All right, as we said a moment ago, we're back in Hebrews chapter 11, and actually bringing the chapter to a close, which is, I don't know, bittersweet, maybe a little bitter for me. I love this chapter, but maybe sweet for you if you felt like we've been here a long time. But it is such a great chapter, and there's much to think about in this chapter. You know, we've been in it since, I think, the end of January, so about four months. We've been thinking about what it says about faith and how important faith is because faith is a subject of this chapter but it's also really the subject of the letter. It's all about faith. It's about how do we live our lives as believers. If we're going to call ourselves Christians how are we to live And the answer is by faith, right? We are saved by faith, but we also walk by faith. And so the letter is really dealing with much of that and how you live a life of faith. And so it begins immediately with talking about faith being the way that we see things that are not yet, right? Promises. We see those things that are not yet as though they are because God has sworn them to be. And God's word is everything, right? We trust it wholeheartedly. We know what he says must come to pass. And so faith is that means by which we can not only believe those things that are yet unseen but are sure to be, but also he says it's the substance of those things. There's some sense in which through faith we can touch those things. They become real to us. It's not that I'm believing in some promise of God the way I might believe something that you tell me that I don't know if it's true or not. I believe God's Word not only because it is God's Word but also because in some sense by faith I can grasp it. I can touch it. You know, I don't have to have a logical argument that Christ will return. Just tell me God says Christ will return. If His Word says it, I believe it. And I'm as sure of that as I am of anything because His Word allows me to know it through the substance of faith. And so faith is important. It's the way we grasp those things that we cannot see. And that's what much of this chapter is about. Think in just a moment about why that is the case. But if you want to think about what that means, that's nice to give us a definition or to think about, but what does it mean? What does that look like? And so the author says, well, let me give you some examples, right? Let's just turn to the history of the people of God and we'll find examples readily. In fact, the point we're going to see today is he says so readily that we could spend forever looking at example after example, after example, after example. But he does give us some examples to wrestle with. Right off the bat, Abel, who made a more excellent sacrifice by faith. And Enoch, who walked with God, believed God, had fellowship with God, walked until God took him and he was no more. We saw the example of Noah, who by faith built the ark when God told him there was going to be a flood. It's a long way off. Noah could have said, I don't know, this sounds a little bit know maybe God's wrong about this, but Noah, like us, recognized if God said it will come to pass, it will come to pass. If I do not prepare and build this ark, I'll die. My family will die. And that couldn't happen, right? The promise required Noah and his family surviving. And so Noah believes this promise and he builds the ark and perseveres through that age. And then we see the patriarchs. We see Abraham and we see even Sarah mentioned and her faith and so many examples from Abraham's life, right? It's like he is the gold standard because you can just go over and over again and see Abraham trusting God's word And then we see a little short thing about Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, all men of faith, all patriarchs who are men of faith. And then we come to the Exodus generation and to Moses who is an example of faith. A man who believed the promises of God and we spent some time there. And then Joshua and then Rahab as they get ready to enter the land. Faith after faith, example after example of people who believed what God said. That's just simply what we're talking about. God said it, do you believe it? Joshua said yes. Rahab said yes. Moses before them said yes. I believe what God says. His word cannot fall. It must stand. And therefore I put my hope and trust in it. Well, as I said, there are many more examples we could turn to, right? We could just never leave this series and just continue through every character in the Bible that's an example of faith and go on and on. And this must be what is on this author's mind, right? I could go on and on and on and on and this letter would never end and at some point you might quit reading it, right? So there has to be a point at which I say, okay, enough examples have been given. And that brings us to today's text. Because starting in verse 32, I want to read it again. I want you to really think about what it says here. And what more shall I say, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked 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, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain by the sword. They walked about in sheepskin and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth, and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us." As we come to the Word today, let us pray. Father, help us to understand your Word. Help us, Father, to hear it and receive it. Help me, Father, to preach it rightly. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. As we come to today's text, I want us to look at three points. First of all, a summary point. That's really what we're dealing with here in Hebrews at the end. Chapter 11 is a summary point. Second of all, a suffering people. And third, a singular principle. So beginning first of all with this idea of a summary point, We would recognize what I was just saying, right? As we come into this text we've seen many examples, I think a dozen examples of faithful servants of God who by faith accomplished great things. God used them for great purposes by faith. And our author having concluded those 12 examples says, and what more shall I say? What more needs to be said? Do you need more examples? It might be to the point where Jesus talked about, you know, that if you need continual signs, it's a sign of unbelief, right? The requirement for signs is a sign of unbelief. In the same way, if you need more and more examples of what it is to walk by faith, then you're either not listening or you're not believing anyway, right? There are plenty of examples here of how people have believed the promises of God and have responded in faith. And so our author says, what should we do? Should I give you more examples? And he says, For time prevents doing so. The time would fail me to tell of all these examples." Now he gives names. And there's a temptation I think sometimes to do a sermon on each one of these people, right? I've seen series done that way where they'll continue with a sermon on Barak and Jephthah and so forth. But I think while their lives are noteworthy and should be read about and studied and they're examples of faith thought of, the point in this text is you shouldn't need to go through all of their examples too. What's been given to you should be sufficient. In fact, the purpose for him giving these names is not so much that we would walk through every one of those names, but see a principle. But as you think for a moment about those names, not in sermons, but just think about those names that are given, there are some things that we should think about. For one thing, these men that are given to us are, again, examples of faith and lived in trying times and stood by faith. You think about a man like Gideon, right? Gideon's an example of a man who had a shaky faith, had a seminary professor that called him super chicken. That was his word for Gideon. But Gideon was like the rest of us, right? Sometimes the moment is large and the danger is great, and we don't know how we would have stood in his spot. And so when he wants to throw out the fleece and throw it out again and ask God to confirm this message, that isn't the greatest faith we've ever seen, of course, but we might have done exactly the same thing or refused to go at all. Gideon does go, he does respond, and God gives him an impossible, a seemingly impossible victory over the Midianites. Again you think about the glory of God in that example. And what of Barak who won a seemingly impossible victory over Sisera and Samson who stood boldly against the Philistines. They were terrified of him until of course they learned the secret and sort of crippled him. But he cried out to God for one last moment of strength. to vanquish the enemy and he received that. What about Jephthah who won an impossible victory against the Ammonites? Again and again what we're seeing here is faith is the victory, God gives the victory, trust not in chariots and horses, but victory is of the Lord. And that's what this message is all about, seeing it over and over again throughout this chapter. Great things happen not by our skill or wisdom or fighting prowess, certainly not with Israel. Right? They were a ragtag band throughout much of this story. And God delivers, time and again, great victories that can't be explained through military charts. You know, you might study those victories. But miraculous things happened. And that's the point. God gave them the victory. And as he goes beyond there, we see some other examples like Samuel, the great prophet, and David, who's the great king. And they kind of represent that period of, if you will, transitioning to the monarchy. And then David, who kind of represents the entire United Monarchy as the great king. the great king. And then he goes to the prophets. And again, the prophets, right? We could have many, many life stories here of the great prophets that God called. In fact, there are so many. Literally, we could spend another year easily just going through example after example of what it means to live by faith. But our author says, why would we do that? I mean, you need to read the Bible. We're not arguing against that. But do we need to do that to promote this point that you need to stand by faith? The 12 examples that we've given should be sufficient for you to realize that the call is to stand fast in the Lord, to stand firm, to not be shaken, to not wither away when the times get tough, but to stand by faith. I think when you think about it for a moment, there's something more important than those individual names. It's something about what they represent. Because if you think about it here, what He's given you is the entirety of the Old Testament. You have the ancients, if you will, before the flood, right? We