Well, dear Heavenly Father, we have come to you this morning to come to your feet as our great God and Savior, the creator and sustainer of life and the lover of our souls. Dear Jesus, you have extended your amazing grace to us through your mercy. And we love you so for it. We pray to your Lord that as we turn to your word, that it will be your voice we hear loud and clear to each and one of us, to our hearts and to our minds that tells us that you do indeed love us, that you care for us, and that you will preserve us until you come in that perfect day and call us to yourself. And Lord, our part in this, even as it is a gift, is to come before you and live our lives walking worthy of the gospel through faith. in your great power and your sovereignty. And to that end, Lord, we pray that that is the message to our hearts today. Focus us on you and only you. And in that, Lord, we will give you and only you the glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank all of you. We've received quite a few calls, emails, and texts about our Hawaii kids. They are on the Big Island, as you know, and got that the outer part of Hurricane Lane, and they are not high and dry. They are high and wet, but they are safe. As of last night, when we talked to them, they had 46 inches of rain in less than three days. And it's not over yet. But God preserved them and preserved the many friends that they have and that we have come to know over there, including their church. And we are grateful to you and, of course, grateful to our Lord for caring for them. And that's a great blessing to see that. So anyway. Secondly, I want to remind you what Steve said before. Phil preached this morning, their time, for an hour and a half, and they wanted more. So we can just turn the clock off, and I think we'll probably be fine for this morning. So we should probably start now. But anyway, this morning, we will finally conclude our study from Hebrews 11, which we've done primarily through the evening service. We know Hebrews 11 to be the Old Testament hall of fame, or simply the faith chapter. It's called the faith chapter as its main purpose is to encourage every believer to walk worthy of the gospel through an active and persistent faith in God and in God alone. True faith in God strengthens us for today without fear of tomorrow as we place all our trust and confidence in God who according to Isaiah 46.10 tells us that he declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. Whose counsel shall stand and who declares I will accomplish my purpose. Hebrews 11 begins with the familiar description that we all know well of what faith is in the life of the believer. Now, faith is the assurance of what? Things hoped for and the conviction of? things not seen or things unseen, depending on the version you're using. And what follows that is a who's who of Old Testament heroes of the faith whose lives exemplified those characteristics of faith and who are said to have pleased God and were commended by God as faithful and righteous. And that leads to the chapter, inevitably, to our text this morning. And this is his ultimate conclusion, his main point, that genuine faith in God will always carry us victoriously through life, regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the ultimate consequences. The late pastor and author Ray Steadman wrote, as you read through that wonderful chapter of the heroes of faith, you find that faith anticipates the future, acts in the present, evaluates the past, dares to move out, and persists to the end. That is what faith is. So our desire this morning is that we see and we are assured that in Christ Jesus, true faith empowers. and true faith endures. So turn with me now to the book of Hebrews 11, and chapter Hebrews 11 of, yeah, what I just said there, and we're gonna begin at verse 32 through the end of the chapter. This is the word of our Lord. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, 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 relief 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 caves and dens 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. God bless the reading of his holy and fully inspired word. Well, as we consider this passage that we just read this morning, if we are going to take it to heart, if we're going to apply it in our lives, it is imperative for us to understand that this is much more than just a history lesson in faith. Although written more than 2,000 years ago, the life and the struggles of these early Christians were remarkably similar to our own. which connects us to them, and it makes this message fresh, real, and relevant to us in our day. Spiritually, the religious establishment in their society at that time for these Hebrews centered around the legalistic and ritualistic demands of Judaism. Where in our day, religious sentiment leads towards individual preference, emotion, and meeting felt needs. And although they seem opposite in nature, they really have both had a negative influence on the church, drawing away many to a man and self-centered worship, and away from the biblical standard of Christ-centered worship. And politically, the first century Roman Empire was remarkably tolerant of all religions throughout their empire, as long as those religions accepted, along with what they believed, the Roman pantheons of gods, which included emperor worship, and probably most importantly, they didn't cause any trouble. But that early church, despite all that pressure, remained obedient to God's command in Exodus 20, that you shall have no other gods before me. You shall bow down