A Better Faith

0:00Hebrews chapter 11 is where we are this morning. We're going to be covering quite a few more verses this week than we have been in past weeks. We're covering verses 30 through 40, 10, 11 verses this morning, which is wild. We're finishing chapter 11, moving into chapter 12 next week. And it's been a wonderful journey for me. I hope it's been for you through chapter 11, through this hall of faith, as it's called. And there is really so much to get into as we cover these last verses. I'm not going to spend too much time recapping, except to say that this theme by faith, or faith that we've kind of been emphasizing is continually front and center, even in these last few verses. And when we say by faith, we really mean and have meant all throughout Hebrews, but certainly in chapter 11, two very specific things when we say by faith. And the first is that it is through faith given as a gift from God, empowered by, or us empowered by him, and for his glory, that is the thing that makes all other things possible. It is by faith empowered by God that all things are possible. And to say by faith, then is to confess that God alone receives the honor and the glory and the credit for all things, past, present, and future. And secondly, though, is that by faith necessarily means in chapter 11 of Hebrews and in all of our lives, that by faith means that there's something that follows the faith. By faith, something. It doesn't say by faith the saints did nothing but sit around and wait on the promise. By faith, what? By faith, working through obedience to God's word, all of these great things that we read about were possible and came to pass. God gets the credit, and then by faith we walk and we obey. So that frames really the whole of chapter 11, and quite honestly, the whole of Christian life, really. And that is the theme and the focus that we're going to carry through this morning, the rest of the chapter. So the title, the theme is A Better Faith this morning. A better faith. And I really couldn't think of a better name than a better faith. And I think it will make sense what I mean by that as we move through the text. And as always, we have three points: faith that obeys, faith that conquers, and faith that endures. Faith that obeys, faith that conquers, and faith that endures. So that's where we're headed. Why don't you stand with me, please, if you would. We're going to read the rest of chapter 11 of Hebrews, starting in verse 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not wish, did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword, they went about in skins of sheep and goat, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us. That apart from us they should not be made perfect. This is the word of the Lord. Oh Lord, we thank you for your word. In the precious name of Christ, I pray. Amen. Faith that obeys. Faith that obeys. In verse 30, we have now jumped forward another forty-ish years in time. Moses has now died. We have gone through the wilderness wandering period. Moses has died. And now Joshua is called upon to lead the people into the promised land. And the first task that Joshua is given now that he is leading the nation of Israel is to take the city of Jericho. That is Joshua's first task, is to take the city of Jericho. You can go read that starting in Joshua chapter 1 and following. We know from excavations, modern excavations that have happened in and around this ancient city of Jericho, that the city of Jericho was surrounded by two separate walls. It had an outer wall that was made of stone, and this wall was 12 to 15 feet high. And then it had a separate inner wall that was made of mud bricks, and that wall was built upon this big berm or this big ridge that stood about an additional 15 feet high. And further, we know through the various texts that the nation of Jericho, the city of Jericho, had a royal garrison, that is a trained army, as it were, that were ready to protect the city. They were on guard. And Joshua 6 tells us that the city was shut up. It was barred because of the Israelites. That's what it says. The city was shut up and barred because of the Israelites. They were ready to fight. The city was fortified, and the men were ready. Rahab, and we'll talk about her in just a minute, makes mention back in Joshua that word had gotten around. She knew about God's people. So we can certainly infer that the people of Jericho knew about the people of Israel. And I bring all of that up to demonstrate and to say that Joshua and the people of Israel taking the city of Jericho was impossible for them. Could not have happened in their own strength. They did not have the men, they didn't have the siege works, they did not have the organization, they could not have taken the city by themselves. Also, we read in Joshua that the commander of the Lord's army, as he is called, which I can confidently say was the pre-incarnate Christ, appears to Joshua. Joshua chapter 5. And I can confidently say that because this commander of the Lord's army asks Joshua to take off his sandals because the place in which he is standing is holy ground, and Joshua falls down and worships this commander of the Lord's army, of which we assume the commander receives that worship. So, neither here nor there. Well, it is neither here nor there, but for our purposes this morning. The commander of the Lord's army appears to Joshua and he gives Joshua instructions about how to take this city of Jericho. Interestingly, the commander of the Lord's army does not give Joshua tactical battle instructions. But rather, he tells Joshua to march around the city seven times in seven days and blow their trumpets. Interesting. Interesting command. To which perhaps Joshua could have said, or