Faith Focuses Forward

Introduction

What an honor to be here this morning and to worship with you all here at FBCO. It’s been nearly 5 years since graduating from SBU and entering into pastoral ministry - Lindsey and I miss this church and we’ll forever love and appreciate this church for the Kingdom investment many of you have made in our lives from changing Lindsey’s diapers whenever she was in ETC to making sure that I didn’t climb on the roof to instilling in the two of us the importance of missions and service - thank you. God is so good!

I prayed and prayed over the last 2 months about what direction the Lord wanted me to go this morning as we exposit His Word together and I kept coming back to the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. I know that you all are working your way through Hebrews right now as Pastor Phillip is going verse by verse - I haven’t been able to keep up through Advent, have you finished the 1st chapter yet? My prayer is that this wets your appetite for what is to come in your study through one of the most theologically dense books in the Bible and that this message would serve as a launching pad for all of us as we prepare to enter into a new year. We begin each new year with a renewed sense of hope as the slate is somewhat wiped clean. Budgets often reset. Calendars are brand new. There’s optimism that usually abounds as we enter a new year. Many people in fact try to capitalize on this reality by starting the year off with a “new years resolution” - how many of you already have something highlighted as a resolution that you’re going to try to begin tomorrow and going forward? I’m a glass half full person, but let’s pour a bit of water on that fire here: Do you know how long the average new years resolution lasts? Depending on the source you use, most studies reveal that resolutions last for 1 month on average. One month. Less than 10% of the year. That’s not very glass half full, is it? Why is this the case? People make commitments and promises, but within a few weeks, they’re back to the way they used to be. We wonder why… the reason is simple: We live in a broken world where broken people break their promises.

A world where people are often faithless instead of faithful. This isn’t just true of people, but this is true of our world in general. Think about what you did around 10:29am, you were talking to someone, and then you did what? You sat down. Why did you sit down? Some of you are probably thinking that you sat down because that’s your pew and you had to sit in it so that no one else could take your spot! But really, why did you sit down? You placed your faith in the pew to hold you up so that you wouldn’t end up on the floor! As far as I can tell, that was a safe assumption for everyone here… but do you know what sometimes happens even to the best of pews and chairs? They break. This morning you likely got in your heated car to come to church, but what sometimes happens to cars? They break down. This is the world in which we live. We place our faith and trust in things that at times fail us and that causes people to be skeptical of anything and everything, including God. I’ve heard this over and over, “In a world dominated with suffering and brokenness, is God really faithful?” This isn’t only asked by people outside of the church, but it’s asked inside as well. There’s a growing number that say “no” - it’s never God’s will for God’s people to suffer. It’s never God’s will for God’s people to go through adversity. And if you do suffer and go through adversity, it’s because you lack faith! This message is propagated all around the world and it’s growing in popularity in our neck of the woods.

What we desperately need is the Word of God to straighten us up and to remind us what it means whenever we say that God is faithful and how He promises something infinitely greater than happiness, healthiness, and wealthiness. Let’s look to this beloved chapter, Hebrews 11, verse 32, and see what those with Faith in the Lord do.

Hebrews 11:32–40 CSB

32 And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead, raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

What a passage that concludes an incredible chapter! We see that God can and does deliver His people miraculously! But God does not always do this. While some say that if you just have enough faith then God will save you, we see a different story in our text. When suffering comes knocking on your door, what will you do? Christian, our answer is simple: Look backward with confidence and look forward in faith as you trust in your God who can be nothing other than faithful!

Biblical Faith Can Lead One to Escape Temporary Suffering (32-35a)

Does anyone else love the Word of God? Have you ever been reading God’s Word and you just arrive at something that makes you pause and chuckle? Look at verse 32 - What more can I say… Time is too short. Now this is rich. The preacher of Hebrews has been preaching for 10+ chapters. This is when the pastor is 40 minutes into the sermon and has to make an executive decision - do we miss the Chiefs kickoff and keep on flying this airplane, or do go ahead and get the landing gear ready? Every expository preacher could say this statement each Sunday - there’s just so much meat in the Word of God, but time and attention spans are just too short. What is the preacher of Hebrews referencing here? Examples in the Old Testament of people who had faith in God and who did things for the glory of God and were delivered by God’s power. He brings up several people and stories but he doesn’t elaborate much. To get into the details of how faith in God led to action for God and how God proved Himself to be faithful in these examples would simply take up too much time. So what are we going to do this morning? Briefly, let’s look at how God used these people for His glory. Gideon shows up first - Bible scholars, where does this story show up in the Old Testament? Judges! Judges 6 we see that God selects Gideon to lead his army against the Midianites and the Amalekites and in chapter 7 we see how this selection process takes place. Ozark has grown substantially in the 5 years I’ve been gone, but I Googled this earlier and Google says that the population of Ozark is just shy of 22,000. That’s a lot of people - more than the 5,000 that it was whenever we moved here in 2005. Imagine an army 6x the size of Ozark - 135,000 people - that’s a massive army! This is the force the Israelites are facing here and the best that the Israelites can come up with is 32,000 soldiers. That’s not great, but you’re looking at being outnumbered 4 to 1 and that’s not the end of the world. What does God say in Judges 7:2? Look at this verse

