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Series:  Running By Faith

Over the past few Sundays we’ve been looking at faith.  God has not created us to live in fear but by what?  Faith in Him.  Amen?  This morning we’re going on looking at what that means - to live by faith not by fear.  I invite you to join me at Hebrews 11 - starting at verse 30.

What we’ve been looking at here in Hebrews 11 are example after example of men and women who have trusted that the God of creation is trustworthy and that God really does have a plan and purpose for our lives.  Men and women who have let go of their fears and chosen to step forward in faith.

And God showing up.  God using them in His great purposes.  Even though their lives were often the pits God never left them.  He really was there for them.  God blessed them - gave them what they needed for life.  Example after example for us in the real time of where we live our lives that we can trust God with the stuff of our lives.

The men and women we’re coming to this morning - thinking about where they began their lives - or some of the ways they messed up - most of these people probably wouldn’t get put on a list of examples.  No one would have picked these people for greatness.  They weren’t all that great.  But the one thing they did have was faith in God.   God holds them up as examples for us.  Live the way they lived - the faith in Me part.

Hebrews 11 - starting at verse 30:  Verse 30:  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 she had welcomed the spies in peace.

This is familiar.  Right?  God’s people enter Canaan - they’re finally ready to conquer the Promised Land.  The first city they come up against is Jericho.  We know how this goes.  God gives them some pretty weird instructions.

The men of war are to march around the city once a day for six days - with seven priests - who are carrying seven trumpets - marching in front of the Ark of the Covenant - which symbolizes the presence of God.  On the seventh day they’re to march around the city seven times - with the priests blowing their trumpets - which was to announce God’s presence.  At the end of the seventh time around on the seventh day the priests were to make a long blast on the ram’s horn and the people were to shout.  At the end of all that the walls were suppose to fall down and God’s people were to take the city. 

The number seven is significant.  The number of completeness.  God completing creation in 6 days - the 7th is a day of rest - the Sabbath day being the 7th day.  Kind of a God thing.  This is about God.  God leading His people.  His people obediently following in faith.

There are seemingly better ways to conquer a city than to march around it for seven days - blow trumpets and scream at the top of our lungs.  A few battering rams or siege towers might have been a suggestion.

Its been said that, if we’re willing to obediently follow God sooner or later that’s going to look weird - to ourselves - to others.  And this whole Jericho thing really does look weird.

We know how this all comes out.  We’ve read it.  Which takes away some of the weirdness.  The horns get blown - the people shout - the walls fall - God’s people kill every living thing in Jericho - except Rahab and her family.

But to be there - actually marching around that city must have been weird.  Only those people - and God - know what kinds of demoralizing crude things were said by the guys on the wall.  The kinds of things that were thrown at the Hebrews as they marched.  “Remind me again why we’re doing this.”   This is totally a faith in God thing.

Rahab was who?  A harlot.  In case we forgot, the writer of Hebrews reminds us.  Rahab is the town prostitute.  A Madame.  Ran a brothel.  A house of ill repute by the city wall.

When the two Israelite spies came to check out Jericho - the writer of Hebrews tells us that Rahab “welcomed the spies in peace.”  She hid them - lied to the authorities to protect them - helped them escape from the city.  She made the choice to obey God - to trust God rather than to fear the king.

In the account of this - back in the book of Joshua - Rahab explained why.  She said, “We’ve heard what your God did to the Egyptians - the whole crossing the Red Sea thing - your victories on the way to Canaan.  Your God is the God and I want to trust Him as my God.”

Rahab makes a deal.  Remember this?  She hangs a red cord out here window on the city wall.  So the Israelites while they’re killing everything in Jericho - they spare Rahab and the people in her house.

Have you ever wondered what Rahab might have thought about all this marching weirdness?  After about five or six days of watching the Hebrews march around the city Rahab might have been thinking that maybe she’d made the wrong call on this one.

Sometimes obedience to God - trusting God - may seem like the weirdest thing in the world.  Sometimes we may feel like God is off someplace paying attention to details on the other side of the universe and not really a whole lot interested in the mess we’ve made of our lives.

We’re coming up against family and friends - employers - stuff at work.  We’ve heard about the things God’s done - we’re reading out Bibles - all that parting seas and taking out kings stuff - might even have a few God stories of our own to share.  But there are times when we wonder if just maybe trusting God is just a little too weird.

We might not say it.  Might not seem like something a good Christian would admit.  But our actions - our thoughts - let us know that in the weirdness of our lives we really do struggle with faith.

Grab this:  Sometimes trusting God may seem kinda weird to us.  But its never weird to God.  While it may seem weird to us - everything about it is right - because we’re depending on God.

As we go through the rest of this chapter hang on to that.  As we look at these other examples of faith.  Hang on to that reality.  Regardless of how weird it may seem - walls do come down.  God does save His people.  We really do become the people He’s created us to be.

