You have your Bibles with you this morning. I encourage you and invite you to open and turn with me in them to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, we'll read verses 32 through 40 this morning as we come to the climax, as it were, of this very well-known and very glorious chapter. As you're turning there, let me just explain a little bit briefly about where I'm hoping to go in the next several weeks. I had intended to begin preaching through 2 John when I got back from vacation. But on vacation and having some time for rest and relaxation and reflection, realizing that 2020 has been a challenging and a difficult year for all of us. For churches especially and for many ministers, the political climate of our day and age and the cultural climate is less than ideal. You hear many pastors who are saying they wish they could take furloughs on election years because of all the controversy and the difficulty. And out of some of that reflection, I don't use this lightly, but I felt very impressed to offer some words of encouragement as we face this election and the uncertainty of the day and age in which we live. of being reminded who we are as the people of God and of the great encouragements that the Bible does bring forth for us as it reminds us who it is that we are and how it is that we are to conduct ourselves in the world in which we live. And so Lord willing, I have four weeks to do this little mini series on the people of God. It is a disclaimer to begin with here that much more could and should be said than we would ever have time to cover in the next four weeks. But upon prayerful reflection, I've landed on four texts that I wish to proclaim to you in these upcoming weeks, two before the election, two after the election. in order hopefully to benefit all of us and to encourage us in the Lord. And so this morning we come to Hebrews chapter 11 verses 32 through 40. And I ask as we give our attention to the reading of the Lord's Word that we do so with our utmost diligence. Thus says the Lord. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 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. 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 a 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 in 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. Thus far the reading of the Lord's Word. May he bless it to us. Please join me in prayer. Our gracious God, how we thank you for your word and that your word continues to shine as a bright lamp to enlighten our footsteps, that your word continues to strike as a two-edged sword, that every truth that it breathes out is continually and always relevant for the building up and for the edifying of your people. We acknowledge, O Lord, that in being built up in the Word that oftentimes we must have hearts of rebellion crushed, that we must have walls of rebellion torn down, that we often need wrong thoughts to be corrected. And we pray that as we come and as we look even into this text this morning and more broadly into the book of Hebrews, that you would be gracious to remind us who we are, that we are the people of God, that we are a people of faith, that through faith we are people of whom the world is not worthy. We ask that you would be with us this morning. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, in our day and age, you've probably noted that one of the greatest controversies that individuals, that institutions, that society as a whole has been facing is that of identity crises, of always wondering, who are we? What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to be? We live in a day and age where identity is not something that is easily definable. We live in a day and age where there are many people who are saying that biological identities mean nothing and that we can reconstruct ourselves in any way that we possibly desire. In our postmodern society, we've seen the rise of what has often been known as the psychological man, that the identity of individuals is the summation of their feelings or their thoughts, their dispositions, their inclinations. We live in a day and age where institutions and people, and the church included, often struggles with wondering, who are we or who are we supposed to be? That oftentimes in our day and age, one of the great capital sins of our culture is to try and box people in and to give boundaries of what identity means and what it means to be this or that. Well, the Word of God in its kindness and in its grace leaves no dispute for us in wondering who it is that we ought to be as the people of God. The Scriptures define for us in such an amorphous day and age what it means to be a Christian, what it means to bear the name of Christ. That the Bible doesn't just let us define what a Christian is by our own wishes, our own wills, or by cultural standards, but that the scriptures themselves teach us exactly who it is that we ought to be and therefore how it is that we ought to live and what we ought to do. One of the major themes of the book of Hebrews is that this preacher or this author is writing to tell this young church and these young Christians who it is that they are. That as many of these individuals have come out of pagan backgrounds, perhaps out of a corrupt and perverted Judaism, that as they're grappling with the reality of living on this side of the cross and what that means for institutional worship, what that means for the church, what