Judges 7:2 CSB

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘I saved myself.’

You have too many. In what world is being outnumbered by over 100,000 constitute having too *many* soldiers? In God’s world. Notice what that verse says: You have too many for me to “hand over” the Midianites… or else Israel might say, “I saved myself.” Oh church, how often do we get into this predicament? We’re no different and it can be easy to rest in our laurels and accomplishments and demand credit that doesn’t belong to us at all. This is God’s point, and He whittles down the fighting force from 32,000 to 10,000 and again says that 10,000 is too many. We went from being outnumbered 4 to 1 to being outnumbered 13 to 1. Anyone else a bit concerned here? God brings the number to 300 and finally says that 300 is “enough.” In what world does this make sense? God reduced the size of the army by 99% of its original size and called 300 enough. Sure enough, 300 defeated 135,000! How? By using their personal strength and power? Absolutely not - by trusting in God’s power and placing their faith in Him to fight the battle! As they placed their faith in the Lord, the Lord destroyed their enemy. The Lord delivered them from their foes. They escaped temporary suffering (persecution if not death) by placing their faith in the Lord and God delivered supernaturally. What is the point that the preacher of Hebrews is making by including this example of Gideon? He’s not saying that whenever you’re getting ready to do something, you need to reduce your power by 99% because that’s the magical number. That’s not the point. The point of including Sampson in this list is not to say that you should never cut your hair because obviously whenever Sampson was strong, he had long hair and whenever he was weak he had short hair - some of y’all have no hair and I’m not sure what that means for you! What is the point here? These people had flaws, they weren’t perfect and there were times they lacked faith in God (think of King David) - we can’t moralize them! To borrow an old Pastor Phillip’ism, “God uses crooked sticks to hit straight shots” and all God’s people say? Amen!

Faith in God leads God’s people to trust in Him and to progress in sanctification - not to suddenly become perfect.

Whenever God’s people trust in Him, the miraculous can in fact happen! Look at the list in verses 32-35

Conquered Kingdoms

Administered Justice

Obtained Promises

Shut the Mouths of Lions

Quenched the Raging Fire

Escaped the Edge of the Sword

Gained Strength in Weakness

Became Mighty in Battle

Put Foreign Armies to Flight

Received Their Dead Back to Life

How did these things happen? Was it because these people just so happened to be so powerful that they could “speak these things into existence?” Absolutely not. They were empowered by the Holy Spirit and God’s power was made strong in their human weakness as 2 Corinthians 12 reminds us. Sometimes, as God’s people trust in God’s power and walk in God’s will, God delivers His people supernaturally. He preserves His servants in fiery furnaces. He shuts the mouths of fierce lions. He calms frightening storms. He raises back to life those who have fallen asleep. This is the power of our God in helping faithful servants escape temporary suffering as God is able to do whatever He wants, however He wants, whenever He wants - even when it doesn’t make sense! God still is in the business of helping people escape from suffering as Jesus Christ is still in the business of saving sinful, straying, and selfish sheep from eternal separation from God in a literal place called hell. Is anyone else thankful for that truth? That the God of the Bible still performs miracles - if you’re a Christian, you have a resurrection story. You were dead in sins but God who is rich in mercy made you alive with Christ.

At this point, things sound great, don’t they? This is where lots of churches and pastors will stop as well. They’ll stop with Hebrews 11:35 and talk about the victories and breakthroughs. So far in Hebrews 11 things look really good - sure, Abel died, but everyone else? Enoch escaped death. Noah survived the flood. Abraham was blessed by God. Moses was used by God to part the Red Sea and lead the Israelites out of slavery. Joshua led the people into the promised land. These figures in these opening 4 verses are used by God in mighty ways and we might be tempted to think that faith in God only leads to positive outcomes in our earthly mindset. That if you have faith in God, good things will happen.

