As we are coming to the end of our study of Hebrews 11, known as the Hall of Faith, you will recall that it was introduced in chapter 10 by the words, “My righteous one shall live by faith.”  We have talked extensively about that statement, examining various aspects of what it means to live by faith. And the heroes of the faith who are listed here are examples of righteous men and women who lived by faith.

But such a study begs the question, what is the life of faith?  What is this life which Christ has purchased for us with His blood supposed to accomplish in us?  What we hopefully all know is that it is spiritual life, eternal life, abundant life.  It is life in the Spirit, by the Spirit, of the Spirit.  But what does it accomplish?  Is it just a more moral, or more happy, or more blessed, or more prosperous, or more successful life than that which is of the flesh?  Is it simply lived for our sakes, so that we might be more fulfilled?

I would suggest that the writer of Hebrews is indicating something more than that.  I would suggest the answer is found in the first part of verse 33; “who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises.”   I believe we might characterize the life of faith as doing the works of God.  That’s what is indicated in those three concurrent statements.  That’s what is illustrated in the lives of the six men that he mentions in vs31, “Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets.”  Six men plus a large number of prophets, both known and unknown.  They were men who lived by faith, and accomplished great feats of faith in their lifetime.

What is indicated as significant about their faith is that they “by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises.”  Now I realize that the text has a comma following promises, and the list goes on to enumerate specific acts.  But I think that since there was no punctuation in the early scriptures, there is latitude in how we might determine punctuation.  And I think that in this  list, the first three serve as a heading, or summary, and then it’s followed by specific works which fit under one of those headings.

So I believe that this answers the question what does our life of faith look like? What is the purpose of life for us which we are saved and  left here on this earth. I suggest it is that we might do the works of God, which is to conquer kingdoms, specifically the kingdom of darkness. Many of those men’s acts of faith was to deliver the nation of Israel, or the church of God, from the dominion of pagan nations who worshipped idols. Secondly, the life of faith It is to perform acts of righteousness.  Now that requires faith because it is not natural, and by works of righteousness we manifest the love of God in our hearts, through which the world comes to know the truth of God.  And thirdly, the life of faith is to obtain the promises.  In other words, things which God has promised to us in His word, we are to lay hold of, and act upon in faith that He will fulfill.  

However, I’m afraid that for the most part, the modern church sees the life of faith as merely a means of personal enrichment, or prosperity, or as a means of gaining physical blessing.  And of course, they see it as fire insurance against the possibility of hell. But I think that modern Christians have such a low view of the hereafter, that they are only really concerned with the here and now and so the fear of hell is not quite seen as all that significant. But more important to the modern church is that  God just wants to love you, to serve you, to give you your hearts desires, to bless you, to make you happy, to fulfill your dreams, to make your life here on earth as successful and prosperous as it can be.

You folks who were at Bible study on Wednesday night might remember talking about Micah, who erected a shrine, who made an ephod, and added some idols, and then hired a Levite to be his own personal priest.  And after all that he said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.” That pretty much sums up the theology of a lot of Christians.  I will go to church, I’ll drop a five dollar bill in the offering box, I’ll say the blessing before dinner, and God will be obligated to bless me.  And that’s the extent of what it means to live a life of faith.  

However, on the contrary, I think that the scriptures teach us that God has saved us for much more than that.  I believe the scriptures teach that God has saved us and given us new life that we might do good works.  Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Now I have a large list I compiled of many verses of scripture which confirm that we are saved to do the works of God.   And I would like to share them all with you, but we don’t have time to look at all those and still finish the text here before us.  But let me give you just a few.  1Cor. 3:9, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. Phl. 2:13  “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for [His] good pleasure.”  Matt. 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 1John 2:6 “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” And we know, of course, that Jesus came to do the will of the Father as He said in  John 9:4  “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”

So it’s clear from Eph.2:9,10 which I just read vs 10 to you that though we are not saved by good works, but we are saved by grace through faith, yet we are created, that is we are given this new life, this life of faith, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. And these good works are works of faith.  Works accomplished by faith in God, that He will give us the power to do what He has purposed in us to do. 

The point that needs to be emphasized is that God did not create in us a new life so that we might just be a better version of ourselves. But we all are called to accomplish these works of faith.  These men and women of faith that Hebrews alludes to, some whom we know and some we don’t, but they are given to us as examples, that we might follow in their footsteps of faith.  And though such men and women may not have been always what they should have been, though they may have not always been walking in faith, or always achieving good works for God, yet they did accomplish great works of faith for the Kingdom.  And they are given to us as examples of how we are to live the life of faith in our age as well.  

Now before we work through this list, I would point out that there are two sections to this list.  In the first part, 30-34, it lists feats in which you might say the persons were victorious over the temporal world.  There are a lot of theologians or preachers that want to capitalize on that part of the list and say that a life of faith is the victorious life in temporal things.  But in the second part, starting in vs35, it lists those who from a world’s standpoint were losers physically, but triumphed spiritually.  These are those who suffered for their faith.  And yet in vs 39 it says that all these gained approval for their faith.  Both those that were victorious physically, and those that suffered physically, both gained approval from God for their faith.  Both accomplished great works of God by faith.  So there is a contrast between those who had some sort of visible success and those who had an invisible success of faith.

