HEBREWS 11:23-40 - No Fear

Introduction

As we finish up our study of Hebrews 11 this morning, I want us to consider for a moment the account that we read earlier in our worship from Matthew 19. A young man comes to Him asking how to know that he has eternal life—a very good question, right!? When you consider his answer to Jesus’ statement about keeping the Law— “Oh, which commandments are we talking about? Oh yeah, I’ve been doing those things my whole life!”—you get an idea of where his mind was at when he came to Jesus, don’t you?

Clearly, he just wanted Jesus to confirm that he was a good person—when he asks in verse 20, “What am I still lacking?”, you get the sense that in his self-righteousness he was just fishing for more compliments: “Oh, you’re doing fine—just keep doing what you’re doing, you’ve got it all figured out!”

But then Jesus lowers the boom—

Matthew 19:21 (LSB)

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

“There is just one more thing that you need to do, and then you’re complete in your righteousness: Lose everything.” The only thing it costs to be a follower of Christ is everything. You keep nothing—not your money, not your reputation, not your family—nothing. This is why the 20th Century German pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book The Cost of Discipleship, “When Jesus calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Luke’s Gospel records that many people were coming and offering Jesus their loyalty, and Jesus’ hard words in response:

Luke 9:57–62 (LSB)

And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord, but first permit me to say farewell to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

There are far too many people out there who are like that rich young ruler—they like to say that they are Christians because they “have kept all these things from their youth”—they know their books of the Bible, they do church regularly, they wouldn’t fall for the old “How many animals did Moses take on the Ark” trick question, their Christmas cards are always Bible-themed (no Santa allowed!), and if you really dug into their lives and asked them about the Gospel, they would be able to articulate it and tell you that they believe it.

But then, when any real hardship comes their way because of their Christian identity, they cut and run just like the rich young ruler. When the cost of their faith is everything, when the holiness that Christ calls them to creates real hardships in this world, they back off. As G. K. Chesterton once wrote: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”

This chapter of Hebrews has been dedicated to examples of genuine faith on the part of the Old Testament saints—it fits into the flow of this book as the author is exhorting his readers to stand fast in their faith in Christ in the midst of the turmoil and upheaval of Jerusalem in the late 60’s A.D., and also as they are beginning to feel that pull back to their Old Covenant roots. He has been encouraging them to imitate the faith of those Old Covenant saints, showing them that everything that Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Sarah went through did not shake their faith, but established them in their confidence in God’s promises.

And so as we conclude this chapter this morning the author is continuing to exhort us that real confidence in God’s future promises will create in us a real courage in the face of the difficulties and trials that we suffer for our faith. To be “holy” means to be set apart; being “set apart” from this world that we live in is costly, isn’t it? Holding fast to Christ and living for Him in this day and age will create hardships for you—will your faith cause you to stand, or will you cut and run? Will your joyful confidence in the promises of Christ to you make you steadfast, or will the opposition and reproach that you suffer for His sake cause you to shrink back, keep your head down, throw away your confidence?

By God’s grace and the work of His Spirit through His Word this morning, I aim to show you from these verses that

Genuine faith is FEARLESS amidst the HARDSHIPS of HOLINESS

Verses 23-28 focus on Moses and his faith—in these verses we are given a portrait of

I. The POWER of God in FEARLESS saints (Hebrews 11:23-28)

And one of the first things we see is that Moses got that fearlessness honestly, didn’t he? Read verse 23:

Hebrews 11:23 (LSB)

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

You’ll remember that Pharoah had decreed that all the Hebrew babies would be drowned in the Nile River (Ex. 1:22)—but Moses’ parents were

Fearless in the face of TYRANNY ...(v. 23, 27)

Even though Pharoah was hailed as a god, with unquestioned power of life or death over all of his subjects, Moses’ parents didn’t care! They directly defied his tyrannical and bloodthirsty decree, and kept their son alive because they feared YHWH, not Pharoah!

And when Moses grew up, we see the same kind of fearlessness in him as well--

Hebrews 11:27 (LSB)

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the rage of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

We read in Exodus 10:28 that Pharoah was so infuriated at Moses that he threatened “Get away from me! Beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face you shall die!” A threat that would cause an ordinary man to flinch—but not Moses. And why not?

...Because he believed in the promise of his KING (v. 27)

See it there in verse 27 of our text:

Hebrews 11:27 (LSB)

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the rage of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

By faith Moses knew that his God was more powerful than Pharoah could ever be! And remember—at this point, the kingdom of Egypt was lying in ruins after the plagues of Moses’ God had laid waste to it. Moses trusted in God to deliver His people from Egypt, and so he was fearless in the face of tyranny.