maybe he was thinking, I thought we were going to take the city. What do you mean we're just going to march around and blast our trumpets? Would many of the people think such a command was foolish from this commander of the Lord's army? Maybe they even felt embarrassed if you can imagine them walking around and the people of Jericho standing upon this wall, this royal garrison looking down at the people of Israel just walking around the city blowing trumpets. Perhaps they were even embarrassed. But they obeyed the word of God. By faith, they obeyed the word of God. And by faith the walls came down. Could they have taken the city in their own strength? In their own might. Maybe they could have called in a leadership coach. I was thinking Tony Robbins could go in there. And encourage them. There's no wall that you cannot overcome. There's no obstacle that will stand in your way. You would only believe in yourself. How would that have worked out? It wouldn't have. At the same time, it's foolish to think that the sound of a trumpet, in and of itself, could have the power to bring a wall down. Two walls down. Those people could have faithlessly blown those trumpets for a thousand years, and not a single stone would have shuddered. So what is being communicated here to us in verse 30? By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. Belief in yourself is foolish. Because you aren't strong enough. You aren't wise enough. You aren't intelligent enough. You aren't good enough. There is a wall in front of you, physically and spiritually. And your passage into the blessed promised land is blocked by this wall. The enemy is at the wall. The gates are barred and shut up. And you will not enter. You cannot enter. But God. But God. Through faith in him. Through faith in his promise. Through faith in his power. Through faith in his commander, who stands both with a sword in his hand as the commander of the Lord's army and as a lamb that is being led to the slaughter. Through faith in his word. Faith in his commands. And then through obedience working through that faith, the blast of the trumpet brings the wall down. Because carried with those sound waves is the very power of God Almighty. The same voice, the same power that spoke those stones into existence is intermingled in that trumpet blast. What you need to hear this morning is that by faith, working through obedience to his word, we get to witness the wonderworking power of God. The power that brings down walls. The power that clears a path and parts a sea into his blessed promises. By faith. Working through obedience to his word. Verse 31, by faith Rahab the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. By faith, Rahab believed. Rahab by faith believed in the same wonderworking power of God that Joshua and the people of Israel did. She's standing inside the city. Imagine Rahab. She's in the city. She knows what an insurmountable task it would be for the Israelites to take the city. But she has heard the stories, hasn't she? She believes that their God, our God, the one true God, is in himself more powerful than all the armies and all the walls in the world. And she believes. And then it was her faith in God that knew that if she didn't obey the true God, he would perish with the rest of Jericho. So she believed. Did she hear, perhaps, of the blood of the Lamb that spared God's people in the Passover? Was that part of the story that she heard? Maybe. Either way, by God's providence, it was Rahab's faith in the true covering. The scarlet covering. A true deliverance from the true God working through her obedience. That is what saved her. It was her faith. It was her faith. So very interestingly, within that same story, we get Joshua and Rahab lumped together in this hall of faith. Who really couldn't be more different people? Joshua was a man, was the one who led after Moses, one of God's chosen people. He was a great conqueror, a warrior. He was the taker of the promised land. Read the rest of Joshua, and you will see full well what I mean there. Brahab was a woman, a prostitute. She was a cursed Amorite. She was a citizen of this pagan city that was about to fall into the hands of God's people. They could not have been any different. And yet here they are, together. Do their differences matter to us anymore? Do their sins matter to us anymore? What remains to be said of them but that their faith, working through their obedience, saved them. And it is by that faith that they conquered. What they are known for is their faith. What they are known for is their trust in God. The God who saved them. One commentary I read and made a note of this, and it was, I kind of chuckled because I have often been caught in this in preaching. When you get to a list of examples that you want to make, and you begin to start listing off these examples, only to realize that this list might go on forever, and you kind of have to shift and take an off-ramp, or you will just be listing these lists forever and ever. This is the place, I think, where the writer of Hebrews has found himself in. He has now gone some 30, 29 verses listing these varied examples starting way back. And now he's only moved up to Joshua. He has a lot longer to go through the Old Testament. Hebrew would have been many, many more chapters had he not taken his off ramp here to summarize the rest of the Old Testament rather quickly to get us back up to Christ, where he ends this chapter with and starts 11, chapter 12 with. So that's what he does. He basically is taking the rest of the Old Testament and condensing it into, yeah, six verses. But the theme is the same. The theme is the same. And really there's two main themes that we're going to cover here as we finish this chapter. And that is that