that means for the social implications of it, That the preacher of Hebrews wants his congregation to be well grounded in who it is that they are and what it means to identify as a Christian. The message of Hebrews is as needed today as it was in the early church. Because the church continues to struggle with this question of who are we? And we continue to have a world and we continue to have individuals. We even continue to have people within the church that attempt to identify and define the church in ways other than the scriptures themselves teach us. That the church in many ways is caught up in this continual war of waging an identity war of trying to define who are we and what are we supposed to do. One of the great glories of this magisterial chapter of Hebrews 11 is that it cuts to the very heart of what it means to be one of God's people. Most of us are very familiar with this chapter, and you know that what it commends here is that the people of God are people of faith. that this has been true since the dawn of creation, that this will be true until the glorious day when Jesus returns, that Christians are fundamentally and that we are most basically people of faith, that it is our faith that identifies us, that it is our faith that controls us, that it is our faith that ought to characterize us. This is true regardless of where you live in the world, regardless of where you stand on the economic ladder, regardless of what ethnicity or nationality you are, regardless of your culture, regardless of your backgrounds, regardless of the political powers that are over the country, regardless of whether you're facing prosperity or poverty, that the key thing that identifies us as the people of God is that we are people of faith. And that this has been exemplified all down through the corridors of history. But Hebrews isn't content with simply saying that we are people of faith. But one of the major themes of Hebrews is that it shows us so clearly how this faith manifests itself. That is, how do we know do we have a true and lively and active faith? Are we really counted amongst the people of God? What does it mean to be a person of faith? And this morning as we take this matter up, I'm going to preach in a way that I don't think I've ever preached before, and that is to give a flyover view of the book of Hebrews and the way that Hebrews defines what it means to be a person of faith, what it means to be the people of God, what ought our lives look like. And so this morning we want to just go over the basics of the book of Hebrews and look at least three broad ways that the preacher or the author of Hebrews defines who the people of God are. There are three identity markers, if you will, that I wish to draw your attention to from this book. And the first identity marker that Hebrews speaks at great length about is that to be a person of faith, to be identified as the people of God, means that we are a wandering people. that we are a wandering people. As Hebrews characterizes the Christian, and as Hebrews characterizes the life of the Christian in this world, Hebrews does not portray the New Covenant people as living in the Promised Land. America is not the promised land. All the joys and the prosperities that we might experience pale in comparison to what lies in store for us. Hebrews does not portray us or characterize us as living our best life now in a settled and inhabitable world, but Hebrews paints for us that we are much like Israel, wandering in the wilderness of this world. Remember that as Moses went and he freed the people of Israel from Egypt, that he led them and that he brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness. And that for 40 years the Israelites wandered there in the wilderness. And as Hebrews characterizes the people of God, Hebrews puts forth this theme that the great comparison is, is that the New Covenant people, that the Church of Jesus Christ in this day and age, does not so much relate to Israel in the promised land, but Israel in the wilderness wandering years. We see this comparison all throughout Hebrews, but perhaps most explicitly in chapters 3 and 4. And in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4, what the preacher does is truly amazing, and it's wonderful as we see how he interprets scripture. And what he does throughout these two chapters is that he essentially gives an exposition of Psalm 95. And Psalm 95 itself was a psalm that reflected upon Israel's wilderness wandering and more specifically the rebellion that Israel had against God while living in the wilderness. And the whole pastoral encouragement that the preacher gives to us out of Hebrews 3 and 4 with his use of Psalm 95 is that he is admonishing us as new covenant believers that we ought to believe and we ought to behave differently than Israel did when they were in their wilderness wandering. Because as Psalm 95 reminds us, that though it opens, even as we read in our call to worship this morning with the praises and the glories of God and calls us to worship, that Psalm 95 reflects upon Israel and we see that they weren't worshiping God, but we see that they were sinning against God, that they were disobeying God, that they weren't intent on worshiping God, that they weren't believing in God. Rather, what is it that they did? And Psalm 95 reflects upon that grumbling of Israel as it's recorded in the books of Exodus and Numbers. And God comes