We're going to read verse 32 down through verse 38. And our subject in these verses, verses 35 through 38, is the sufferings of faith. The sufferings of faith or sufferings met by faith. So Hebrews 11.32, it says, And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth." And we'll stop our reading there. In verses 32 through 34, We noted faith, and those were deeds of faith, the doings of faith. And again, you look at those, and who threw faith, and what did they do? Well, they subdued, and they wrought, and they obtained, and they stopped, and they quenched, and they escaped, and were made strong, and waxed valiant, and turned to flight. That's all a doing, isn't it? And here in these verses, in verse 35 through 38, we find that these suffered. And this is all in account and in agreement with faith. Remember the words that Jesus Christ said unto the Apostle Paul, how that he would bear witness or testimony before kings and before the Gentiles. And I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And so that was what Christ had said concerning the Apostle Paul. And here we find that that was nothing new for those who walk by faith. And as well, we also notice in these verses how that Christ had told us before during His earthly ministry, the servant is not greater than his Lord. And so Christ suffered, didn't He? And so we should not be surprised at all when we suffer. And again, if you'll turn over, I believe it's in 1 Peter. 1 Peter, if you'll look there, the Bible speaks of Christians, and one of the few places where that word is, that name and title is used. Give me just a minute and I'll tell you exactly where. But in 1 Peter, we find how that it speaks of this. And he talks about 1 Peter chapter 4, and you'll notice, how that the Bible says. Let's look at verse 14. And let's go ahead and back up into verse 12 if you would rather. It says, Beloved, 1 Peter 4, 12, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. Boy, isn't that sometimes what God's people do? We think, boy, this is really unique. And it's not unique. It's not strange at all. And he goes on and he says, But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. Verse 14, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. That's exactly what happens. Others speak evil of God and we glorify Him, don't we? Especially in those trials. And then in the next verse, it says, verse 15, But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Now we find here that Peter makes a tremendous statement. In verse 16, he says, if any man suffers a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. And there's a very, very, very big difference between suffering as a Christian and then reaping what we've sowed because of sin. because we have gone against what God said to do. And so many say, well, I'm suffering because I'm a Christian. No, you're suffering because you violated what God said to do. And then there are those who suffer as Christians. They suffer because they follow Christ. And so we need to understand the distinguishment between these things. And here we find in verses 35-38 that the Lord has given us that these sufferings are to be met with faith. Faith gave the victory by serving. And we find here in the previous verses, in verses 32-34, we find that faith turned what had come upon them and turned it into a, what we would call, well, they were victorious. And then in verses 35 through 38, here we see that faith secured another victory. These were not losers. I mean, you read these verses, and some might say, well, they died, yeah, and yeah, they were raised again, but they died, and then we read here about these were tortured, and they had trial of cruel mockings, and scourgings, and bonds, and imprisonments, and all the things that took place, and boy, that doesn't sound like they were victorious. Well, they were. And we're going to see that as we come through this. Turn over, if you would, to the book of Daniel chapter 11. Daniel chapter 11. You see, faith is something that enables us to follow the Lord. And that's what the Scriptures are bearing out here in Hebrews 11 is following the Lord. Every instance we have read and studied up to this point and will continue in Hebrews 11 is an example of trusting God and following Him. And leaving the results up to God. So often times, children of God, we try to act like the world and we try to make a certain result happen that is outside of our abilities. We can't make anything happen. But we can follow Him who does, will, and shall make things happen. In Daniel 11, notice if you would, verse 32, where it says, And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. Now notice, but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. The people that know their God, and that's not talking about knowing God as far as a Savior. That's talking about an intimate knowledge between them and God. Just like what we've been studying in Sunday school as we've been examining the Lord. The people who know God, they shall do exploits. And every one of these in Hebrews chapter 11 did exploits. Why? Because they knew God. All the way from faithful Abel. That we read of in Hebrews 11. There and very early on. Down into Abraham. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, Rahab, Moses, all of them, Sarah, every one of them. And then the Holy Spirit begins to just summarize things here in these final verses. And what we have seen is everything in this 11th chapter are exploits. I mean, it was amazing. what God did with His people, through His people, all by faith. You see, faith gives us the secure, or secures the victory. But it also, as we'll read and study in these verses 35, 36, 37, and 38, we'll find that faith secures the power to endure the sufferings. We've been dealing in Job with those sufferings. How did Job endure that? By faith. How is it that all of our Baptist forefathers endured all the sufferings they did and refused to be delivered from them? By faith. They not only were given power to endure it, they were also given a will to endure it. Just like Christ who said, not my will but thine be done. He had a will to endure Calvary. We read that in Hebrews 12 and verse 2. That He endured the cross, despising the shame because of the joy that was set before Him. And that joy was my redemption. And the redemption of His