Hebrews 11:6 CSB

6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

This is how many people see faith in the Christian life as the end of this verse says - just have faith and everything will work out perfectly, you’ll be rewarded just like you want to be, you’ll have the breakthroughs, everything will go your way. You will always escape suffering if you just have enough faith. That might sound really good in the good days - but we need the full counsel of God’s Word because on the day when your nightmare becomes your reality, a comfy, cozy, name it claim it “jesus” won’t do you a lick of good. Praise God for the rest of this passage as it recalibrates our brains in times of suffering.

First, Biblical faith can lead one to escape temporary suffering, second:

Biblical Faith Can Lead One to Endure Temporary Suffering (35b-38)

Look at how quickly things change in verse 35. All is well, people are escaping suffering and being used by God in great and mighty ways, but then we see that some people were tortured… and to this point its like we’ve been building up this dam with nice concrete examples of how faith in God leads to some awesome results and this makes us feel pretty good and optimistic, but then the second half of verse 35 is like a small crack that forms in the dam and the verses that follow quickly bring that dam of false doctrine crashing down. Suddenly we have to grapple with this question: Why do people suffer? I’ve heard from a growing number of people that it’s never God’s will for His people to suffer. It’s as though we equate suffering as God’s judgment and I’ve heard many say that good people don’t deserve to suffer. Have you heard that logic before? (Why do bad things happen to good people? Only happened once and He volunteered! Everyone else - we deserve bad things because of our sin because we all fall short of the glory of God!) This teaching seems to be growing and it requires Biblical correction. Brothers and Sisters, we have to understand this truth: If you’re a Christian, your pain has purpose. What does the Word of God tell us about suffering? It doesn’t say to run away from it or to “speak it away.”

James 1:2–3 CSB

2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

John 16:33 CSB

33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Romans 8:16–18 CSB

16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

Jesus never once promised us an easy life. He did promise that we would have trouble and that we are to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. Consider the shift in this text - ask the average churchgoer, would you follow Jesus if it meant that you will conquer kingdoms and become mighty and well known, of course the person will say to sign them up for that! What about torture? Mocking? Imprisonment? Stoning? Killed by the sword? Betrayed? Mistreated? Many will try to rebuke that because that’s not what sells books. That’s not popular. That won’t pack out Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield… the opposite message will, though. Of course, a message that promises your best life now sound lovely to our ears - except whenever we realize that our best life today isn’t in my best interest in the short and long term. Why do we trust in the Lord during these times of great suffering? Not because it’s necessarily easy - there are times where it’s really hard. But because this is what those with Biblical faith do. It might help to define what faith is. Some consider faith to be an optimistic feeling like whenever you wake up and you hope that you have a good day or that your team will win the game. Maybe you’re playing basketball and the opposing team fouls your best player and sends him to the free throw line at the end of the a tied game, you just need to make 1 free throw to win and he has 2 shots. You have faith that he’ll come through. Is this example of earthly faith the same as Biblical faith? No. Earthly faith lets us down. Consider what Biblical faith is and what it does, “Biblical faith is confidence in the promises of God that leads ordinary people to action and results in various earthly outcomes but always results in the applause of our Father in heaven.” Notice, Biblical faith is not confidence in self or another sinner - it is grounded in the inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient Word of the Living God as Hebrews 4:12 and 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us. Biblical faith leads to action. Biblical faith trusts in the Lord regardless of the earthly outcome because walking by faith always results in the applause of our Father in heaven. My question for you is simply this: Is your life marked by Biblical faith?

If so, look at what it could lead to in this text.

Being tortured - think of Jesus before His crucifixion. John 19 tells us that Jesus was flogged and given a crown of thorns - he was tortured as he submitted to the Father’s will, we could say by faith.

Being mocked/scourged - think of the prophets, specifically Jeremiah, as we see this in Jeremiah 20:2

Jeremiah 20:2 CSB

2 So Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the Lord’s temple.

Being stoned - this was common in Jewish practice, but the first Christian martyr met this fate in Acts 7:59 as we find this of Stephen

Acts 7:59 CSB

59 While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

Being sawed in two - this doesn’t sound particularly nice and this is, according to well attested Church tradition, the fate that the prophet Isaiah met

Being killed by the sword - many prophets met this fate in the Old Testament and we see that James was killed by the sword in Acts 12 as Dr. Luke says

Acts 12:1–2 CSB

1 About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, 2 and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.

