In our last sermon, we said that the primary concern of the author was that we do not fall short of the grace of God.  That is, that considering all that Christ has done for us, considering our position in Christ, let us be sure not to come short of the full purpose of God in saving us.  As it says in the next to last verse of chapter 12, considering what Christ has done for us, and what God’s purpose in saving us is; let us show gratitude, by rendering to God an acceptable service which is to be lived in reverence and awe for Him.

Now if we are to fulfill our purpose for which Christ died, if we are to walk worthy of our calling, then what is this service that is spoken of which we are to live out for God?  The author gives us in this final chapter a list of very practical applications, how we are to live in service to the Lord.  And at the top of the list is that we are to love the brethren. Now I want you to notice something about this word for love. 

As I have pointed out many times in the past, love in Biblical terms is not synonymous with the kind of love which we talk about in our culture.  Love in the culture of this world is a term which more often than not is defined by it’s lowest common denominator.  It’s really not much more than lust, because it is based on physical attraction.  Upon physical desire.  But God has a much higher standard for love.  

In the original Greek language of the New Testament, there are three words which are most often used for love.  The word eros is the word which might be most synonymous with the type of love which is of the world. Eros as the name implies is an erotic love, a fleshly love, a sexual love.  The second kind of love is the one which is most often found in relation to God’s love for us, and that is the word agape.  Agape is a sacrificial love.  Agape does not demand or expect repayment from the love given – it gives because it loves, it does not love in order to receive. Agape love isn’t about feelings; it is about decisions. It’s about commitment.  It is the type of love which we are to have towards our marriage partner, towards God, and towards His church.

There is another word that is sometimes used for love, and that is found here in our text.  When the author says in vs 1 let “brotherly love continue”, he is using just one word for brotherly love and that is the word philadelphia.  It is of course where we get the name of the city in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, which is known as the city of brotherly love.  It comes from the root word philia. This ancient Greek word spoke of brotherly friendship and affection. It is the love of fraternal kinship and partnership.  It has to do with love of family.  

And so when the author of Hebrews gives us this admonition to let brotherly love continue, he is recognizing first of all that those of us in the body of Christ are made by this new birth into sons and daughters of God, and thus brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are part of the family of God.  And this relationship with Christ is the basis for our relationship with one another.  

That’s why I think that the word chosen here is phileo as opposed to agape. It’s not that we are to love one another with a lower standard of love than we love the Lord.  But it’s saying that the basis for our love for one another is familial.  We are brothers and sisters of Christ.  I  believe that our love for one another should still rise to the standard of agape love.  Proof for that is found in 1Peter 1:22  which says,  “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren (philadelphia), fervently love (agape) one another from the heart.”  One does not exclude the other, but philadelphia serves as a basis for agape.

So the basis for our love of one another is that we are of the same family, the same Father, the same Spirit. There is no lowering of the standard for love.  We should strive to love one another in agape love.  But the basis of our love is what is spoken of here.  And that is described as brotherly love, or family love.

Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Considering the emphasis in Jesus’s ministry on love, and the emphasis of the Bible in general, there really should be no need to give you biblical examples beyond that, but I will do so, just to make sure that we recognize the priority that God has given for loving one another, love for the brethren, in the life of a man or woman of faith.

Of course, one of the most famous examples is when Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, and Jesus responded, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

He was even more direct in John 13:34 saying “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”  Notice, He twice repeats it; love one another with the same sacrificial, agape love which Christ has for us.

Peter said in 1Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”  The Apostle John says in 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”  And Paul said in Ephesians 4:1-3 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

So brotherly love is something which is to be indicative of the fact that we are Christians, and that we are Christ’s disciples, and it’s to be a testimony to the world as well as a practical help to the church. In light of the gospel we can say that the church is our new family.  And so practicing love for one another is to be a priority, even our responsibility to care for one another.

Now how do we do that, practically speaking?  Well, the author is going to give us some specific examples. The first is to strangers, especially those of the Christian brotherhood.  Vs.2, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Now this word which is translated as strangers has to do particularly with showing hospitality.  Among both Jews and Gentiles in those days hospitality was ranked very high in terms of virtues.  There were very few inns in many of the regions of the early church.  As we have seen in our studies in the Old Testament on Wednesday nights, there was a great danger in staying outdoors or in the city without being in someone’s home.  And what few inns there were had very bad reputations for the most part.  

Today, of course, we have every conceivable convenience or even luxury accommodations in virtually every town, especially in America.  But the principle of hospitality is still in effect in the church.  Hospitality includes much more than just a roof over your head, but perhaps a meal, being a friend in someone visiting a strange area, or befriending someone who has just moved to your community. It covers people experiencing hardship, or grief, or loss.  There are so many ways to show hospitality.  And the point is that we should look for opportunities to serve other members of the body of Christ, even though we may consider them strangers.  

But I would  say that strangers indicates people who are not in your immediate family, or not in your friend clique.  Today in our world there is such a disconnect from one another.  We don’t hardly know our neighbors anymore.  We have no interaction with people living on our street, or in our community.  Social media has made us a society of social pariah’s.` But in God’s family we should not be that way.  We should reach out to one another. Share with one another.  Help one another.  And encourage one another.  And hospitality speaks to all of those things as we seek out what we might do to help and strengthen and encourage one another.  

I would remind you that when you do these things for another brother or sister in the spirit of serving the Lord, you are in effect doing it unto Him.  Jesus said in Matt. 25:35-40  “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’  “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

And let me say something about the mention of angels here in this verse.  This has caused quite a bit of theological gymnastics over the years as people took this verse and jumped to all kinds of different extrapolations and started seeing angels all over the place.  But I think the best exegesis was given by John MacArthur, I believe, who said the emphasis should be on the phrase, “without knowing it.”  In other words, though someone might have entertained an angel, they were unaware that it was an angel.  The intention is not to get us looking for angels, but to recognize that we have a responsibility to offer hospitality to one another as servant’s of the Lord, to supply for one another’s needs in tangible ways, as we would to our own family members, as we would for the Lord Himself.  And that there is an inherent blessing in doing so.  As Jesus said, “it is better to give than to receive.”  We need to think of hospitality as service to Christ.  Something that we look forward to doing, and look for opportunities to do. 

