I want to begin this morning with a very important question. It's a question, whether you realize it or not, you have asked and answered. It's a question that will determine what you think about God and the way you live your life. Here's the question: what do you think that faith guarantees you? What do you think that faith guarantees you? What do you think is right for you to expect from God? I was a young pastor not too many years ago (you weren't supposed to laugh at that point). I was the father of three young children and a young wife.
An Evening in Scranton
We were in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was the evening of what would've been an otherwise normal day. Luella and I were laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, and our children were already in bed; and Luella said to me, "I don't think that we have anything to eat for breakfast." Now, that may seem like a little thing, but it wasn't a little thing. I had no money in my pocket, and we had no money in the bank. We had nothing to provide for that moment. And immediately, wrestling began in my heart.
I thought, "I'm in Scranton, Pennsylvania, not the sun-and-fun capital of the world. I'm here because I love the Lord, and I want to serve Him. I shouldn't be hungry. I shouldn't wonder what my children are going to eat." In her creativity, as Luella scanned the cupboards in her mind, she realized that she had put away peaches in the freezer, fairly empty freezer, but it had peaches in it. And she thought about it, and she thought that she had the ingredients to make biscuits, she was raised in the south; biscuits are important.
And so the next morning, we got up, and Luella began to thaw peaches and make biscuits. Our children thought this was the coolest breakfast ever, and whenever we would ask them what they wanted for breakfast after that, they would say, "Biscuits and frozen peaches!" Little did they know the spiritual struggle that that was for their daddy. What is it that faith guarantees you? Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 11, page 1008, and we're getting to the end of our consideration of this wonderful chapter of faith that we've considered all summer long as I've been with you.
And the discussion is reaching crescendo here. As I read these verses, you ought to begin to hear the tympani roll as this discussion of faith is reaching its zenith here. And I'm going to read for you, beginning with verse 32 and read through 38: And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets - who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (ESV) What is it that faith grabs ahold of?
What is it that faith does? Well, we have two groups of people that exhibit for us this life of faith. The first group is found in verses 32 through the beginning of 35. These were people who, by faith, did great things. What a list of their accomplishments; everything from enforcing justice to actually experiencing physical resurrections. Great victories, great conquering, all done in the power of faith. And we see names here that we remember: Gideon, David, Samuel, Samson. We hear names that are not as familiar to us - Barak and Jephthah - and then there is a company of nameless people.
Gideon and the Shepherd Boy
Who would not remember Gideon who, by the power of God, defeated that great marauding nation, the Midianites, with just 300 men? Who would not remember that young shepherd walking down into the valley of Elah? You can almost hear, "Dum, Dum Dum, Dum," as he's walking down, facing that giant unafraid, not because he's strong, but he believes in the power of his God. Think of Samuel who spoke as a prophet with such authority that there was a moment in the history of Israel where no one was more feared in all of Israel than Samuel.
Think of Samson who did mighty acts by the power of God. And maybe you're sitting there thinking, "I wish I could be strong like that!" Well, if you're wishing that, you're missing the point of this passage. Look what it says there in verse 34: that these "were made strong out of weakness." These people of faith did not do these great things, did not experience these great victories, because they were strong, and they were wise, and they were noble. They were actually a company of the weak. This is not the group of people that you would imagine would accomplish great things.
In fact, if you were choosing people to do great things, there are many of these people that you would have never chosen. I mean think of Gideon. The story of the calling of Gideon has some divine humor in it. God calls Gideon; He chose Gideon to be a mighty warrior. And God comes to Gideon and says, "Oh, Gideon, mighty warrior." And Gideon essentially says, "Who, me? Lord, I'm the weakest son of the weakest tribe in all of Israel. Perhaps you have a wrong address." And God essentially says, "No, Gideon, it's you that I've chosen."
Gideon says, "Could I test that?" And twice he tests the Lord, not because he wants to make sure, but because he wants to get out of the job. And the Bible says this man was not only afraid of the Midianites, he was afraid of his own family. Now why did Gideon do great things? Because faith, even though you come to faith weak, faith will change the way you view yourself, and faith will change the way you view your world, and faith will change the way you view God, and faith will attach you, in your weakness, to the awesome power of God who is able to do, through you, whatever He calls you to do.
That's faith. Faith is not thinking you can do it. Faith is believing God can. And so weak people did wonderful things because of faith. I love the story of Gideon, because I think there's hope for me, and there's hope for you because if you look around, this is not a gathering of strong people. This is a gathering of the poor, and the needy, and the weak who, by faith, will do great things by the power of God. There's a second group. The story of this group is very, very different. These people endured great things by faith.