through the mouth of the psalmist and he says, I was angry with that generation, therefore I swore in my wrath, they will not enter my rest. And what is it that characterized the grumbling of the Israelites in the wilderness? If you go back to the accounts of Exodus 17 and Numbers 20, why is it that Israel was grumbling but that they were infuriated that Moses had brought them out into the wilderness? that they had left this habitable place in Egypt where they had homes and where they had food and they had some amount of security despite the fact that they were slaves of the Egyptians. And as Moses led them out into the wilderness, the people of God under the old covenant, they complained and they grumbled and they said, why are you bringing us out here? We would rather go back to Egypt. We don't want to be in this wilderness. We don't want to be in this barren wasteland. Back in Egypt, we had all these things. We had food, and we had comfort, and we had joy, and we had delights. And you've brought us out here into this place where we're starving and where there isn't enough water. And so the people of Israel, they grumbled against God. They grumbled against Moses. They pined for the days when they were slaves in Egypt because they thought that's better than where we're currently living today. And so it's in Psalm 95 that we read their condemnation. That they didn't enter into the rest of God. That God declared that that entire generation would be wiped out. That it was their children and their children's children that would enter into the promised land. But as for these people who grumbled against God, God said they have no place in the land of Canaan. And the preacher of Hebrews uses this to admonish us. Not only that we understand ourselves in our own wilderness, but to push us to fidelity, to belief, to a proper behavior, to not follow in the path of Israel and grumbling for the things of this world. It is so easy for us as Christians, particularly in a prosperous and affluent country like America, to follow in the sin of Israel. That we long for stability. That we, like Israel, long for comfort, that we long for longevity, that we long to be able to place our roots in this world and to enjoy this world and to enjoy all the things that this world has to offer, that it is so tempting to seek the rest that God promises in this world. And yet, the strong rebuke of the preacher of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 1, is that he declares, let us fear. Let us fear lest any of you should come short and fail to reach that promised rest. What we see from the book of Hebrews is that faith makes us into a wandering people. It makes us into a people where we realize that this world is not our home. that this world cannot offer us what it is that we need, that this world is nowhere to plant our roots, that our kingdom and that our glory, that our habitation, that our rest cannot be found, contained with anything in this world or anything in this universe, but that to be a person of faith means that we patiently await a city that is coming, that we patiently await the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ when it will be revealed in that last day, that we are not settlers in this world, that we're not even vacationers who have the opportunity to take in all the sights and all the scenery and coast into eternity, but that we are pilgrims, that we are wanderers, that we are making our way through this to the celestial city through the difficulties and the journeys of this barren wasteland of this world. I often want to use illustrations from J.R.R. Tolkien. Those of you who know me know I am a Tolkien nerd to the max, and I'm pretty sure I could draw illustrations for every sermon I preach from somewhere in the corpus of Tolkien literature. I don't think in seven and a half years I've done it once, and yet Tolkien has such a helpful perspective here. Those of you who are familiar, especially with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Tolkien has these creatures called Ents. And Ents are these walking trees. And if you've seen the movies, you've seen Treebeard, right? And you've read of Treebeard. And yet, Tolkien notes that ents were designed as trees, that they were designed as shepherds of the forests of Middle-earth, and that as long as these ents continued to walk around, they continued to have life. But at one point, Treebeard laments that too many ents had become settled. And when an ent becomes settled, they become tree-ish, and they can no longer walk around, and they no longer shepherd the forest. But their roots go down into the ground, and they basically freeze up, and they become inanimate trees. Well, a very similar yet far more serious way, that is what happens to Christians. When we get too settled in this world, when we get too settled in this life, when we think that this world is our dwelling place, when we forsake the city that is to come, that we become treish, that we become stagnant, that we become stale, that we become those who simply habit the earth. So Hebrews would have us know that to be people of faith, And to be people of God means that we await a homeland. We patiently await the glory that is coming in the kingdom, that we don't look in this world for our eternal rest or for the peace that passes understanding, that we don't look for comfort and undiminished joy in anything that this world has to offer. We, by