Look with me at Hebrews 11 - down at verse 32:  And what more shall I say?  For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to fight.  Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;

Let’s pause there.  Up to this point - starting back at the beginning of chapter 11 -  the writer of Hebrews has been methodically working his way through a few select examples of faith - examples of people living by faith before the flood - before the Exodus - before entering the Promised Land.  We’ve looked at those.  It’s a detailed and impressive list of the faithful.

In verse 32 he switches to Readers Digest mode.  There’s just way too many examples - the accounts of the faithful - the list is just too long and too powerful to contain in any short single writing.  “I’m going to run out of time if I keep going like this into such detail.”  Kinda like a pastor who realizes he’s out of time and still tries to cram in the rest of his sermon. 

There are six people briefly mentioned here that - even though we’ve got to move on to chapter 12 - these people need to get mentioned.  Each is significant for two reasons.  One - because there is no way these people should be listed here.  And two - there is every reason why these people should be listed here.

Gideon was a kind of wimp - who had father issues and was afraid to boldly go and do what God had asked him to do.  A reluctant general who kept asking for signs.  But when we he finally did let go of his fears and trust God - God used him and 300 men, trumpets, pitchers, and torches to utterly rout the combined massive army of the Midianites and the Amalekites and drive them out of Canaan.

The account of Barak is more about the prophetess Deborah than Barak - and Jael - the tent wife - who drove a tent peg through the Canaanite commander Sisera’s head.  But, Barak is here on this list because when Deborah encouraged him Barak stepped forward in faith and God used him.

Samson was not exactly the brightest bulb in the box.  He was a spoiled brat womanizer who struggled with pride and had a ton of deep issues.  But when it came down to it - when he trusted God - God used him to deliver Israel from Philistine oppression.

Jephthah was the bastard son of a prostitute who made a vow to God that meant he ended up offering up his daughter as a burnt offering.  But, by faith Jephthah was used by God to conquer the Ammonites and to punish Ephraim.

David - youngest son of Jesse - least in significance - David was an adulterer and a murderer.  But, he’s known as Israel’s greatest king - a writer of psalms we use even today to worship God.  God said that David was a man after His own heart.

Samuel tried to hand over the kingdom to his sons who were pagan scoundrels - who took bribes and perverted justice.  Samuel’s failure as a father led to the people demanding a king - which led to Saul and that fiasco.

And yet, here he’s listed as the most prominent of the prophets - prophets which would include great names like Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and others.  But here Samuel alone gets mentioned.  A man who lived by faith from the time he was a small child until the day he died.

These six men represent the time of the judges and kings up through the time leading to the coming of the Messiah.  Verses 34 and 35 are highlights of what took place during that time.

These men by faith - conquered kingdoms - enabling the conquest and settlement of the promised land.  David was one who performed acts of righteousness - administering justice in the kingdom.  Gideon and Barak and Samson received the blessings of God - David obtained promises concerning the future kingdom of God.  Daniel averted execution in the lion’s den.

Verse 34 - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego averted execution when the flames of the furnace didn’t affect them and they “quenched the power of fire.”  David escaped the sword as he fled Saul.  Isaiah and Jeremiah both acknowledged their weaknesses and yet in their weakness God made them strong.  Others - like Gideon, Barak, and Samson - became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight.

Verse 35 - The widow of Zarephath and the Shumamite women had sons who were raised from the dead by Elijah and Elisha.  On and on this list goes - these are just skimming the surface of what took place in those days.

Laughing at death.  Escaping in the nick of time.  Making it look easy.  Like hitting the game winning home run - dancing the lead in Swan Lake - scoring a “10” in the Olympics.  Dreams.  But here reality.  God taking flawed people - who have no business being on a list like this - who set aside their fears - and God using them to form the stuff of legends.  All true.  All to the glory of God.  Examples of what happens when flawed people choose to trust God.

God makes huge promises to His people - to us.  By faith we obtain those promises.  Peter tells us that our Adversary is like a roaring lion prowling about looking for someone to devour.  By faith the mouth of the lion is shut.  We quench the power of fire that burns in hell as we give the gospel to people headed for the flames.  We can be made strong in our weakness.  We can be mighty in war as we stand firm in the spiritual battle around us.  By the power of God working in us the kingdom of God is advanced.     We receive back our dead by resurrection - those we love who’ve chosen to follow Jesus.

Grab that for yourself.  We’re flawed and all this may sound kind of weird.  But when we step out in faith - trusting God - we join what cannot be defeated.  We get to join the greatest adventure of any adventure - adventuring through life with God.  When we step forward in prayer and service and giving and loving and doing whatever God calls us to - even if its weird - whatever - live by faith and we’re living the stuff of legends.