talked about them, Abel and Enoch and Noah. And then you have the patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. And then you have the Exodus generation with Moses. And then the generation that goes into the Promised Land with Joshua and with Rahab. And then you have These judges, we go to the period of the judges and how God delivered His people time and again as these men rose up, men of faith in times that turned to God and cried out to God. He delivered His people again through that entire period, men of faith. And then Samuel, as they went into the monarchy, and David in the united monarchy, and then what about the divided monarchy? Well, we'll speak of the prophets. Why? There weren't too many good kings to speak about, were there? You're going to say, well, let's mention the kings that were examples of faith. You'd have a few. But the prophets really tell the history of faith, if you will, through that entire period up to the days we're talking about. And so what I think our author is really saying is the history of the people of God has always been a story of faith. It's always been a story of faith. Of those who believe the promises of God. Even those prophets as they came to call people back to the promises that God had made. Don't forget God's word. No matter how bad things look. No matter how troubled the times are. No matter how evil your king is. Maybe Isaiah comes and calls the king to repentance and to believe the word of God. but he also calls the people to. You might remember that we often think about Isaiah 7 and that direct challenge to the king to heed the word of God and believe the word of God and not to make a faulty alliance with an earthly power because he thinks in doing so he'll be delivered. But to remember that the Lord and the Lord alone can deliver. But chapter 1 is clearly a message to the people of Israel. who are running through the motions in their worship and not rightly worshiping God. Not believing Him, but seeing Him as some kind of magical genie that if you go through the process, He has to cleanse your sins and give you what you want. The way many people treat God today. And Isaiah came to say on behalf of God, stop. Stop even coming. Stop bothering with sacrifices. Don't even bother praying to me anymore. I'm not listening anymore. I don't know a more stark message that can be given to a generation. And yet we see there then the prophets coming to speak to kings and to men and to call them all to repentance by faith. So Arthur is saying throughout the entire Old Testament you see something here that's important. God is moving through His people. He's using His people as a means of working in this world and they are doing it by faith. In fact, as you continue through that next few verses, He speaks about how God mightily achieves his ends through these lowly servants. What is Jephthah? What of Barak? What of Gideon? Were these really impressive people? Would you have thought Gideon was impressive if you'd stumbled upon him hiding from the Midianites? Would you have thought him impressive when he wanted anybody else to go but him? These were real normal people like you and I. But God called them and used them for incredible means. And so it shouldn't surprise us that our author then goes into this long description of what God did through men like this. Who through faith subdued kingdoms. We could walk through the examples just in the people that we spoke of. Worked righteousness. Obtained promises. Stopped the mouths of lions. We can go to David. We can go to Daniel, whoever you want to go to here. "...quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again." Some glorious descriptions, isn't it, of what God can do, of what He continually does. He overturns what we might expect. He uses the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong, the mighty things. That's exactly what this author is saying. How do you know God delivered the victory? Because they couldn't have been delivered any other way, right? These armies would never have won. Rahab says, we heard what happened in the wilderness. We heard what happened in the desert when you defeated those kings. We know it wasn't your power. God gave you that victory. He gave you the victory. There's no other explanation for it. And time and again, we see that He uses these simple, small things to achieve great ends. And He reminds you that He does it through His people by faith, by faith. Now, in thinking about that for a moment, that's a great list of victories and accomplishments. And even ending with the greatest sign, as it were, of God's power being demonstrated, which is the power to bring life to the dead. That's a message that's tied to the gospel itself, isn't it? That God gives life to those who are dead in trespass and sin. And we see here a picture of it in the Old Testament. We can think of several examples where the dead were raised to life again. And we never want to forget, Paul says, that that's like the power of the gospel. