The Means of Gaining God’s Approval

Transcript

GR 1718
03/23/2014
The Means of Gaining God's Approval
Hebrews 11:33-40
Gil Rugh

We're going to the book of Hebrews chapter 11, a great chapter in the Word of God. Keep in mind this chapter is given as an encouragement and a reminder to us that we are living lives in the continuing line of those believers who have gone before. These examples of faith and lives were lived with an unshakable commitment to God. Facing the obstacles, trials and difficulties with their faith firmly fixed in God and what He promised are to serve as examples for us who have our faith in the same God and in the same promises. What an overwhelming honor and privilege to consider that we today as the church of Jesus Christ, as believers in the God who has provided His Son as our Savior are in the line of the righteous who live by faith. And we could have our own testimonies added to the testimonies of these. That's the point of Hebrews 11—we are to live by faith and face the challenges and opposition that come when you live by faith in a world that is in rebellion against God. We are to do it with courage and with thankfulness.

The writer, the author of Hebrews has concluded the specific examples that he gives by name. And he just pulled together a group of names in Hebrews 11:32. “What more shall I say? Time will fail me.” In other words there are many examples I could give, many individuals I could recall from Israel's history, but “time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets.” In other words every believer has a testimony of a life of faith and of how God has worked in his life as he has trusted God and walked believing God.

So what he is going to do beginning with verse 33 down through verse 38 is give a summary of the things accomplished by those who believed in God and His promises. And also the things suffered by those who believed in God and what He promised. He'll break those out as two, really, separate divisions. Beginning with verse 33 down to the first line of verse 35 he focuses on the accomplishments or victories that people were privileged to experience in their walk with God.

Look how verse 33 begins, you will see we are continuing the sentence that starts in verse 32 where he said, “what more shall I say? Time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets,” that overview from the time of the judges to the monarchy, then the influence of the prophets that began with Samuel. And the sentence continues what these men did and those like them—“who by faith.” And that becomes the key, tying us back to Hebrews 10:38, “but my righteous one shall live by faith.” That is true of every righteous one, everyone who has entered into the salvation that God has provided for those who will believe in Him, now are those who live by faith. So in Hebrews 11:33 these mentioned, “who by faith conquered kingdoms.” These individuals overcame all kinds of obstacles, challenges, conflicts and experienced God's power in giving them victory. By faith they conquered kingdoms. And those individuals in verse 32 would be specific examples of the judges like Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, even Samuel experienced victory over foreign nations—the Midianites, the Ammonites, the Philistines who may have seemed to have superior military power but they could not stand against the God of Israel. And as His people trusted Him they conquered kingdoms. David solidified the kingdom of Israel, defeated its enemies, so when he passed that kingdom on to his son, Solomon, it was a kingdom that had subdued its enemies and would enable Solomon to be used of the Lord to construct the temple, which becomes the center of Israel's worship.

They “performed acts of righteousness,” verse 33 goes on. He's just going to give one after another the things that were done and accomplished. “They conquered kingdoms, they performed acts of righteousness.” Particularly here that word performed carries the idea of ruling or administering with righteousness. They conquered kingdoms, then they ruled as God's servants, trusting Him. So they ruled or performed acts of righteousness. We won't turn back because of time to all these passages, but 1 Samuel 12:3-5 we're told that Samuel judged Israel with integrity as he asks Israel to evaluate his rule. Have I taken anything from anyone unjustly? Have I been unfair? And so on. The testimony of Israel is no, you have ruled with integrity. The same is true of David. He ruled with righteousness according to 2 Samuel 8:15. So they are used of God to gain victory over foreign powers. They are used of God now to rule as His ruler, who have their faith settled in Him.

They obtained promises. To obtain promises we've been told repeatedly that these men of faith did not obtain the promise. But they obtained promises. In other words they saw the fulfillment of certain specific and immediate promises God had given. But they did not experience the ultimate fulfillment of all that God had provided. For example Abraham was a major example of faith and we are told that he did not receive the promise. He did not see the city that God promised which God would build. But he did receive the promise of a son, Isaac, who would be born to his wife, Sarah. So you see he saw more of an immediate fulfillment of a promise during his life, which was a foretaste that God would fulfill ultimately the completion of what He promised. That would be true of others. These men we mentioned who conquered kingdoms; they come in and conquer the enemies in the land and defeated foreign powers. So that's what God promised He would do if they would trust Him. We saw the angel of the Lord confronting Gideon and promising him victory over the enemies of the Lord. And God fulfilled that promise. But the ultimate promise as we will see when we get down to verse 39 was not realized and has not yet been realized.