Being destitute - this means to either miss out or to lack in something. We can think of numerous examples of followers of Christ not having much from an earthly standpoint

Being mistreated - think of Paul being imprisoned and stabbed in the back simply for preaching the Gospel

We’re quick to signup for the 10 wonderful things in verses 32-35, but who is on the edge of their seat to sign up for these 7? Why would followers of Christ willingly submit to suffer in these ways? Go back to verse 35 - was their focus this life? Nope. They knew what was awaiting them. To escape from suffering in these situations would be to disobey God and in those moments, it is better to suffer for doing good than to compromise and sin. They could echo the sentiments that Paul would share in prison in Philippians 1 that to live is Christ and to die is gain. We have to understand this reality, suffering and torture and pain and heartache do not get the last word for a born-again follower of Jesus Christ! Christian, Jesus Christ is your hope in life and in death and He drops none of His blood bought brothers and sisters. He holds us fast in the mountain high and in the valley low. We invest in the world to come and we look there each step of the way. Even facing suffering and death, the consistent proclamation of the Christian has been that of Paul in Romans 8

Romans 8:37–39 CSB

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Not even death can separate you from the love of your Savior and Sustainer, Jesus Christ! If death can’t separate you from Jesus, do you think that temporary suffering can? Not even close. He’s still there. Our Good Shepherd walks with His sheep even through the valley of the shadow of death and whenever death does in fact claim a believer, all that death does is bring you to the face of Jesus. Anyone else feeling thankful for the blood of Jesus today? What do we do between now and that day?

1 Peter 4:19 CSB

19 So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good.

Let those who suffer according to God’s will trust in the Lord and do what is good. Whoa. Millions are good with the idea of nothing separating us from Jesus, but suffering according to God’s will? How does faith help us then? Go back to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, this thorn in the flesh that humbled him, what does Paul say, God’s grace is sufficient and made perfect in weakness. Contrary to what some might tell you, obtaining a certain level of faith does not mean that you suddenly get to avoid suffering. In fact, walking by faith after Jesus often means that you run straight into flames. You don’t always get to escape them… but by His power, you will endure them.

I’m reminded of a pastor in Tennessee, Erik Reed. Erik and his wife had a son who was born with one kidney that worked and one that was not working properly. Due to a mishap by the surgeon, the good kidney was removed. This led their son, Kaleb, to a life of hardship and affliction. The family wrestled with the Lord during this time. Erik outlines some of their struggle in a book called Uncommon Trust - and he shares that his trust in the Lord increased dramatically during the years of adversity that followed. Like in the book of Daniel, we know that God is over our trials - you can be team “God decrees it” or “God allows it” but you can’t deny that God wills these things to happen. We know that God allows trials to happen. We know that God can rescue us from those trials (see Daniel 3) as God can heal, restore, and do the seemingly impossible by human standards. He has the goods to get that done. We also know that God may not remove the trial from our lives. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego share this reality as they say, “Even if He doesn’t, we will not bow.” This is similar to Job, “The Lord gives, the Lord takes, blessed be the name of the Lord.” But, if He chooses not to remove the trial, He does so promising us His presence in the furnace and promising us that He has our best interest at heart, even if it doesn’t feel good. Church, God is faithful. I came across a quote earlier this month by AW Pink who shared, “For God to be unfaithful would be to act contrary to His nature, which is impossible.” Even if He doesn’t do what we’d like Him to do, He is still God. He is still good. He is eternally faithful.

He won’t always deliver His children from temporary obstacles, but He’ll never forsake us during our temporary obstacles.

Once you find peace in the providence of God, you become invincible. As Tim Keller once shared, “All that death can do it make my life infinitely better.” Think about Jesus - yes, He came to serve and suffer and experience shame - but His journey didn’t end on the cross. Oh Christian, understand this! Our story includes suffering and hardship, but those who follow Jesus to the end can trust that He will not abandon us in death… He will see us to that golden shore! Suffering doesn’t get the last laugh, because, finally we see that

Our Faithful God Provides Eternal Security (39-40)

What is the ultimate thing that we need in life? It’s not another Chiefs Super Bowl victory. It’s not a raise or promotion in 2024. It’s not a suffering-less year. What you and I need is eternal pardon for sin. We need a God who not only is faithful in this life, but for all eternity as He provides His people with security. Aren’t you thankful that this is the God we have? We all face enemies in this life: Sickness, brokenness, suffering, abandonment, betrayal, some face enemies like cancer, deafness, blindness, and the loss of loved ones. Maybe this has been your reality this past year. Maybe this is your reality today as you prepare to enter 2024. Trials can trip us up real quick if we aren’t grounded in the Word and if we aren’t walking by faith.

