Hebrews 11:35 -12:2 Faith That Holds When The World Breaks

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Hebrews chapter 11, verse 35 is is, I think, where we'll pick up. And and um so Hebrews chapter 11, starting verse 35. Little recap. We've been going through Hebrews chapter 11, known by many as the Hall of Faith. Now, the purpose we've mentioned a few times was uh the author is writing to a group of people who are tempted to go back to the traditions, the law. Um, and back to a works-based religion is really kind of a lot of it. And the author wants to let them know no, it's faith. It's faith and it's only faith. It's always been faith since the dawn of time. It's been faith. And so, really, almost an overview of the Old Testament here in Hebrews chapter 11. We started with creation, we started with Abel and Enoch and Noah, right? We went to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and then Moses and Joshua and Rahab, and showing just step by step from the very beginning till this present time, God has always dealt with his people on this idea of faith. Just simple trust. It's always been by faith. And that's what we see over and over again as you look through chapter 11 by faith, by faith, by faith. Now, faith is easier demonstrated than defined. And that really is why we have these demonstrations of faith. And we've seen, like we noticed last week, we've seen that these people were just people, uh faulty and flawed. Uh their faith was up and down and all of that, uh, but it was less about them, and it was all about God, right? God's faithfulness. And so last week we looked at a group uh that honestly it shouldn't be grading people, but if I were to grade them, they got some pretty bad grades in the faith thing. But yet that's not how God sees them. He sees them by faith, and and here they are. Now, here in verse 35, we'll call it B, it's the second half of verse 35. We see the author turn a corner and notice the word in the middle of that verse, others. And the ending of the the 11th chapter of Hebrews is about the others, the other folks. Um and we'll go systematically through it today, and we'll consider um who are the others, what uh does their life uh demonstrate, why do they live by faith, and how do they live by faith? So these are the others in verse 35. Let's read. Uh starting the word others. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth, and all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. God, having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. So here we find the others as it starts there. Um, and if we were really picturing this as we have as an exhibit, those who have lived by faith, we can get very patriotic about people like Abraham and Moses, live by faith. Wow, you know, and we we maybe realize their exhibit as just glorious, you know, the things that God did through their lives. And then we get this and we turn maybe the corner in that museum, and it's a dark room. It's the music is a lot different in this room, as we've read. And it's the others, it's those who have suffered for faith. And honestly, this is just the way we are, I think. When we consider those that have been martyred, even those today that are suffering, it's hard for us to make eye contact, isn't it? We might turn the corner in this museum and we might put our heads down and go, oh man, it's dark, it's hard, it's it's rough. And there's a reason why the author has brought his readers into this room because this was the life that they were facing. A life of suffering and persecution. Um, things were getting more intense for the Hebrew believers. Uh, they're feeling the pressure to go back. Right? From Rome, they felt pressure. Rome had a way of keeping its empire together. Umce a year, and at this time this idea was starting to take off, but once a year uh Romans had to go, and people living in the empire had to go and offer just a pinch of incense before an idol to Caesar. And they had to say, Caesar is Lord, once a year, just to keep the, you know, everybody consistent. Now, the only group of people that didn't have to do that was the Jews, because they insisted, you make us say Caesar is Lord, we would rather die than do that. And so rather than lose an entire population, they said, okay, you guys are exempt. So the Jews were exempt, but Christians, they kind of fell somewhere in between. Were they a completion of Judaism? I think so, right? Um, but but they weren't acknowledged as that. So believers would be forced by Rome to do that same thing, to take a pinch of incense and say, Caesar is Lord. And they were ready to face that. But it seemed more tempting just to say, why don't I just go back to the way things were? Why don't we just let it all go? And that's where they were tempted to go. And so you see this as we see this darker side of faith and suffering and persecution, um, there's that temptation, and the author wants them to know this is faith as much as anything else. Um, there were echoes, right, of Peter and John brought before the council there, and they were told, Stop preaching in this name Jesus, there in Acts 3 and 4. And they said, Well, what