people. This is exactly what we see as great exploits. Great exploits of deeds and great exploits of sufferings. And these were only sustained and done by faith in the person of the Lord. I'd like you to notice, first of all tonight, as we look at that God has made a choice and we have our duty. And all too often we mix those up. And we want to have the choice. And we want God to give the duty. Or we want to give God the duty. But I'd like you to notice that in these verses, there is a great difference and there is a commonality. Between verses 32 and 38, the one thing that is had in common is there in verse 33, who through faith. That is the common thing in all of these verses. Whether it was Abel or whether it was one of the prophets, we find that it was faith that was had by them. They believed. They trusted God. They relied upon God. They said, this is what God has said and this is where we are drawing our line in the sand. Here and no further. The commonality again, and we have all of these examples that the Holy Spirit gives us from the Old Testament, that the commonality between them was faith. Jesus said in John 14.1, you believe in God, believe also in Me. We just read and studied how that Jehoshaphat said unto Judah, he said, believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established. You see, it's always been faith that enabled God's people to do the things that were done or to suffer the things that were done. It is confidence in Him. It is being fully persuaded of God. And how can we not be? How can we not be fully persuaded that God can and will do what He says He will do? Our faith will increase by hearing of these things. No wonder we're told to meditate. No wonder we're told to give attendance to reading. No wonder the Holy Spirit commanded those things. Because Romans 10, 17 says, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. All too often we meditate and think and read the wrong things. You know, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It doesn't come by reading this, or that, or the other. It doesn't come by many things that people do today. And it explains the great lack of faith in our day, and it explains the great lack of faith down through the ages that many people have had, that they did not give attendance to what God said. They didn't meditate upon it. No wonder when Joshua, before they went into the land, God told him to meditate on these things. He says, you think about it. And again, meditation in the world is emptying themselves. Meditation in Scriptures is filling yourself with God and His Word. And faith takes hold of God and His promises which are precious and are amen. Faith leaves the results up to God and says, I will do, I will go, and I will be as God has said. And that's exactly what all of these did. Now as I said, there was a commonality and that was faith. Every one of these individuals trusted the Lord. And they weren't perfect in their whole life, but we've read of instances where they had faith and did exploits. But there is a difference. And that difference is noted, as we said, from verse 33 and 34 where we talked about how there was deliverance wasn't there? I mean, we just read about how Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat were delivered. They went out to that battle and they were all dead, weren't they? I mean, they came out, and the Edomites, and the Moabites, and the Ammonites, and whoever else was there, they're all dead. And it took them three days to spoil it. But in verses 35, 36, and 37, and 38, we find it different. Boy, it's different, isn't it? Because here we read of how some were dead. read of some being tortured. Some had trials of cruel mockings and scourging, bonds and imprisonment, stonings and sawing asunder, tried and were slain with the sword, wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins and destitute, afflicted, tormented. None of that was in these verses of 33 and 34. Could God have turned that sword? Could He have not caused them not to be sawn asunder? Or could those stones not have hit and killed them? Absolutely! But He was exercising His supremacy, wasn't He? You see, the difference in how things end is not up to you or me. It's in God's hands. It's always been in God's hands. The choice of how things end is in God's hands. Our duty is to be faithful to Him. Our duty is to trust Him whether He's going to turn to flight the armies of the aliens or whether He's going to let them saw us as thunder or stone us or torture us or have scourgings and mockings. We are to follow Him unrelenting. That's it. At all cost. with a reckless abandonment for our own personal life. That's faith, isn't it? You see, when nothing is going on, when there are no trials, it's easy to follow God, isn't it? But when there's trials, when these things are going on, Boy, not everybody follows the Lord, do they? The difference was in the result. And in these verses, in verses 35-38, we find that God's people still prevailed. Oh, they didn't lose anything because they were faithful. You see, we don't go by this world. We go by what God's going to say after we leave this world. That's where we judge success or failure, is we have to wait and see what God says. Because when we stand before God, at the judgment seat of Christ, He's going to judge our life, our stewardship on this earth from the time we were saved until the time we left this world. Right now, we are being judged as sons and daughters. That's why He chastens us. But one day we're going to stand before God and we're going to give an account. And there's no blue book. It's not multiple choice. It's not true or false. He's not going to ask you or me or anybody else, okay, how do you start a New Testament church? He's not going to ask us, tell me about your salvation. Tell me about your baptism. Do you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ? He is not going to go down our ministerial questionnaire. He's not going to say, explain Tulip to me. He is going to say, did you do what I told you to do? In fact, He's not even going to ask that question. He's going to look at me, and He's going to say one of two things. Well done, thou good and faithful servant, for thou was faithful over a few things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord, or He's going to say, thou wicked and slothful servant. That's it. That is what is going to happen at the judgment seat of Christ. And I don't want to hear one of those, and you know which one I don't want to hear. As Grandpa Hilly would say on his tapes, and Dad quoted it many times, he says, the only degree, if you know anything about Grandpa, he graduated 8th grade. That was it. He said, the only degree I'm interested in is a W.D. degree. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. That's it. The only thing that we ought to be interested in is pleasing Him who died for me. That's it. And these here in Hebrews 11 were more concerned with pleasing God, which means they were more concerned with walking by faith and going through their daily life as God would have them to, than anything else in all the world. and their lives were hazarded for it. Now, these were extreme cases, weren't they? Not everyone will have to deal with these types of sufferings. But when they were offered deliverance, they refused it. And by deliverance it means, listen, if you'll recant whatever you just said or whatever you've been saying, you know, we'll let you live or we'll give you a swift death. And they said, absolutely not. You can buy Fox's Book of Martyrs and read it if you like. Or you don't have to. But it's available and you can read the historical accounts concerning the great many of people who died. You can pick up Trail of Blood right over there. I think there's a couple left. You can read that. But they did not accept the deliverance. They did not accept those things. And it wasn't for freedom. It wasn't for, you know, a country that they died for. They followed God. God may not call you unto that. But He does call every one of His children to follow Him and be faithful. And these here, when they went through things, and when they dealt with things, they always looked by faith. Turn over, if you would, to the book of Acts, chapter 4. The book of Acts, chapter 4. If these were to have accepted deliverance, if these were to have been willing and desirous to not go through the sufferings, it would have costed them steadfastness and faithfulness. Understand here that what they were asked to do was to say that Jesus is not the Savior. That Jesus is not God. That His New Testament church is not His New Testament church. that the Word of God is not the Word of God, and so on and so forth. That's what they were being told, we're going to kill you anyways. But it'll be quicker and swifter and it'll be a lot less painful if you'll just say, these things aren't so. And they said, absolutely not. And today, I'm sure there'll be a lot of people who say they're Christians and say, I got no problem saying that, I won't really mean it. But that's not what these did. They would not let even the thought penetrate within them, let alone the words roll off their tongue and lips. I don't wish to be a martyr, but I do desire to follow the Lord. Some folks have a martyr complex. And the Bible says you're supposed to live for Me who died for you. That's what Scripture teaches. Here in Acts chapter 4, notice if you would, in verse 14, It says, "...and beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it." So the Jews could not say anything against the man that Peter and John, that the Lord used Peter and John to heal or through them. Didn't say anything about it. Verse 15, But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them as manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. For that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name." Have you ever been threatened for preaching the Gospel? Or for standing on God's Word? I mean, I know a man, he's supposed to be a Sovereign Grace Baptist pastor, and he says, where I'm at, where I work, nobody even knows that I'm a Christian. Nobody even knows that I'm a pastor. I don't tell anybody. I thought, what a shame. What a shame. Here are these, they couldn't but talk about it. And they were threatened. So what? They threatened Christ all the time and they couldn't do anything until it was His hour, couldn't they? And so we read here and it says, as you keep reading, that they speak henceforth to no man in this day, verse 18, and they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Essentially, what they said was, You know better than to tell us to listen to you instead of God. You know better than that. Verse 20, For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people. For all men glorified God for that which was done. Verse 22, For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was showed. And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God. which hath made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is. Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ." They're quoted in Psalm 2. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak by word." They said, we want you to behold their threatenings." First they went over what God had said in Psalm 2, what the heathen, what the nations, what the Jews were going to do. And then they said, God, take notice. If you remember Psalm 2, it said that the Lord shall have them in derision. So they were taking hold of God's Word, weren't they? They were trusting what God had already said in Psalm 2. And they cried out to God, Behold their threatenings. Verse 30, By stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness. So faith, they trusted in what God had said hundreds of years ago. They'd been threatened. I mean, they said, don't preach in his name. I've never been told not to preach. I've been told what to preach. I've been told you ought not to preach this, but not like these were. And then in chapter 5, beginning at verse 25, They had already been arrested and put in prison, and then the Lord released them, and they went back to the temple and were preaching and teaching. And the high priests, they couldn't find them, and somebody comes in and says, well, they're in the temple preaching and teaching. So they run down there, verse 25, then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in the prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name? And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, or your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." And again, their doctrine was the Lord Jesus. That was their doctrine. In