The next group that we should show brotherly love to is those who are in prison. Vs.3, “Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.”  In those days, it was not uncommon for Christians to find themselves arrested and imprisoned for the sake of the gospel.  We know of many from the record of the scriptures as well as extra biblical writings.  Historic documents tell us how the early Christians would go to any length in order to try to get the release of their brothers in prison.  In some cases, it is recorded that they actually sold themselves into slavery in order to effect the release of a brother in prison. 

Often it was possible to supply the physical needs of the prisoners which were not even attempted to be met by the prison officials.  Remember how Paul wrote that Timothy should bring his cloak and the parchments when he visited Paul in prison.  And so great concern was given to the needs of the prisoners who were suffering for the sake of Christ. 

Prison ministries are still something today that we can be involved in.  But as a principle  I believe it goes beyond incarceration to include people who are being mistreated in a variety of circumstances.  People who are trapped in some sort of destructive situation.  People who are unable to help themselves for one reason or another.  People that have needs that they cannot meet. People in the hospital, or in an old folks home.  I think all those people fit under the sub title which is those who are ill treated.  

We should treat them this way, it says, because we too are in the body.  He’s not speaking of the body of Christ, but of the body of flesh.  We are able to help those who are suffering in the flesh, because in being of the flesh ourselves, we have compassion. James speaks to that in James 2:15-16 “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”

Being in the body, we should have compassion on others in the body and help supply that which is necessary for the well being of the body.

The next expression of brotherly love or familial love that he speaks of is the love of marriage. The love of marriage is an ideal of God for which we have been made, as an illustration of the love of God towards us. Notice the text in vs.4, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

First of all notice that in God’s eyes, marriage is honorable.  Marriage has almost reached the point today where it’s considered  dishonorable in the eyes of the world.  It doesn’t seem like it makes any sense from their point of view. It’s much more practical in many young couple’s minds to test the waters first.  To  just live together.  But in God’s eyes, marriage is honorable.  It is His design for man. It is divinely ordained.  It’s not a civll ordinance, it is a sacred ordinance. It’s not to gain a tax advantage, it’s to gain a spiritual advantage. In Genesis we read that God ordained marriage when He said “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”  And so “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

So God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman, which then being joined together, shall become one flesh.  Jesus went on to say that what God has joined together, let no man set asunder.  Marriage is a picture, according to Ephesians 6, of Christ’s love for the church, wherein He laid down His life for her.  So marriage is a sacred ordinance, made by a sacred oath to God, to love one another exclusively, until death, as unto the Lord.

Furthermore, it can be extrapolated from this text, that the marriage bed is undefiled. That simply means that sexually, in your bed, between a husband and wife, there is nothing you can do that is wrong. In God’s eyes, everything in the bed is pure if you’re married. That’s a great blessing of God on marriage. You don’t need to be hung up on guilt, because whatever you do is undefiled in the sight of God.  Now that’s not just my interpretation of this verse, but that is a long standing interpretation of many commentators.  

But there is a warning in this verse as well, to abstain from adultery and fornication.  Adultery covers the relationship between a husband and wife, but fornication indicates every kind of sexual sin. Notice that it says God will judge those that indulge in those sins.  So many of us think that because we don’t see the immediate consequences of our sin, that there is no penalty for fornication.  But God sees.  And God will judge.  And furthermore, there are inherent consequences to every sin, especially in the sin of fornication.  I believe that many of the problems that are experienced in our marriages and in our culture at large can find their root sexual promiscuity and immorality.  I can’t begin to quantify the problems in our society due to the explosion of pornography.  I read the other day someone who said that statistics indicate that virtually every teenager by the age of 13 has seen pornography today.  And I can assure you that such things scar your soul. Fornication by the way in the Greek is the word pornea which we get pornography from.  But it includes all sorts of sexual sins outside of marriage, from homosexuality to bestiality. 

Now closely related to unchastity is covetousness. And so we see the author make that connection between the love of what is good, the love of Christ’s body, and the love of the world, or the love of money.  Vs.5, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”

Covetousness in the New Testament can either be a reference to sexual impurity, or it can refer to a love of money.  Jesus Himself warned us that you cannot serve God and mammon, or money.  Paul says that “the love of money is the root of all evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

The opposite of covetousness is contentment. Being satisfied with what God has given you. And we can rest in that contentedness because God is always with us.  He said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”  God who supplies our needs, who is the source of all wealth, who owns all things, who gives us all good things to enjoy, who has promised to supply our needs according to His riches in glory, will never, never forsake us.  He has married to us for eternity.  No matter if we measure up to all that we should be or not, God will never fail us.  He will always be a ready, present help in time of need.  His love for us endures forever.  

I am told by experts in the Greek language who have studied this text, that in the original language this statement has five negatives.  Literally it reads, “I will by no means leave you and no, by no means will I forsake you.” Five times he uses the negative in order to add every assurance and emphasis on that impossibility. 

Our security is not in our bank account or our possessions. Our security is not in the stock market or in the money markets.  Our security is in the Lord.  In all our needs, He is sufficient.  He can be counted on. And because of that promise we may “confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”

John said in his epistle of 1 John, that we love because He first loved us.  Because He loves us, and we are secure in that love, we can and should love one another.  I pray that you trust in the love of God, and that you practice the love of God towards one another.  That we all might be joined together as one with Christ Jesus.  This is His plan for us, the purpose of HIs grace, that we should love one another, even as He loved the church and gave up His life for her.

The passage before us today has been interpreted by many great theologians and preachers a great many ways.  But by and large, there is a tendency to make the apparent severity of this passage into a mild warning not to fall from grace into legalism.  That seems to be the majority consensus.   And perhaps there is some truth to that.

But I must confess that I don’t feel quite so secure in that opinion.  I have a certain unease in mitigating the severity of the  warning that is here.  This is the fifth such warning in the book of Hebrews.  The first warning is found in chapter 2 vs 1, “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.  For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,  how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”  

Second warning is in chapter 3:12 “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”    The third warning is in chapter 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,  and [then] have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

The fourth warning is in chapter 10vs 26 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.  Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Notice the increasing severity in the progression of the warnings.  The tone of the warnings become more and more dire as you go further in the epistle.  And I would also point out the similarities between chapter 10’s warning and the warning found here in chapter 12.  And I think this is the climatic warning now that he has come to nearly the end of his epistle. 