We go on in verse 33, the last statement, they “shut the mouths of lions.” Now if we had the kids here from our children's ministry, they could probably answer that. Who shut the mouths of lions? And it's Daniel in the lion's den. Come back to Daniel because we're going to look at two things in Daniel, Daniel 6, Daniel in the lion's den. We even have the song, “Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone.” In Daniel 6, remember the enemies of Daniel. This becomes a key theme through the section we are in, in Hebrews 11, that the children of God are opposed by the enemies of God. And the enemies of Daniel and the God of Daniel have been maneuvering and they backed a king of Babylon into a corner, so to speak, where even though it is not what he wanted, he ends up casting Daniel into the lion's den. And in Daniel 6:22 what happens is the king has a sleepless night and early in the morning after having thrown Daniel into the lion's den he comes to find out. In verse 20 he asks the question, “when he had come near to the den, to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you constantly serve.” Note that emphasis and the testimony of Daniel's life—he lived by faith. This is not an isolated example. This is one example out of the life of a man whom even a pagan king testifies. “Your God, the God you constantly serve, has He been able to deliver you from the lions? Daniel spoke and said to the king, oh king, live forever. My God has sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths.” So you can see the reference in Hebrews 11, he just throws these out.

Now these believers are expected to be familiar with their Bibles and they can make these identifications of who might be examples as he talks about certain actions. And certainly Daniel stands out. There were others who defeated lions. David when he was a shepherd killed a lion and a bear with a slingshot. Samson killed a lion with his bare hands. Men of faith who trusted God. But the particular example when it says, shut the mouths of the lions would come from this account, that the Lord my God has sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths. What a testimony, what an example.

Hold onto Daniel because Hebrews 11:34 says, “they quenched the power of fire.” Now you just read Daniel, who do you think of when you read, quenched the power of fire? Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, better known to us by their Babylonian names—Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. Turn back to Daniel 3. You remember the account, and again the enemies of the God of Israel are the enemies of the people of God. And Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego have joined with Daniel in faithfulness to God when it comes to eating the king's food and so on. Well, the king's servants and those who want to destroy men like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego have appealed to the vanity of Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar is not a nice man. When you talk about rulers and what we expect from rulers and presidents and kings and so on today, but Nebuchadnezzar is not a nice man. Now he is going to become a saved man and that will make a difference, but he is a man of absolute power. And so they get him to construct an image of himself and everybody is required to bow down before that image. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego won't do it so they are reported to the king. So Nebuchadnezzar calls them before him, and this is an intimidating situation. And Nebuchadnezzar says to them, verse 14, calling them Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, “you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image I have set up.” That's what I hear. Everybody worships my gods, everybody bows down before the image I have set up. That's the way it is in Babylon, the way it is in my kingdom. “Now if you are ready to bow down when the music plays, everything is good.” Verse 15, “but if you do not worship, you will be immediately cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?”

And I love Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego's response, it has two parts. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, “oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.” I mean, there is nothing to be said. We don't have to give any thought to it, nothing changes. “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will deliver us out of your hands, oh king.” That wouldn't be a problem for our God. And I like the second part of the response—“but even if He does not, let it be known to you, oh king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up.” I believe our God is able to deliver us, I believe He will, but if He doesn't, nothing changes. He is still our God, we believe in Him. He doesn't have to deliver us in order to be our God.

And you know the account, Nebuchadnezzar is enraged. He is not used to having someone tell him, no. So he has them heat up the furnace seven times, then he takes his valiant men to carry Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, walk them up and throw them into the furnace. And you get an idea of Nebuchadnezzar's word is law, because these men give their lives. Because when he tells them to take them up and throw them into the furnace, they do it, even though the furnace is so hot they are consumed by the fire. And you know the story. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, thrown into this furnace so hot, and then when Nebuchadnezzar looks in with some of his servants, he says, “we threw three men in. We see four walking around.” Here they are in the middle of a furnace heated up seven times, it has already consumed men who had not even been in the furnace, just got too near, and now here Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego with a fourth person walking around, having a conversation. Could just be a balmy day at the beach.

