So Hebrews chapter 11, we're going to be starting in verse 30. Verse 30, I'm going to go ahead and read right through the end. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been circled for seven days. By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shot the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection, and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. Men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground, and all these having gained approval, through their faith did not receive what was promised. because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect." There are really just going to be three sections in these verses here, 30 through 40. The first section will be just 30 through 35a. What we'll see is that faith experiences victory. But that's not the whole story, because in the following verses, 35b through 38, we see another section. We see that faith doesn't simply experience victory. Faith does endure physical trials. All right, faith does endure trials. And then lastly, we'll see faith is focused on the future, verses 39 and 40. We've spent quite a bit of time here in Hebrews chapter 11. All right, Hebrews chapter 11 is a love chapter of the Bible by many people. It's a favorite of many people. It is a focus on the triumphs of faith of the men and women of old. And I want to quickly just remind us of what we've worked through so far, so that as we put the top capstone on this chapter, we would come away gleaning the whole picture. Alright? The first thing was an explanation of what faith is. What is faith? It is a belief in something that we cannot see. It is the substance of things hoped for. And it gives us an illustration in the beginning of chapter 11 was this, that by faith we understand that the worlds were formed by what? Or from what? From nothing. The world and everything that you see here on earth came from nothing. God created ex nihilo, out of nothing. Right? And the perfect simple illustration is if you were to explain that to a child. It's like you were to put them in a locked closet or a locked room. We'll say room. All right? Locked room. All right? And you gave them absolutely nothing in the room. And you said, all right, I want you to build a tower. What would the kid say? Well, that's impossible. I don't have any building blocks. If you were to put them in there with Legos or building blocks, they could build something. You take those away and you tell them to build, they'd say, well, it can't happen. You'd say, that, exactly, it's impossible for you. But for God, God created everything that we see from absolutely nothing. He spoke it into existence through the Son. And just as we understand that everything we see here on earth now physically came from nothing, also one day our faith, though we can't see God currently, though we can't see physically our salvation, and so on and so on, one day all that we have spiritually faith in right now will be made what? Will be seen at one point. That's the illustration that's given in the beginning of Hebrews chapter 11. And then it goes on to give us examples. We have Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Three distinct lives of faith with three very differing outcomes or paths. They all have one outcome which is righteousness. Salvation. But they have very different paths. Abel had faith and he was what? He was killed. Right, and Enoch had faith and yet he actually never even faced what? He never even faced death, he was taken up. Noah had faith and it meant building an ark for close to 75 years of ridicule and shame to the world around him. They each had faith and that faith led them on different paths. Just like as we all in this room hopefully have saving faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, yet we all have different paths that we will face. Some of us harder than others. Some of us just different than others. And yet we're to continue on in faith. Then we see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. All men who stood on the promises of God and yet didn't actually they themselves see them, their lives reflected that they believed on the promises of God, though they never saw them come about. Abraham was promised that his descendants would be a great nation. Did he ever see the nation Israel? He didn't. Same thing for Jacob. Same thing for Isaac. And for Joseph, the same thing. He didn't have those promises. As far as we know, God never spoke those promises to Joseph. And yet he knew they were spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And on his deathbed, he said, bring my bones up out of Egypt with me for I know God will deliver Israel. He was standing on the promises of God. And we looked at the life of faith of Moses. And that Moses, though, out of all the people really in history that we have an account of, he had an opportunity to live for sin and pleasure as the grandson, the adopted grandson of Pharaoh, the leader of the known world. And yet he refused the pleasures of sin. He took upon the reproaches of Christ. Or in other words, he decided instead of fearing man, he decided to fear God. Instead of deciding to be called the son of Pharaoh, he decided to place himself with the children