Notice the similarities in the fourth and the fifth warning.  In chapter 10 he  contrasts the penalty due to the breakers of the law of Moses and says how much more penalty should there be to those who trample underfoot the covenant of grace. In chapter 12 he speaks of the fear and trembling at the giving  of the Law of Moses at Sinai  and the contrasts that to the reverence  that we should have at coming to Mt. Zion.  He speaks as if coming to Mt. Zion is even more awesome than coming to Mt. Sinai.  He speaks of the danger of trampling the blood of the covenant in chapter 10, and again we see the mention of the sprinkled blood of the new covenant in chapter 12.  He speaks of the fire that will consume the adversaries in chapter 10, and he speaks of our God is a consuming fire in chapter 12. He speaks of the Lord who will judge His people in chapter 10 and he speaks of God the judge of all in chapter 12.  I think the similarities between the 4th and 5th warnings are obvious.  And  so I think it’s a mistake to try to mitigate the terrible implications of refusing or rejecting the gospel.  There is a tendency of modern theologians to minimize the ramifications for rejecting the covenant of grace as compared to the punishment for rejecting the covenant of Moses.  But that is not the emphasis that seems to come from this author, but actually a more severe punishment for those who disregard the sacrifice of God’s Son.

I want you to notice two other similarities in chapter 12 that I think will help us better understand the context of the passage.  Notice the first in vs 15, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.”  Then notice vs. 25, “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.”  I think that the author uses this construct of this dual imperatives to connect both passages.  

And that bears particularly on the first verse of our text today in vs.18, which starts out with the word  “For”.  The word “for” ties the following statement with what has been said before.  And what comes before vs 18 is the illustration of Esau who came short of the grace of God.  Now we spent some time talking about that in our last message, so I don’t want to cover it again, but suffice it to say that to come short of the grace of God is to fail to grab hold of what God has offered to you.  To come short of the purpose for which God offers grace.   Grace accepted is supposed to produce something.  It’s supposed to produce holiness, righteousness.  It’s supposed to produce gratefulness.  Look at vs 28 as evidence of that; “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe.”

So the warning that the author of Hebrews is extending here as he wraps up this epistle is not to diminish the previous warnings in light of the new covenant.  But rather to say in light of the illustration of immoral and godless Esau, in light of the discipline of God that is brought to bear upon his legitimate children,  in light of the importance of the race that we are called to run, to not come short of His grace, to not fall short of His purpose in crucifying Jesus Christ in our place. But to come all the way to the perfection or completion of sanctification.  And so this warning is the most severe of all.  Because the legitimacy and seriousness of our spiritual life is revealed in light of the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  The Son of God suffered and died in order to purchase our right to enter the kingdom of God, so we dare not take this privilege lightly or carelessly.  That’s the point he is making.

Now then let’s expound the text more thoroughly along these lines.  Having said all that, having duly noted the severity of those that have come short of the grace of God, he says that further impetus for our running well should come from a comparison between the old covenant and the new covenant.  The old is represented by Mt. Sinai.  And in describing the particulars of Mt. Sinai, he says we have come to something more awesome.  But Mt. Sinai was awesome aplenty. 

At Mt. Sinai God came down to man and rested upon the mountain.  And when He did, He came with blazing fire, and darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.  Now that is quite the picture isn’t it?  Can you imagine standing there around the mountain which must have seemed to be about to explode like a volcano, with fire and darkness and a whirlwind and the words of God booming down to the people like thunder and lightning?  It must have been a terrible experience.  He was their God that had brought them out of Egypt, that had brought them through the Red Sea, and yet now they saw Him more fully as they had never seen Him before. Notice vs 21 And so terrible was the sight, [that] Moses said, “I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling.”

And I would impress on you today that description is still an apt description of God. The holiness and awesomeness of God hasn’t changed on iota. The dreadful God of the Old Testament has not changed into a jolly Santa Claus type of grandfather figure in the New Testament.  God hasn’t changed. No one can look upon God and live.  No one can approach God.  He is still holy, righteous, dwelling in unapproachable light.  God hasn’t changed.  

But as terrible and awesome as the sight of God’s presence was at Mt. Sinai, there remains something even more awesome; and that is the presence of God at Mt. Zion. Moses came to Mt. Sinai, a barren mountain in the wilderness, and God in the cloud and the darkness descended upon the mountain.  But notice that we have not just come to a mountain on earth on which God descended, but we have actually come to the city of God, to the very presence of God in the heavens.

Listen to how he describes this mountain. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

Now let me say a few things about this list by way of explanation.  First Mt. Zion.  Mt. Zion was the mountain which King David made as the dwelling place of the ark of the covenant.  It was the place of the presence of God in the Holy of Holies which was a picture of the reality in the heavens.  And so the author uses this title of Mt. Zion to signify the very presence of God, the dwelling of God in the heavenlies.  If it was a terrible thing to come God’s temporary meeting place at  Mt. Sinai, then how much more so to come to His temple at Mt. Zion?

Furthermore, it is the home of myriads of angels. When men are recorded in the scriptures as seeing an angel in his glory, they are usually struck to the ground.  They are often unable to speak and unable to move.  The writer says we have come into the presence of not one but myriads of angels, millions of angels attending to the Lord. What a tremendous privilege!

He speaks of Mt. Zion as the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.  The heavenly Jerusalem is the assembly of the universal church, it is where we that are saved are spiritually seated, according to Ephesians 2:5 “(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  Our names are written in the Lambs Book of Life.  Spiritually speaking we have reservations in heaven, privileges in heaven itself as if we were already there.

Then He speaks Mt. Zion as the judgment seat of God, the judge of all.  That pictures the Lord God as upon HIs throne, judging all the earth.  What an awesome thing that is, to stand before the righteous judge of the earth who sees all, and knows all.

Ironically almost, he juxtaposes  the Holy God judging all, with the spirits of righteous men made perfect.  Most commentators see this as the saints of old, characterized by the examples given in chapter 11, who in light of the culmination of Christ’s ministry have now been made complete by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  This is the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in vs.1. 

And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. Jesus is of course seated at the right hand of God as described in vs 2. Mt. Zion is His throne, as He is the Son of David, the Messiah promised who would rule the earth and bring peace.   Isaiah9:6 says, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

And how does the LORD accomplish this? By the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. In the old covenant the vessels of the temple were sanctified by the sprinkled blood of the sacrifice.  In the new covenant, we are set apart for holiness and service to God by the sprinkled blood of Jesus.