As you walk through the coming year, you will face adversity. You will walk through suffering. God might providentially help you escape some of it, but you will likely endure some of it as well. What we must remember is that God remains faithful through it all to His promise to save His people from the penalty, power, and one day, the very presence of sin. See, all the enemies that we face in this life find their root in sin - which we know leads to death. This is our greatest foe. This is the foe that we are powerless to defeat on our own, but this is the foe that our Savior has vanquished!

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 CSB

54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

For the believer, we no longer have to wonder what our eternal outlook looks like. The battle has been won - that victory is granted to all who are born again and saved by grace through faith in Christ. There are times that we go through suffering in this life and there is a temptation internally in our brains and externally from those around us to focus exclusively on the temporary and not the eternal. Consider these people in Hebrews 11 - they all were approved through their faith, but they didn’t receive these promises. They didn’t all receive physical and emotional deliverance. But do you know what they all did experience? Deliverance from the punishment they deserved due to their sin - and, church, that’s a billion times better than any temporary healing we can experience in this life. These people lived on this side of the cross and now their faith is made sight because of Jesus… you and I are blessed to live on this side of the cross. We can look back with confidence and gratefulness and see that our God truly is faithful. Therefore, we walk by faith… not an earthly optimism, Biblical faith is infinitely stronger than that:

“Biblical faith is confidence in the promises of God that leads ordinary people to action and results in various earthly outcomes but always results in the applause of our Father in heaven.”

Faith is based on fact, not simply fleeting feelings!

Piper shared this years ago:

“My feelings are not God. God is God.

My feelings do not define truth.

God’s Word defines truth.

My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceived.

And sometimes - many times - my feelings are out of sync with the truth.

When that happens - and it happens every day in some measure - I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth.”

“My security as a Christian does not reside in the strength of my faith but in the indestructibility of my Savior.” Sinclair Ferguson

John 17 - Jesus’ high priestly prayer, “Sanctify them with your truth… Your Word is truth.” As we enter a new year, this must be our prayer. That we would dive into the Word and that the Word would align our heart with God’s will. As this happens, faith flourishes in the fires of suffering. Many fizzle out in these flames and 1 John 2:19 tells us that those folks were never truly saved in the first place. But those saved by grace through faith in Christ, though they will falter and stumble and become discouraged, will continue walking by faith and trust in the character and promises of God as Romans 8:28 reminds us that God is working all things for God’s glory and the good of His people. Are you thankful for that truth?

Are you thankful that He holds us fast and not the other way around? Praise God that our salvation is not predicated upon our grip on Jesus but His grip on us. Praise God that He is faithful to His promises. As we end one year and prepare to begin another one, ask yourself this simple question: Do you know this faithful God? Have you repented of your sins and been washed in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ? If your answer is no then I pray that you understand the gravity of your situation. Paul Washer shares it like this: It is as though God currently has both of His hands up. With one hand He pleads for sinners to come home and be saved and with the other He holds back His wrath. One day, we see in Scripture that both hands will drop as His wrath will be poured out upon those who are still living in sin. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

Chances are, many of us have been saved by grace through faith in Christ. What is demanded of us in light of this text of Scripture? We must trust in our God. Not just with words, but with a life of obedience. This is the call in Hebrews - to persevere and to endure. This is why in the very next chapter, the preacher of Hebrews tells this congregation to run the race of life with their eyes fixed on Jesus - the captain and champion of our faith. This congregation was being persecuted. They were suffering. And the reminder towards the end of this 2,000 year old sermon is to remember the faithfulness of God and to trust and obey. What do we need as we prepare for 2024, Christians? In the midst of suffering and obstacles and adversity, we must remember that our God is faithful and we are called to trust and obey. We give sacrificially, gather consistently, and go faithfully not because it’s always cheap or because it’s always easy, it’s costly and often hard… but it’s worth it because we walk by faith, not by sight. It is worth it because there is satisfaction and joy alone in Jesus Christ! We won’t always escape temporary suffering, but because of Jesus, we can know for certain that through Him we can endure temporary suffering, and one day, through Him, we will be free from the presence of suffering as sin will be no more. We have no other option than to trust and obey our faithful God! Keep your eyes on Jesus - Faith Focuses Forward!