faith, look to nothing more than the promises of God and so persevere to the salvation of our souls. So as these people in Hebrews 11 were known to be people of faith, they were marked out by being these wanderers of remembering that they were pilgrims. But a second characteristic or identity marker that Hebrews speaks of is not only are we wanderers, but how is it that wanderers or pilgrims occupy themselves in our time and our stay here on Earth? How do we patiently wait for the promise and what do we do? The book of Hebrews would have us to know that our wandering isn't aimless, that our wandering isn't about being inactive and kind of just strolling around from place to place like you might think of some useless vagabond. But that faith drives us as pilgrims and as wanderers to be very active. Martin Luther once rightly noted that faith is a very busy little thing. If you think that faith prospers and flourishes and being passive and being lazy and lethargic, then you don't understand the very nature and the life of faith, that faith drives us to be active, that a life of faith is active. And another central theme of the book of Hebrews is the preacher is attempting to remind these people coming out of Judaism or out of paganism and heathenism of what they are, is that he says another thing that defines the people of God is that we are worshippers. You already know as well as I do that the basic structure of the book of Hebrews is that Hebrews exalts Christ over all things. That the preacher of Hebrews, perhaps in more sublimity than any other book of the Bible and the New Testament, that he shows the glory and the exaltation of Christ. And he opens there in chapter one and he says, you think angels are glorious and majestic? Christ far transcends all angels and principalities and powers. You think that the priests who served in the tabernacle and the temple are glorious? Christ is even a greater priest. He's even a greater priest than that of Melchizedek. You think that the old covenant was filled with life and with richness and with glory? The new covenant that Jesus brings is far exceeding the old covenant that everything about Christ in the book of Hebrews resounds with this idea that He is exalted, that He is great, that He is magnified over all things. And why is it that the book of Hebrews demonstrates to us the unsurpassable worth of Jesus Christ? It's because Hebrews reminds us that our response to the exaltation of Christ is that Christ might be worshipped. That Christ might be worshipped. From a biblical perspective, worship entails at least two components. That is, first, to worship Christ means that our affections are set upon Christ and upon the things of Christ, that we love Christ, that we cherish Christ, that we esteem Christ in our hearts and in our minds, that our affections go out towards Him. And that is one part of worship. We think of those terms where even Hebrew speaks of it, right? That you fall prostrate before somebody and you stand in awe of their majesty and of their glory and it's affecting your heart and your mind and your soul. The first component of biblical worship and of what Christ deserves is that he deserves all of our affections, all of our allegiance, all of our love. Another component of biblical worship is not only our affections to be influenced by Christ, but so are our actions. That we are to serve Christ with everything that we have and with all that we are. The worship from a biblical perspective must include these two ingredients or components, affections and actions. I think you know as well as I do that there are many Christians who proclaim to have an affection for Jesus Christ but don't serve Him with their actions. And just as lamentable, there are those who seem to busy themselves in all their activity in serving Christ, but really have no affection for Christ. And they do it out of guilt, or they do it because, hey, this is what we're supposed to do. And it doesn't affect their mind or their heart. And the Bible and the book of Hebrews holds both of these out. And it says, if Christ is as glorious as he has been revealed to be, then he deserves your affections and he deserves all of your actions. and how this confronts us and challenges us in the day and age in which we live. Because even as Doug reminded us this morning from the great writings of John Kelvin, our hearts are perpetual factories of idols. That we love to worship the things of this world, that we love to give the toys and the trinkets and the pleasures of this world, our affections, we love to serve those things in this world. The world worships and the world worships wonderfully well things like entertainment and politicians and the media and sex and culture and prestige and wealth and honor and all of these things. And Hebrews reminds us Christ is greater than all of these things. There is nothing in this entire universe that can hold even a flickering flame compared to the brightness of the glory of Christ. And so it's not these things of the world that your affections are to go after. It's not the pleasures of this world that you are to work for and that you are to serve for. But it is Christ. That in all that you do, you are to love and to esteem and worship Christ. Even as he opens Hebrews chapter 1 and he reminds us there. God at various times and various ways spoke to the fathers in the past. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed the heir of all things, who, after making purifications for sin, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having received such a great name, a name that is above every name. And then what does the writer of Hebrews say? Even the angels worship. even these glorious celestial beings that we would be marveled by and dazzled to behold, that we would be tempted like the Apostle John to fall down and worship, these angels worship Christ. And if angels do it, how much more ought the people of God, of those who have not only been created by him but have been redeemed by him, And that we are to serve Him with everything in us as we are reminded in Hebrews 12, 28, that we are to serve God acceptably with reverence and with awe. God has put His glorious Son on display so that wanderers like us can be freed from the idolatry of our own hearts and the constraints of this world and the pleasures and the sins that often constrain and work against us that we might worship. It's the very reason why we're saved and why we are redeemed. Just as God told Pharaoh through the mouth of Moses, let my people go. Why? So they can enjoy a happy, prosperous, comfortable life with all their wishes and dreams to come true. God says, let my people go that they might worship me. And in Christ, we have been delivered from the bondage and the thraldom of sin and death in order that we might worship. What a glorious opportunity we have, particularly as we gather together as the Lord's people. We have, even as we worship this morning, a foretaste of what we shall do for all of eternity when we ascend the heavenly Mount Zion with all the saints who've gone before, and the souls of just men made perfect, and the celebration of the angelic host as they worship Him in all things. To be the people of God means that in this day and age, our hearts are set on fire by Christ, and we worship Him in our affections, and we worship Him through our actions in all things. But the third characteristic Hebrews draws out of what people of faith are. And the third theme is that the people of God are those who willingly suffer. They are those who willingly suffer. The book of Hebrews has a lot to say on suffering and on Christian suffering. And we read in Hebrews chapter 10 that the preacher commends this young congregation. And he commends them for the way that they had dealt with past sufferings. And he tells them there in verses 32 and 33, he says, but recall the former days, when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. You see there in 10, 32, and 33, that the preacher of Hebrews says, remember these days. Remember those days when you were first enlightened, that is when you first came to see the glories of Christ, when you put your faith in Him, to use our vernacular today, when you became a Christian, when you accepted Jesus into your heart, you remember what you had to endure? Remember the suffering? You remember the pain. Do you remember that you were exposed to reproach and affliction, and not only were you, but that you were partners even with those who did? That you came up, that you endured these things, but that you looked at your brothers and sisters, and they were enduring those things, and you partnered with them. You bore their burdens with them. We don't know specifically exactly what these people were suffering. We don't know who their persecutors were. We can assume they were Judaizers, or perhaps they were in the Roman Empire, and they were heathens. We don't know. But they endured a lot of affliction. They endured a lot of suffering. They endured a lot of reproaches. And yet, what does Hebrews and what does this preacher say but that he commends them in chapter 10, verse 34? And what does he say? He says, you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. You realize how stunning that commendation is. That the preacher of Hebrews tells them here that he commends them because they joyfully accepted. They joyfully accepted the plundering of their property. They joyfully accepted these reproaches. They joyfully accepted the suffering and the lot that God had in store for them according to his purposes. I don't know about you, but I read a verse like that and I ask myself, how do I suffer? And specifically, how do I suffer for Christ and for the cause of the gospel? How do you suffer? And just imagine, if you can, that you are a Christian in a Muslim nation. How would you look at the Church of America and characterize the way that Americans endure suffering for the cause of the gospel? Imagine if you were one of our forefathers. Some of these people that Hebrews talks about here who were thrown into the fire, who were sawn in two, who were killed, who stopped the mouths of fires, who endured all these hardships. How would our forefathers look at the church in America and characterize our suffering? If Christ tarries in his coming, one, two, 300 years from now, How will our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith look back at the church in America in this day, in this time, in this age, and characterize the way that we suffered? Would we be commended for joyfully accepting suffering? Or would they say, well, they were really resentful Christians that thought they deserved a whole lot better than they were getting? Or they were just stubbornly suffering and crying like little snowflakes? Or would they characterize the church in America and say, that church in