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. The power to transform us, to save us, to deliver us, to justify us, to reconcile us to a holy and righteous God. That is the power that we're talking about here. And God does this in our midst. So we see this glory of an incomparable God who delivers victory. But sometimes it doesn't appear to be victory, does it? See, our author goes on to talk in our second point about a suffering people. There are times where it doesn't look like victory in the moment. There are times where it looks like suffering. It looks like loss. And if we're not looking with eyes of faith, we'll see it as suffering with no purpose and loss. But the Bible tells us it isn't that at all. And we should never be fooled by that. Look at that list right after women received their dead, raised to life again. Joy. But there are others, aren't there? The author continues, others were tortured. Tortured. And many people have said torture is worse than death, right? If you can just get strung along in that moment of near death and being tortured, it's terrible. But notice what it says, not accepting deliverance. We can think about that in many contexts, can't we? Even in the New Testament, I think that was Blaise Pascal's argument for a certainty of the gospel's truth. He said, you know, many people die for lies, but they don't know they're dying for lies. He said, but these apostles, if they made all this up, they went to torturous deaths Right? For something they knew to be a lie. And what's more, often they were argued. All you have to do is say you made it up. All you have to do is recant your faith and we'll let you go. And over and over again they said, no. He said, what men do you know that have ever willingly died for a lie? That was one of Pascal's arguments. When you think about this for a moment, we see the same thing in the early church, right, over and over again, where Christians, all they have to do is declare Caesar as Lord and high priest and say Christ is not. And they'll be let go free. And they said, I'd rather die telling the truth than be set free in a lie. And so as it says here, It says here, others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. That's the deliverance it's speaking of, to be let go, that they may obtain a better resurrection. You think about it, if you're on this table being tortured, and somebody says, we're going to torture you until you die, then being let go is like being revived to life again, isn't it? It's kind of like what was being spoken of earlier in the days of Abraham. It says he thought he would receive Isaac back by resurrection, which in a manner of speaking, the author says he did. because Isaac didn't die and he walked away from Mount Moriah with him. It's as if receiving him back for the dead. In the same way, if you had been delivered in that by saying, you know, we do not worship the Lord God of Israel. We do not worship Him in the days of the Old Testament and maybe you say some blasphemous statement in recognition of Baal or something like that. They said, no, we won't do that. We'd rather die. Because we're not looking to get up from this table and live. We're looking for a better resurrection than that. One that can never be taken from us. One that is eternal. One that is with our God forever and ever. He says, others had mockings, trials of mockings and scourging, jests and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. That's kind of the apocryphal ending of Isaiah, that Isaiah was captured and put in a bag and sawn in two. It says, they were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskin and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, tormented. They didn't have the comforts of the world. They were put in a position of choosing. We're not always put in that position, but they were put in that position. And they were afflicted and they accepted affliction because they wanted to maintain their testimony as true. But I want you to see here what it says. Of whom the world was not worthy. Think about that for a moment. F.F. Bruce wrote this, they were outlawed as people who were unfit for civilized society. The truth is, civilized society was unfit for them. In fact, this text says the entire world was unfit for them. Not as if they were troubling the world, but they were more noble than the world, more righteous than the world. And so my friends, they are giving us testimony here of those of whom the world is not worthy. What a statement, what a testimony of these men. They suffered greatly, but the text wants us to recognize they did not suffer in vain. The entire point of Hebrews 11 is they did not suffer in vain. They did not suffer for nothing. This wasn't a lie. They weren't mistaken. They knew the promises of God. They trusted in them and they received them. They received them. And what is more, where their life was required of them, they believed they were serving God. And they were serving God. So again, he's making the point here that they did not die in vain. They died for a righteous purpose. They died according, if you will, to serving their father, their Lord. And that is a noble death. And so my friends, I think it all reminds us of Job and his suffering saying, naked I come from my mother's womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gives and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord is glorious, and if it costs us something to serve Him, then it costs us something to serve Him. But these would not shudder, they would not crumble, they would not give in, they would not yield. Which brings us to our third and final point this morning as we think about what the author is telling us here. I want to read these last two verses because they're important. having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Now