to no one other than me. And in that, they refused to believe. They refused to bow down to anyone other than the one true God of the Bible. And with that, the Roman Senate pronounced Christianity to be an illegal superstition, and then sought to suppress it. In a similar way, in our culture, our culture around us, and even governmentally, preaches tolerance even as they practice intolerance with anyone, most notably Christianity, that threatens its secular humanistic beliefs and way of life. And where Rome deemed Christianity as this illegal superstition, our society and our authorities are not so subtly seeking to suppress the church and its teachings, moving ever forward to outlawing Christianity as intolerant hate speech. The demands of society then and now is accept and conform to the social standards and our lifestyles or be criticized, marginalized, and ostracized, in a word, persecuted. The book of Hebrews was written to believers who were struggling against this mounting persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ. to such an extent that some were being tempted to compromise their faith and to shrink back, as chapter 10 tells us, and some were even in danger of drifting away completely into unbelief. For them, as it is for us, the message of Hebrews is this, to hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Well, in order to fully understand our text, particularly since we haven't been in this text now since May, actually, we're gonna actually begin in the second half of chapter 10, as that is the context for the message this morning. Chapter 10, beginning in verse 32, was written to encourage the discouraged to assure the doubtful and the fearful that God was indeed sovereign over all of it, including their persecution, including their suffering. So within that, the author's first encouragement was to call them back to what they knew about the person and work of Jesus Christ. The entire book up to this point is one long reminder of the superiority of Christ over all things. Jesus is God's best and last revelation. He is greater than the prophets. He was greater than the angels. He's the creator and heir of all things. He is the sun, the radiance of the glory of God. God incarnate, who by grace had made purification for their sins and who now sits in power at the right hand of God. where they once had to offer continual sacrifices for sin to the Lord at the temple, Jesus gave his own life as their once for all sacrifice, and in doing so, opened up a new and living way to God. In Christ, they had a great high priest who had been tempted even as they were being tempted, yet without sin, persecuted even as they were being persecuted, and yet he remained faithful unto death. Because of Christ they could now, Hebrews 10, 19, draw near with the true heart in full assurance of faith to hold fast the confession of their hope without wavering. And again, because he who promised is faithful. Secondly, encourage them to remember God's faithfulness in their past. Now, you remember a couple weeks ago, we saw this same encouragement when we considered Psalm 42 in relationship to spiritual depression. Because by looking back and recalling what God has done in our past, we see His sovereign and providential control over our lives and our circumstances at that point, even in our suffering. And what that does is allow us to, armed with that remembrance, armed with faith in what God has done, We now have, it now strengthens our faith for what God is doing today, regardless of our circumstances and regardless of the consequences, even as he will do tomorrow. specifically verses 32 to 34, encouraged this early church to recall how in the past, when they were new believers, when they first came to Christ, they had already, by faith, endured and triumphed through what verse 32 calls hard struggles with suffering, very much like they were experienced at that moment. In those early days, they had persevered through public insult and affliction. They had withstood that pressure without wavering. Some had been imprisoned. Many had had their properties seized, which they joyfully accepted, knowing that in Christ they had a better possession and an abiding one, an eternal inheritance that no one could take from them. that reminds us of the words of missionary Jim Elliot, who shortly before being martyred by the very people he was bringing the gospel to wrote in his journal, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And verse 33 went on to remind them of the intimate fellowship so important in the church that they had shared during that time as they stood firm in one's spirit as Philippians 1 says, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. Where the normal response might have been naturally to cut and run, their faith in those early days had overcome their fear, enduring and even thriving during those early days of persecution. So then, having had them recall their past, having reminded them of Christ, he called them now to respond in the present and to respond with both certainty and perseverance. Verse 35 and 36, therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. So here, to throw away your confidence conveys this idea of recklessly throwing away something that is of value. And the writer's exhortation is to hold on. Hold on to confidence in Christ. Hold on to your faith, which is priceless. For it was by faith that they had been saved, and it was only through faith that they would be able to endure and persevere during their time of struggle. We want to take notice of something. I've read by this a hundred