of God, with Israel, and stand upon the promises of God. And his life was a life that was full of sorrow and hardship. And in fact, he was a man who was called the greatest prophet, yet he would not even enter the promised land with the nation of Israel. He would die before that day happened. And yet he had a life of faith. And now what happens in the following verses that we look at today, is we see a summary. You know, he goes, the author goes into depth about Moses and his life. And now he kind of pulls the screen back and he just does a fast forward. Don't forget all these stories of the Old Testament, which these readers would be very familiar with. And the lives of faith that are exampled for us. And what we see is a very clear line John, he talks about all these victories that happen, and then he talks about all these people that actually died for their faith. So first though, we want to look at that first section that faith does experience victory. Faith experiences victory. Verse 30, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. So we see a new miraculous feat coming about here in the life of Israel. Israel is, the last thing we hear about Israel is the Red Sea parted, right? In this passage. The Red Sea parts, they go through, but they continue on in their struggles. And does that generation brought out of Egypt ever see the Promised Land? They don't because of their disbelief. And what happens is for the next 40 years they wander around in the wilderness until they all die off. And then that next new generation comes about and all they've known is wandering around in the wilderness. Except for those who would be on the much older scale that would have just been under the age limit of those who are barred from coming into the Promised Land. Almost all they would have ever known in their entire lives was wandering around in the wilderness. Did they experience miracles and God's provision for them in the wilderness? Yes, but was it much compared to God's deliverance of Israel out of Egypt? Not much, right? There was manna, there was quail, their sandals did not wear out, and so on and so on. But it wasn't like the parting of the Red Sea. It wasn't like the Passover and the killing of the firstborn. It wasn't like water being turned into blood. Those were some incredible miracles. And now they get to the point where they're ready to enter into the promised land. And there's a big obstacle in the way, no pun intended. And it's Jericho. Historically speaking, at sections of their wall, the wall of the city, you could have two chariots riding on top of the wall, side by side. A massive, fortified, city which could not be penetrated, which could not be broken into. And yet they come up to this and God gives Joshua the command and he says this, listen march around the city once for seven days. Can you imagine once again we talked about Moses and the Passover and how it may have seemed a little ridiculous slaying a lamb, take its blood, paint the doorposts of your house. And that's going to protect you. Think about Joshua coming to the Israelites at this point and saying, listen, this is our battle plan. We're not going to dig under, not going to climb over. We're not going to break through. We're going to march around the city. And yet they follow God's plan. And to God's glory and his power, Jericho crumbles before the Israelites. Not because of their might, but because of God's power and faith placed in God. Then it goes on, by faith, Rahab the harlot. So first we see verse 30, that is in relation to who? The nation of Israel and a promise that he's going to do this for them. But now verse 31 changes direction and it brings in Rahab the harlot. Number one, who is Rahab? Is she an Israelite or not? No. Number two, what's her occupation? She's a prostitute. She's a harlot. And yet she did not perish along with those who were disobedient. After she had welcomed the spies in peace." I'm sure all of us, or almost all of us, are familiar with the story. Israel sends in spies. There's a possibility of them being caught. Rahab the harlot takes them into her house. She hides them. She protects them and sends them on their way. And she explains to them, we understand. that God Almighty Yahweh, the God of Israel, is powerful and we're defeated. And she, by faith, becomes part of the people of God. In fact, she marries Sammon, and their son is who? Who's Rahab? Boaz. Why is Boaz important? Boaz marries the Moabite Ruth, and then down the line you have King David. And then down the line from King David you have Jesus. And she's brought into this reminding us that even part of Jesus' own lineage, the Messiah's lineage, you have Ruth, a Moabite, and you have Rahab, a harlot. And yet they both said, I want Israel's God to be my God. They had lives of faith. And then verse 32, and what more shall I say for time will fail me if I tell of, and he goes and mentions these names and these accounts without going into detail. He says, Gideon. What is Gideon's story? And we're going to fly through this, all right? What is Gideon's story? God finds him hiding. Right? He's doing work for his father and he's doing it inside. He's hiding away from the people whom God would deliver Israel