He speaks of the blood of Abel, which you will remember, was referenced by God in His conversation with Cain after Cain had murdered his brother.  God said his blood cried out from the ground. And the law was God’s answer to the violence and depravity of man.  But the blood of Jesus Christ cries out as well.  But it cries out a better message, a different covenant, based on the better sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  What the blood of bulls and goats could never do, the blood of Jesus Christ  accomplishes.  It accomplishes our  transformation from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God. We are a new creature, a new creation. Old things are passed away, and all things become new.

In light then of the surpassing greatness of this new covenant God offers to man, vs.25, “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.  For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, (that is from Mt. Sinai) much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven” (that is from Mt. Zion).

Listen my friends, do not despise the gospel of Jesus Christ. Chapter 10:28 warns “Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

I believe the Bible speaks of degrees of punishment in the judgment.  This is but one reference here of many such indications of greater punishment for some than others.  But rest assured, that the punishment for setting aside the first covenant is nothing to be compared with the setting aside of the second covenant.  And the reason is that the first covenant was ratified by the blood of lambs and goats.  But the second covenant was ratified by the blood of the very Son of God Himself.

And for those who reject His Son, who murder His Son so that they might continue in their sin, God’s judgment rightly falls. Chapter 10:30-31 “For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

From Mt. Sinai, the voice of God shook the earth so that men were terrified and could not bear to hear it.  But how much more in the new covenant will God’s voice shake the earth and the heavens.  Vs. 26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.”  This [expression,] “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

I think this speaks of the culmination of the kingdom, when Christ will come again.  This time when He comes He comes not to offer salvation, but to bring judgment.  When the earth and the heavens will shake at the sound of the trumpet, and the Lord will descend in the clouds, and all the earth will mourn.  It will be the day when the Lord Jesus Christ will make war with the enemies of the gospel and overthrow them.  And there will be found no place for them anymore.  When the heavens and the earth will be destroyed by fire and burned up.  And the only things that will remain are those that are faithful and true, whose names are found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 

Rev. 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it [is] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.  His eyes [are] a flame of fire, and on His head [are] many diadems; and He has a name written [on Him] which no one knows except Himself.  [He is] clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white [and] clean, were following Him on white horses.  From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.  And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Heb. 12:28-29 “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;  for our God is a consuming fire.”

Therefore, since we are not shaken, if we are those who are not shaken, if we are those who remain stedfast through trials and tribulations and the discipline of the Lord, if we are those who are becoming sanctified like unto Jesus Christ, then let us show gratitude.  Consider Jesus and all that He has given for us, and in gratitude may we give unto Him our lives in return.  Romans 12 says what this gratitude looks like, specifically how we offer to God acceptable service with severance and awe.  Romans 12:1,2; “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  

This is not just our duty, it should be our joy.  Considering all that our salvation has purchased for us, how can we not give our all for the sake of the kingdom?  To do any less is to do a disservice to our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.  And God will not leave His children untrained or undisciplined, but through His refining fire He will perfect and complete in us that which He has begun through Christ Jesus, that we might not come short in the faith.

As someone has well pointed out, fire will destroy what it cannot purify, but fire purifies what it cannot destroy. That is the whole explanation of life in this present hour. We are passing through the fire which is designed either to destroy that which can be destroyed, or to purify that which can never be destroyed.  I pray that you recognize that the One who walks through the fire with you is none other than the Son of God, that you might have strength to endure and let endurance have it’s perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete. 

I would close by reminding you of a couple of stanzas of the great hymn we sing often; How Firm a Foundation.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

We who have come to the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ have been made part of an unshakeable, eternal kingdom.   We who were mortal have been made immortal.  We who were condemned have been justified.  We who were children of wrath have been made children of God.  We who were in captivity to the world have been given an inheritance as rulers with Christ.  What a tremendous heritage we have as children of God.  We have the very Spirit of God living in us.  And at the culmination of this age we will be given new and glorified bodies, heavenly bodies, and will be like Christ, for we shall see Him as He is in all His glory.  Since we have received this incredible inheritance, this eternal, immortal life with God, let us show gratitude and offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, laying up treasure in heaven which will not be burned up, for our God is a consuming fire.

We started this chapter by looking at  the Race of faith, then we considered the Discipline of faith, and now today we come to what we might call the Exercise of faith.

We said that the goal of God bringing  discipline into our lives as described in vs 4-11 was  righteousness.   It’s called in vs11, the peaceable fruit of righteousness.  That is the purpose of discipline, to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ as we share in the suffering of Christ. Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus learned obedience from the things that He suffered.  And we are also told that a servant is not greater than his master.  So God brings discipline into our lives to produce the fruit of righteousness, that we might be more like Jesus.  

Now the author mixes metaphors here somewhat.  He jumps between the metaphor of a race to that of a fight, and then he interjects the metaphors of a plant; either bearing fruit or referring to the root of a plant.  But overall, I think the predominant metaphor here is that of a race or an athletic contest.  And that race, or the goal of our race is what he is referring to in the passage before us today.

If I were to break down this passage into four points, capitalizing on the metaphor of training for the race, I might outline it as three things we are to be, and one thing we are not to be.  In light of that maybe I should have named the message, “To be or not to be, that is the question.”  But that is not the title, nor the point of my message.  It really is about the practical application of the doctrines that we have been learning in the book of Hebrews.  Things that aren’t really an option, but since these doctrines are true, this is what we are to do.

We have already been told in vs1 that we are to lay aside the weights and the sin which so easily beset us as we run the race of faith.  And we have been told that we are to endure discipline so that God may train us to be holy.  Now we are being told that we are to exercise our faith through the process of sanctification that we might lay hold of the prize.

There are four  steps or things we are to be or not to be then in this exercise of faith as elucidated by the writer of Hebrews.  The first I might summarize by “Be strong.”  The second, is “Be healed.”  The third is to “Be sanctified.”  And the fourth is to “Be not defiled.”  I realize that is not the best outline in the world, but perhaps it will serve to give us some pegs to hang onto as we go through this text.

First then, is “Be strong.”  I cannot say that phrase without thinking of a similar exhortation by the Apostle Paul who said in 1Cor. 16:13 “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”  There is a problem today in the church, which obviously was also a concern to the church in Paul’s day, of weak kneed Christians.  And men, particularly were guilty of weak kneed Christianity.  