times and had not paid enough attention to it. that their need of endurance was so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what his promise, and the promise is important, very, very important, but we don't wanna miss that center parts, that when you have done the will of God, that's strongly implied here, is that God is at work through their trials. Even in their suffering, they are doing the will of God. And then armed with that insurance, they can go forward in faith, knowing that God is in sovereign control over all of their greatest struggles. And that gives their struggles, it gave their struggles, it gives our struggles, when we are in that position, eternal value. This is God's will for us, and he is working through it as we endure it, looking forward to his promise. In a quoting from Habakkuk 2.4, verse 37 assured them that they were to endure, and implied in that is they would only have to endure to the end, that their suffering would be for yet a little while. Now when you've gone through struggles, when you've gone through suffering of some kind, and I believe we all have in one way or another, so often we've come, when we are overwhelmed by the troubles of the day, We often convince ourselves, and it certainly feels, that there will be no end to our suffering. But when we trust God's word, we know that Psalm 30, weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning. For after a little while, the coming one will come and will not delay. That is the promised reward. That is what they were enduring, too. That is the purpose of that endurance. In just a little while, Jesus, the source of their salvation, the object of their faith, will come. and bring the promised end to all suffering, he will come and bring with him eternal life. The King James Version puts it this way, that he will come and he will not tarry. We sometimes hear the expression, so and so should the Lord not tarry, right? I'm guessing some of you have said it, I know that I have. But friends, the Lord will not tarry, he will not delay. The hope of the Old Testament saints was the coming of the Messiah. Galatians 4.4 tells us that when the fullness of time had come, that is, at just the right time and according to God's perfect plan, then God set forth his Son to redeem those who were under the law. And the hope of the church is very much the same. Ephesians 1.10 promises us that according to his purpose set forth in Christ, the day is coming when God will, as a plan for the fullness of time, there's that idea of in God's perfect time, according to his perfect will, unite all things in Jesus, things in heaven and on earth. Friends, that tells us that a day is not coming as if it were unknown. Rather, the day is coming, already written on God's heavenly calendar from before time began. The day is coming as a plan for the fullness of time when Jesus Christ will return, not as a babe in a manger, but as a conquering king, at which time he will end all persecution, all suffering, and all trials. And then we will receive our reward. Reward Philippians 3.14 describes as the prize of the upward calling in Jesus Christ. That was the promise, that was the hope for the Hebrew Christians 2,000 years ago, and it is our promise in the 21st century as well. Until then, as Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4, we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. for this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. And here is the key to faith as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. So now in verse 38, still quoting from Habakkuk, we hear the definitive statement for all who believe in Jesus Christ, but my righteous, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And here is another verse that we can read through too quickly that we must not. This is God speaking, and in it, in these two small words, he claims his own. He calls all believers my righteous. The same Habakkuk passage is quoted two other times in the New Testament, in Romans 1.17 and again in Galatians 3.11. In all of these verses, in all three of the verses, the emphasis is on the righteous. The fact that it points us to the fact that God justifies sinners, and in doing so, he makes them his own. Justification is the legal declaration by God by which God pardons the sinner and accounts the sinner as righteous in his sight through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The righteousness that God sees in us is Christ's righteousness imputed to us. It is by his grace alone and by his mercy that we are saved, after which he declares that we are adopted children of the Father, we are brothers and heirs with Christ. The fact that the righteous shall live by faith is a promise that we will walk by faith, and we will be preserved through that faith to the end. However, to live in faith is also an imperative, it is also a command. And therefore, we bear responsibility before God for it. That is the encouragement here to the reader, to stand firm in faith, to persevere to the end. And verse 38 warns, if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But in verse 39, with the heart of a true shepherd, the author encourages his people with this assurance. And notice this, he includes himself. Taking a step back for a minute, if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed. But of those who have faith, and persevere their souls. So then beginning in chapter 11, beginning of chapter 11, he has now encouraged his readers to endure. Now that he's done that, he provides them with this wonderful description of faith that we all know well. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And he follows that with his chosen list of heroes of the faith whose lives exemplified that faith. Hebrews 12, one and two, calls them a great cloud of witnesses, who as one commentator put it, all believed, all those that we're gonna hear about in just a moment, all believed the unseen. They all trusted a promise. Things for which they had to wait and hope. but one great characteristic makes them all kin, and that is their faith. Throughout the ages, it is by faith alone that men are saved. Faith is also the means by which God's people are enabled to walk triumphantly even through the most difficult and seemingly impossible circumstances of life. So we notice in this Description, what faith is not. Faith is not a feeling. Our feelings are corrupted by sin and they are clouded by our personal desires. And although feelings are given to us by God and therefore they are of great value, they must not be mistaken for faith. Faith is not a hunch, it is not a guess, it is not wishful thinking, nor does it have anything to do with us. In fact, having faith in ourselves is probably our greatest mistake. The foundation of faith is nothing less than the holiness, power, and sovereignty of God, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and the truth of his holy word. That's what we have faith in. So then verse three to the end of the chapter are the testimonies of Israel's greatest heroes who God used to accomplish amazing things all through their faith. You know many of them. All of them actually will be on sermon audio as various men from our church preached on these men and women. And you know them, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, and others, some. You may not know quite as well, maybe Barak or Jephthah. But the original readers knew all of them. And they knew their accomplishments as well. And it would have been very easy for them to be enamored with them because of their hero status. But they are not the subject of this chapter. 19 times in chapter 11 alone we read that these deeds were done by faith. The subject is God himself and how he works through the faith of his people. Every case, every case study in this chapter begins with by faith. By faith, Noah prepared the ark. By faith, Abraham was tested and offered up Isaac. By faith, Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and so on. But in one sense, these men and women are indeed heroes. having been commended by God himself for their faith. However, in another sense, in a very real sense, they are not heroes at all. They are simply obedient and faithful men and women who submitted themselves to the Lord, trusting him for the outcomes they could not predict and a future they could neither know nor control. Notice, too, as you go through this list, and I trust you'll read it again when we get some time this week, notice that within this list of the faithful and their accomplishments, there are other characteristics of faith mentioned that were the motivations of their heart that encouraged their faithfulness. In verse five we read how by faith Enoch was taken up without seeing death. And Genesis 5.24, excuse me, tells us why. Because Enoch walked faithfully, walked faithfully with God. So from Enoch we learn that faith, the faith that pleases God is a daily walk in faith. It is by faith that we are saved, it is by faith we walk. And that pleased God. One commentary points out that when two people are walking together in step, as it were, they must be traveling to the same place, on the same path, and at the same pace. Enoch was in step with God, and he was commended by God as having pleased him. But then we read in verse six, without faith, It is impossible to please God that for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So his first step of faith is to believe that he exists. And we're not talking about some idea of a cosmic intelligence somewhere out in the universe. Nor are we talking about just an intellectual faith that there is a God out there. Rather, it is a belief in the personal God of the Bible who is both transcendent above the heavens and yet imminent in the lives of his people. It is belief in the God of Psalm 139 that he knit every one of us here in our mother's womb and who knows every intimate detail about us and in fact has ordained every day of our lives. That is the belief that pleases God. And the next step that pleases God is that he rewards those who seek him. We've already mentioned that a little bit earlier. That reward begins with personal salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and not by works. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. That is the essence of God's grace. But that reward also includes, from 2 Peter 1, all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us and all his precious and very great promises. One of which, particularly relevant to persecution and suffering, we all know is Romans 8.28, that for those who love God, all things, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purposes. Now moving down to verse 10, we see that even as Abraham went to live in the land of promise, his ultimate desire and destination was not for an earthly country. Rather, he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Verse 13 goes on and reminds us that all the patriarchs, all of those being mentioned here, died without receiving what they had been promised. They may not have even fully understood them, seeing them from afar. But still, they all died in faith. Convinced of God's promises of a future eternal kingdom yet to come