In verses 24-26, we go on to see that Moses was also

Fearless in the face of REPROACH ...(vv. 24-26)

Hebrews 11:24–26 (LSB)

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

Moses had grown up as the grandson of Pharoah; he had access to more wealth, more luxury, more honor and power and authority than almost anyone in the ancient world—but he turned his back on all of it! None of it had a hold on him because all that wealth and power and luxury could do was turn him away from God at the end!

Moses understood by faith that all of the luxuries and privileges of Egyptian royalty came with a price—his own soul. And so he didn’t care that he looked like a fool for turning his back on those things; he didn’t care that he was trading comfort and ease and tranquility of Pharaoh’s palace for the hardship and mistreatment of his fellow Hebrews, because

...Because he believed in the promise of his REWARD (v. 26)

Hebrews 11:26 (LSB)

regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

He didn’t know it then, but when Moses was looking forward to the reward that God had promised him for his faithfulness, he was looking ahead to Christ! His utter confidence that the reproach of identifying with God’s people was better than the respect of identifying with Pharaoh. Those treasures had no hold on him. There are few things more dangerous in this world than a man who fears no one but God and wants nothing but God.

Moses was fearless in the face of tyrants; fearless in the face of reproach, and in verse 28—when the Angel of Death was stalking the kingdom of Egypt, Moses was

Fearless in the face of DEATH ...(v. 28; cp. Ex. 11:5-6)

Hebrews 11:28 (LSB)

By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

God had given His final warning to Pharaoh:

Exodus 11:5–6 (LSB)

... all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the servant-girl who is behind the millstones; and all the firstborn of the cattle. ‘Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again.

Death was coming that night; there was no way to turn it aside, no way to escape it, nowhere to run to, not even Pharaoh the son of the son of the Sun God himself would be able to escape. But Moses did not fear that horrible angel because

… Because he believed in the promise of the BLOOD (cp. Ex. 12:12-13)

Moses did not blanch in fear at the coming of Death Incarnate on that night, because he believed the promise of YHWH to him:

Exodus 12:12–13 (LSB)

‘And I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am Yahweh. ‘And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and I will see the blood, and I will pass over you, and there shall be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Moses didn’t know it that night, but when he sprinkled the blood of that Passover lamb over his doorposts and instructed the people to do the same, he was looking ahead to the promise of Christ’s death! As we love to sing: “No guilt in life, no fear in death—this is the power of Christ in me!” Moses knew that he would not die that night; he believed God’s promise that the blood of the lamb would deliver him from the wrath of YHWH descending on Egypt. There is no fear of death, no fear of reproach, no fear of tyranny that can shake the soul that is holding fast to the promises of God in Jesus Christ.

Genuine faith is fearless amidst the hardships of holiness. God’s power is seen in the fearlessness of His saints standing firm in the holiness that He calls them to live, in spite of any opposition or hatred or wrath from the world around us.

But then there are the rest of us, right? We read of men like Moses and his steadfast, fearless faith to oppose the greatest superpower of the ancient world, not turning aside from the hardships of holiness because he believed the promises of God and think, “That’s great and all, but I ain’t Moses, pal...” Moses may have been able to stand fearlessly in faith before Pharoah, but we have a hard time praying before a meal at a restaurant! What about us—the ones who falter, the ones who screw it up, the ones who get intimidated by how hard it is to live a holy life with confident faith in God’s promises? The ones who cry out in the words of Mark 9:24, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”

If that’s you, then read what God’s Word says in the next several verses of our text. Because what shines through here is not only the fearless faith of the saints, but

II. The GRACE of God towards FEARFUL saints (Hebrews 11:29-32)

Consider the next four verses with me:

Hebrews 11:29–32 (LSB)

By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land, and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David and Samuel and the prophets,

Here in the “Heroes Hall of Faith” we come to the crossing of the Red Sea and the conquest of Jericho—these things were done by faith, the author says. He’s reminding his readers that they have good reason to trust in God’s promises: He was faithful in those moments, He’ll be faithful to you as well.

But consider that these verses are far more descriptive of God’s faithfulness to His people than His people’s faithfulness to Him—In Exodus 14, when the people were standing on the shore of the Red Sea, were they confidently expressing their fearless trust in God to deliver them?

Exodus 14:11–14 (LSB)

Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done against us in bringing us out of Egypt? “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than for us to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of Yahweh which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. “Yahweh will fight for you, and you will keep silent.”

And consider the conquest of Jericho—the city was taken, the walls fell down flat, but God was dishonored by Achan’s sin. God had commanded the people not to touch any of the spoil; it was to be devoted to Him. But Achan stole some of the gold and silver and clothing, and the entire nation of Israel suffered defeat at their next battle because of Him.