The second part of verse 35 sets a very different tone.  Follow me through this - verse 35:  and others experienced mocking and scourging, 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, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

During the 2nd Century BC - the Maccabaean period - rather than choosing freedom Jews chose to be tortured to death for their faith.  Jeremiah was mocked, scourged, chained, imprisoned, stoned.  Tradition tells us that Isaiah was sawn in two by the wicked king Manasseh.  Uriah was put to death by the sword.  Elijah and Elisha wore animal skins symbolizing their impoverished condition.  They were homeless and wandered the earth because of persecution.  They rested in anything they could find.  Even a hole in the ground. 

Not exactly great selling points for faith.  Who wants that?  In reality few people do.  If we had a choice of ways to testify of Jesus how many of us would put stoning on the top of our list?  Anyone here looking forward to being sawn in two?

But all that is a very real possibility.  Has been for almost 2,000 years.  A very real reality today for many of our siblings in Jesus.  Maybe soon our privilege as well.  Faith will get you tortured, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned and sawn in two.  Faith means poverty - being destitute - homeless.

The fact that this list is here in Hebrews means that - just like we struggle with this - the people in the first century struggled with it.  Looking at the history of God’s people - there’s a long list of those who have suffered for their faith - not that they enjoyed it - but they considered such suffering worth it.

Why?  What does verse 35 say?  By faith - they were looking forward to a better resurrection.  Who wants a faith that’s a crutch - something to lean on that helps us get through tough times - but promises no more.  The earthly results of faith are uncertain.  The heavenly results are assured.  What faith wants most is not earthly victories but our heavenly home.

Verse 38 says that the world was not worthy of those who endured these things.  Which literally means that they were worthy of something far greater than this world.  Worthy of so much more than what they experienced here.

John Piper - commenting on these verses - John Piper says, “The common feature of the faith that escapes suffering and the faith that endures suffering is this:  Both of them involve believing that God Himself is better than what life can give to you now, and better than what death can take from you later.  When you can have it all, faith says that God is better; and when you lose it all, faith says that God is better…  What does faith believe in the moment of torture?  That if God loved me, he would get me out of this?  No.  Faith believes that there is a kind of resurrection for believers which is better than the miracle of escape.  It’s better than the kind of resurrection experienced by the widow’s son, who returned to life only to die again later.”

Way too many times we feel like we’re living the nightmare rather than the dream.  We don’t seem to be conquering any kingdoms.  Evil is rampant.  We’re being devoured by lions.  Choose your torture.  Been there?  Faith in God is weird in a very difficult sort of way. 

Grab this for yourself.  Hebrews 11 says tells us that the dream is still alive. The heavenly dream is worth the earthly nightmare.  By faith, hang on to Jesus.

Last two verses.  Look with me at verses 39 and 40:  Verse 39:  And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

All these people - the men and women that we’ve been looking at over the last 4 Sundays - all these people had faith.  Flawed - many times failing - struggling - in the good stuff and the hard stuff of life - as they placed their trust in God they gained approval.  God was pleased with how they lived.  They’re examples to us.  They’re worthy of so much more.

And yet - they didn’t receive what was promised.  In their life times they never saw the city that Abraham was looking for - the city with foundations laid by God.  They never saw the fulfillment of what God had promised them - the land that Abraham journeyed towards - God’s dwelling - His presence.

What they looked for - what they were worthy of - is what we experience.  What they lived by faith looking forward to God has been waiting to fulfill in us.  The hope that we share today.  Life with God made possible through the resurrection of Jesus. 

Do you see what the writer of Hebrews is saying.  He’s saying that all this history of faith isn’t over yet.  Wouldn’t be over until us.  Before creation was creation God planned that each one of us would be written into that history.  We are the final chapter of faith.  We too are examples of faith - witnesses of God by our faith.

Think about that reality.  You are an example of faith.  An essential part of the legend.  With that reality in mind I’d like to invite Vinton to come and share a song with us.  As Vinton is sharing think about that reality.  Say it to yourself, “I am an example of faith.”

(Song:  "Find Us Faithful" - Steve Green)

You are an example of faith.  Part of the legend.  If your name was written here in chapter 11 what would be said about you?  What example of faith are you leaving for future generations?  How would you complete this sentence.  “By faith…”  And put your name there. 

Flawed?  Sure we are.  Failures?  Often times.  Sinners?  I know I am.    You can agree with that.  Trusting God - sometimes is very weird - dreams and nightmares - but always the right thing to do.  Whatever your situation.

What would be said of you?  By faith - your name - hung in there - obeyed God - gave up his life - went the extra mile - sacrificially gave everything - whatever God is calling you to do - by faith - your name - is an example to us of what God can do through a man or women who trusts God.

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Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.