faith conquers and that faith endures. Faith conquers and faith endures. I could probably argue that all who walk by faith will fit into one of those two categories, or perhaps even both at times, those who by faith conquer, and those who by faith endure. Endure. So first he lists, starting in verse 32, those who by faith conquer. For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephah and David and Samuel and the prophets. And I won't go through them exhaustively. But I'll say this: Gideon led a small army of victory over the Midianites. Gideon was the least in his family. Had a lot of weaknesses, yet he was empowered by God to conquer the Midianites. Barak. He was general under Deborah back in Judges. He was fearful, but he defeated the Canaanites. Samson, we of course know Samson was. Life was riddled with moral failures, a lot of sin, but in the end it was his faith in God that gave him the strength to prevail against the Philistines. Jepha, we know his rash vow, his personal brokenness, but yet it was his faith that gave him victory over the Ammonites as well. David, what can we say about David? Repentful, worshipful, steadfast. He was a warrior, conquered Goliath, many other battles. Where Samuel, as we're going through 1 Samuel, the entirety of his life is defined by obedience to God, faithful service, intercession, as a prophet, as a judge. What can be said about all of these men? Faith from weakness, faith through obedience, faith in repentance, faith in despite being rejected by your family, faith despite sin and mistakes, faith through and in a repentant heart, faith through lifelong service to God. And together, then, we see not just these, but the whole of the Old Testament and into the new show us how God works through imperfect yet trusting people to accomplish his purposes. To accomplish his purposes. All of these who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, and put foreign armies to flight. They were conquerors, warriors for God. But they didn't conquer and win battles and take land for the sake of war or for the sake of conquest. They did not. Such actions without faith would be pointless. Verse 33 there. Through faith they conquered kingdoms and they enforced justice is what the ESV says. If you have the KJV or the NKJV, it will say wrought righteousness. This is what the Greek means. Literally, these conquerors established righteousness. They wrought righteousness. Faith that conquers, then, is about the establishment of righteousness. I know this is unpopular today. But by these examples given to us here, we need a faith that seeks to establish the righteousness of God. I'll say that again. We need a faith that seeks to establish the righteousness of God, to wrote God's righteousness. Not tolerating sin, not tolerating idolatry, not tolerating disobedience, but demanding and not compromising on the righteousness of God. That is the faith that was displayed to us. One that establishes righteousness. And a faith that conquers is also a faith that inherits promises, obtains promises, is what the text says of these men. And inheriting the promise for them was delayed some 40 years, wasn't it? Why? Because they were disobedient and they were fearful. For them the enemy was too big, he was too great. We'll never win against them, is what they said. What do we see from Joshua? Of course you won't win against them. God will. God can. A faith that looks at the circumstances in life and faith and says, with man this is impossible. But with God all things are possible. Can the gospel prevail in our country? Can our faith wrought righteousness? Can we look at the giants and say, there's no way in my power and in my strength? But through obedience to God and faith in him, we will win. We will conquer. We will inherit the promise. That's a faith that conquers. We'll get through it, I promise. Faith that endures. The second major theme that we'll cover finally, then, is a faith that endures. Some were tortured. This is 35, the second half. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword, they went about in the skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world is not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. We won't go through that list exhaustively either, except to say that the church history, our church history, our history is filled with men and women who were persecuted, who were tortured, and who were killed because they refused to deny their faith and their God. They had a faith that endured. What's more, all of them considered it a joy, considered it an honor to suffer the name of Christ. Only faith can get us to that point. Only a faith that endures can get us to that point. And when we consider then the value of the one in whom we trust and the perfection of God's goodness and the perfection of God's righteousness, it's not even a question then as to how we can endure or if we will endure. Consider this. Like a father who runs into a burning building to save his kids. It's not even a question as to whether any father in this room wouldn't go immediately and do that. It would be foolish, really, to think otherwise. Why is that? Because of the value of that which is at stake. What about the value of Christ? God Himself. What about the perfect and pure righteousness of God Almighty? What about the freedom from sin? Is there value in that? What about the freedom from pain? The value in that? What about the freedom from sorrow? The freedom from tears, the freedom from death? What about eternal life with God? What about a resurrection of your body back to life again? What about eternal riches? And an imperishable inheritance? Faith in God, faith in our God, faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, faith in all of his