But see here the grace of God to His fearful saints:

He FIGHTS for them though they DISHONOR Him (v. 29; cp. Ex. 14:11-14; Josh. 6:18; 7:20-21)

Even though His people succumbed to unbelief at the Red Sea and did not believe God would save them, He did it anyway. And even though Achan disobeyed God’s command and stole from the spoil of Jericho, God still gave them the victory there. God demonstrates His power through His fearless saints, and He demonstrates His grace to His fearful saints—He is glorified either way!

The glories of God’s grace shine even more brightly as you read through verses 31 and 32:

Hebrews 11:31–32 (LSB)

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David and Samuel and the prophets,

Who is it that is being honored here? Rahab the prostitute (Joshua 2:1). Gideon the coward that hid in the winepress away from the Midianites (Judges 6:11). Barak the commander afraid to go into battle unless he could hide behind a woman (Judges 4:9). Samson the Nazarite that broke every vow of his order—cutting his hair, drinking wine, touching a dead lion carcass and eating from it. Jephthah who sacrificed his own daughter because of a rash and devastating vow he made to YHWH (Judges 11:29-40). And the list goes on and on—foolish, fearful, feckless saints every last one of them—but

He FORGIVES them despite their FRAILTIES (vv. 31-32)

Even though they blew it so many times, though the hardships of holiness overwhelmed their feeble faith, God still delighted to honor the faint spark of faith with His overwhelming grace and mercy and love. We are always tempted to think about faith in terms of a quantity—that Moses was fearless and worked miracles because he had “more” faith and Gideon was fearful and hid in his father’s winepress from the Midianites because he had “less” faith, for instance. But see here that even the Israelites at the brink of the Red Sea, even Gideon hiding in his wine press, even David overcome with lust for Bathsheba and Samuel’s failure to raise his sons—even with all of their failures and frailties, God still honors them here in Hebrews as heroes of faith! They are worth looking up to and imitating not because they are such perfect examples of fearlessness, but because they are a demonstration of God’s faithfulness to His people!

Christian, when you are at your weakest; when the hardships that arise from your pursuit of holiness before God threaten to overwhelm you, you can trust in the promises of God to sustain you just as He did for these frail saints! God loves to honor even the weakest motions of genuine faith in the hearts of His children—not because of how strong their faith is, but how strong His promises are! As Thomas Watson once wrote, “A weak faith can lay hold on a strong Christ!”

See here in these verses your encouragement to be fearless in your faith in the face of the hardships of holiness—God’s power is shown through your fearlessness, and His grace will be shown to you in your fearfulness. And in the remainder of this chapter there is another marvelous promise to fuel your fearless faith:

III. The PRESENCE of God with PERSEVERING saints (Hebrews 11:33-40)

Look with me at verses 33-35 for a description of the deeds of God’s people

Hebrews 11:33–35 (LSB)

who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection...

Here is a promise to fuel your fearless faith in the face of the hardships of holiness, Christian:

Every VICTORY of faith is from His HAND (vv. 33-35)(cp. 1 Cor. 15:57-58)

When you are victorious in performing righteousness over sinfulness—that victory is yours through faith from God’s hand! When Daniel suffered hardship because of his desire for holiness and was thrown into the den of lions, it was because he trusted God that their mouths were shut. When the widow of Zarephath’s son was raised from the dead it was because Elijah looked to YHWH in faith. When you are made strong to follow God and obey Him and seek His righteousness and escape the weakness and frailties of your unbelief, it is the hand of God strengthening you through faith. You can trust the promises of God; He is always faithful to His children who have come to Him in faith—as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15--

1 Corinthians 15:57–58 (LSB)

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Be steadfast and fearless in your faith, Christian, because you know that none of it is in vain!

God’s presence is seen among His persevering saints when they receive their victories from His hand. But what about when the victory doesn’t come? What about when the story ends not with overcoming, but being overcome? What if the sickness does lead to death; the cry to God for deliverance is met with stony silence; the tyrant bathes his sword in the blood of the faithful? Where is faith then? Surely what the author is reminding his readers in verses 35-38 that, just as surely as every victory of faith is from His hand, so

His HAND holds every faithful MARTYR (vv. 35-38; cp. John 10:27-28)

Hebrews 11:35–38 (LSB)

Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Beloved, there is a diabolical and poisonous teaching out there that would have you to believe that the faithful saints described in these verses all suffered and died because they lacked faith. The so-called “Word of Faith” movement—a blasphemous and godless lie that tries to pass itself off as Christianity—teaches that any sickness or suffering or loss suffered by a Christian is a result of their lack of faith in God; that faith in God always results in health, wealth, prosperity and abundance.