there's much to think about here. Much to think about here. We've seen these that have received a good testimony. The author says, and all these. And there's a minor debate if he just means this list we're looking at today starting in verse 32 or if he means everybody in chapter 11. I take it that he means all in chapter 11. He's saying all these people of faith. Yes, it includes those from 32 to 38. But it also includes all those before who stood in the days of trial and testing and temptation. And guess what they did? They stood firm in faith. God used them for mighty ends and purposes. So I think it's referring to all of them. These all, these all received a good testimony. Well, that's why we read of them, isn't it? They're given as a testimony of how we ought to live. I mean, you think about it. It's a history recording them. But the reason we need that history is we see how God has worked and also how the people of faith have lived. How they've lived, how they've lived by faith. They obtained a good testimony by faith. But notice what the author says. They did not receive the promise. They did not receive the promise. Now we can follow this text and say they received many promises, didn't they? In the days of Joshua they entered the land. That was a promise of God. a promise given to Abraham that your descendants shall go into a strange land and be there for 400 years but I will hear their cries and remember them and I will bring them out by the might of my arm and I will deliver them into the land of promise and give it to them." That's a promise and God did it. We can think of many, many examples of promises that God gave to the very generations that we're talking about and all of them He kept His word. They received all of those promises. But there was a few promises that extended past that time frame. Their pleroma, their fullness is after their lifetime. And of course, our author here is speaking about a specific promise. A specific promise. In the Greek it's made pretty clear, it's tein apangelion. And that is just the promise, literally the promise, singular. And I know that the ESV and NESB translate that a little bit differently which I don't quite understand because it is the definite article. The promise in Greek. The promise. And what does he say there? He says that all of them had obtained a good testimony though they themselves did not receive the promise. You might think in a moment about like Abraham. himself didn't receive the promise. Now, as we said a moment ago, the days of Joshua, the children of Israel, his descendants received the promise as God had promised him, but he himself did not in his lifetime receive it. In the same way, there was a promise made that none of them received in their lifetime, though they benefited from it. If you've been here on Wednesday nights, this is precisely what we've been talking about. A promise which the Old Testament saints clutched and looked to and held on to, but they themselves were not the recipients of it, although they received the benefits of it. And so when you think about this for a minute, all those other promises we've been talking about are in service to the promise mentioned here, the promise mentioned here. An author is pointing to that. You might think for a moment about the way John Bunyan wrote this. For some of you who went through Pilgrim's Progress a couple years ago, there was that part I said to really pay attention to where Bunyan speaks about salvation by word and by deed. And the construction of all those early Baptists were to think about salvation promised and salvation delivered. So promise in the Old Testament, a promise of salvation that if you believe, you're included in and delivered. and an age in which that promise is actually delivered right before us. And that, of course, is in the days of Christ. When you think about this for a moment, you think, well, what is the difference between what they didn't receive and what we have received? And what he's saying here is the fullness of what Christ has done. That's the difference. That they stand looking forward to something that is yet to occur, though they benefited from it by faith, and what we look back to as an event that has already happened in time and in space. And in this way, the author says that they had not received the promise, but we have received it. And now them along with us. God having provided something better for us, better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. It's an interesting thing. If you pull out the commentaries on this verse, the 40th verse, how many commentators say, oh, this is a really difficult verse. What does it mean here exactly that God has provided something better for us and that they should not be made perfect apart from us? Well, actually, the entire book of Hebrews is a commentary on this verse more or less. He's explaining exactly throughout this letter what he means. Think about this for a moment. He's already told us through a long exposition that what we have in this generation, in this time, in this age is better. A better high priest, a better covenant, a better sacrifice, a better mediator, a better hope. I hope some of you who have been here for a while remember all those better languages that we were receiving over and over again through the sermons through Hebrews. Better, not the same, better. And what is