from through his hand, by his hand. And God, he finally after excuse after excuse and saying, well, if you really want me to do this, then do this sign. And then God does that sign. And then he says, well, I mean, if you really, really want me to do this, then do this sign. God does that sign. So then it's like, if you really, really, really want me to do this, then do this sign. I think you're getting the picture, right? He's reluctant. And yet God calls him out of that reluctancy and he hands him, you ready for this? An army of 300 men. 300 men. That's the exact number of his army. And you know what the description of the army that he went up against was? Their number was that of locusts. It was innumerable. The Bible doesn't even give us a number for the size of the army that they go up against. And not only that, they go not with swords and spears, They go with torches, trumpets, and vases that they would break. And that God actually turns this innumerable army against itself and defeats them. Because of how amazing Gideon was, right? No, because of how amazing God was. And God worked out, just as Jericho happened, and the parting of the Red Sea happened, and the deliverance out of Egypt happened, he brought about a miraculous work because of his power, not dependent upon the people who were involved, rather by faith. Then you have Barak. He took an army of only two tribes. He goes and only goes if Deborah, the judge, would go along with him. And he defeated the Canaanites not receiving any glory, the enemy being slain by a lady with a tent peg." Hear about the story and the victory of that. The incredible aspects of that deliverance that the Lord provided through a man named Barak. He mentions Samson delivered Israel from the tyranny of the Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. By having his eyes plucked out, placed in to a temple to a false god and leaning upon the pillars and crushing the Philistines. He understood that his strengths came from who? When he finally tells Delilah, Where his strength comes, he explains that his strength comes from a being. And who is that being? God. Though he had a very interesting life, we could all agree upon, he did believe in God. He had faith in who was giving him strength. Jephthah. He delivered Israel from the hands of Ammon. King David, he slayed a lion, a bear, a giant, and people sang of him that he slayed his tens of thousands. A great man of valor. Samuel, not a man of war as these other ones mentioned, but he prophesied courageously for many years, a nation of Israel. And then he goes on and he says, and the prophets, all the other prophets who obeyed by faith. Now we just worked through a very quick list. And what I want us to notice is this, in a sense, take a commercial break and consider these people who we just read about. Gideon was reluctant asking for signs. He was also selfish and vengeful. As we see the story of Gideon unfold. Barak would only go to battle if a lady named Deborah would come alongside of him. Samson was foolish and led astray. Jephthah was a son of a harlot and he made a foolish decision to the sacrifice of his own daughter. David was a murderer and an adulterer and had major family problems. And Samuel's sons were gone astray. Catching a theme here? These were men of faith, yet they were far from perfect. And the only reason why they have lives that we can look back and say, wow, look at what they did by faith, was not because of who they were, but because of the God they served. That God was powerful. And that's what faith is. That's what the wisdom of God is, as it's explained to us in 1 Corinthians. That the world is looking at the prowess of man, and the wisdom of man, the strength of man, and so on and so on. But God brings in His wisdom what the world considers foolishness. And He brings salvation by faith that those who would be part of God's family would humble themselves by faith and follow a crucified Lord. That's the wisdom of God. Why? Because those who follow after God will give all glory to Him. Because it's not of themselves, it is by faith. Which is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. So we see, what did they do? Or he continues a summary, verse three, who by faith, though they were weak people, God used faith as a mustard seed to do what? Conquer kingdoms. Israel had victory after victory over the enemies by God's work and their faith. They performed acts of righteousness. Though they had their struggles, there were people of faith marked by living for the Lord. Let's take a moment, think of some. We already mentioned one, Samuel. It's a great illustration of a man who walked by faith and had a life for the Lord. Was he perfectly holy and righteous? No. But as we look at his life, he did have a life marked by righteousness. Who else? connected with Rahab and Ruth, man named Boaz, right? Man named Boaz. Very clearly a man who loved the Lord and a life marked by righteousness. Joshua was a man marked by a righteous life. Elijah, Elijah. You have these people of old, these men of faith, men and women of faith who had lives that though they were not perfect, They were marked by righteous living because of their faith. Enoch, Abel, Noah, etc. They