It is a lie from the pit of Hell itself.

Look at what God’s inspired, perfect, authoritative Word—authored by the Holy Spirit—says in verse 39:

Hebrews 11:39 (LSB)

And all these, having gained approval through their faith...

All of these examples gained approval from God for their faith—Moses the fearless one, Gideon the fearful one; David the king who conquered kingdoms and the desolate wanderers living in rags in the mountains; those who escaped the edge of the sword and those who were taken by the sword; those who escaped imprisonment and those who were tortured and martyred for their faith. All of them were approved by God; all of them exhibited fearless faith in the face of the hardships of holiness. Faith is the strength to overcome, and faith is the strength to be overcome and still conquer!

It is in the strength of a promise like this, beloved, that you can stand fearless before the hardships of holiness—there is nothing this world can take from you that will ever take you from the hand of your Savior!

John 10:27–28 (LSB)

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish—ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Whether conquering kingdoms or being driven out of their homes, whether bringing Pharaoh to his knees or kneeling to the sword, whether confidently standing against oppression or hiding in a wine press, all of these saints were approved by God for their faith—but it wasn’t until Jesus Christ appeared that the promises they were looking forward to came true. And so we are united with our brothers and sisters in the same faith—they looked forward in faith to Christ’s work to save them, and we look back to His work to save us. Their perfection in faith is the same as ours—you share the same Savior as Moses and Jephthah and Abel and Gideon and Noah and David, and just as they through faith were enabled to stand in the midst of all the hardships their holiness brought upon them, so you will be strengthened to stand fearless when those same trials loom over you.

Are you feeling the weight of your faithlessness this morning? Are you recognizing all of the times you have “cut and run” instead of standing fearless in the righteousness and holiness Christ purchased for you? Are you like that rich young ruler who expected to be commended for his faith, only to have Jesus call his bluff and see right through his self-righteousness?

You know there is more to his story, right? Because there is evidence that that rich young ruler appears elsewhere in the Gospels and Acts; a young man named John Mark. His was a life marked by running away—he ran away from Jesus when He exposed his covetous heart in Matthew 19; but he didn’t stay away. He came back to Christ and was with Him in Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed—until the cost of following Jesus became too great once again, and when the soldiers tried to arrest him he squirmed out of his garment and ran away, naked and humiliated (Mark 14:51-52). But then he came back; he joined his cousin Barnabas and the Apostle Paul on a missionary journey to Pamphylia—and then cut and run again when the hardships of that work became too much for him (Acts 15:38). But then, he came back again—the Apostle Paul would commend him for his usefulness for Gospel ministry (2 Timothy 4:11), and Peter would call him his “son” in his first epistle (1 Peter 5:13). And this fearful, timid saint who had a history of running from the hardships of holiness was used by God as one of the authors of Holy Scripture!

The Gospel of Mark was written by that young man who walked away sorrowing because he had many possessions; the Word of God came to you through the pen of a man who ran away in shame from His Savior’s side, a man who cut and run from his missionary career and wrecked a ministry team over it. And look at the grace of God in his life! Christian, when you look back and see how many times you’ve cut and run when the hardships of holiness seemed too much for you, see the grace of God for His fearful saints! It is not your grasp of Christ that saves you, but His grasp of you! It is not how strong or powerful your faith is, it is how strong and powerful He is whom your faith rests on!

This is the root of fearless faith, Christian—that Christ is a better king than any tyrant that threatens you because of your faith. He is a better Friend than any unbelieving friend who deserts you because of your faith. He is a better treasure than any reproach you might suffer in this world because of your faith. He is the One Who fought and died for you when you were still His enemy; the One Who sees you in your frailties and weakness and delights in you anyway!

And if you’ve been on the run because the demands of living a holy life in this world are too much; if you bear the name Christian but your life looks no different from any other unbeliever because you are afraid of what it will cost you to live consistently as a believer in an unbelieving world—then see here the promise you have in God’s Word: The passing pleasures of sin are not to be compared with the treasure that is found in Christ! Your sin and unbelief, your failure and rebellion, your denial of Him when it mattered the most—all of it is washed away when you believe the promises of God that

1 John 1:9 (LSB)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Come and be cleansed today; come and be forgiven; come and be raised up into a fearlessness and steadfast hope that will stand firm with unquenchable joy in this world and the next—come, and welcome!, to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Jude 24–25 (LSB)

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:

Write down something you learned from this morning’s message that is new to you, or an insight that you had for the first time about the text? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Write down something that you need to do in your life this week in response to what God has shown you from His Word today: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________