Hebrews chapter 11 here's some folks who followed the Lord and We want to look here tonight at some from verse 38 and 39 That these here obtained what they obtained by faith so Hebrews chapter 11 and let's read if you would begin in verse 36 and said, and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they 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 these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Now, in these verses we have here that the Holy Spirit has graciously shown us the great testimony God gives of the life of faith. And we find here that it states that of whom the world was not worthy. The world was not worthy of these. Now, while many commentators and writers say that this refers unto the whole chapter, I think rather, as others state, I believe it specifically refers unto those last mentioned, not the whole of the chapter. but specifically refers to those that were stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword, wandered about in sheepskins, goatskins, destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandering in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. That seems to be the context right there. I don't think it harms Scriptures to apply it to the whole chapter, but I think in its setting, and it seems to me the way that it's written, is that the Spirit of God is specifically talking about these martyrs, if you would. That's where this is in reference unto, is unto these. So in Hebrews 11, We find here that God gives us a testimony concerning the life of faith, but particularly the life of those whose lives were given, as all of our lives ought to be given, but these, their lives were taken from them in their service unto the Lord. Turn over, if you would, briefly to the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel chapter 5. We find here in the book of Daniel chapter 5, and we know this is true pertaining to pretty much everything, but you know, we find that God values things that the world does not. And the world values things that God does not. And we find in Daniel that God gave an assessment And you know the story, how the hand came and wrote on the wall, and Daniel was called to interpret it. And you read over in Daniel 5 and in verse 24, it says, Then was the part of the hand sent from Him, and this writing was written, and this is the writing that was written, Mene, mene, tekel, yufarsin. This is the interpretation of the thing. Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel, thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. Perez, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. You see, God made an assessment of the king of Babylon, Belshazzar. And his assessment of Belshazzar was that I have weighed you in the balances and you are lacking or wanting or insufficient. And so it is with every sinner that we are insufficient, aren't we? And it is only by faith that we receive the righteousness of Christ whereby we now satisfy the law of God. But here were these, and this is again, this is speaking with and dealing with a life after one is saved. And God puts an estimation or a value upon that life, and in particular, those who were martyred or slain for the cause of Christ. And He says that the world was not worthy of them. Boy, isn't that something? to hear God's testimony concerning these individuals. That the world was not worthy of these, and again, remember who they were and what they were, they were violent, wicked individuals whom God saved by His grace, and then by faith, they lived a life that honored God. And the Bible says that the world was not worthy of them. Only faith in Jesus Christ and trusting Him as Savior and then living a life for the Lord will bring about such an assessment. Now you read here, and we look at these, and again, this is not God's assessment of saving faith. In fact, this is not even God's assessment of every individual in this chapter. This was what He said about a specific group of people. We'll read about them a little bit later in Revelation. But you find here that these were those who had living faith. And you think about it, there are countless, to you and I, of people who are saved by God's grace. And we notice in the Scriptures that the Bible says that faithful Abraham is in this list of Hebrews 11. But you know who's not in this list? Old Vex-Lot. He's not in this list, is he? He was saved, wasn't He? The Bible tells us that He vexed His righteous soul. And I mean this, if the Holy Spirit had not given that to Peter, you and I would probably, to this day, contend that Lot probably wasn't saved. Now we have the example that God had said to Abraham, He says, I won't destroy it for the sole amount of righteous. So we would have to conclude just from that that He was righteous because He brought him out. But you think about it, we need to understand, and there's a terminology, and I don't know how biblical it is, I can't find it in the Bible, but the concept is that people say, well, they're just carnal Christians. I don't think there is such a thing. I think they're lost. At best, they might be backslidden. At worst, they're apostatized and lost. But we look at Scriptures here and we find, and you'll notice here, that as the Scriptures bring out, that these obtained this by faith. What did Lot obtain by faith as far as his life went? Nothing! His children became the Ammonites and the Moabites, who were enemies of God's people. You see, we find in scriptures that the Bible teaches, as we've studied and read through Hebrews chapter 11, we marvel at these individuals. We think very highly of them. And then we've read here in these last few the things that they did. And we need to understand that these things are still possible today if we walk by faith. Now