promises, then, that's more than enough to endure. It has to be. It has to be. I want to point out in verse 38, where it says, of whom the world was not worthy. In all of these instances, and this is certainly relatable recently as well, evil makes an attempt to snuff out good men and women and all of these sufferings that we see by declaring that such people are not fit to live. We've heard this even recently. That such people don't deserve this world, that they are a stain or a blot on humanity. But the word flips this argument and declares that it is actually the world who is not worthy of them. Church of faith that would stand up to evil, that would choose death over disobedience, that would choose persecution over compromise, is a faith that this present world is not worthy of. A pure and uncompromising faith such as that is worthy only to stand in the presence of the one from whom that faith originates. A faith of which nothing but God is worthy. We should want, desire, yearn for, by the grace of God to have a faith so strong and so enduring and so bold that if we should be called home, there would be many that would say the world is better off without us. But there will also be those who would say that that one's faith is only fit for the presence of God. That's the faith I want. That is certainly a faith that endures. Alright, I'm wrapping it up. Verse 39. And all of these were commended for their faith. They did not receive the fullness of their promise. They were only looking in a dimly lit mirror. They were still only seeing shadows. But despite that, that they didn't receive the promise, and they were still seeing shadows, they still had a faith that obeyed, a faith that conquered, and a faith that endured. Church, what excuse do you have, given that God has provided you something better than what they had? You don't look into the shadows anymore. But the glorious light of Christ is shining upon us all. You have the promise fulfilled for you. As these were all looking to Christ, and we have Christ. And if all of these before us, only looking at the shadow, did all of these great and mighty things that we read about all through Hebrews 11, and they did all of these by faith, how much more, church, are you accountable for having seen these things fulfilled right in front of you in the pages of Holy Scripture? These same promises fully fulfilled, how much more accountable are you? Since God has provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. We have been given something better. That's a constant theme throughout the book of Hebrews. That Christ is better. Christ is the better thing that we have been given, and as a result, we have been given a better faith. To that point, Richard Phillips says this, and these Old Testament saints, sorry, if these Old Testament saints could believe not seeing Christ, knowing only the shadows and not the reality, not seeing with anything like our clarity, the purchase price of our redemption by the cross, then how much more faith ought to we have than they? We who are called by his very name. John Calvin says this a tiny spark of light led them to heaven, but now the sun of righteousness shines on us. What excuse shall we offer if we still cling to the earth? It seems that this modern world and all of our conveniences and all of our circumstances ask less of us than those men of women of faith that came before us, but that is not true. The privilege that we have having seen the sun shining, and all his glory demands so much more from us. Because he is real, church. Do you believe that this morning? He came to earth born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a perfect, sinless life, the life that we needed. He drank the cup of God's wrath that was meant for you to drink. He suffered, ever backing down or compromising righteousness of the Father. He died your death. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, and three days later he was resurrected back to life, the firstborn, new creation. He appeared bodily to his disciples to declare beyond all doubt that he was indeed the resurrection and the life, of which Thomas said, I won't believe unless I see him. And he saw him. What did Thomas say? My Lord and my God. Christ ascended into heaven. And he now sits at the right hand of the Father and will one day come again to bring his people home. And to pour out his vengeance upon all those who hate him and disobey him. And when he returns, we will live with him forever at peace, and he will be our God, and we will be his people. This we believe. We must believe because it's all there for us. It happened, written for us, documented for us. The light is shining for us. Do you trust in that? Do you believe in that? Can you obey then in having faith, having received that gospel? Can you conquer in faith having received that gospel? Can you endure in faith having received that gospel? Not only can you, you must. You must, because so many have done it before with far less than you have. You must, I believe. By the grace of God, according to the sustaining power of his will, you will indeed do all of those things, and many, many more. To the praise, honor, and glory of our great Savior who has given us a better faith. Amen. We are so privileged to have your completed canon, your story, your words given to us to know the truth. To believe in our Savior Jesus Christ, have faith in him. You've cleared the fog for us, Lord. You've illuminated the shadows. You've given us everything that we need, Lord, to believe and trust in Christ, to know that He is real. Strengthen us. Make us bold. Give us a faith that conquers, a faith that obeys, and a faith that endures. We thank you, Lord. We ask all these things in the wonderful name of Jesus.