So let’s look briefly at the men that are mentioned in vs 32.  The good news is that for those of you who’ve been at our Wednesday night Bible studies lately then you are well familiar with these men.  We spent a lot of time covering the life of David recently, and just finished with Judges, looking particularly at the life of these men. And  since it’s so fresh in your minds, then you should need very little review and  be able to think back with me and ask yourself what work of faith did each of these men do that qualifies him for this list?  

Gideon is the first, and you might remember when we first saw Gideon he was hiding out from the Midianites and winnowing his wheat in a winepress. But though he needed several confirmations from God, in the end this fearful man by faith in God’s word led 300 men into battle against at least 135000 Midianites, with the only weapons being torches and clay jars.  And  God gave him a great victory.

It’s surprising to see Barak listed here, instead of the prophetess Deborah.Barak was another man who seemed to not have courage.  Barak seemed to be afraid of taking on the enemy of God without Deborah going with him.  But in the end, he took 10000 men down the mountain to do battle with the great army and chariots of Sisera, and by faith in God he defeated the king of Canaan, the enemy of God and oppressor of his people.

Samson may seem like an unlikely choice for a man of faith.  When we look at his life, we see excesses of his flesh, and his life overwhelmed by earthy passions.  But nevertheless, God called him to be a judge of Israel, and Samson took seriously that call.  I think that Samson’s greatest work of faith is the last act of his life, when he called upon God for strength and killed more Philistines in his death than he had in his life.  He was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of delivering the church of God.

Jephthah is remembered by many for his rash vow.  But God remembers Jephthah for his act of faith in engaging in battle with the Ammonites, while trusting in the Lord to win the battle. He was the son of a harlot, an outcast of his people, yet by the grace of God he was chosen to lead his people into victory.

David fought many battles for the Lord, not the least of which was his battle against Goliath in which he by faith defeated the enemies of Israel. But David’s faith was also exemplary in the long trial in the wilderness when Saul was hunting him to put him to death.  He trusted in the promise of God to put him on the throne in place of Saul, and trusted in the providence of God to accomplish it in due time. He patiently suffered for about 13 years until God fulfilled His word.

And finally, Samuel is mentioned.  Samuel was the last of the judges of Israel.  And he led the nation back to God. He anointed David as king even though it would be years before David would come to the throne.  Samuel too was a military leader that trusted in God in the face of the threat from the Philistines, and God brought about a great victory.

It’s no coincidence by the way that so many of these men were military leaders or engaged in warfare, doing battle for the kingdom of Israel against the pagan countries that surrounded them.  Though our struggle today as the people of God is not against physical kingdoms, yet we are still engaged in spiritual warfare, which is the greatest affront on our faith.  And we are called to engage the enemy as the church of God, doing the works of God through faith.

2Cor. 10:3-5 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,  for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  [We are] destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and [we are] taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” 

Eph. 6:10-12 says a lot about this militant faith we are to have; “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of wickedness in the heavenly [places.]”

And in 2Tim. 2:3 Paul says “Suffer hardship with [me,] as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”  That verse parallels in many respects the admonition of the author of Hebrews in the first verse of the next chapter.  So the life of faith is likened to a spiritual battle, or as in Hebrews 12:1, an all important race we are instructed to run.

Hebrews then speaks of the other men and women of old who by faith achieved great things for the Lord. After the three headings in the list, the next one up is those who shut the mouths of lions.  The most obvious person that could be referring to is of course, Daniel.  Daniel knew the edict that promised death to anyone who prayed to anyone other than the king.  And yet Daniel confidently went about his prayer time as usual, knowing he was being watched, and yet trusting in God to sustain him. And though he was thrown into a den of hungry lions, yet God stopped the mouth of the lions so that Daniel might live to be a testament to the Lord.

The reference to those who “quenched the power of fire” could certainly be attributed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to worship the Bablyonian King. They expressed their faith to Nebuchadnezzar by saying, whether or not God delivered them from the fiery furnace they would not bow down to him.  They were prepared to be burned for the Lord’s sake. And God delivered them from the flames in order to use them to be a witness to the nation of Babylon.

Several prophets escaped the edge of the sword. Elijah for instance escaped the sword of Jezebel, and there are others that could be mentioned. That indicates that they were pursued and under threat of death because of their faith.  And yet they persevered by faith.  Another reference is to those who from weakness were made strong. There are many that could fit in that category.  But Esther comes to mind.  A woman of faith, a Jewish woman living as an exile in Persia, and yet God raised her up to become Queen in such a time as this and deliver her people.  She was a great example of someone who from weakness was made strong.

Then it says, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  That could refer to practically any of the judges.  All of which found themselves up against far superior forces, but who proved,  like Jonathan said, that God is not limited to save by many or by few, and so they gained the victory over seemingly superior forces through faith in the invisible God.

