Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Faith Accesses Victory From God (11:29-31)

Red Sea: Faith accesses victory from God through anything.

29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

  • 29 Red Sea:
    • The story
    • It was not courage which brought them through.
      • In fact, you might say the Egyptians had more courage.
        • 29 The Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same...
        • Exodus story: Israel feared.
          • Exodus 14:11 (ESV) — 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?"
      • But Israel eventually believed.
    • God's path for them was beyond human imagination.
      • Not around, over, or under, but through!
    • Exodus 14:13 (NKJV) — 13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today..."

Jericho: Faith accesses victory from over anything.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

  • 30 By faith: Note the gap between the Red Sea and Jericho, for their was an entire generation who struggled to continue on in faith.
  • 30 Jericho:
    • The story
    • Ingredients for the victory like this:
      • The obstacle was massive.
      • The directions were counterintuitive.
        • Death = Life
        • Sacrifice = Gain
        • Losing = Finding
        • Poverty = Riches (Matthew 5:3 - kingdom of heaven)
        • Counter-Cultural = Joy (Psalm 1:1-3 - blessed is the man)
      • But the victory was total.

Rahab: Faith accesses victory from God for anyone.

31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

  • 31 Rahab:
    • The story
      • Joshua sent two spies.
      • She hid them and confessed to them.
        • Joshua 2:9 (ESV) — 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
      • She made a deal with them.
        • Conditions: secrecy and scarlet chord.
      • She, after surviving, married Salmon and had a son named Boaz. Boaz married Ruth. They had Obed. Obed fathered Jesse, who fathered David, of whom Jesus came! (Matthew 1:4-6).

Faith Is The Way Forward With God (11:32-40)

32 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— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 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. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection.

  • 32 Time would fail me: He could keep going.

Faith is the way forward with God so we can overcome.

  • 33-35 Conquered, enforced, obtained, stopped, quenched, escaped, made strong, became mighty, put to flight, received:
    • These Old Testament stories help remind me of God's power in the face of my weakness.
      • Gideon: A scaredycat.
      • Barak: A reluctant leader.
      • Samson: A fleshly mess.
      • Jephthah: A hothead.
      • David: A adulterer and murderer.
      • Samuel: A bad dad.
    • Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV) — 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 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— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Faith is the way forward when we are overcome.

  • 35-38 Tortured, refusing release, suffered, stoned, sawn, killed, went about, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, wandering about:
    • He does not shame his audience into adopting this life.
    • Remember, hardship does not inhibit health.
      • Popular belief.
      • Example: But our Christianity is often like an astronaut returning from space with atrophied muscles.
      • 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV) — 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
  • Conclusion: Faith is the way forward with God.
    • Is there another way for our faith to be strong in these last days?

Faith Enables Endurance For God (12:1-2)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

  • 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses: Since these Old Testament saints have gone before us and could not gain their perfection apart from us, let's also live by faith!
    • It's not that we are performing while they watch.
    • Nor is it that they have witnesses to us.
    • But that they've run their race, and now we are to run ours.
      • Example: 3/4 of the relay team have run, and now they cheer, for us, the 4th runner.
  • 1 Endurance:
    • In his book on Generation Y people born after 1990, Dr. Tim Elmore says there are five muscles people in the emerging generations will need to activate. They are the Connection Muscle (people skills), Responsibility Muscle (morals and ethics), Empathy Muscle (compassion/perspective), and Patience Muscle (delayed gratification), but also the Endurance Muscle (tenacity). -- Dr. Tim Elmore, Generation iY: Secrets to Connecting With Today’s Teens & Young Adults in the Digital Age, loc. 1253-1259. Kindle Edition
      • I agree. It takes endurance, especially in our current climate, to endure in the Christian life.
        • How?

Faith enables endurance for God, because it lays aside every weight.

  • 1 Lay aside every weight:
    • There is a specific and ideal way to dress when endurance running.
      • Some weights are sin which clings so closely.
      • Some weights are not sin, but are still weights.
    • But you must pray over sin and non-sin weights in your life.

Faith enables endurance for God, because it looks to Jesus.

  • He is better than all the people our author mentioned:
    • Abel, because he offered himself completely.
    • Enoch, because he walked with God all the way to and through death before being taken up.
    • Noah, because he built something which could save every generation.
    • Abraham, because he went were he knew.
    • Sarah, because he believed he'd make children.
    • Abraham, because he laid down his own life.
    • Isaac, because he submitted to the Father's will the whole time.
    • Jacob, because he always only needed God.
    • Joseph, because he saw the future and real destiny of God's people.
    • Moses, because he stepped out of glory to suffer more than us.
    • Promised Land generation, because he takes us into the truest promises.
    • All the judges, kings, and prophets, because he is the fullest version of all of them.

Faith enables endurance for God, because it looks forward to the end with him.

  • 2 Right hand of the throne of God: Our forerunner.

    • In 1947 the African-American scholar Howard Thurman gave a lecture at Harvard University on the meaning of the Negro spiritual. He responded to one of the criticisms of these songs, namely, that they were too “otherworldly.” And indeed they are filled with references to heaven and to Judgment Day and to the crowns and the thrones and the robes we will wear. The charge was that African-American slaves did not need all that. In fact, the talk of heaven may have made them docile and too resigned to their condition. But Howard Thurman responded, The facts make clear that [this sung faith] did serve to deepen the capacity of endurance and the absorption of suffering. . . . It taught a people how to ride high in life, to look squarely in the face those facts that argue most dramatically against all hope and to use those facts as raw material out of which they fashioned a hope that the environment, with all its cruelty, could not crush. . . . This . . . enabled them to reject annihilation and to affirm a terrible right to live. Thurman argued that the slaves believed the Christian faith and therefore knew about the new heavens and new earth, and about Judgment Day. They knew that eventually all their desires would be fulfilled and that no perpetrator of injustice was going to get away with anything—that all wrongdoing would be put down. And that was a hope that no amount of oppression could extinguish. -- Timothy Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering

    • Let us live, because of our secured future with God, with a similar endurance.