You can't read the words that are here in verses 35 through 38 without having shivers go down your spine. You can't read these words without visualizing the stories of mockery, and torture, and rejection, of people who were so dirt poor that they didn't have clothing to put on their backs, they had to wear animal skins, who were so poor that they didn't have houses to live in, they dwelled in caves, who were rejected and unloved; who lacked power and position. Imagine the horror that's described by some of the words; imagine the scene of the pain of a human being being sawed in half, by faith, and you understand the life of these people by these words, "Refusing to accept release, (verse 35) so they might rise again to a better life."
Maybe you would think, "Well, well, these are the people of the weak faith. The people of strong faith are the first group, group A. Group B is the people of weak faith, and that's why they endured all of this trouble." No, No, No! The passage says these people were strong in character and strong in faith at moments where they could have compromised their faith and escaped, they chose not to go for release because they would not do anything to dishonor the Lord that they had given their hearts to.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego--young men who'd already endured suffering; they had been yanked from their families in Israel, taken as foreign slaves to a foreign land. Imagine that; imagine an army marching into Philadelphia and taking our young men to a place where we didn't know they were going. Now they stand in front of this furnace that's been made seven times hotter, and all they have to do to escape torture and the prospect of death is just, for a moment, to bow their knee to an idol.
It's unthinkable - they refuse! They didn't refuse because they knew what God was going to do; they didn't know what God was going to do. The passage is very clear; it says. "They knew what God was able to do, and they refused to worship that false God." And they were thrown into that furnace of fire. The passage says, there in verse 35, that they did this; these people who were willing to face torture, unwilling to compromise because they believed that they might rise again to a better life. Somehow, whatever their theology was, they understood there was something about the resurrection.
They understood eternity, and they understood that this is not all that there is; that this is but a brief introduction to a life of awesome glory, forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, where there will be no more suffering, or no more sickness, or sadness, or torture. Listen, one of the evil lies of the enemy is to whisper into your ear, "It's all about now. It's all about your comfort now. It's all about your peace now. It's all about power now. It's all about possessions now. It's all about acceptance now."
And the Word would teach us that everything we face now is but a preparation for then. And when this brief passage of some eighty years is over, we will enter into the glory of eternity; ten-million years down, we will still be celebrating the grace of the Lord as if it's the first day that we encountered it. You see, faith lives with those values now. I know there are many of you who are facing things right now that you didn't expect to face. There are people in this congregation who are in mourning.
There are people who are struggling with sickness. And there are people who have had your financial lives devastated. There are people who face things in your friendships, and family, and extended family you thought you would never deal with. And there's an enemy who would whisper in your ear, "What has your faith gotten you now? What good is it to believe in God?" And that's why there's a phrase in this passage that is so tender, and sweet, and encouraging, and pastoral. The writer says there in verse 38: "Of whom the world was not worthy."
These are the noble men. These animal-skin wearing, dirt-poor, cavedwelling, no-name people are the great ones. I hope you're with me in this. I am sad and a bit outraged at the questionable and often despicable heroes of Western culture. We ought to be sad at whom our young people look up to often. We ought to be sad at the names that are put before us of people who appear to have no moral fiber at all; people who live for themselves and live for material possessions; people who aren't even able to cobble together a sense of their own identity so they're remanufacturing themselves so that they can look up to themselves, let alone us.
A Generation of Antiheroes
We have raised a generation of antiheroes, and all of us should say, "I long to be this kind of person. I don't care if I'm ever known. I don't care if I ever have power. I don't care if I have luxury and ease. I don't care if anyone ever knows my name or if I'm ever written in a history book. If, at one point, I could stand by faith and courage, unwilling to compromise because of the operation of God's grace in me and through me, my life would have been worth living." I want to be that kind of person.
I want to live by faith, and I will not buy into the twisted values of a culture that gets it all wrong. These people - mocked, rejected, poor and tortured - are princes and princesses in the one Kingdom that makes a difference; the Kingdom of God. Now, I don't know if you've sensed it, but this passage puts before us a very, very important issue. There are two groups: group A did great things; group B suffered great things. Now I don't know what goes into your heart, but I know what goes in mine.
I sort of think, "How do I make sure I'm part of group A? If you could tell me how to get into group A, that would be helpful." And I think it is very, very important for us to understand the nature of faith because it really speaks to our struggle. There are people who would preach to us in our generation that if you are living by faith, you will be healthy; if you're living by faith, you will be wealthy and experience material ease; if you live by faith, you'll be a person of prominence and power.