Then in the next verse, as I’ve already mentioned, there is a change in the tone of the list, as these people do not seem to gain a great victory over the enemies of the Lord.  In fact, the people on this list suffer for sake of the Kingdom of God. But nevertheless, they accomplished much for the kingdom of God by their sacrifice.  FF Bruce said, “Faith in God carries with it no guarantee of comfort in this world. But it does carry with it great reward in the only world that ultimately matters.”

And I’m not going to try to find Biblical examples of who these statements might be referring to. To use the words of the author, “time will fail me…”  I”m sure the author of Hebrews could have identified who he was speaking of if that was his desire.  But I will make a comment or two as needed as we look briefly  at them.

He says in vs35, “Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection.”  Now there is the transition between the two types in the list.  On the one hand it mentions those that were resurrected after having died, and then contrasted with those who did not accept being released due to being tortured, presumably to make them recant their faith, so that they might obtain a better resurrection.  But both are noted for their faith.  However one sees a physical deliverance and the other a spiritual deliverance.  But from the human standpoint, the physical is much more desirable, isn’t it?  How often do we hear some preacher on television or somewhere offer physical healing as the result of faith? But the fact is that if God should heal, or even if He should raise someone from the dead as in the case of Lazarus, there will still come a time when this flesh must pass away.  The things of this earth will fail.  But that which is spiritual endures beyond the grave. 

Others, he says, were tortured.  Thus begins the list of trials for many of those who would live by faith. But the resurrection provides the means by which we LIVE by faith.  Those who are made alive by faith in Christ Jesus will never die. Their body may pass away, but their spirit will live in Paradise until the resurrection, when they will receive a new, glorified body.

When the recipients of this letter read the words, “and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment,” they must have readily identified with that statement.  The Hebrews themselves had suffered such things as the author had already reminded them in chapter 10 vs 32. The point being that they were not the first to suffer for the name of Christ.  The Old Testament prophets such as Jeremiah knew such torments firsthand, and it continued to the church age, from the first century until today, especially in countries such as Iran, China and Korea. 

Just the other day, I saw a post from my nephew Nathan Barber concerning a friend of his, who was a missionary to Cameroon, and he was killed two weeks after entering the country. He left behind a wife and eight children.  So there are still those who are suffering even today for their faith.

And it may one day be the sort of thing that we are called upon to endure. What we need to recognize is that suffering for the Lord’s sake is a great work of faith that accomplishes more for the kingdom of God than we can always measure here on earth. But more come to faith through witnessing the trials of the faithful than by witnessing the prosperity of the so called Christian.

Vs 37 continues the list of suffering with those who were stoned. Many Old Testament characters as well as Steven and Paul in the New Testament experienced stoning.  According to strong tradition, Isaiah was sawn into.  Who knows how many unknown during the Nazi and Communist regimes suffered similar fates.  But God knows those who have given their all for the sake of the gospel.

Some through faith we were told earlier, escaped the sword.  Now we are told of others who were killed by the sword.  The life of faith does not eclipse the possibility of dying for the faith. And yet the same accolade was given to both; all these, having gained approval by their faith.  Righteousness comes on the basis of faith, and these who lived and died by faith, were approved as righteous by God.

The author goes on to describe still more trials of the faithful: “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.”  Paul said in Phl.3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”

It is difficult, if not next to impossible, to have all the niceties of this world, to have all the resources that one could hope for in this world, and not be held captive by them.  I once thought when I was a successful antique dealer, when I was on national television almost every week, when I lived in a beautiful house with a beautiful house and children, that I could be an effective witness for the Lord due to them being able to see how the Lord had blessed me. But I can say after losing all of that, that God has used me much more since then than I could have ever imagined.  It goes back to what was said while ago, “out of weakness were made strong.”  God has chosen to use the weak things, to confound the mighty.  And sometimes God has to bring us to weakness before He is able to use us.  

Paul said in 2Cor. 12:7-10 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me–to keep me from exalting myself!  Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.  And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The writer of Hebrews wraps up his eulogy of those men and women of old who died in faith, by saying in vs39 “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.”  From Abel down through the ages to some long forgotten martyr in a foreign land, they ultimately lived and died in hope of a fulfillment that was never completely experienced on earth, yet so sure were they of it’s fulfillment that they pressed on to the very end of their days, living against the current of the world, living on earth as citizens of heaven. 

But now the promise has been fulfilled in Christ. He who died to take away sin, and was resurrected to live in Heaven for us as our intercessor and mediator, has procured completion for us.  God has guaranteed our fulfillment in Christ as the author and finisher of our faith.  His life, death and resurrection guarantees a better inheritance that will never fade away.  He gives us a spiritual inheritance of eternal life through Jesus Christ.  He is the perfect who has perfected us.  He is the author and finisher of our salvation. And in Him and through Him we  have the victory that overcomes the world.  1John 5:4 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—even our faith.”

I trust that you have come to know, to believe in, to trust in, to have faith in Jesus Christ, and have received life in HIs name.  And I hope that you will live by faith in Christ, to do His will, and to serve Him.  Only one life will soon be past.  Only what’s done for Christ will last.