Faith that Suffers and Conquers

Our scripture reading is from the New Testament, from Hebrews chapter 11, verses 32 to 40.

Hebrews 11:32–40

! And at the very beginning you're going to see in Hebrews 11, verse 32, that the author's going to say,

Hebrews 11:32

! 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

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

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.