obtained promises. God's promises time and time again came about and continue to come about and will come about as we have faith and we see them come about. We also see that mouths of lions were what? Shut. They shot the mouths of lions. Of course, this is speaking of who? Daniel, one who could have been added to that list of men who had miraculous life of righteousness by faith. Daniel was thrown to certain death by being eaten by hungry lions, and yet God delivered him. Quench the power of fire. Who would that have been? Shadrach, Meshach, and... I'll let you guys say his name because it's hard to say. You have three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were thrown into an unbearably hot furnace whose fire killed those mighty men who threw them in. And yet they were thrown into the midst of this fire and their clothes were not singed. They were not touched because of their faith in a mighty God. They escaped the edge of the sword. God delivered many from death as He continued to fulfill His promises. from weakness were made strong, became mighty men in war, men who would kill hundreds and fight by faith, not on their own strength, but in the strength of the Lord by faith. Of course, a great example, of course, is who? David. David comes onto the scene and all Israel is hiding from Goliath. David comes along and everybody is questioning his sanity of going before this giant. And yet he goes as a shepherd And he goes before a giant and slays him by faith. He does not go in armor and his own strength, but he goes in the strength of the Lord. Put foreign armies to flight once again, victories, ones that people didn't even need to lift a sword for. Time and time again, you see as God is delivering his people into the promised land and protecting them as they're walking by faith, which was rare for them. But when that occasion would occur, what would happen? Over and over again, God delivered them and put foreign armies to flight by one man, Samson, by another man going and secretly stabbing a king and then running and having a rebellion against those captors. Time and time again, God delivered through miraculous means because of faith. We see women received back their dead by resurrection. Elijah and Elijah both raised individuals from the dead in the Old Testament by faith. So we see that there is great victory to be had in a life of faith. What's really interesting is the very end of this verse, or the beginning of verse 35, there's a transition in this verse. Here we see women receive back their dead by resurrection by what? By faith. And yet now we begin a whole different section in the very same verse of 35. We see faith endures physical trials. Though some ladies actually receive their dead back There are others who died and did not come back to life. There are others, though some people put foreign armies to flight, there are others who were defeated. Though some people had lives marked by being thrown into a lion's den and not having a scratch, others were sawn in two. There's a clear line in the sand now that is drawn. Just because there is a long list of victory and deliverance by faith doesn't mean all the stories are victorious according to the earth's view. Catch that. According to the earth's view. Continue reading in verse 35b, and others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. There are story after story, followers of the Lord being tortured. And others experienced mockings and scourgings. Yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with a sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated." We have a long list here of lives that are marked by tribulation and persecution for their faith. As we already saw explained to us for Abel, Abel, because of his faith, was killed. Why didn't God raise him back to life? Why didn't God just take him up like he took up Enoch? Because we all have different paths that the Lord has for us. Why does God allow me or my loved one to go through such and such? We have faith in God. Shouldn't that mean that our lives are easy? Shouldn't that mean that we never lose a job or never face sickness, never have times of sorrow? Shouldn't that mean X, Y, Z going on and on? And the answer is no. What we know clearly from scripture is that actually a life of following after God very much often does mean suffering and trials. And for throughout the history of the followers of God, it means persecution. We are in a very exclusive bubble right now in America where we do not face persecution, true persecution for our faith. That has not been a standard of the people of God throughout all of history, and continues to be so throughout the rest of the world. So faith endures physical trials. What we see here is, yes, People of faith will have torture, can have mockings and scourgings, chains and imprisonment, stonings, being sawn into, being tempted, being put to death by the sword, going about not having a home, living in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and ill-treated. That may be the path that the Lord has for us. The question is, how will you respond? Will you continue on in faith or will you fall out? Will you give up? What is the book of Hebrews been about? Those of you