that had been prepared for them in heaven and for all of their spiritual progeny, all believers who would come after them. They understood that they were strangers and exiles in this world, seeking a better country that is a heavenly one. And notice, friends, in seeking God's eternal kingdom, by seeking nothing in this world, pay attention to verse 16 that ends this section with this. Therefore, God was not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. And now, finally at our text, verses 32 to 40, the author comes to the ultimate conclusion. Everything that is led up to this point that God works wonders through the courageous and uncompromising faith of his people, guiding and preserving them to the very end. He begins this last section in verse 32 with this. What more shall I say? He's made his point. There's no sense in continuing, but the subject is far from exhausted. There are many more in the Old Testament. There are many in the New Testament. And from our perspective, thousands upon thousands of faithful and obedient Christians that have suffered for life before Christ throughout the entire 2,000 years of the history of the church. He goes on, for time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David, Samuel, and the prophets. Although he doesn't go into the exploits of these six men like he has the others, they all have one thing in common. And it is this, that each battled against overwhelming odds to show that without faith in God, they would have no chance of survival, much less victory. And yet they were, in faith, victorious. Like Gideon, who began as a fearful farmer. We looked at him earlier this summer. He was hiding in a wine press. But God grew his faith in such a way that he willingly took on the Midianite army of 135,000 soldiers with only 300. And with the power of God working through his faith, Gideon routed that enemy, and Israel experienced peace for the next 40 years. Leon Morris in the Expositors Bible Commentary makes a really good point, and we need to take note of this personally. The Western church has historically enjoyed great freedom and affluence. And we know that that will not last forever, maybe not even much longer. In our prosperity, many in the church have grown complacent, taking their freedoms and their faith for granted. But for these embattled Old Testament heroes, faith in God was not a mere formality. It was never taken lightly. With all the odds stacked against them, without faith that trusted God for the outcome, they would surely have suffered defeat and imminent death. That needs to, that should cause us both individually and as a church collectively to ask the question, would my faith, would our faith stand up against overwhelming odds that these Old Testament saints experienced? And if not, or if you're not sure, we need to be working diligently toward a stronger faith, a faith that does in fact put all of its trust in the Lord in all circumstances and for all outcomes. So now finally, in verse 33, the author moves away from the exploits of the faith heroes and to what their faith accomplished. He separates these into two sections, the first being verse 32 through the first half of verse 35. These are the heroes who, in anybody's estimation, were gloriously victorious. He breaks those down further into two groups of three. And the first group are those who experienced what we might call corporate victories. These are victories maybe through a single man and a woman, but that involved the entire nation. Those who, through faith, conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, and obtained promises. Those who conquered kingdoms were those who overcame great odds, sometimes in really unusual ways, to gain victory. We remember Joshua in the Battle of Jericho, who conquered the city without a shot, so to speak. At God's command, by faith, Joshua commanded all the soldiers, along with seven priests, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, to walk around the city for six days. Then on the seventh day, they all walked around the city seven more times. It took faith to do that. At which time the priests blew their trumpets and all people shouted, and as the song says, the walls come tumbling down. We already mentioned Gideon, who defeated the Midianite army, which is 300 men. There were those who through faith enforced justice. This is to rule and administer justice and righteousness to those under an authority. So we think of Moses as he sat and governed civilly the people of Israel. We think of all the judges of Israel like Gideon and Jephthah, Barak and others, as well as the righteous kings of Israel like David, Solomon, and Hezekiah. Others through faith obtained promises. This refers to specific promises made by God to specific individuals. God promised Abraham a great nation. Joshua, victory over Jericho, and our old friend Gideon was promised victory over the Midianites, and they did obtain those promises. Now, the second group of three are those who, through faith, experienced what we might consider more personal, one-on-one, if you will, deliveries. Some stopped the mouths of lions. Judges 14 records that when Samson was attacked by a young lion, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him and he killed the lion with his bare hands. David, as a shepherd, killed both a lion and a bear with his bare hands. But when we think of lions, we automatically go to Daniel, who, because he refused to worship the king, because he remained faithful, was thrown into a lion's den. And the next morning, when the king discovered that Daniel was still