When they bring them out, finally Nebuchadnezzar says, come on out, they don't even smell like fire. A demonstration of what? What did they have? We read verses 16-17, “our faith is in our God, the God who can deliver us, in the God who may choose not to deliver us.” What is settled is our faith is in Him and Him alone and He alone we will serve, whatever the outcome. And in that context they were able to quench the power of fire.

Back to Hebrews 11. Verse 34, “quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword.” And again a statement like this includes any number of people in Israel's history. David escaped from Saul who wanted to kill him in 1 Samuel 19; Elijah escaped from the infamous Jezebel who wanted to kill him in 1 Kings 19; Elisha, the prophet who succeeded Elijah, escaped from King Jehoram in 2 Kings 6; Jeremiah the prophet escaped from King Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 26. And you multiply it. The point is they believed God and God chose to deliver them from their enemies, deliver them from the edge of the sword, those who desired to kill them.

The next thing he says is from weakness they were made strong, from weakness they were made strong. An obvious example of this, we looked at among the lists that are found in verse 32 was the man Samson. And you remember he had been blinded and his strength had drained from his body, but then he asked God to empower him once more and the Spirit of God comes upon him and empowers him and enables him to push the mighty pillars that supported the temple of the god Dagon. And it collapses, killing 3,000 people. So in his weakness his faith is in his God and he is empowered.

That would be true of any of these. They won victories, not because they were exceptional people who were exceptionally strong with exceptional abilities; they had an unshakable faith in God whose power gave them strength. So from weakness they were made strong. Reminds me of 2 Corinthians 12, that section verse 9ff, where God tells Paul that his strength is perfected in weakness. And so Paul says, “I will more gladly glory in my weakness, that the power of God may be evident in me.” It was a reminder that when God worked in Paul's life with the weakness that he had, perhaps a physical affliction, it was clear that it was God's power that was bringing it about. I think if the Apostle Paul could come and address us on a Sunday and we weren't told who he was, we might be disappointed. Remember what they said about Paul? He is not much to look at and his speech when you get to hear him in person is pretty weak and unimpressive. It's not Paul or his oratory that was powerful, it was God who was powerful in Paul. And a reminder, not just for Paul, but look how God used Paul for us. If I only could preach like so-and-so, if I only had more physical strength, think what I could do for the Lord. If only . . . If only what? If only God made me differently than He has made me? What I need is the power of God, not more of the power of me.

“From weakness they were made strong.” And sometimes this was accomplished in their military battle so we are told. The next statement,” they became mighty in war, they put armies to flight.” Those two statements obviously go together. They were enabled, even though they were weaker than their enemies, their enemies couldn't defeat them. We mention Samson again, it didn't matter, a thousand Philistines, he wipes them out using nothing but the jawbone of an ass. He doesn't even need a sword. David getting victory over his enemies and so on. So the days of the judges. We can give specific examples. Elisha the prophet, he succeeded Elijah, so Elisha and the Syrians, one of the enemies of Israel in the days of Elisha. And 2 Kings 7 tells the story. Remember the Syrian army comes and then Elisha, they are really struck with blindness and confusion and they are led into the city. There they are now, the Israelites could just kill them. But they are brought under the power of the Israelites. Foreign armies put to power, feed them and send them home. There is not going to be any fight here, they have been defeated without any conflict.

I love the account in Isaiah's day under Isaiah the prophet, the Assyrians. Under Elisha it was the Syrians, some of the enemies of God don't go away, as you read the news today. But the Assyrians were an issue in the days of Isaiah the prophet. And 2 Kings 19:35 and Isaiah 37:36 tell us of the time when the Assyrian army, a huge army, comes to surround Jerusalem. Of course they have boasted, there is no future for Israel, they better surrender or they will be destroyed. And God says through Isaiah that He'll give Israel the victory without them having to fight. Do you know what? The Israel army goes to sleep one night and 180,000 soldiers don't wake up in the morning. That has a devastating impact on your army. 180,000 Assyrian soldiers go to sleep that night, thinking they will be in battle the next morning, but they're never going to wake up. They are dead. Foreign armies are put to flight, sometimes in a physical battle that God gives overwhelming victory, sometimes He doesn't even use the armies of Israel. He just gives the victory without it. So whatever, they became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

The first statement in verse 35 concludes this section of accomplishments and victories with the statement, women received back their dead by resurrection. And there are two specific examples to think of here. The widow of Zarephath had her son raised by Elijah the prophet, that's 1 Kings 17 and the Shunamite woman had her son raised by Elisha the prophet in 2 Kings 4. An interesting side, every time there is a bodily resurrection in the New Testament, there are women involved in one way or another. Even with Lazarus, that's the most well-known in the New Testament, Mary and Martha are the key figures there. And Christ brings about the resurrection.