I am not a proponent of doing anything that is unbiblical. But I am a proponent that we have a living faith and not a sedimentary faith where we just sit down and do nothing. and show up on Sundays and Wednesdays and say, well, we're serving God. That's not serving God. That's part of serving God, but that is not the only thing there is. The Bible teaches us this, and we find that Abraham was one who did more than just show up, wasn't he? And the same for all of these. They're listed here. And in particular, as we've read here, that others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings. You know why they had those? It's not because they just showed up twice a week. It's because they lived according to God's Word. That's it. These here were actively walking. in the good works which God had ordained that they should walk in." That's what they were doing. And only by this will we also obtain God's assessment that our lives were not wasted, but were pleasing unto Him. Look over in Hebrews 11 and verse 6. And you know, this is a tremendous statement as it's listed here in these verses. Hebrews 11 and verse 6. And you know, when we talk about faith, we need to understand that faith isn't just, well, I believe what God's Word says. I remember listening to a tape of my grandfather's when somebody says, well, I believe this, and he says, I don't believe anybody believes anything except they do what they say that they believe. That's exactly right. If we believe it, then why aren't we doing it? And if we believe that this is the Lord's church, then we ought not to be plain church, we ought to be the Lord's church. And if we believe that we are the light and the salt of the earth in this area and we have the great commission, we're the only ones with the authority to baptize, then we ought to be trying to make disciples so that we then can baptize them. Hebrews 11 and verse 6 it says, but without faith it is impossible to please Him. And that's exactly right. It is impossible to please God without faith. And you can go through all the motions. You can even be biblical in your motions and still not have faith. We have to have faith. We have to trust the Lord. We have to do things according to the precepts and counsels and commands and statutes and testimonies in the Word of God. We have to do it by what God's Word says, but we have to do it trusting the Lord or else we will never get this assessment. And I'm not shooting for an assessment that the world was not worthy of me. That's not a goal that folks ought to have because that's only given to those who are slain in the cause of Christ. The assessment I would like to have is simply, well done, thou good and faithful servant. That's the assessment that God's people ought to desire, is that the Savior and their Master would say to them, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. We find in Scriptures that it says that without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You have to believe that God is exactly who He says He is, and He will reward them that diligently seek Him. You see, the problem is, and I was having this conversation with both the brethren here tonight, just before the services, the problem that we're seeing today is people are not diligently seeking the Lord. Churches are not diligently seeking the Lord. They're not interested in glorifying God. They will use this method, that method, they'll do just about anything and everything except what God says. And the reason is because they're not seeking Him. And when you don't seek Him, you will do anything and everything. But when you seek Him, you're going to have to come to Him in the appropriate way. You're going to have to do it by God's Word. And it's only by God's grace and the Lord help us that we never depart. That we never want to deviate from God's Word. Because as soon as we get away from Him, we will not be diligently seeking Him. You know, I told this church, I'd say some years ago, but I've only been here almost two. Our goal is not to get a bunch of people to be members. It's not to build up the church. The goal is to glorify the Lord. That's the goal. And if we ever get away from that, if we ever get away from diligently seeking Him, who is a rewarder of those who seek Him, well, we're gonna have some problems. Everybody's got a plan. Well, if you do this and if you do that, no, if we diligently seek Him, that's it. in your prayer life, in your Bible study, in your daily life, even going to the store, working around the house, work, school, church, whatever that it is, we are to diligently seek Him. And we do it by faith. You deviate from that, you're going to have problems. That's how lampstands get taken away. That's how families who used to serve the Lord are now said to have used to serve the Lord. They quit seeking Him. And they went after whatever. Doesn't matter what they went after, they didn't seek Him. And there's a big difference between seeking Him and seeking other things and not seeking Him at all. So we want to look here tonight at these things. This is a group of people who, by faith, they pleased Him, they came to God, they believe that He is, and it was a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. In Hebrews 11, verse 38, it says, "...of whom the world was not worthy." First of all, tonight, as we look at this, We find that this phrase, again, we believe it speaks specifically of the saints of God who were slain for their faith and life of pursuing the Lord Jesus and His will. We've got an entire booklet, and if you don't have one, get one. If you already have it, read it. If you've read it, reread it. It's called The Trail of Blood. Tremendous book about our ancestry and our Baptist heritage. And I'm so grateful