alive, Daniel explained to him this, my God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth. And they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him. Still others quench the power of fire. This of course is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, also in the book of Daniel. And we've said several times, and we probably will again, that genuine faith preserves regardless of circumstances and regardless of consequences, and that is never more evident in the lives of these three young men. Listen to their response to the king's threats. This is found in Daniel 3. They answered and said to the king, if this be so, the fact they were going in a lion's den and probably would die, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king, but if not, but if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. That response is a striking example of faith in the face of adversity, in the face of death. They had faith that God could deliver them, but they had no idea whether God would deliver them or not. But still, in faith, they placed their fate in the hands of God and chose to trust in Him for their deliverance. God help us that we would have that kind of faith. Elijah and Elisha are both examples of those who escaped the edge of the sword. And both Gideon and Barak were two who were made strong out of weakness. David is a young man, through faith, killed. the giant Goliath, and later, as a general over Saul's army and as king of Israel, became mighty in war and put foreign enemies to flight. From all this, it can be said that the way of Old Testament victory was through fallible men, sometimes individually, but usually in small numbers against vastly superior forces, in order to show that it was God's power through their faith. And then what is probably the most personal deliverance is that through faith, women receive back their dead by resurrection. Two instances in the Old Testament come to mind, first being the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings 17, whose young son died suddenly, but was raised from the dead by the prophet Elijah. And again, the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4, whose adult son died and was raised this time by the prophet Elisha. To all these things, we shout together, praise the Lord, I mean, these are great victories of faith. But there's a sudden shift now in verse 35 that takes us from those who experienced victory to those who experienced what most would consider tragedy, heroes of the faith who suffered terribly for their faith and even lost their lives for the sake of Christ. And yet we note that it was the same faith, and that is the point, it is the same faith that achieves these great things that also strengthen others to endure persecution even to death. Continue in verse 35, there were some who received back their dead by resurrection, others were tortured, refused to accept relief so that they might rise again to a better life. Now the word, the Greek word here for torture is the same word that we use to describe a timpani drum. It refers to an instrument of torture where the victim or the martyr, in this case, was literally stretched across the drum-like surface and then beaten with clubs and often dismembered. The author here is referring most likely not to an Old Testament event, but to an event that occurred during the intertestamental time, that 400 years between the book of Malachi and the book of Matthew. The apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees tells of seven Jewish brothers who were commanded as an act of loyalty to the king to eat pork, which at that time was still a violation of God's law. And they refused. And as a result, they suffered brutal torture, all seven of them. being skinned alive and dismembered all in front of their mother, who was then martyred. Had they simply complied with the king's wishes, they would have been released. but they refused to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Following the death of the seventh and the youngest son, the writer of that book declared this, so this man also died undefiled, holy, trusting in the Lord. Commentator Arkent Hughes summarizes the events this way, the point of these macabre examples is that through faith, God's children can experience triumphant perseverance, even preferring torture to compromise, Now the word life here, staying with this idea for a minute, the word life in the ESV is the same Greek word as resurrection used earlier in the verse. So how can one resurrection be better than another? Well, those in the Old Testament, we include Lazarus in the New Testament. and others that were raised from the dead by the prophets and by Jesus were raised from the dead, but eventually they would die again. But these martyrs refused to deny their faith, trusting in God for this better resurrection, that being the ultimate reward of eternal life. Verse 36 goes on to tell us that others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. These are saints who were tortured, that had their faith sorely tested and yet survived. They lived. We think of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers and later imprisoned, put in chains on false charges. But Joseph saw it all as the providential will of God. Later in his life, his testimony to his brothers that we read in Genesis 50, 19 is, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. And it was Samson who for his defense of Israel against the Philistines had both eyes put out and ultimately chained to a grain mill like a common ox. And although he survived that particular torture, he would later willingly sacrifice his own life in the name of Yahweh, in the name of God. Others were stoned like the prophet Zechariah. And of course, in the New Testament, Stephen, who was the first martyr of the church, he was stoned for proclaiming the gospel of Christ. At least one was sawn in two. Traditional Jewish writings hold that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in two at the command of the evil king Manasseh for condemning the king's many sins. Can't help but be reminded here of the words of Jesus in Luke 13. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. The city that kills the prophets and stones those who were sent to it. And where some, as we read earlier, escaped the edge of the sword, still many others. And that others is a multitude of people throughout the history of the church who were just as faithful and yet they were killed by the sword. where some were tortured and some were martyred, many others, but now in verse 37 and 38, endured great hardship and deprivation as they went about in skins of sheeps and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. That refers to some like Elijah, who according to 2 Kings 1, dressed in a garment of hair. Countless others throughout the generations who, because of their faith, were oppressed, destitute, persecuted, and cast out, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. These were the dregs of society who, because of their faith in God, were deemed by the world to be insignificant, unimportant, and unworthy to even being part of polite society. But God's assessment of them was quite different. Although viewed as having no value to the world, the Lord deems their suffering, their martyrdom, and their faith of such great value that he says of them, the world was not worthy. Friends, that certainly flies in the face of the health and prosperity gospel, the claims that you can have your best life now. God wants you to be healthy and prosperous. You can have whatever you want, whatever you desire, if only you have enough faith. Name it and claim it, and it can be yours. What an affront to the truth of God's Word, and an insult to the witness of countless thousands of men, women, and even children throughout the ages whose faith was so strong, was so courageous in the face of persecution and death that they willingly suffered and died for the sake of Christ. Faith by which they received the highest of heavenly praise, that they pleased God, and they were commended by God for their faith. And in time, those martyred welcomed by God with those coveted words, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master. In considering our own faith, We must never forget that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in all humility, gave up his prerogatives of deity to be born a lonely baby in a cow stall and raised in poverty. Even though animals and beasts of the field had dens, Jesus had no place to even lay his head. Isaiah 53 reminds us that he was despised and rejected. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief was one from whom men hid their faces. He allowed himself to be mocked and flogged before dying in our place, taking the full fury of God's wrath that we deserve, that we might have eternal life, and he did that willingly for you and for me. Should the slave who has been given all by his master expect to give his master any less? Bringing all this to conclusion in verse 39, the author goes on to reiterate for us, remind us, that though commended for their faith, these saints were convinced of its truth, but died without having received the promise that being the appearing of the Messiah and his salvation. They understood by faith, verse 40, that God had provided something better for us, the church, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. In other words, they understood that by faith, that their ultimate promise would be fulfilled in the future generation, and that is us. That is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Where their salvation looked forward to what Christ would do, ours looks back to what he has done. And in this, we are both made perfect onto salvation and joined together as one in Christ. As the late theologian Harry Ironside wrote, the moment that the veil was rent, to them there came the same blessedness that is now the portion of all who believe the testimony that God has given. So what do we do with all of this? Well, whenever the word of God is opened and read, whenever a sermon is preached, We want to come away with some kind of application or what we might call a takeaway from what we have read or what we have heard. Now that said, Hebrews 11, chapter 11 is in itself application and we should read it as such. This chapter and the whole of the book of Hebrews really is a call to every believer to live our lives persistently and consistently in faith in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. Faith empowered our salvation, and faith empowers our walk with Christ. We know from what we've been told that living without faith pleases God, and in fact, living the Christian life without faith is impossible. There is an honesty and a reality in the Bible that should make the scriptures very real to us. Book of Hebrews. does that for us specifically. Living in a world ravaged by the effects of sin, conflict, war, hatred, sickness, and death is difficult for everyone in and out of the church, but it is especially difficult and very complex for the believer in Jesus Christ who lives not only in this imperfect world, but among sinful people whose beliefs and their lives