucified
explained
and clearly
delivered to us.
The promise
has arrived.
Christ has come.
He's fulfilled
the law,
died for the sins
of the people.
He's established
a new covenant
and he's ascended
into heaven.
While
the
Old Testament
ancestors
had to live
through their
imagination
of what the Messiah
might be,
we can read
exactly
what it was like.
We can see
the reality
on the pages
of the Bible.
So while
we live
looking up
for God's help,
we look back
on the fulfillment
of God's promises
on the cross.
But we also
look forward
because we look
forward to the day
when the promises
will be made,
as verse 40
tells us,
perfect,
fully developed,
complete.
Jesus founded
our faith.
He sits now
at the right hand
of God
in heaven
and he's coming
back.
And when he does,
he will finally
and fully complete
the promises
that have already
begun.
Every good thing
that God has
promised to his
people
will be fulfilled.
So here's the
question that we
have to ask.
At the end
of Hebrews 11,
this chapter
that spans
the Old Testament
breaks into the
new and is
pivotal for us
as we live
our lives today.
Is the invisible
realm
real to you?
Well,
you can't see it
with your eyes.
Do you believe
in what's described
in God's word?
Do you trust
God's word?
Like Abraham
and Sarah
and Isaac
and Jacob
and Gideon
and Barak
and all the
others,
they believed
that God
would send
a Savior.
They lived
as if God
was sending
a Savior.
Savior.
We live
after the
arrival of
that Savior.
We know
his name.
We can read
about his
redeeming works,
the works
that he
performed
for us.
But the
question is,
is that real
to you?
Do you know
it to be
true?
Does the
reality of
Jesus make
you strive
after the
good things
of God?
Does it
inspire you
to pursue
God?
Does it
inspire you
to live
for the
good of
the people
around you?
Because
whether things
are going
really well
right now,
or whether
you're really
suffering,
or whether
you're
somewhere
in between,
you can
look forward
to something
better,
a better
resurrection,
to a life
that will
never end,
a better
city that
God himself
has planned
and built
and perfected
for you,
a better
rest when
you'll be
free from
all the
worries and
fears and
pains and
suffering and
trials and
doubts and
troubles and
challenges that
we all live
through,
a day when
you'll come
face to face
with the
better Adam,
the better
Isaac,
the better
Jacob,
the better
Moses,
the better
Joseph,
the better
Israel,
the ultimate
hero of
faith,
Jesus Christ,
because it's
in him that
all the
promises of
God will be
fulfilled.
Let's pray.
Lord God,
we ask that
you would help
us tonight to
fix our eyes
upon Jesus,
the one who
came and
lived and
died and
has risen
again for
his people.
And Lord,
we look
forward to
the day he
will come
again to
judge the
world.
We'll
separate those
who live by
faith and
those who
don't,
not because
of the
things that
we've
achieved in
life,
but because
of the
achievements of
the one in
whom our
faith is
placed.
Help us,
Lord,
to live by
faith as we
journey through
our lives
with ups and
downs,
with wins and
losses.
Help us,
Lord,
to love one
another,
knowing that
we are all
living this
life of faith
together.
And we pray,
Lord, that you
would hear all
our prayers in
Jesus' name.
Amen.