that the Lord has made me not just a Baptist, but the kind of Baptist that I am. Because God's the only one who can make that kind. But you look at those things and you'll find down through history that men and women and boys and girls who are saved by God's grace, they diligently sought Him. And the world said that you are not worthy of the world, but God said the world was not worthy of you. And He took them home, didn't He? And it might have been through torment and torture and sawing asunder and hangings and burnings and all manner of things, but He took them home, didn't He? And He can do with His own as He sees fit. Because there's not one thing that they suffered that Christ didn't. because He was in all points tempted or tested like as we are yet without sin. Whether they were Old Testament or New Testament saints, these here whom the Bible says that the world was not worthy of, they were following the Lord. The Bible says concerning the world, and I'll just read it to you, Galatians 1.4, the Bible describes this world as a present evil world. Do you know that this world has been presently evil ever since sin entered the world? I mean, it's been that way. We were at the convention and somebody was talking about, they were saying, the thing is, people are getting married today, so we don't want to have kids, we don't want to bring kids into this world, it's such a bad place. It's been this bad since sin entered the world. I mean, you think about it, it can't get any worse. It's going to manifest worse, but it's always been sin in the world, since Adam sinned. There's things now that just are socially acceptable that used to not be. Society as a whole, laws and things are now permitting sin, legalizing it, but not in God's assessment. But these men, women, boys and girls walk my faith in a present evil world. We find here that they kept themselves unspotted or not polluted from this world. Read that in James 1.27. We find here that this world has a very high opinion of itself, but God does not have a very high opinion of this world. I'd like you to notice, let's run Scripture Reference. If you turn over to Colossians 1, Colossians chapter 1. And reading here verses 15 and 16, that these saints of whom the world was not worthy of, you know what they were doing? They were just following Jesus. They were just walking in His footsteps. They were believing the same things and doing the same things that the Lord Jesus Christ did while He was here. In Colossians 1, verse 15, it says, Who, referring unto the Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him, now note, and for Him. This world was made by the Lord and it was made for Him. And then, as you well know, the Bible gives us this great testimony in John chapter 1 and verse 11, that He came unto His own and His own received Him not. He came unto His own world and His own world received Him not. He came unto His own kinfolk. He came unto the Jews, and the Jews received Him not. He came unto His own elect, and we didn't receive Him. Not at first. No, it was through the preaching of the Gospel, and by the power of God, and the quickening of the Spirit. You see here how the Scripture bears out and it teaches us and shows us that this world was not worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ, was it? And yet these here are just following His example and walking and God saw fit that they should depart from this life. Such men and women as these were great blessings. And you know, I don't know anybody personally who's been slain for the cause of Christ. Not in this fashion. I know men who have given their lives to things, or to the Lord. And you know, you think about it and how great and tremendous a blessing those men are. Well, these here were those that the Bible, the Bible doesn't say that men who have lived their whole lives and served God since the day they were saved, it doesn't say that the world was not worthy of them. It says that these here who were slain, the world was not worthy of them. But you think about some folks who've been a great blessing in teaching the Word of God and handing down truths to you and I. And yet this doesn't apply to them unless the Lord has seen fit that they were to be slain for the cause of Christ. These men were great blessings of which the world rejected, stalwarts of the faith which was once delivered to the saints. The world does not deserve such. The world did not know how to value or use them. And so they abused them. Therefore God received them. If anyone shall make up the jewels of his crown, it shall be these. Look, if you would as well in verse 39 of Hebrews chapter 11. These obtained a good report. It says, verse 39, it says, "...and these all." And again, some of the writers say this refers unto all here in Hebrews 11. Some say, well, this is only unto these here. And all I can say about is this. If you walk by faith, you'll obtain a good report. Whether you're slain or not. The Bible tells us, if you'll turn over to the book of Revelation, chapter 13, Revelation chapter 13, and we'll read here verse 14. And here's a tremendous great truth that many people don't realize. You know, there's some churches of the Lord's that you and I don't know about. And there's some church members who have been just living by faith that you and I don't know about. But in the places where God has placed them, small little communities or big large metropolises, they've obtained a good report of living by faith. Here it says in Revelation 13 and verse 14, it says, I'm sorry, 14 and verse 13. Revelation 14 and verse 13. Here we find these who They obtained a good report, and it says, And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, sayeth the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Boy, isn't