So examples of victories won, things accomplished. I mean, even the resurrection from physical death, here you have two sons raised back to life. How could Elijah or Elisha do that? They believed the God who gives life and He does it. All these victories—quenched the power of fire, shut the mouths of lions, attained promises, performed acts of righteousness, conquered kingdom, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, women received their dead back by resurrection. That's great, do you know what you think of when you read this? That doesn't happen to me. I mean, that's nice but I prayed for God to do this and He didn't do it.

You know where he is going on now with the rest of verse 35, 36, 37, 38? Give examples of those who by faith suffered greatly but did not see any immediate victory or fulfillment of promise. They weren't delivered. They weren't given victory over their enemy. A reminder, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, even if our God does not deliver us from the furnace, we still will trust Him, we still will worship and serve Him.

So you've come in verse 35, that and here, and others were tortured, not accepting their release. They didn't see victory. They didn't see deliverance from their enemy. They like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego had an opportunity like Nebuchadnezzar told them, you bow down and worship and it will be all right and you can go home. If you don't, you die. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego experienced deliverance. But others committed themselves to trust in God and His promises, and they are tortured. They didn't accept the opportunity to escape suffering and death. Why?

So that they might obtain a better resurrection. Remember when we started Hebrews we looked at that repeated emphasis through Hebrews on the word better. Better, better, better. We're going to have it twice here—better resurrection and “something better” down in verse 40. The better resurrection contrasts with the first part of this verse, “women received their dead back by resurrection.” But those two sons who were raised, were raised back to physical life. That's awesome, that's a miracle, that's a demonstration of the power of God. But there is something better—a better resurrection, a resurrection to eternal life. Jesus talked about the contrast in John 5. Everyone will experience resurrection, some a resurrection to judgment, others a resurrection to life, eternal life. So they gave up their physical life as they were tortured for their faith in God and faithfulness to Him and die because they looked at a better resurrection.

The account during the days of the Macabees which is during that inter-testament period between the close of the Old Testament and the New Testament of those who were tortured for their faith in the God of Israel, and seven sons all being tortured and executed. And what's the encouragement? He tells them he’s ready to die, too, because he is looking for a better resurrection, a resurrection to life, that fixture, that certainty that they have.

So not all believers are going to experience deliverance, contrary to the health and wealth preachers. God wants you to be healthy, God want you to be wealthy, God is going to bring good things into your life and take care of your financial needs, God is going to bring good things into your life so that sickness will not come into your family, and God will give you peace with your enemies, He will cause those who oppose you, and all this kind of silliness. Worse than silliness, it's a denial of the truth of God. They are apostates. Because what God says, here are examples of those who lived by faith. Some were tortured, not accepting their release so they might obtain a better resurrection.

Verse 36, “others experienced mockings, scourgings, yes, chains and imprisonments.” He doesn't go into all the details, but we know it was a common thing. What did Jesus say as He came toward the end of His earthly ministry? “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who come to her,” Matthew 23:37. He says it's been a continual line of opposing the servants of God and killing them. In Matthew 23:35 he had talked about, “from the blood of Abel,” where we started in Hebrews 11, “the blood of Zechariah the son of Berachiah. It will come on this generation.” It has just been the pattern that when God's servant comes and gives God's Word, you oppose him, you try to silence him, you kill him. There were deliverances but there was no avoiding the trial and difficulty and men did not often experience immediate deliverance.

“They experienced,” verse 36, ”mockings, scourgings, chains, imprisonment.” The point is suffering was the lot of those who lived by faith. “My righteous one shall live by faith,” we read at the end of Hebrews 10, quoting Habakkuk 2:4. And that life of faith is a life of suffering, a life of trials, a life of opposition, a life of rejection. Not because we want to develop a martyr's complex, and I get up this morning and I know we're in trouble. Dear me, no wonder I am depressed and need a Valium or something to take. No, that's not the way we look at it. I belong to the living God, I serve Him. Today I will live by faith trusting Him. And whatever may come, I will be faithful to Him. What a privilege. Do we look back and say, poor Abraham? It's too bad that David had to trust the Lord and go through difficulties, too bad that some had to die. And some did. What did they suffer? Do you want to be Jeremiah? Chained, imprisoned, let down in the cistern, sinking in the mud, in danger of dying? If a slave hadn't come and spoken on his behalf, he would have died there, lost his life. Poor Jeremiah, that's no way to live. Think of what he missed out on. I mean, the Mediterranean is not that far away. With a little bit of adjustment he could have probably spent some time over there. Nobody thinks that way. Do I want to be in the line of Jeremiah? I may not be a prophet, but I want to be a righteous one who lives by faith. That puts me in the line of these men but that may mean mockings, scourgings, chains, imprisonment. Other of the prophets we could go through—Hanani in 2 Chronicles 16, Micaiah in 1 Kings 22. All suffered, were imprisoned, persecuted.

