Faith That Perseveres Through Suffering

Introduction: Contrast the faith of Alaina/Makayla and Colton when jumping off of a playground to be caught.

Big Idea: The author is noting here that, much like Colton, these Hebrews wanted to believe that Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises. But yet, in their minds, there was too much at stake to fully commit and place their trust in Him. They feared losing their friends, family, social status, and access to their places of worship. And so the temptation was to hold on to as much of Judaism as possible, while also attempting to kind of trust in Jesus, and maybe hopefully achieve the best of both worlds. Maybe their Christian friends wouldn’t notice their ceremonial observations of Judaism, and maybe their Hebrew friends wouldn’t notice their ambiguous faith about Jesus.

To which the author of Hebrews responds with Hebrews chapter 11 as he lays out example after example of Old Testament saints whose faith was not in the Old Covenant system, but fully in the God who promised that one day a new and better Covenant would be established through His promised Messiah that would reconcile man back to God. In essence, he says, if you’re concerned about losing your status, consider that these, the very best of the Old Testament saints, believed that God’s promised Messiah was better than anything the Old Covenant had to offer.

Transition: And so the author of Hebrews continues to lay out these examples of saints whose unwavering faith was solidly placed in the Messiah as the one and only means of God’s salvation. This morning the author asks us to consider three types of faith: Faith that Conquers, Faith that Ensures Hardship, and Faith that Counts on Jesus.

Read Hebrews 11:30-40

Faith That Conquers

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down”

This was the first act of faith that Israel had collectively exhibited since the crossing of the Red Sea

Jericho was a fortress city designed to protect the land of Canaan from the very strongest of enemy attacks

Some city walls of this time were so thick that they were wide enough for two chariots to drive at the top side-by-side

Not to mention the original fear that kept the previous generation out of the land in the first place

Deuteronomy 1:28 “Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.” ’”

By all accounts, from the human perspective, conquering Jericho was an impossible task.

Knowing all of this, by faith they followed the words of God

Joshua 6:3–5 “You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.””

“By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe”

Rahab is likely the most unlikely candidate for the hall of faith.

She was a prostitute, a Gentile, a Canaanite, and an Amorite

But unlike the rest of the inhabitants of Jericho, she believed in the mercy of God

Joshua 2:9–11 “and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

Exodus 12:38 “A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock.”

For her faith, Rahab became the mother of Boaz, the great-great-grandmother of David, and one of the only women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus

Gideon

Fought an enemy that, according to Judges 7:12, were as numerous as locusts; and their camels without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.”

The army of choice? 300 men chosen solely based on the way they drank water.

Their weapons of choice? Trumpets, pitchers, torches, and their 300 screaming voices.

Barak

Told to go against Sisera’s massive army with soldiers selected from only a small sample size of Israel’s population - only the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun would participate and yet the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army

Not only did God fight for his people but he allowed a woman to kill the great Sisera in his sleep for the purpose that Barak would not be able to take any credit for himself

Samson

Not most often noted for his faith but for his immaturity and vices

Yet Samson never doubted that the source of his strength was the Lord and he never doubted that his purpose was to deliver God’s people from the Philistines

Jephthah

In spite of his foolish vow Jephthah’s faith was in the Lord

David

Obviously one of the great men of the Old Testament whose faith led him as a young boy to kill lions and bears and to take on one of the most formidable villains of the time - the giant Goliath - with only a slingshot and his faith

Samuel

Faced the idolatry and immorality of God’s own people

It often takes more courage to stand up against our friends than against our enemies

But wait there’s more

Transition: Yet faith does not always lead to tangible victory in this life. We know, and the author here recognizes, that there are times when faith calls us to endure hardship.

Faith That Endures Hardship

Read Hebrews 11:35-38

Some were tortured but wouldn’t turn from God because the resurrection that was promised them in Jesus was better

Some - like Jeremiah - were mocked and suffered emotional abuse

According to tradition, Isaiah was sawn in two because the people had become so irritated with his preaching that that they cut him in half to silence him once and for all

Whether a faithful servant is killed or made an outcast the principle is the same - a believer who courageously and uncompromisingly suffers for the Lord does so because of their faith in Him

“Of whom the world is not worthy”

These saints did not deserve the cruelty that was directed towards them and neither did the world deserve to have such saints who served them to the point of being murdered by them

God does not promise deliverance from all suffering but the primary concern of the faithful is not their own lives or safety, but the security of their faith in the promise of God

Transition: And the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises to his saints is only found in Jesus.

Faith That Counts on Jesus

Read Hebrews 11:39-40

“And all these… obtained a good testimony.”

Yet they did not “receive the promise”

receive - κομίζω (to cause someone to experience something on the basis of what that person has already done)

But God has chosen something better for us

Conclusion: Read Hebrews 12:1

Revelation 6:9–10 “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?””