I was thinking, especially in light of our culture today, about what does it mean to be a man? You might say it means you are guilty.  Men, it seems, are the reason behind all of society’s problems, at least according to the PC culture. I happen not to agree with that, though I do think a lot of our problems can be traced back to men. However,  I can assure you that being a man is not found in your ability to legally drink alcohol, or that you have a career, or by some measure of your sexual prowess.  Being a man in the Biblical sense is defined as taking responsibility.  God has given the man the responsibility of leadership in the home and in the church.  But far too many men have relinquished their responsibility in both of those areas to women. It’s not that women can’t do it, but it’s that God has given the responsibility to the man.  So being strong and acting like men doesn’t mean that it’s always your way or the highway, but that you are responsible for the well being of your family. And incidentally, when the Bible says to act like a man, it means to be a man of God.  Not a man of the world.  Not a business man.  Not a man about town.  But a man of God who will lay down his life for the sake of his wife and children.  Too many men use the excuse that they are taking care of their family when in reality they are chasing money and prestige in their career.  But if you are not able to take care of the spiritual needs of your family then you are out of line with the primary responsibility that God has given you.

Now this passage before us is not just about men.  But I think that we needed to say those things to the men first of all.  But the exhortation in Hebrews is to all of the church, men, women and children.  Notice  vs12, “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble…” All of us have our weaknesses.  But a runner, or a person who is engaged in a contest, if he wants to be successful identifies his weak areas and works on them to make them stronger.  Your strong areas are usually your go to areas.  They are things in which you have confidence.  But the weak areas are the things that will keep you from running well, and ultimately winning.

The devil plays to your weak areas.  He doesn’t waste time going after those areas in which you’re strong.  But he is like the lion that looks for the weak members of the flock.  He goes after those that are struggling, that are falling behind, those that have some weakness which he can use to his advantage in order to take them down.

How do you strengthen those weak areas?  Well first of all, don’t wait until you are in a crisis to realize that you should have done some exercise to strengthen those areas.  The Bible says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” The point isn’t that God isn’t going to be around when you get into trouble, but rather that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  When you think you stand, take heed lest you fall.  Work on those problem areas before the storm hits, and you won’t have to deal with all the consequences of weakness when you go through those trials which come to us all.  And the most effective way of strengthening those weak areas is through the word of God.  Psalm 119:11 says “your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.” That’s how we are strengthened.  And that’s why we need to be under sound preaching as well.  A God ordained pastor is going to preach the things you need to hear, the whole counsel of the word.  Not just tickle your ears. 

Now there is another way that this verse can be looked at as well.  And that is in regards to your responsibility to the church.  That we are to strengthen the hands and knees that are weak.  All the members of the church are members of the same body.  And all the parts of the body are necessary.  Here in this example he is highlighting the hands and feet, which all Christians are supposed to be. And so another way of looking at this is as a member of this church, we should be strengthening one another, especially those members who are weak.  We should be encouraging them, helping them, sharing with them, to build them up in the faith.  

That goes back to chapter 10:24-25 which says, “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,  not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”  There is a tendency sometimes on the part of members of the church to say that they don’t really get too much out of a particular service or activity in the church so they don’t think that they need to go.  But when they say that it shows that they are still immature in their faith.  As we mature we should be more focused on encouraging others rather than being encouraged ourselves.  Church is not just about meeting our needs, but meeting the needs of others.  Just a pat on the back or a hug, or even a little bit of conversation after church can do a lot for someone who is weak, whose knees are about to buckle, who might be about to quit the race.

Secondly, we need to “be healed.”  Now I can see a few folks ears prick up when I mention being healed.  We love to focus on the physical healing.  And I will confess that this word is often used in relation to physical healing.  But it also can mean spiritual healing.  Now the metaphor of a race is being referred to in this context, and we should recognize that this race is not an actual, physical race he is talking about, but a spiritual race.  And so if it’s a spiritual race, then we can assume it’s referring to spiritual healing.  

But let’s look at the verse. “and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”  What I think this is talking about is the person who was running, but got off the track.  I think it’s talking about the Christian who is in danger of drifting away.  Of turning off the course. I think it’s speaking about the person who has taken his eyes off Jesus and found himself off the path of righteousness and fallen into sin.  And as a result, God has brought discipline or correction into his life in the way of chastisement, which the author likens here to being lame. 

You know there is well known illustration which has received a lot of notoriety in the past from various preachers, which talks about the shepherd sometimes breaking a lamb’s leg in order to keep it from wandering off.  And the story goes that sometimes when a sheep just won’t stay with the flock, the shepherd might have to break the sheep’s leg, and then he must carry the sheep.  That’s the only way for the shepherd to keep the sheep from straying.  And a lot of preachers have had a hard time with that illustration.  They say such a thing would never happen.  That the story was made up.  But I read once an article from a minister from the  Billy Graham crusades who was responsible for leading certain evangelistic teams into the Middle East.  And this man, I forget his name, one day noticed a shepherd carrying a lamb upon his shoulders which had a bandage around his leg.  And upon asking the guide what had happened to the lamb, the guide told him that it was a common practice for the shepherd to break the leg of the lamb that constantly strayed from the fold, in order to train him to stay with the shepherd.  So in light of this man’s story, I think there is some validity in this illustration.  

Now whether or not that is on the mind of the author here I don’t know.  But he has made it abundantly clear that God does chastise his children.  And here the reference to  being lame and being healed would indicate that when you respond correctly to the chastisement of the Lord, then there is healing that comes from God.  God doesn’t chastise just to punish, but to correct.  He wants a renewed relationship.  He wants you to stay near to Him.  James 4:8-10 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”  He is speaking of the proper response to chastisement, to cleanse yourself from the sin which has injured you, and God will raise you up again.

And incidentally, James uses this same word as this author for healed in James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”  There are some who infer from that that James is not talking about physical healing, but spiritual healing, because it is in relation to confessing your sins. 

So the same word for healing is found here in Hebrews.  And I can assure you that at least in Hebrews it refers to spiritual healing.  As 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Let me tell you something, if you’re a Christian, then sin will make you sick.  Your sins will find you out.  I read a sign somewhere the other day that said that sin is like buying on a  credit card. You might enjoy it now, but you will pay dearly later.  There are consequences to sin.  Sin injures you, it makes you lame.  It hinders or even stops altogether your progress in the race.  But you can receive healing, that you might be restored and be able to run again.