verse 29, those wonderful words that God gave Simon Peter. Then Peter and the other apostles answered, and so the other apostles were in agreement with it, we ought to obey God rather than men. They said that by faith. Because when they looked at whatever men could do to them, They were more concerned, if you'll pardon this expression, with disappointing Him who had died for them. They were more concerned with going against the Lord than they were anything that men could do to them. Not because they would lose their salvation, but because of what had just taken place not very long before that at Calvary. And that ought to be our concern today. Not what men might do, because we don't know. They said, well, that we threatened you. God could have made it where they never touched him. So we ought not to be concerned about what men might do, what men say they're going to do. We ought to be more concerned about what God says, and the fact that we're going to stand before Him one day, and what God said He will do. I mean, think back. There's a hymn, and I've heard it before, and it's after Calvary. I would do anything, be anything, after what you did for me at Calvary. And here we find that this was the answer of the apostles. Simon Peter, we ought to obey God rather than men. Verse 30, The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey Him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. God intervened by sending up Gamaliel. You can read that in verse 34-39. And then in verse 40, And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. These here were not delivered, were they? I mean, they didn't die, but they were beaten. I mean, Paul was beaten and taken outside the city and left for dead. And he climbed back up and he went back and he preached, didn't he? I've never had that happen to me. I don't wish for that to happen to me. We're not supposed to wish for these things. I remember one preacher, he said, boy, when they outlaw preaching against homosexual marriage, I'm going down to the courthouse steps and preaching against it. I said, why don't you go now? Why are you waiting until it's outlawed? Why don't you just go down there and instead of preaching on that, why don't you preach Christ and Him crucified? Why won't you go down now? Why are you grandstanding? Why are you making it about you? So people say, oh look how great he is. They outlawed it. He went right down there and preached. He says, you won't do it now. These here were threatened and they preached. Then they were beaten and they preached. because faith looked at the threatenings and the beatings. And it didn't say what God can do is worse. It said what God has done for us is far greater. It looked at Calvary and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And then as Paul said in Romans 12 verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves as a living sacrifice. And he went on and he spoke about not being transformed to this world, but rather under the likeness of Christ, and he concludes it with, which is your reasonable service. It's our reasonable service to live for Him who died for me. And these here did it by faith. These looked at the spiritual and eternal realities, and they were so clear and so near to them that they reckoned the sufferings of this present life were not to be compared with the glory which would be revealed in them." Some folks just want to kind of be a Christian and skip around all the sufferings like they're running between the raindrops. We can't have that. We can't be that. We also can't go looking for Him. We just need to follow Him. These here triumphed in faith, not because the sufferings were turned and they avoided them, but because they endured them. God made the difference, didn't He? He could have turned these things. I mean, they were in prison and He let them out. He stopped them from being killed, but not from being beaten. It's all His prerogative, isn't it? It's all in God's hand how He would have these trials or these sufferings to end. Whether it be by turning it against the enemy, or whether it be by enduring through it. God made the difference. And it was, and it still is, His prerogative to deliver or to give grace. Just as He said to Paul, when Paul asked Him three times to remove the thorn of the flesh, and He said unto Paul, He says, My grace is sufficient for thee. He had delivered Paul again and again and again and again from so many things. He even wrote to Timothy about how the Lord had delivered him from things. But this, He said, no, I'm not going to remove it from you. But I'll give you grace to carry it with you and for you to go through it. Turn over to 1 John chapter 5. Again, it was by faith. You see, when we look at things through the eyes of the flesh, we'll never be able to endure. which is exactly why we have a recorder for us, for we walk not by sight, but by faith. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In 1 John chapter 5, Let us know if you would, verse 4 and 5, it says, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. These all here in Hebrews 11 were victorious by faith. Their faith overcame. Folks will say, well, what do you mean they were victorious? Some died. Some suffered. Yeah, but they were faithful through it all, weren't they? We're not going to be judged by our sufferings or whether or not we die. It is pointed unto all men once to die. And after this, the judgment. We're going to be judged by were you faithful? That's the standard. Faithfulness. following God. We will all depart this life and stand before Him. Turn over, if you would, to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. Some folks think more of their own life than they really should. And I think very highly of life in general. You know, it's not up to me to take it from anybody. We didn't come from some pond scum. We didn't originate from that. We're created in the similitude of God, the Scripture says. Human life is a tremendous thing. But being unfaithful to God is not even worth that. You know, one day, And we're going to read here, verse 23 of Luke 9, it says, And He said to them all, He's talking to His disciples. And He said to every one of them, which speaks of not just all of His disciples then, but for all time. If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. And people don't know what the cross means. The cross deals with what God has appointed for you just as it meant that it was God's appointment for His Son. Your foreordained path. The works that God would have you to walk in. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Ephesians 2.10 says. Verse 24, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? That's a rhetorical question, isn't it? Because we know the answer. And then in verse 26, For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory, and in his father's, and of the holy angels. I mean, people really don't believe that God's going to tell some of His own, I'm ashamed of you. And He is. Because they didn't take up their cross? Because they were more concerned about their own life than what God had appointed for them to do? These here in Hebrews 11, they didn't do that, did they? These here had extraordinary sufferings, faced tremendous trials. And God, the Holy Spirit, in His graciousness, reveals that faith in God leads to victory over these great trials. And again, God appointed for them to suffer the things they suffered. They said, well, why should I have faith and go through those things? Because there's something after the sufferings, the standing before God. God, and again, we have to understand, everything God does is good. Isn't that what Job said? The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Can we receive good of His hand and not evil? And again, that was from the human perspective. And what did Job do? He blessed the Lord. We have to understand that every good and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variable, and is neither shadow of turning. James 1, 17. And when we understand that, when we understand that everything that God does is good, everything that God permits or allows is good, and it's for His glory and for our good, because we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to His purpose. What did I just do? I just gave you three sets of verses that we can take and say, this is what God said, and apply it to anything we go through in life. Anything. And we can follow God and say, I'm faithful to Him, I am resolved. We've heard that hymn sung to us on more than one occasion. I am resolved to follow the Savior. We need, like Christ, to set our faces as flint to the will of God. And ask God for grace and strength to do what He says. Faith must look at trials, must look at the path that God has chosen for me. We must look at it in the revealed light from heaven, and we must see Him who allows sufferings, see Him who brings sufferings, see who as Isaiah 43 verse 2 says, that He is with us in the flood and with us in the fire, and we see Him as our refiner and purger and helper of our strength and comforter and say, blessed be the name of the Lord. And by His grace we do not forsake Him. and by His grace we do not depart from following Him. As one writer stated, he said, faith sees that the forming of a character like that of the Son of God, the character of Jesus Christ, the character of maintaining at every cost the Father's will and honor is more than all the world can give us in exchange for forsaking Him. These, in Hebrews 11, 35, 36, 37 and 8, did not do those things for crowns. They did them because of the Lord. I mean, we don't do things to get a crown. Because you're not going to keep them anyways. They're going to be cast at Jesus' feet. We don't do things for that reward. We do it because of what He did for me. What He's doing for me. What He's yet going to do for me. We do it because of Calvary. We do it because of His love that He had for us and our love for Him. and we are so desirous of maintaining at every cost the will of God, and honoring Him, just like Moses did when Pharaoh said, and Moses came and said, listen, God told us to take everything we got and go three days into the wilderness, and Pharaoh offered them compromise after compromise after compromise, and Moses turned every one of them down. Because he couldn't disobey God. He couldn't do it. He was walking by faith. He didn't say, you know what, we really, really don't need the animals to come with us. And you know, we really don't need to go out into the wilderness. We can worship God here. And you know, we really don't need the wives and the children. They'll be in the way anyways. And there's really nothing for the wives to do anyways. No, Moses said, God told us to go three days. God told us to get separated from the Egyptians. God told us we need all of our animals because we've got to offer sacrifices. And God told us we need to take our wives and our children and go worship Him. So I cannot accept any of your compromises, Pharaoh. And that is a perfect picture of the world saying, you don't need to do what God says. You can shortcut it. Try taking that mentality to your job and seeing how long that lasts. Don't bring that nonsense to the Lord. because it's not going to go well. These here saw that they were being made partakers of His sufferings. To have true humility and weakness and gentleness of the Lamb of God being wrought in us, and likened to Him being made perfect in sufferings, that there is no cost to such a great gain as that. There is not anything in this world worth forsaking that. No wonder James said, count it all joy when you fall into manifold trials. No wonder Peter recorded that the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth. See, it was faith that did this. Trusting God. Walking according to His Word and not by our sight. The Lord must, and we pray that He will, instill within us that very same principle that Christ had and all these had. I'm going to follow the Lord and what He says against everything else, at all costs. You know, and it's something, and I'm sure you've heard the words about the founding fathers, how that they pledged their loyalty or all that it was, and even their fortunes, you know, to get freedom for this country and all the things that they did. Christ died for me. And yet we say, I'm willing to do this, but not this over here. I've got to save that for me. No, it's all His. It's all for Him. That's the mentality and the heart set and the mind set that we need to have. We pray that God will give it to us. We ask Him for it. That He would lay that in our hearts forever and ever. And so we pray God will do this.