America, they avoided suffering at all costs, even unto the suicide of the church itself, and perhaps even to their very own souls? Or would they look at you and I in the church in America and say, they joyfully accepted. They joyfully accepted the plundering of their property and the reproaches that they had to endure. And I know this is pastorally difficult. It's pastorally difficult, particularly country and the political freedoms that we have to wonder, well, when do we joyfully accept suffering? And when do we as Christians resist suffering? Sometimes it's appropriate to resist suffering. You think of Paul, shortly after he was converted, and he was there in Damascus. They found out that people were coming to kill him, and so what did Paul do? Paul didn't run to the crowds and say, here I am, do what you want with me, but we know that the brothers lowered him down in a basket and he fled the city. There are times when we aren't necessarily called to embrace suffering. We're not called to simply be a doormat, to let people walk all over us. There is a pastoral difficulty here. But there's also a grave challenge that we ought to take to heart and we ought to think and bring our minds into conformity with God's word. From my perspective, American Christians, we're so backwards. Because it surprised me that we often choose all the wrong hills to stand and die on. And we avoid all of the right hills to stand and die on. I don't know that I need to flesh that out for you. I think you can think over that this morning. But I can say that in joyfully accepting suffering, we do this when we understand and remember that we can never resist suffering in any form or by any hand if it's going to cost us the truth. or if it's going to cost us to take the avenue of compromise. That the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that there are far worse things to faith than suffering. That there are far greater things at play against faith than the plundering of our property, or physical persecution, or afflictions, or the reproaches of a nation, or a godless government. There are things that are far greater than suffering. And I think if we look at the scriptures, we see that ordinarily, ordinarily as Christians, we are called to bear up joyfully under sufferings. Here's a brief survey of many verses in the New Testament that speak of this. And you think of Matthew chapter 5, verse 39, the very words of Jesus himself. And he says, but I say to you, speaking to individual Christians and disciples, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. When you think of Jesus and the Beatitudes, that the way of blessing is to be persecuted for righteousness sake in this day and age and in this life. You think of James, a well-known verse, count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of various kinds. Why? Because you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Not only is suffering the path of blessing that Christ has laid out, but suffering often refines our faith. If suffering produces within us the steadfast that we need, why would we resist that? Why would we shun it? Why would we avoid it at all costs when it cultivates within us the maturity and the perfection that we are called to? When you think of the Apostle Peter, as he said in 1 Peter 4.12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice, rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings. that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. You see what Peter tells us there. Fiery trials are going to come. Stop acting so surprised. Rather rejoice in this. This is how you look like Christ. This is how you are conformed in the image of Christ. This is how God uses and the means that He uses to stir you up to long for glory and for heaven and for the eternal rest that is coming to endure the hardships and the sufferings and the persecutions. You think of the Apostle John in writing in Revelation 12, verse 11, as he speaks of the dragon that comes to make war against the seed of the woman, against the church. And John tells us there, that those that the serpent made war against, that they conquered him. And they conquered him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. How do we engage in spiritual warfare against the powers and the principalities of this dark age? It is not by running to comfort. And it is not by saying, I'm not going to suffer. But John tells us that to overcome sin, to overcome death, to overcome the serpent, as he wages war against the church, We relinquish our rights over our life and our prosperity and our comfort and our ease. And we say we love not our lives even unto the death. And that in doing this, this is the means by which they conquered the serpent, that great dragon of old. Christians are ordinarily called not to avoid suffering. but to embrace it, and to accept it, and to see that that's what it means to be the people of God. And even in those extraordinary times where wisdom may dictate that we ought to resist suffering, and think of Acts 9, Paul being let down in a basket out of Damascus so that he wouldn't die. We never see in the Bible that we are called to resist sufferings in order to avoid suffering, that we are never called to stand upon this hill and to resist the persecutions and the onslaughts of the world in order that we might increase our earthly comfort or in order that we might outwardly prosper ourselves. And it seems