that true? And I'm sure you can think of some folks whom the Lord has called home. They're resting from their labors, and their works do follow them. Boy, if you're going to be in that number, you're going to have to live by faith. There's a lot of people who this verse is not going to apply to because they didn't have any labors that when they went home to be with the Lord to rest from. They didn't have anything to follow. But here these had obtained a good report. Well, let's look over in the Gospel of Luke chapter 23. The Gospel of Luke chapter 23. And let's take a look here again at the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the world was not worthy of Him, and we find here that He too obtained a good report. You know, He had such a good report that when He was examined, as no man has ever been examined, they couldn't find any fault with Him. Even the witnesses that they hired to bear false witness against him couldn't agree. Isn't that something? In Luke chapter 23 verse 46, Here he is at Calvary's cross, and it says, And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. What a good report to have. You know, the Bible says that the bishops The Lord's bishops of His churches are supposed to have a good report of them that are without. And this is the same word in Hebrews 11. A good report. The idea is that those who walk by faith will have a good report from lost people. It's not about brother so-and-so or sister so-and-so talking about another brother or another sister. This is about the same individuals who saw them asunder, who tortured them, who tormented them, who pierced them with spears while they hung from the cross and then said, certainly this is a righteous man. Certainly this is the Son of God, as was said also about the Christ. obtain a good report. It's possible to obtain a good report. In fact, Scripture even says it's possible to know that somebody's elect because Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica and said, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Ever been to a funeral? And if it was a rite funeral, a good and rite one, where somebody who knew the Scriptures was preaching, and it was a person who without 100% knowledge that they're saved, what do you say? I wouldn't know what to tell you about them. Couldn't comfort the family as far as saying they're with the Lord. I mean, they might have been a nominal Christian, a name-only Christian, and not really saved. Because they didn't have any living faith. Remember, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show you my faith by my works. And that's what these did. And it was such a living by faith that even those who were the enemies of the cross of Christ, and the enemies of His church who persecuted that church, knew they were God's people. Isn't that something? And now what happened with Saul of Tarsus? And then the Lord saved him when he slew and consented under the death of Stephen. And then later on, God saved him on the road to Damascus. Boy, Stephen had obtained a good report, didn't he? And then later on, Paul obtained a good report. that when he was killed, even those who were going to slay him, it's alleged, and I have no reason to doubt it, that those who were going to kill him, they said, well you pray for us. And he prayed for them, from what I understand in the Fox Book of Martyrs, that he said that they were going to be baptized outside his sepulchre. But they obtained a good report. There's folks who sat underneath my ministry, I don't know if they were safe. Here we find that these walk by faith in such a fashion that their own enemies, even those who, as we said in Hebrews chapter 11, And verses 37, those who stoned him, those who sawed him asunder, who tipped him, who slain him with the sword, even those had to admit that these were righteous people. That's the kind of testimony. You see, we're not shooting for martyrdom, we're shooting for glorifying God, and if we're shooting for glorifying God, then we're going to have this kind of testimony. We're going to obtain a good report. The world has even tried to get you and I to not have a good report by demoralizing us and saying, well, he's such a Bible thumper. And they called names. Well, they called the first ones Christians, didn't they? They just got new names for them. All you ever do is talk about the Lord and Scriptures. What do you want me to talk about? There ain't nothing else worth talking about. So what will be the report given concerning, and then insert your name there. What will your neighbors say about you? What about your children, your grandchildren, great-grandchildren? You know, what are the lost people gonna say about you? Some might just say, well, they went to church a lot. Well, so does the devil. These here had God's witness. But they also had a witness in the consciousness of their enemies. Who while they abused them, the enemy was condemned in their own conscience. What a tremendous statement God says here. The world was not worthy of them, And they obtained a good report. You know what they did? They were following Christ, weren't they? They didn't shoot out or set out to be a martyr. They didn't set out to do anything but to glorify God. And this is what happened. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 You see this is what we ought to be going after. This is ought to be our desire here It says in Ephesians 2 it says verse 8 for by grace are you saved through faith? And that not of yourselves that is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Now the thought stops there, but it it doesn't end there. I And that's where many people stop and they end at. That they're saved by grace through faith. But there's a verse 10. And verse 10 says, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And that verse doesn't stop there either. Because it says, unto good works. You and I who are saved by God's grace have been created unto something. And that is good works that glorify God. That's it. They don't glorify you, they don't glorify me, they don't even glorify this church. They glorify God. That's why we let our light shine, so that men will see our good works to glorify Him. It goes on and it says, On two good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. He's ordained it. You see, He's not just ordained us to be saved, He's ordained us to walk in these very works. You know, we don't have to worry and go around and say, well, I wonder if this is an ordained work or not. We just need to go about what the Lord would have us to do. And you pray about opportunities to serve the Lord. You pray about places and people that God gives you an opportunity to. And He does, and He opens the door. And then you pray that God will give you boldness in that area. But that's where our aim is. Now if you turn over to Revelation chapter 5, I believe it is. I'm sorry, Revelation 6 and verse 9. See, this is not the goal. The goal is to walk in what God would have us to. But peradventure, and perhaps, if God be pleased, the end may be one of death in service for our Lord. But here we find these here, of whom the world was not worthy. In Revelation 6, verse 9, it says, And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw unto the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? and white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled." See, it's still going on, isn't it, in the world today? See, there's the white robe of imputed righteousness, there's the white robe here of martyrdom, There's also, and I think that these are similar, there's the white robe or garment given unto the Lord's bride, which is her righteousness, her acts of righteousness. Well, these were acts of righteousness that they were doing, and they were slain for it, and God gave them white robes because of it. You know, some folks probably say, well, that's not fair. He can do with his own whatever he wants to. They say, well it's not fair, they get white robes and we didn't. Well maybe, if you'd have done and lived like they lived, you might have got one. I think there's going to be some works people leave undone. I think we're going to suffer loss for it, as the scripture says. But again, our goal is not martyrdom. Our goal is to obtain a good report. And we want to obtain that good report by glorifying God. See, nowadays, churches of the Lord have gotten in a rut. And you know what a rut is. It's a grave with both ends knocked out. That's what a rut is. Any time, and this happens, and it'll happen again when there's another church of the Lord's. And you have something, and somebody comes in and they say, listen, we need to carry out the Great Commission. We need to go about the Lord's work. People say, oh, we don't do that. I know. That's the problem. We had that problem in Kansas. Nobody wanted to do the Great Commission. And just because we're being led to do what God's Word says doesn't mean it's unscriptural. There's nothing unscriptural about doing what the Word of God says. In fact, It'll glorify God and we'll obtain a good report. I don't understand a whole lot of things in this world. I'll tell you the greatest thing I don't understand is why God's people don't want to serve Him. Well, anytime that the church or the pastor is leading the church to do some things that makes them, well, we've never done that before. Is it in here? Well, then we ought to be doing it. Why haven't we been doing it? Why aren't we doing what God's Word says? Why aren't we going out and propagating the Word of God? Why aren't we training up our young people? Why aren't the aged men instructing the younger men? Why aren't the aged women instructing the younger women? Why aren't we, as the Bible says in Hebrews 10.25, and not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. There's not a person in here who doesn't believe that it is clearly getting worse out there, and that the coming of Jesus Christ is drawing nigh, and God says you ought to assemble more today than before. Well, we can't assemble more than the first church did because they met daily. But we can assemble more than we have been. We can encourage one another in the Word of God. But this is, again, this is what our aim is. Glorifying God. Not doing it by any means necessary, but doing it as thus saith the Lord states. That's it. That's what we want to do. By God's grace, that's what we'll continue to do. And that the Lord will help us and he'll receive all the glory. All the glory. And if God doesn't see fit to say or add or do anything, that's his business. It's our duty to render him glorious. It's our duty to carry out this great commission. And we are so influenced by the world today. People say, well, do you have any results? We have the results God sent. I mean, you think about it. And there's, we've been, this church has been here since 1961. And the Great Commission needs to be carried out. And sometimes, you know, folks, things go on and then they get, well, we've done it and it didn't work. When you don't quit, if it's scriptural, you keep doing it. Because we're seeking to glorify God. And through that, that's how we'll obtain a good report. So we pray that God would be glorified with this message. The saints, this church would be edified and encouraged, exhorted to follow the Lord. You that are here without Jesus Christ, that you'll know that He's the only Savior. that there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby you must be saved. Let's stand and have a word of prayer.