who have been with me for this past year, working through the book of Hebrews, what is about? Holding onto Christ who is better, continuing on in the faith because he is the best priest, the best prophet, the best king. the greatest sacrifice, hold fast to Him, for He is faithful. So therefore, look at the lives of all these men and women of old, that though some of them had great victories, and some of them actually by earthly standards were greatly defeated, they held on to faith. And you do the same. Men of whom the world was not worthy, this world they understood by faith was not their home. makes you worthy of another home, not because of who you are, but because of who God is, the gift of faith which he has given. They're wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground, but it's better to be without a home and comfort here on earth than have a home in eternity with God, than to live in the greatest mansion that Sands Point has to offer and spend eternity in hell. Have a life lived by faith. And then lastly, we saw, first of all, faith has victories. Faith also has, by worldly standards, defeat. But lastly, faith is focused on the future. And maybe these verses, you've read them before, and you've kind of wondered, what in the world do these verses mean? Or maybe just today as we read them. What exactly does that mean? All right. Let's work through that quickly. All right. So far, and though I think clearly there is obviously some truth as he talks about the beatings and the scourgings and the wanderings, there is connection there to the early church that's already been established, right? They are facing many of those trials themselves. All right, but mostly and all the individuals that are mentioned by name, where are they from? The Old Testament, all right, from the Old Testament times, right? And all of these, the people who are mentioned by name, having gained approval through their faith, or in other words, they did have salvation, the same salvation that we have, did not receive what was promised. In other words, what promises of God were they standing upon? The promises of a coming, what? Messiah. They were looking forward to the coming Messiah. They didn't know his name. They didn't know what he'd look like. They didn't know exactly what he would do. But they knew that there was one coming from Adam and Eve, coming from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the kingly lineage of David, that one day there would be a Messiah who would set all things right and bring forgiveness of sins, bear our trespasses, pierce for our iniquity. And yet they never, what? They never saw him. They had faith in him and they received salvation from him, but they never saw him. They did not receive yet what was promised. They never saw the Messiah. Because God had provided something better for us. In other words, He would bring about the Messiah. And now we have the opportunity as the church to look back on the Messiah that has already come. And we get to see Him through God's Word. We get to be indwelt by Him through the Spirit. And our lives are worked in Him, and our churches are being built up by Christ through the Spirit, as Acts tells us. So, apart from us, in other words, those of us who are enjoying the already-not-yet aspects of the Kingdom of Christ, all of those in the Old Testament would not be made perfect. In the sense of this, if the Messiah had never come, would those people who had faith in the coming Messiah be saved? No. Just like if the Messiah never came and we had faith in somebody who never came, we would not be saved either. If there was no Christ and His death and His resurrection, we among all men would be most to be pitied. Yet God has provided salvation. So, does that make sense, that verse now? So they were looking forward to the coming Messiah. And they actually never even saw Him. Saw that which was promised. Because God provided something better for us. The time of the Gentiles, where we come, and we come to faith in Christ. So apart from us, they would not be made perfect. Not apart from us, but what? Apart from the promises that we now have in Jesus. The coming of the Messiah. The one who would provide salvation. So in short, faith gives a life, spiritually wise, of what? Victory. Upon the promises of God. And yet, your life of faith, very well may, I can tell you quite confidently will, endure trials and persecutions and heartache. Yet it's not a reason to give up. Rather, it's a reason to continue on. If the world is persecuting you for your faith in Christ, it's only evidence that you're one of Christ's. It's to your glory, as Paul just said in Ephesians chapter three. So continue on because we do have the Messiah. We do have Christ. We do have salvation. So continue on in your faith, remembering all of those men and women before us who continued on in faith, even though they hadn't yet seen the Messiah. They were looking forward to him. Now we have him. We have him dwelling inside of us. How much more can we have lives of faith? Father, help us to be men and women who are marked by faith, following wholeheartedly after you and your promises, loving Jesus with all our hearts. In his name, we pray these things. Amen.