There are preachers out there who say, "When you pray, don't pray (if you need transportation) for a Hyundai or a Kia; pray for a Mercedes. God wants you to have the best." Now, that's a pretty attractive gospel; it serves our materialism. But notice - both groups are commended as having lived by faith, not strong faith and weak faith, not true faith and defective faith; both groups are lifted up equally as having lived a life of faith. But their experience was dramatically different. So it's a moment for us to get our theology right, and this is very practical.
Hear the statement I'm about to make: faith will not determine what you experience; God does. Faith determines how you experience what God has ordained for you. Faith will not determine what you experience; God, in His sovereignty, does. Faith will shape how you live in the midst of those experiences. That's a life of faith, and that's what we need to understand. In the 9 o'clock hour, I went up to teach the children for a moment, and I said to them, "How many of you know for sure everything that's going to happen tomorrow?"
No one raised their hand, already understanding a little bit that they don't write their own stories. I said to them, "How many of you know what will happen in two hours?" One little boy sort of raised his hand and said, "Well I know generally, but I don't know exactly." Good theology! I said, "How many of you think you know what the person next to you will do in five minutes?" They looked at one another and did this. You see, faith is not you writing your own story. Your story is being written by a Sovereign God whose greatest zeal is His glory, and greatest pursuit is the success of His Kingdom.
And for the sake of His glory and for the sake of His Kingdom, God will choose for you to conquer at one moment and to endure in another. Sometimes the way God gives you glory is by, in your weakness, helping you to do a great thing so the watching world will say. "How did this weak person ever do this?" And God gets glory. Sometimes the way that God will get glory is to put you through a hard and difficult thing so the watching world will look at you and say, "What grace this person had in this moment?
Suffering That Makes People Ask
What does this person have? They suffered differently than I've seen people suffer before." Maybe that means a boss at work who realizes you're a believer, and he makes your life is terrible. That's God advancing your kingdom; that's God honoring you in that moment. Maybe the presence of you in your neighborhood has brought mercy and justice to that place in the way it's never been before, and God is honored by you incarnating the person and work of Jesus Christ in that moment. I want to answer the question for you "What does faith guarantee for you?"
Brothers and sisters, I can give it in one word. Here it is: faith guarantees you God! That's what you get. By faith, He's in you, and He's with you, and He's for you. As you forsake your kingdom and you give yourself to His; and as, by grace, He transforms your heart, the ultimate gift of faith is Himself. And because He is now in you, and with you, and for you, you can do great things, and you can endure great things by faith. Faith does not guarantee what you will experience; God does. Faith shapes the way you will live through the experiences that a God of power, and glory, and grace, in His sovereignty, has ordained for you.
Well, you can't read these words; you shouldn't read these words without thinking about the life of Jesus. Jesus conquered, and Jesus endured. He was mocked and despised. Unlike the birds and the foxes, He didn't have a place to lay His head. And why did He did do all of that? Because His life had one central focus, it was the will of His Father. And what was the will of His Father? That through Him a great company of the lost, and of rebels, and of the weak, and the blind would be redeemed; that unrighteous people would become righteous through His death and resurrection; that rebels would become obedient; that the blind would see; that the weak would be strong; that foolish would be wise because of His sacrifice and because of His grace.
And on the cross, ultimate suffering and ultimate victory would kiss because of Jesus. That moment of torture that is a moment of triumph makes faith worthwhile. There is hope, not because we know what's coming next, not because we're strong, wise, and able, but because God is. And faith attaches you to His power and His glory forever. Let's pray: Lord, some of us this morning are facing Your call to conquer, and we're tempted to evaluate those mountains from the size of our little selves and to run away in fear.
Help us, by faith, to embrace the grandeur of Your glory and power and believe that You will not call us to conquer a thing without being in us, and with us, and for us. Lord, some of us are being called, this moment, to endure hard things, and we don't know how we're going to make it through. It seems too much. And, Lord, help us to remember, by faith, You give us the power to endure, to realize that there's something more valuable than life itself; there's something more valuable than even breathing the next day.
It is You, Your glory, Your Kingdom. There are some of us who have never trusted You by faith. We still think it's all about the here and now. Teach us that we have eternal souls in great need and to believe in You, by faith, if for the first time this morning. And may we conquer, and may we endure not to our praise, but to Your glory. In Jesus's name, Amen.
