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,
33. who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
34. quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in
war, put foreign armies to flight.
35. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so
that they might obtain a better resurrection;
36. and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
37. 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
38. (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
39. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40. because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
style:
this is the emotional highlight of hebrews 11; we've moved from the more detailed stories about the OT faithful
into this section, where the author moves into a more literary presentation of history and virtue.
the author repeatedly sets up and breaks phrase patterns ("Shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
....from weakness were made strong", "they went about about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute")
continuing on faith:
this is a continuation of the idea of faith being that which is hoped for (heaven) though currently unseen.
the author is showing us lives and actions that flow from and demonstrate faith.
we started in heb 11:1 with the statement that "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
the chapter has given us examples of people who lived based on the belief that the most important things in life begin after death.
summary:
we move from the patriarchs forward in time...to the judges, david/samuel, and the prophets, which is basically
the rest of old testament history. we just kind of mention them in passing as going into each of their deeds would
mean recapping the old testament, which is a long process.
anyway, these OT heroes did lots of neat stuff on earth because of their faith.
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,
33. who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
34. quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in
war, put foreign armies to flight.
35. Women received back their dead by resurrection;
Reaction? Well Sign Me Up!
Ladies and Gents, this is the type of old-timey religion that sells!
By the power of God, you can defeat danger, escape trouble, gain strength, and receive your dead back to life.
'Victorious Christian Living' indeed.
This is part of the new growth strategy here at Salina. Preach some good news that will get you want now.
As part of the new and improved "Salina Street Full Power Positive Preaching Hour", we have created a two
step program to help you do amazing things.
Step One : Believe That God will do what he says
the faithful believed that god was able to do what he said he would
that is very difficult when circumstances seem overwhelming.
a few aspects to this belief:
- the belief requires action
abraham believed god - his belief had him pack up and move, and be willing to give up his son.
when we speak of faith/belief, we are not just talking about you nodding your head.
- you'll need to have some difficult circumstances...
extraordinary deeds require extraordinary times.
if you're going to be apart of the amazing work of god, you'd better have an amazing problem.
and they had trouble...each of the examples the author gives us involves extraordinary adversity
- remember the supernatural
lots of these achievements are miracles.
some of you will react by default and say "no way could that happen".
if you believe tha there is a god, or that there is life after death, then you have already embraced
the supernatural however, so get over it.
if not, you have a lot of questions to answer about right/wrong, the meaning of love, and the origin of things.
god's plan works through people
the events listsed all involve human components in god's action
a curious thing about how god works...he usually works through his people, even when he's going to do something
supernatural.
we are allowed to be a part of what god does, and that belief should motivate us.
god's plan involves difficulty
facing goliath? remember that god is larger. (david)
facing royalty that wants you dead, and 400 prophets of a foreign god that want you dead? soak your sacrifice with water
and remember god's power. (elijah)
about to be tossed into the fire? don't bow the idols, and god may allow you to stand unharmed in the fire (shadrach, etc)
the good news just gets better; the faithful aren't perfectly faithful
- i personally see a difference between faith and obedience
- i understand faith to be the intention of obedience, the embracing of belief. please don't miss the grace of god
on our imperfect follow through.
mark 9:24 "Lord i believe, help my unbelief"
gideon?
saves israel from mideon; then later led israel into false worship.
judges 6-8
barak?
is called to lead the army to defeat the bad guys.
says he'll do it but only if the prophetess deborah goes with him.
judges 4,5
samson?
runs around like a teenager with roid rage.
judges 13-16
jephthah?
wow. this is the guy who likely sacrificed his daughter rather than going back on his foolish oath.
judges 11,12
david?
heard of bathsheba? still, super awesome guy.
35. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so
that they might obtain a better resurrection;
36. and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
37. 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
38. (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
Terrible things happen to the faithful.
God allows his people to suffer.
the examples given here are likely more extreme than what we have.
"suffering for the faith" - a challenge to god.
the suffering that we're looking at here was done for their faith.
that is a special category because it more directly challenges the power and plan of god.
to take a person who is living faithfully and to make them suffer and/or die for their faith is
a challenge to the one whom they place their trust in.
what type of suffering?