So be strong, be healed, and then be sanctified.  Look at vs 14, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  Let me say that another way; be right with men and with God.  Let’s just take the idea of being right with men first.  This is such a major part of our Christianity and yet we make so little of it.  It’s truth is emphasized again and again in the Bible.  For instance, Paul says in Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”  He says again in chapter 14 vs 19, “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.”  Notice that he uses the same word, pursue peace.  Hebrews says pursue peace.  Run after peace.  In this race which we run, run after peace with your fellow man.  Not the absence of war, but the absence of strife, jealousy, envy, anger.  

Peace is the fruit of the Spirit according to Gal. 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”  Jesus said in Matt. 5:8, the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall see God.” He goes on to speak of all the ways in which we are to treat one another, that we might have peace.  Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and so if we are to be like Jesus, we should be peaceable, humble, gentle, even as He was.

But tied closely to peace is holiness, or sanctification.  We must not sacrifice holiness for the sake of peace.  We don’t compromise holiness for the sake of just getting along with everyone, for the sake of not offending someone.  But speak the truth in love if that be needed.

So, he says, pursue or run after peace and sanctification.  Sanctification is practical holiness, or even better, practicing holiness.  We practice what Jesus taught.  And as we are obedient to His word, we are sanctified.  Now the origin of the word sanctified means set apart.  Set apart to God, set apart from sin. And it’s illustrated by the temple vessels that we made of gold, or silver or brass and then consecrated for use in the temple.  They were not to be used for other purposes, for carnal purposes, but were sanctified for holy use. And then they were washed, and sprinkled by the blood of the sacrificial lamb.   After all of that was completed, they were then used in service to the Lord.  

That’s the picture of sanctification.  We are set apart at our new birth for service to the Lord.  WE are washed, we are sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb.  And then we are to be used for service to God.  Not just to be set on a shelf.  The church is not a museum. But a place to serve the Lord.  If the home is the hub of the family life, then the church is the hub of spiritual life.  Sanctification is the working out of holiness in the church.  

Phil. 2:12-13 says, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for [His] good pleasure.” We are to work out what we have become inwardly.  If Christ is in us, then He is to be exercised through us. 

There is a warning in this verse as well, “the sanctification without which, no one will see the Lord.”  Now we are sanctified in salvation, set apart to God,  but sanctification is also the process by which our righteousness is made manifest to others.  And so perhaps that is what is meant by that phrase; no one will see the Lord.  In other words, if the world doesn’t see Christ in us, then they won’t see Christ at all. It’s not enough to profess Christ, but we must let Christ live through us. We are intended to be lights in the world.

And that brings us to the last thing which is what we are not to be.  Be not defiled. Vs.15, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.”  I think that to come short of the grace of God means to come short of the purpose of God’s gift of salvation.  I believe it’s possible to fail to come all the way to the goal of sanctification.  It’s possible to come short of maturity as a believer.  It’s possible to fall away or drift away and become un-useful to the kingdom.  To frustrate the grace of God.  I believe it’s possible to presume upon the grace of God and do nothing with the spiritual life that God has given you. Jesus spoke often of that principle of using what God has given you and multiplying it.  So I think that is what is indicated here in falling short.  It’s falling short of what God has purposed for us.

And as the author indicates, one way of doing that is by the root of bitterness causing trouble and defiling many.  I think this is speaking of the life of the church.  Now it may be more individualistic than congregational.  But it’s likely it refers to a person or persons who are embittered over something, and while there may not be much on the surface to indicate that, underneath, inwardly something is eating at the person.  And as such they start to cause trouble.  They murmur or complain.  They start to eat away at the fabric of the church, and as the text says, they cause the defilement of many.  

We see that again and again in the book of Acts and in the writings of Paul to the Gentile churches.  Men from the church in Jerusalem came and started causing dissension.  Or some said I am of Apollos and others I am of Paul.  Or as Jude says  “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

What point this is making is that sin has to be dealt with.  This root of bitterness is sin which is hidden from view on the surface, but exists inwardly.  And eventually it comes out.  The problem with this sort of bitterness is that by leaving it alone it doesn’t go away, but rather the roots go deeper and become more entwined around other living plants.  And so when you finally have a problem and you have to deal with it, to root it out, it often destroys many other good plants in the process.

Now Esau is given as an illustration for all the points above.  He is an illustration of a church member, so to speak, who seems to be part of the family, has all the benefits of the family, the physical requirements for inheritance of the blessings, and yet  spiritually has fallen short of the grace of God.  Such a person looks like a brother in Christ on the outside but spiritually they are embittered in their sin. They have never truly repented, and as such their sin is like a cancer that is eating away from the inside. 

Notice that he calls Esau an immoral and godless person.  This is not how you describe a believer.  Jude in the passage I quoted while ago said that such persons who crept in to the church were ungodly persons.  And he went on to say that they denied our only Master and Lord. That indicates the problem.  It’s not that they don’t believe in the historicity of Jesus.  But that they deny Him Lordship over their life.  They have denied Him the place of Master over their life.  They are willing to presume upon the grace of God, but Jude says that they have turned it into licentiousness. That means that they think they can live their life in sin and do what they want to do with impunity.  God will forgive them, and so they don’t have to worry about sin. 

Well, the writer of Hebrews calls that immorality. It’s loving the world.  It’s immorality against God. He calls Esau a fornicator.  There is no evidence of that in scripture.  He’s saying that spiritually Esau is a fornicator.  He loved his fleshly appetite more than he loved the things of God.  He cared more about the world and the present than he did about the future kingdom of God and the Messiah who would come from the line of Jacob.

And as a such he paints a pretty apt picture of many professing Christians in the church today, who have sold their inheritance in heaven for a paltry meal here on earth.  They have sold their soul for a tryst with the lusts of the world.  Esau disdained his inheritance which had eternal implications, because he had a fleshy desire that he wanted filled immediately.  There was an evangelist that by the name of Bob Jones who said many years ago, “never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.”