are contrary and even hostile to our God and all those things we hold dear. all those things we believe in from scripture. Now the context of our passage this morning is persecution against the church and against God's people. And we must take seriously the things that we have just discussed. Few of us would deny that persecutions against Christians is rampant throughout the world. There have been more martyrs for Christ in the 20th century than all the 19 centuries before that. And we're just at the beginning of the 21st century. It is rampant in the world, but it is growing in our own country. But the fact is that most of us, as we sit here this morning, will not have to experience that kind of persecution that we've been reading about. However, we still, even knowing that, not being guaranteed of that, but presumptively, we do need to be preparing our churches, we need to be preparing ourselves, we need to be preparing our children and our grandchildren for the time that scripture tells us is coming. So at that time, they will be fully equipped to meet persecution head on in faith and trust in the sovereignty, the plan, and the purposes of God. But that said, persecution is not only for the persecuted. God calls on all of his people to live by faith, and that applies to every area of our lives in all our situations, especially during our trials and tribulations. We may never be called on to confront 450 prophets of a pagan god like Elijah was, but we are called on to take the gospel to a hostile world. We might not be called on to lead our nation out of sin, but we are called on to lead our children in the ways of the Lord. Husbands, you are called on to lead your families, be the shepherd of your family. We may not ever be tortured, but we are susceptible to debilitating illnesses and disabling diseases. We may not ever face martyrdom, but we may face terminal cancer in a loved one or even in our own lives. All of these things have one thing in common. They are all made right and work for good to those who love Christ and confront these issues and all issues by faith. We recall the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8, 36 and 37, that whether in tribulation or distress or persecution, famine or nakedness, in danger or sword, in all these things we are more than conquerors to him who loved us. We are more than conquerors, not will be. We are, present tense. Well, our time is gone. So how are we to respond quickly to the different situations in our life? So let's go back to the text. First, we do remember who Christ is. He is God. He is the Son. He is God incarnate. He is the sovereign creator and sustainer of life, and it is through his sacrificial death on the cross that you were saved, and he is the source of your faith. He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you and complete what he started in you. Put all your faith in him. Secondly, look back and remember how in your past God has always, and you know he has, provided for you, he has always cared for you in his providence. And then be strengthened in your faith for today without fear for tomorrow. And take courage. Take courage in knowing that Jesus is coming back soon. He has never been closer to returning than he is at this moment. He will not tarry. So until he does return, rest in the promise that this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Then look to the lives of those whose testimonies in faith you may emulate. Now that may be somebody from Scripture, it may be Old Testament or New Testament, but it may just as likely be someone right here in this congregation, someone in your family, a friend who exhibits maturity in Christ and can teach you and you can learn from and ultimately emulate. And finally, we are all called in 2 Peter to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Romans 10 tells us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Immerse yourself in the word of God. Hide it in your heart. So you will not sin, but also to guide and strengthen you in your time of trial and your time of need. And there is one last instruction that is not in our text this morning. It's unfortunate that the chapter ends here. to this last verse, verse 40, because the first couple verses of chapter 12 actually pertain to what we have just read, what we've just looked at. And so Pastor Phil is gonna preach on this in coming weeks, but we're gonna end our time together now with this last instruction. In order to walk, to walk daily in faith, in a faith that pleases God, for which we may one day be commended for our own faith, we must always be fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Pray with me. Oh, dear Heavenly Father, you are a great God, great Savior, who steadfastly loves his people, sinful though we may be. Lord, we know well in our hearts and our minds that this world has nothing to offer us, not really, certainly not in compared to what you offer us, and still, in our humanity and in our desire and in our pride, we often turn to the world and to others, putting more faith in them than in you. Others are not putting enough faith in, and we fear the day as we struggle for our trials, and we fear tomorrow, not knowing what it will bring. But you do. You have already ordained what will come. You are the Son of God. You are the one who purified, made purification for our sins. You are greater than all. Teach us, Lord. Move us to put all of our faith, not in the world, not in man, certainly not in ourselves, but fully in trusting you for all things. And in that, Lord, we will give you the glory. In Jesus' name, amen.