are we supposed to listen to you or listen to God? Uh, there was um Stephen in Acts chapter 7, the first martyr in the church, who stood in front of the same group of people, basically, and gave them a historical rundown about how they've always rejected the Messiah. And he was put to death for his faith there. The author here leads them to examples of others. What did the others do? We see it here spelled out for us in starting in verse 35 with the word others were tortured. Now, as you read this, this sentence uh is is really one sentence that starts in verse 35 and and goes all the way down um to verse 38. One sentence. So it could be a run-on, right? Uh, as some authors are prone to do, but we get this feeling, it just keeps going. It just keeps going with these ideas of what they went through. It starts with the word tortured, right? Uh, tortured, the word means to beat like a drum. And not a bad idea unless you're talking about a person, right? Uh, and so the idea here behind tortured is that somebody would just be beat like a drum consistently and over and over again. So you can kind of feel this beat as that sentence begins. Now, if we kind of simplify this sentence, it gets a little different picture. Notice if I simplify what we just read. These were tortured, refusing release, mocked, scourged, in chains, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two. They faced temptations and were slain by the sword, banished to wander about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, tormented. That's quite a list of things that these people who live by faith went through. Now, the author is pointing them back to those that suffered for the word that God had given them. The prophets would have qualified for this, right? God gave them a message to give to the people, and there's rarely a point where that message is received. Um, Isaiah is one that tradition says uh was fleeing from the evil king Manasseh, and he hid in a hollow tree, and Manasseh had that tree sawn in half. So we see these are real people and real examples. Zachariah, Jeremiah were thought to have been killed by stoning. Uh, they were rejected, the prophets were rejected and forced to wander around living in caves and in deserted places. Now, this is reality, right? And yet we don't know much about this in America, do we? We really don't. Um, we don't know what it's like to suffer. It might be that we will one day, but currently in our world, there are thousands of people who are suffering to experience what we're experiencing here today: worship, prayer, fellowship, the word. We've heard about it in the news lately, right? In Nigeria, thousands of people killed, kidnapped, Sudan, the Muslim-influenced areas, places like communist China, they're beaten and threatened, killed and kidnapped. And we hear accounts of the suffering. And a lot of times we don't want to acknowledge it. A lot of times we kind of just want to put our head down and change the channel, right? Defense, right, against against something so heavy. But notice here they are, and the author to the Hebrews says, this is what it means to live by faith. Um, notice verse 38, of whom the world was not worthy. As the author says, these are the real people of faith. People who who suffered and and went through it. They're the ones the world is not worthy. A bit of a comparison. Now, for years, for years, uh Leela and I were friends, and I actually it never crossed my mind that that she could one day be my wife. Honestly. She doesn't like me to say this, but honestly, I felt I am not worthy, right? She's way above where I am and in this comparison. But but this is what the author is saying in a much heavier way, right? You consider their faith, the world is not worthy. We have a good perspective of the world sometimes. I don't know about you, but I remember back in the day, I used to get kind of taken in by a good shopping mall. Crazy, I know, but that's where I grew up, right? A nice shopping mall, you know, and it glitters and it's marble and it's brass. I hate shopping malls now, by the way. I have real phobia towards shopping malls. It's weird how that happens. But, you know, I used to get taken in by it, you know, you get your$7 cup of coffee and you walk around the mall and he goes, This is great, you know, just plush and posh, you know. And and we can look at that and we can get kind of taken in by the world and the glimmer of it and personalities and celebrities, we can get taken in by those things. Um think of it in the author's day, the glory of Rome. Oh man, Rome. So powerful, just so sparkly. And and yet, when you put it against the the glory of those that suffered in a right and eternal perspective, the world is not worthy of them to see it in that right light. And the author brings us out that these martyrs, we're not worthy of, I mean, the world is not worthy of their attention. Uh, why would they do it? Notice why would they do it in verse 35? Um, they wanted to obtain a better resurrection. We've talked about this a lot. The life of faith involves an eternal perspective, right? Something that's stronger than the world around us, and that's the way these folks lived. I'm looking forward to heaven, an eternal perspective. The here and now, having everything here, it's not that important. The then and there, that's what matters. I'm living for eternity. Why else would they do it though? Um, notice this there in um in verse 40, an interesting statement. They should not be made perfect apart from us. Um, there's a little disagreement about what this might mean. Uh, that perhaps they're waiting for the end of time for their resurrection, uh, they're having to wait for all of us to come in. I don't know about that, but here we see um push ahead to chapter 12, verse 1, just a little bit. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Um, the author here puts it as a race, right? We've talked about this, that this life of faith is like a race. And you see that all over the Bible, right? When it comes to this life of faith, it's it's like a race. Uh Acts chapter 20. You could turn there because this is really um important to see. Acts chapter 20, verse 24. Acts chapter 20, verse 24. Paul's sharing with uh a group of ministers or elders uh from Ephesus, and he's giving them some final words of encouragement. Uh, and it's it's really inspiring uh what he tells them. But look at verse 24. After after, well, actually, look at verse 23. He says this the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. In the end of Paul's ministry, um, everywhere he went, people would be telling him, Paul, don't go to Jerusalem. You're going to be bound. At one point, uh a prophet named Agabus comes up and takes Paul's belt off and wraps it around his wrists and says, So will the owner of this belt be bound and taken. And and and everywhere Paul went, people just begged him, Paul, don't go. Chains are in front of you. Don't go. Why do you want that? But look in verse 24. He says, None of these things move me, nor do I count my life as dear to myself, so I may finish my race with joy. Paul looked at life as a race, a lot like chapter 12 here in Hebrews. Life is like a race. And Paul says, I want to finish my race. If you're still there, I think circling that word my is pretty important because it's a personal race that God has for each one of us. This life, a personal calling for each one of us and things to do. Paul says, What do I want? I want to, I want to finish my race with joy. Um, he says later there in Philippians chapter 3, verse 13, you can always turn, but Philippians 3, 13, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So again, he says there, this is what I want. I want to press on in this race. I want to keep going. I want to finish my race with joy. First Corinthians 9 24 says this Do you not know that those who run in a race all run? But one receives the prize, run in such a way that you may obtain it. So each one of us has a personal race in our life, and the goal to finish well, to finish it with joy, to press on. So each one of us has a race, but what we find, I think, here in Hebrews, back in Hebrews chapter 11, is that this race is personal, but it's also a relay. I mean, I think that's the reality of the Christian life. It's it's a relay, right? You know, the relay race where it run like mad, and then they work really hard in train to get that baton to the next person's hand. And man, it's a heartbreak when that baton doesn't get to the next runner's hand. They work really hard to do that. But life, the Christian life, is a personal race, but it's also a relay, right? Because if we don't pass it on to the next generation, what point? It benefits us and no one else. The goal of the Christian life is to pass on faith to the next generation. Uh, we run for us and for God, of course, but we run for others. Every generation has to pass the baton on to the next. And here I think those that have suffered look to the next generation, and and if they don't get it, their calling and their life is incomplete, right? That's their whole goal. Um, I like what a guy named Tertullian wrote about 197, so a little bit after this, he said this about persecution. The more you mow us down, the more we grow. It's been said the blood of Christians is the seed of the church, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. So, how many have been saved by the perseverance of someone else? Man, the example. Um being a witness to Jesus is not always rewarding, it's not always easy. Um, but it pays off, it's worth it. Um, my mother-in-law is gonna kill me for embarrassing her. Um, she's like, well, what? My mother-in-law? That's me. Um, I have been blown away um by her determination to share love and faith with my father-in-law before he went to be with the Lord. Years and years and years, right, decades, she shared truth with him. And she was mocked and she was scorned, and over and over again, and good folks said, just just give up. What is the point of this? And yet she didn't. And and by God's grace and by God's goodness, my father-in-law was saved, and um certainly it was prayer, but it was that constant example that just broke his heart. And and um, and and you look at it and you go, in all of our lives, it's worth it, it's worth all of it. And and it's that passing it on, passing it on to the next generation is it's our calling. And and those that suffer for their work, it was not in vain. Um, why do they do it, right? Why did they do it? I think Paul says says it best in 1 Thessalonians. Just picture this. 1 Thessalonians 2.19. He talks to some people that he really loves, and he says this, 1 Thessalonians 2.19, for what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? You know, you think about heaven and you think about a crown. And in here, Paul says, What's our crown? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? For you are our glory and our joy, right? So the motivation there is, I just want to see you there, right? Paul's like, Man, what do I want? I want to see you there. You're our joy and our crown and our rejoicing in the presence of Jesus. But how do we do it? And for that, to sort of probably finish our time here in Hebrews chapter 11, we move on to chapter 12, verse 1. How do we do this? We can keep our eyes on those who have gone before, right? Therefore, we also, verse one, there, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. So, chapter 11 is the cloud of witnesses. Now, disagreement, again, there's always disagreement. Disagreement, are these people watching us? Are they witnessing us? And some people feel that. Now, honestly, I feel like if that's what heaven was about, sitting and watching people on earth and going, all right, let's do this. Come on, you know. Uh it doesn't sound like heaven to me, honestly, because my days are not always very successful. You know what I mean? Um, it could be, but I actually think that these cloud of witnesses are not witnessing us, but a witness to us. That's the whole point that he's given this whole list of folks in chapter 11 is to show us this is what it looks like to live by faith. It's not perfect. You're not gonna just be perfect every day, but you keep on going and you keep on running and you go for it. So, motivation can be to keep our eyes on those who have gone before it, those before who have suffered and been faithful to look at them, to realize it. But notice, and probably more important, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance, the race set before us, looking unto Jesus. The best place we can keep our eyes is Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. And just to be motivated by that love that just never quits. You know what I mean? That just love that even when we've had a rough day, he loves us. He died for us when we were still sinners. To keep our eyes glued to that. Oh, and you could look at this for hours, right? We won't, but you could look at this for hours. It means that looking unto Jesus means to take your attention off of one thing and put it on another, right? To take your attention off of one thing and put it on something else. So he says, man, take your attention off the world and the distractions of life and put your attention on Jesus. That looking unto Jesus also means to just keep doing it. So if we're looking unto Jesus and just keep doing it, you're staring at him. You're staring at him until the vision of what he's done for you is just burned in your heart, right? You just keep looking unto Jesus every day, as much as you can. The key to running this race was with endurance is to look unto Jesus. But I'm gonna say you can also keep your eye on the prize. And there's this idea here from verse 38 of those that suffer and were not made complete without us, right? Their joy was to see the faith and the truth passed on to the next generation. But also verse 2 heaven. Last thing, heaven. And he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heaven. It's where Jesus is. Now he's gonna come back for us, and then we're gonna go back together, and it's gonna be great, and we'll live happily ever after. But this idea of eternity is such a motivator because it gets so distracted in the here and now and all the things that just don't matter. Man, eternity, what we can bring to eternity, how we can live for eternity. Um important in this running with endurance race that's set before us. Um, but we have to have faith. And none of it matters if we don't have simple saving faith. If we don't come to Jesus and realize, I can't do this by myself. It's not about my works. I'm a failure every single day. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. We just trust that. We take God at His Word and we say, God, I trust you in what you did for me. You paid the price for my sin. You died to give me eternal life. God, I trust you. So, God, there's so much more we could say about all these things. But we want to run with endurance in the race that's set before us. God, we want to trust you in the big things of our life and the little things. God, every day, just to look to you and know that you'll be faithful and you'll be good. God, I pray that more than just a series or Bible study, I just pray that this would be the truth of our life. That we would one day get there to heaven, and you would say, Well done. You finished well. God help us to live for you in all these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.