Finally, let me say this about the repentance of Esau.  Esau cried many tears later when he found that he had lost his blessing to his brother Jacob.  But his tears were not tears of repentance, but tears of rage.  In Genesis we read that Esau swore in his wrath that he would kill Jacob.  Who he wanted to repent was his father Isaac.  He wanted Isaac to repent, to change his mind and take back the blessing that he had given Jacob.  But Isaac could not do it, for it was the blessing of God, and so Isaac himself trembled when he considered how the purpose of God had been fulfilled in spite of his intentions. But the point I want to emphasize is that God did not reject Esau’s repentance, because Esau never did repent.  His tears led to a plot to murder.  But God always accepts the sincere prayer of repentance, the humble in heart. 

The word of God tells us that God is always ready to hear, to forgive, to heal us of our iniquity, when we call upon Him in true repentance. The goal of God is to restore us, and to make us more like Christ.  Christ is the goal, and we who are sanctified will see God. It’s a race that God has called us to run, and Christ is the goal, and we that are sanctified will one day see God face to face, and then we will be glorified.  We will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  I urge you to stay the course, to run the race, to strengthen one another, to make straight paths for your feet, and examine yourselves to root out any sin which so easily besets you, and may cause you to fall short of the grace of God.  

Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

As we continue in our study of Hebrews, I want to remind you of the theme of the second half of the book which is found in chapter 10 vs. 39, “My righteous one shall live by faith.”  And we have been studying various aspects of the life of faith in the subsequent passages.  I have said it before that the emphasis given in that doctrinal theme is on the word shall live.  And so we looked at the lives of many of the Old Testament saints in regards to how they lived by faith.  

Then last week, we looked at the life of faith as a race.  Particularly a marathon race.  And as part of that study we talked about the need for commitment, for discipline, and what sacrifices you must make in order to win the race of faith. Now this week, the author of Hebrews is going to take that idea of sacrifice and suffering and discipline and expand on those things, in order to show us what it takes to win the race, and to show us the purposes that we endure these things.  

Today I want to show you 4 things from this passage today which I hope will serve as an outline to better understand this very important passage.  And I believe it is very important because a lot of Christians today do not realize that things like suffering, and discipline and sacrifice are going to be part of the Christian experience.  Too many preachers and contemporary authors have been teaching a easy believe-ism type of Christianity that promises that if you have faith then your road will be free of obstacles, free of bumps, that living a life of faith is akin to taking a pleasure cruise.  The focus of most exhortation regarding the life of faith is only on what we consider “blessings.”

But the scriptures teach us another emphasis should be understood as well.  There is another truth which parallels the life of blessing, and that is the life of struggle, of difficulty, of wrestling, of a contest, even a battle.  Jesus said “In this world you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.”  And if we are to be overcomers, then we are going to have to endure tribulations and hardships as well, and the key to overcoming them is to realize that God uses such things to discipline us, to teach us, so that we might share in His holiness.  As James 1:3 says, “Consider it all joy brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have it’s perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.”   So God disciplines us for our good, using trails and tribulations and sufferings here on this earth to discipline us, to teach us, how we might become more like Him.  As Phil. 3:10 says, “That I may know Him, and the fellowship of His suffering.”

This race of faith that we are called to run is something that we are to overcome, it’s something that we are to strive for.  It’s actually related here to a contest, something to win.  But it doesn’t come without a cost.  Thus the author says to the Hebrew church that they have not yet striven to the point of shedding blood in vs 4.  Yes, they had suffered some, but there was a sense that they were going to be called upon to suffer even more for the sake of Christ. And they were being warned to press on, and not grow weary and not be discouraged.  Especially in light of the trials that they were going through. And one way in which they could be encouraged was to realize that God was working through the trials to discipline them for their own good and the glory of God.

I want to make sure though you understand the term discipline. We have talked a lot especially in our Wednesday evening Bible study about God’s chastisement. Chastisement often comes in the form of consequences.  And chastisement is definitely a part of discipline. But inherent in the chastisement of God’s people is the principle of correction.  It’s not just punishment.  In fact, our punishment was put on the Lord Jesus at the cross.  So the purpose of discipline is not punishment but correction.  It’s to teach us, to change us, to make us more like Christ.  

The word discipline in the Greek is paideia. It is used eight times in this passage.  In the KJV it is translated chasten and in the NASB it’s discipline.  But the full meaning of the word is found in the classical Greek where it is used to speak of the training of children.  So it speaks of the process by which they are educated, informed, raised up, taught, molded, and yes, that includes chastening, reproofs, correction and so forth.  It’s important to realize the full meaning of discipline before we go on.  And God uses a plethora of means by which to discipline or train us, to bring us to spiritual maturity which include correction, chastisement, chastening, reproof, difficulties, trials, tribulations, hardships, sickness, weaknesses and afflictions. And enduring such discipline is a necessary and essential part of the life of faith.

Thus Peter says in 1Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

Now there are four points, each with two sub points.  The four points are these; first, there are two purposes in discipline, then there are two perils in discipline, then two proofs in discipline, and then two products of discipline.  And they are all found in this text.  First we will notice the two purposes of discipline.  

The first purpose is discovered in the phrase – you have not yet resisted to the point of the shedding of blood.  This speaks of the battle within against the sin nature. Notice how the contest is shifted from running a race to fighting.   Paul makes the same transition in 1Cor. 9:24 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only] one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.  Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then [do it] to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;  but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

There is a war with sin that is going on inside us. Paul speaks of this to a great extent in Romans 7 speaking of this conflict that is in him, where he finds himself doing what he hates.  He says in vs 22, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”  

His prescription then is that he buffets or fights his body.  He disciplines his body. He says elsewhere that he crucifies the flesh daily.  He brings it under subjection to the law of God.  And so the first purpose of the discipline of God which He brings into our life is to cause us to mortify the flesh, to resist the nature of the carnal man within and put it to death.  Paul continues in Romans 8:5-8 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those [who live] according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [is] death, but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”  So the first purpose of discipline is to cause us to live in the spirit and not in the flesh.

The second purpose of discipline is found in the next phrase in vs 4, “in your striving against sin.”  This speaks not of the conflicts within, but of the conflicts without. This is the conflict we are engaged in against sin, against the world forces, against the powers of darkness.  Ephesians 6:12-13 “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. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

The discipline that God brings into our life is the way in which God leads us into battle against the forces of the world.  God’s kingdom is the kingdom of righteousness, and we are in a battle against the kingdom of darkness.  And in this struggle, in our difficulties, in our trials, our afflictions, our tribulations, we exercise righteousness and truth, and through the gospel manifested in us we overcome evil with good. Romans 5:3-5 “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;  and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  And by the exercise of the love of God towards the world, we win the world.