Verse 37, “they were stoned,” that's a reminder. See how these build up—“stoned, sawn in two, tempted, put to death with the sword, went about in sheepskins, goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated.” Is this what it means to be righteous and live by faith? What did they do with your Lord and Master? Three years of His testifying to them the Word of God, living a life of perfect holiness, they couldn't take it anymore and they crucified Him. We think somehow as long as we do things right the people are going to admire us. They may not agree with us, but at least they will respect us and admire us for our position. Where do we ever get that unbiblical idea? Jesus said, ”if they hate Me, they hate you; they reject My Word, they reject your word because I have no word of my own, I only have the Word of the Lord.”

They were stoned. Zechariah the priest in 2 Chronicles 24:20ff, he gave the Word of the Lord out, they stoned him in the temple. Jewish tradition said, repeated by the early church fathers as well, that Jeremiah the prophet was stoned to death. After all he went through, finally the Babylonians come as Jeremiah prophesied, and conquered the southern kingdom. Even Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges Jeremiah because Jeremiah prophesied the victory of the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar gives instructions, you tell Jeremiah he can come back to Babylon and I'll see he is provided for, or he can stay here and live where he wants. It's up to him. Jeremiah stays. Do you know who turns against him? His own people. And they rebel against the Babylonians, Jeremiah says, whatever you do, don't go to Egypt. So they go to Egypt. And tradition says that in Egypt they finally got tired of Jeremiah telling them God's Word and they stoned him to death.

The next statement in Hebrews 11:37, “they were sawn in two.” Again tradition says that Isaiah the prophet was put in a hollow log and sawn in two. Isaiah, the greatest of the writing prophets. We raise this not because we're going to be stoned to death, we may or may not; not because we're going to be sawn in two. But a reminder, and he just adds on here, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and goatskins. What do they talk about the garment of a prophet? The hairy garment. The uncured skins still have the hair on them, they are not refined. They are destitute, they are afflicted, they are ill-treated. Where did the church get the idea in this day that if we're faithful to God and you do things right, the world will respect you. We even get uncomfortable. We look for a church that people don't say negative things about. We have a bad reputation. Why would we have a bad reputation? What do we do here? I'm not saying everybody in the community. What do we do? We get together and study the Word. I don't get into politics. We don't encourage people to vote one way or the other on political issues or do things. Why do people get upset? All we do is teach the Word, preach the Word.

A family left us, “I just don't want to be in a church that has conflict.” Well, you don't want to be a believer anymore? I mean, we're looking for a comfortable place and that's what Christianity has become in our country, I fear, a comfortable Christianity, a lukewarm Christianity that the world is comfortable with, and we're comfortable with the world, and nobody says anything negative about us, and we try not to do anything that might ruffle the waters. That's not biblical Christianity. I mean, these examples are given so that we know my righteous one shall live by faith. We want to follow their example and this is what we can expect.

And here is God's evaluation, verse 38, “men of whom the world was not worthy.” Isn't that amazing? The world rejected them, God says the world is not worthy of them. Whose commendation do we want? Would I not want God to say, the world is not worthy of them. That's the testimony of our church, isn't it? The world was not worthy.
Wandering in deserts, mountains, caves and holes in the ground. God's choice servants, those who belong to Him, His children wandering as rejected scum of the world. The world is not worthy of them, He has prepared something better for them.