Tortured, not accepting their release?
yeah, especially in the macabbean period. people could have gone free if they renoucned god, they choose to suffer.
Mockings/scouragings, chains/imprisonment.
stoned (stephen was in recent church memory), and sawn in two (isaiah).
tempted?
yes. tempted. this is one area of suffering that we all can share.
temptation and our struggle to master the opportunity and our personal desire to sin, creates inner turmoil and suffering.
we should resist sin effort.
if this is a foreign idea to you, please consider your life - you may be allowing sin
in your life as something you can't beat/control. you can, though it will be a form of suffering.
back to the list: put to death with the sword, living in poverty without peace or a home.
god allowed these people to suffer and die.
god still allows his people to suffer.
"Why do some get great, miraculous events and some get heartwrenching, terrible events?"
we don't know. god doesn't tell us.
We do know that the faithful who suffered had faith.
this is the big catch in the "The Salina Street Full Power Positive Preaching Hour"
the short term outcome is unknown.
"past results are not a guarantee of future results?" except in this case they are. you may or may not suffer.
nonetheless, we're sticking with the plan:
Step One : Believe That God will do what he says
Step Two : Remember that you are a part of God's plan.
39. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40. because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Text confusion...
"these...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."
this is a difficult sentence at first.
"what was promised"
they were promised the fulfillment of god's plan; salvation...and heaven.
"because god had provided something better for us"
the better thing we have that they don't is christ, as the author argued for the first 10 chapters of the book.
"so that apart from us they would not be made perfect"
we, as god's people, have a role in the plan of god for the world too.
weird to read/think about, because we think of those in the bible as part of something that we aren't...but that's incorrect.
so...to read the phrase all together and take it a la "the message" , it says that:
"all of these these people, who gained approval through their faith,
didn't get to see god's promises all come true in their lifetimes, because God had saved better things to be revealed in our time,
so that we would all be made perfect together."
god's people believe that god's promises are worth pursuing.
life is the time where they get to show themselvesw faithful and a part of god's plan.
Some Applicational Beliefs To Hold:
1. Remember that our faith is pleasing to God.
v39 "having gained approval through their faith"
the faith of these people gained them approval from god.
we undervalue this as an asset.
it is amazing what things we consider worth more than the approval of God.
we care more about things that we make with our own hands than we do for god's opinions and rewards.
we should be flat out excited about the idea that god is pleased with us.
The reward of faith is outside of our lifetimes; this has been part of the point of heb 11
we started out looking at abraham/sarah/isaac/jacob/joseph, all of whom were living for a promise they were told
wouldn't be filled in this life.
here we have the stark contrast of victory in this life with misery in this life.
the point? our faith is fixed on things beyond the events of these days, and is safe.
matt 6:19-21
19. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20. "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break
in or steal;
21. for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
faith and worth...
this faith associates us with the world to come - heaven.
christianity teaches that this world/universe is polluted by sin, the evil of humanity.
god values our faith in him, and that means that it elevates us beyond this world which will be destroyed, and replaced.
thus the author describes the faithful as, "men of whom the world was not worthy".
this is in contrast to things we normally look for
temporal goals:
"get good grades in school" and you'll get a good job.
practice every day and you'll make the team.
keep your kids safe, feed them vegetables, and they'll turn out all right.
destroyed by temporal problems:
- things outside your control
cancer, car accidents, recession
- personal failure
you may not be smart enough, come from a good enough background.
you may fail, and not get a second chance.
god offers us approval and reward for our faith. this is eternal.
this is forever.
if being good looking is your goal, you can have surgery and work out.
but it still only lasts a few years. at the end, you're still stuck with yourself.
god offers us a place in a recreated world, free from the human stain, forever.
this is assured.
god is not going to default on your loan, or run off with your faith like bernie madoff.
- are there any worldy circumstances that i fear?
not that you would find unpleasant; we're looking for things that would crush you.
what if you lost your job? house? car? money?
what if your children were killed by a drunk driver?
- what if you end up persecuted for your faith? what would tempt you to recant?
- how much thought and effort do you put forward into the hope of god's promise?
if you want to want more, what are you doing to increase your faith?
are you reminding yourself of god's promises?
are you asking him to increase your faith?