to me that every time the New Testament speaks of those who fled from suffering, it was always done in order that the gospel might explicitly be proclaimed. And you know as well as I do that Paul fled from Damascus, and he simply walked into more frying pans. He escaped suffering to go and suffer even more than he could begin to imagine. And it seems that that's the way that it is done throughout the scriptures. How do we accept sufferings? Do we accept it joyfully? Are we willing to suffer? The preacher of Hebrews looks back at these past sufferings and he says, you accepted this joyfully. But Hebrews also puts before his congregation truth that there is yet more in future suffering that they must endure. And we read of that in Hebrews chapter 6, I apologize, in Hebrews chapter 12 just a couple verses later after he commends them for the way they dealt with past sufferings and yet he reminds them that in your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed. Many commentators are agreed here The preacher of Hebrews says that in chapter 12 because he notes that the church is becoming hesitant in their suffering. That they had begun well, that they had begun zealously, that they had begun by joyfully accepting suffering. Now they become hesitant, they become a little callous, perhaps a little weary. And so Hebrews 12.4, as many of our commentators rightly note, ought to be read as a subtle rebuke. They had done well. But now in the present, they were risking giving up their endurance. And so the preacher warns them. And he doesn't come with a rosy story and say, look, you did well. Be prepared. The Lord's going to providentially bless you. But he says, no, you did really well. But you haven't arrived yet. You have yet to resist sin to the point of bloodshed. Perhaps an anticipatory warning that the suffering that they were about to endure would be far greater and far worse than the plundering of their property and the afflictions and the open reproaches that they were subject to. And it might call them to give their very lives. And so Hebrews characterizes the life of the people of God as one of willing suffering. not just bearing the reproaches of the past, but looking forward into the future, and of knowing that this is our lot in this life, to suffer alongside of Christ. And so again, the preacher comes to a climactic moment in Hebrews chapter 13. And he comes with one of his final commands to this young and this fledgling church. And what does he say in verses 13 and 14? But he says, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. And therefore, let us go to him. Let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach that he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. One of the final commands he gives is go to Christ. Go to the cross. Go to the suffering, and to the reproaches, and to the afflictions, and to the death of Christ himself. Go bear the reproach of Christ. And why? Because he comes full circle. Because here we have no lasting sin. But we seek the one that is to come. To be a Christian is to be a person of faith. And to be the people of God means that we suffer with Christ. And that we must learn to kiss the cross. And we must learn to embrace that breaker that smashes us against the rock of ages. Because that is who we are. We are to willingly bear reproach. We are to willingly bear sufferings. We are to willingly give everything. as the people of God. Brothers and sisters, as the Church of Jesus Christ, we have as great of a need today as ever to remember who we are. We are the people of God. We are men and we are women and we are children of faith. And from the perspective and the themes of Hebrews, this faith expresses itself as we remember that we are a wandering people. As we remember that we are a worshiping people, and as we remember that we are a willing people, willing to suffer all things for Jesus. And it is this faith that is commended in Hebrews 11. And it is this faith that makes us to be men and women and children of whom the world is not worthy. Amen. Please join me in prayer. Great God, what a glorious thing it is to be known as the people of God, to bear the name Christian, and to be in Christ by right of our baptism and through faith in him. How we pray that you would remind us that we are not our own, but that we have been bought at a price. And therefore, we are to glorify you in our bodies and in our flesh. To be a Christian used to mean prosperity and esteem and honor in our culture and in our nation. We know that this has been the extraordinary exception of the church in America for the last 100 years or so. More often than not, to be a Christian meant to be the off-scourging of the world. It meant to be despised. It meant to be persecuted. It meant to be wanderers who dwelt in caves, in ragged clothes, who were esteemed very little in the eyes of the world. We know, O Lord, that this is what we ought to expect. Yet the faith of so many run so thin in this day and age. And the faith of so many is quenched by those persecutions that arise. And the joy of many is often clouded over by even the pinpricks of afflictions that this world and culture and society have been leveling against us. Increase our faith. Increase our hope and our confidence and our trust that you are the good God. and that you only do good for your people. Continue to minister unto us, we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.