that? But also pointing to this, it says at the very end that that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Well, that word perfect comes from that word of telos, to be brought to the end or purpose, to be made complete. Complete. They can't be made complete apart from us in the old covenant days. Now, again, we might say, well, as many commentators do, that's a really hard thing to wrestle with. What does it mean? The author's already told you what it means. He's already told you earlier. He says this in chapter 7, So again, this is the old covenant. It was annulled, he says. That is stern language, but it is exactly what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians as well. It was annulled. It was taken away because it was weak and not profitable. The same thing Paul says in 2 Corinthians, that it was not effectual. And listen to this, for the law made nothing perfect. The law could not bring anything to completion. It was not because of some failing in God. It was never the purpose of the law to bring anyone to salvation. It was never the purpose of the law. It was to point to our need of salvation, to show our need of a mediator and a sacrifice offered on our behalf. It was to show us all the needs that we had. But it was weak to provide those things to us. It couldn't transform us internally. It's the very point Paul gets at. I say this over and over again. 2 Corinthians, right? external on tablets of stone, the New Covenant internal on tablets of flesh heart. It is a new and better covenant. A new and better covenant. It does what the Old Covenant could never do. And all who are saved are saved by the New Covenant. And how do we know that? Because they could not be brought to completion apart from us. There was no way to be saved under the Old Covenant itself. Now as John Owen says, many were saved in the era of the Old Covenant by faith, but they weren't saved by the Old Covenant. That's the important distinction that we get to. They were saved by the New Covenant as by faith they looked forward to it. And that's exactly what our author is saying in this text. How were they made perfect? With us in the work of Christ. They waited patiently for it, looked forward by faith to it, and now we look back at the completed work and again saved in the exact same way, right? By faith. Do you believe Christ is who He said He was? Do you believe He did what He said He did? Do you have faith in Christ? That's how Abraham was saved, how David was saved. It's how you were saved by faith in Christ. The Old Testament saints saved by faith in word, the promise. The New Testament saints saved by faith in deed of what Christ has done by faith. So again, as we think about this, there's an important point that needs to be made in all of this, right? Just look at the front of your bulletin for a moment. The sermon title is A People United by Faith. of people united by faith. We are saved as the saints of God in the exact same way. Abraham was saved by faith. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. How are we saved? By faith we believe the Word of God and it's accounted to us for righteousness. Now, John Owen said it this way, the promise is a faithful engagement, pledge, a future good they received, but the good thing itself was not in their days exhibited. Just that simple. It's held out as a promise in which they could believe, but the fullness was held for us. I want to close with a quote from John Gill, one of the great Baptists. He wrote this, He was slain from the foundation of the world, and the saints then were saved as now by His grace and righteousness. Only with this difference between them and us, they had Christ in promise. We have Him Himself that was promised. They had Him in type and shadow. We have Him in reality and truth. They believed in and were saved by Christ who was to come. We believe in Him and are saved by Him as being come. My friends, that's the entire argument of Hebrews. Shadow and substance. Type and anti-type. Everything God gave Israel in the Old Testament was pointing forward to Christ and the fullness that was available only in Him. Not available in Moses. It's interesting, isn't it? When you walk through Romans, you've got, you can be in Adam, unrighteousness, or you can be in Christ and His righteousness. There is no other option. There is no, you can be in Moses. There is no, you can be in David. You can be naturally in Adam or you can be righteous by faith, by God's grace in Christ. And the book of Hebrews is really telling us that. There is nothing in between. You can't go to the church and then go back to the synagogue and find a safe haven there. Salvation is in Christ and Him alone. And everything in the synagogue was pointing to this. So look at all those examples of faith. Some in times of good and some in times of suffering. But all stood by faith and you should too. How do we apply that text to us today? It's not hard to, is it? We might have times of goodness and everything seems easy and happy and glorious. And there might be times where things are difficult and challenging. And we meet them the same way, with faith in God's promises. Not expecting that it's all gonna be mountaintops, because if you've been here in life long enough, you know that's not the case, is it? There are some valleys we'll walk through, but praise God, we have the promise of God, even in those valleys.