So the summary in verses 39-40, “and all these having gained approval through their faith, having gained approval through their faith.” That takes us back to Hebrews 11:1-2, “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.” So now as he gets to the end of this chapter he pulls us back to how he began. Verse 39, “all these having gained approval through their faith,” testimony, God testifying that they are approved by Him, that they belong to Him, that the world is not worthy of them. “All these having gained approval for their faith did not receive what was promised.” They are approved by God, God testifies to their faith and faithfulness, yet they didn't get what was promised. Same thing as was stated in Hebrews 11:13, all these died in faith without receiving the promises. Why? “Because God had provided something better,” here we are again with that word better, for us “so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”

What a marvelous plan, he tells these readers, these Hebrews who formed a congregation, a church of believers. Do you know why these Old Testament saints didn't realize what was promised, God didn't bring it to fruition yet? He wasn't done with His work of salvation. He was going to call a people to Himself, the church. And we'll see when we get a little further on toward the end of Hebrews 12 about the New Jerusalem and the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem. God's intention was that those Old Testament saints wouldn't experience perfection which is the finality, the fulfillment of God's promise without us. What is he reminding them of? God's work of salvation is not done, it included you who are reading this letter. And we still haven't seen the fulfillment of the promise in its ultimate sense. Do you know what that means? God's work of salvation is still going on. It means you and I are in that line of faithful people. Troubles may come, trials may come, but hallelujah, God's promise stands and He has not brought it to fruition yet because He is not done with His gracious work of salvation. That ought to cause us to rejoice.

But it reminds us, what he is reminding these Hebrews of. Turn back to Hebrews 10:32, “remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of suffering, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches, tribulations, partly became sharers with those who were so treated. You showed sympathy to the prisoners, accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing you have for yourselves a better possession. Therefore don't throw away your confidence. My righteous one shall live by faith, if he shrinks back I have no pleasure in him.” We have no choice. We have placed our faith in the living God and His promise, whatever comes. We have been blessed as a nation, we continue to be blessed. We gather here to open the Word of God, to submit ourselves to the ministry of the Spirit of God and offer Him our worship. We don't have to be afraid they are going to come in and carry us off to a prison and torture us until we either recant or die. What a blessing. We take it for such granted. Do I feel like getting up this morning? I don't know, it seems like a lot of trouble. And our blessing, we fail to appreciate what God has done. What greater joy. “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some,” as he said in Hebrews 10. Believers lose focus. That's why the letter to the Hebrews is written to this congregation of believers and preserved by the Spirit of God for us.
Two passages and we are done. Matthew 5, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount telling those who are blessed. Verse 10, “blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The ultimate realization. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” I have not been called to be a Jeremiah or Isaiah, but by the grace of God I am privileged to live by faith in the same God that Isaiah and Jeremiah believed in, to be faithful to my God. I don't have to wonder why people say negative things, why they spread false rumors, why they try to undermine you at work. Well, I'm doing my best, I'm being faithful, I'm doing what I should do. But my life shines.

Come back to 1 Peter. We don't just endure, we rejoice. Not well, I'm going to keep on. I rejoice, I'm blessed. 1 Peter 4:12, “beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you.” Like, why do you think you should be treated so well when your master was treated so poorly? “But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, suffering because you are identified with Christ, keep on rejoicing so that at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exaltation. For if you are reviled for the names of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” It is a great honor to suffer as a Christian, whatever that suffering may be, whatever difficulty and trial it may be. Now note, make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer or as a troublesome meddler. Christians can do things that cause trouble for themselves, it's being identified with Christ and being faithful to Him.

But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed. He is to glorify God in this name. Verse 19, “therefore those who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.” That has to be our attitude individually and as a church. Our faith is in God and His Word and we will be faithful to Him. And what that means is in His hands. I've entrusted my soul to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

That's where we started in Hebrews 11, the third verse, “by faith we understand that God created what we see out of that which was unseen.” And now we entrust our souls to that faithful Creator who brought it all into existence, who is sovereign over all. And He will bring me to my promised end—glory in His presence. Whatever comes in between, whatever He has for me, for us as a church, our #1 concern is not that the world like us, that the world approve of us, but that God finds us faithful. We have our faith in Him and His Word and that governs and controls us in all that we do. If our God chooses to continue to deliver us from trial, we give Him praise; if He chooses not to deliver us but to take us into trial and difficulty, let it be known that we will serve Him.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word, for everything You have provided for us in Christ. Lord, we in our day are privileged to understand something of the greatness of Your plan of redemption, the provision of Your Son, the fullness of what You have promised in Him. Lord, may we be faithful, personally and individually, in our walk with You in our daily lives, in our home, in our jobs, all that we do and every place we are. May it characterize us as a church, as a people, faithful to You and faithful to Your Word. We pray in Christ's name, amen.