Let’s look next at the two perils of discipline.   So these perils are things that can possibly offend you or discourage you as you encounter the discipline of God in your life.  The first peril is found in vs 5, “Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord…” That means that when God brings discipline into your life there’s a danger that you don’t take it seriously.  You shrug it off.  Maybe you even get mad at God and just decide you’re not going to submit to Him.  The word in the Greek indicates to despise it, or to have disdain for it. 

I think it’s natural to hate discipline, especially when it seems to make your life miserable.  And so it’s possible to have an incident or difficulty come into your life which is not what you want to see happen, and to get mad at God.  To despise the situation so much that you fail to be an overcomer in that situation, but it overcomes you.  You no longer are living by faith, you’re living according to the flesh.  

Maybe a good illustration of this is when someone treats you badly.  Someone says some insulting, hurtful things about you.  And rather than see this as some sort of test of your faith, as an opportunity to react as Christ would have you to react, instead you lash out in anger or retribution.  And as such you have treated disdainfully the discipline of the Lord.  You may have lost the opportunity that you had to show real sacrificial love for someone else, and as a consequence failed to act as an ambassador for Christ.  You acted in self defense rather than showing the sacrificial love of Christ for sinners.

The second peril is the opposite of regarding lightly, and that is described in vs 5 as “Nor faint when you are reproved by Him.”  To faint means to allow the reproof or affliction of God to cause you to sink into some level of despondency. This is when adverse circumstances get you so discouraged that you are close to quitting the race altogether.  You actually begin to give up.  You feel like God is against you, God must not love you.  And so you want to just quit the race. The author says, Don’t get discouraged, don’t become despondent.  That’s a real peril in the life of a Christian.  We are surprised, as Peter warns us about, when we encounter various trials.  We didn’t think hardship was going to be the path of discipleship.  We thought everything always works out good. No, we need to expect trials, expect discipline, expect God’s correction.  That through thorny ways, God leads us to a joyful end.

Then the author gives us two proofs of discipline.  There are two things that are proven by discipline…one, God’s love; two, that you are a child of God.  It’s hard for us to believe sometimes, but discipline or trials and tribulations in life are proof of God’s love for us, and proof that we are His children.  We would oftentimes believe the opposite is true.  And Satan would try to convince us of the opposite; that our trials and tribulations are an indication that God doesn’t love us.  

Notice however what the scripture says in vs 6, “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”  In Revelation 3:19 Jesus affirms His reproof and discipline are evidence of His love for us.  He said,  “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent.”  

A good father is motivated to discipline His children because He loves them.  He wants the best for them.  He wants them to grow into the kind of adults that they should be. A parent that doesn’t discipline their children don’t love their children effectively.  I won’t say that they don’t love their children, but they don’t love them effectively.  Indulgence is not an indication of love.  Giving a child everything that they ask for is not love, it’s laziness on the part of a parent.  Maybe it’s even a sense of guilt that drives parents today to give their children every conceivable luxury.  And as a result this generation is one of the most spoiled, selfish generations in recent history.

But God is a perfect Father.  And He knows what we need in order to become the type of people that He wants us to become. And He knows that oftentimes reproof, suffering, discipline, and sacrifice brings about the best results.  The same is true in training in a sport isn’t it?  We often hear, no pain, no gain.  That’s why the author compares the life of faith with a sporting contest or a battle.  And a loving Father trains His children that they might win.

I grew up in a household where my Dad exercised his right to discipline with a very strict and heavy hand. I had a combination of fear and love for my dad.  Unfortunately, he was not as wise and discerning as he could have been.  Too many times I believe my dad disciplined me out of anger.  I think my mother incited my dad to anger to the point that when he got hold of me and my brother, he took out a lot of that anger on us.  

I remember one night when I was a young teenager, about 12 years old.  And this man came to visit the church who had once been a part of our church but had gone away.  This guy was a reformed drug user who had been saved and lived in my house for a short while.  But he had sort of backslidden and left town, and then a year or so later came back to visit one night. As a young boy I idolized this guy.  He was probably around 27 years old, well built, a kind of tough guy.  And my friend and I thought that he was the coolest guy ever.  He was staying at a woman’s boarding house about 3 miles away and had walked to church, so after church he was walking back to the apartment.  And my friend and I walked with him.  We didn’t intend to go all the way home with him, but we were so enthralled to be walking and talking with him that we didn’t notice the time.  

To make a long story short, we were sitting on his front porch talking about things when my Dad called the landlady who was a member of our church and found out that I was there.  He told her to tell me not to leave he was coming for me.  I guess a few hours had gone by since church was out, and they had been looking all over for me in the dark.  To make matters worse my sister had told my dad that a few weeks before when I got a particularly hard spanking I had said that I wish that I felt like running away from home.  And so I guess Dad figured that I had decided to run away from home and had left with that guy.

Well, I never got a chance to give my side of the story.  I got one of the worst spankings I think I had ever gotten before, and that’s saying a lot.  It wasn’t a spanking, it was more like a beating, I suppose.  My dad never did understand what really happened. And I guess I never forgot that night.  But nevertheless, I know that my dad really loved me.  The problem is that he didn’t know the difference between punishment and correction.  And he let his anger and perhaps fear get the best of him.

But God is not like my father.  The text here in Hebrews makes a distinction in vs 9 saying,  “Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?”  The difference is between our earthly fathers, is that they are but a type or a picture of our heavenly Father, who is the Father of spirits.  That means He is our spiritual Father.  And as such He is perfect, and He is motivated by His love for us, and His desire to make us perfect.  As 1Peter 1:16 says, it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”  And the Father’s discipline is to bring about that likeness in us.

So, we’ve seen the purposes in discipline, to overcome the sin nature in us and the sin in the world, and we’ve seen the perils in discipline; either disdaining discipline or becoming discouraged. We’ve seen the proofs of discipline, that He loves us and that we’re the true children of God. Then there are two products in discipline. Two things that God produces through the trials and hardships or tribulations that we endure. And we see them in verse 9, “Furthermore we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them, shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?”

The first thing that comes as a product of discipline is life. Be subject to the spiritual Father and live.  And that is why it says here in this verse that our spiritual Father wants to subject us to discipline that will give us life, not death; eternal life, abundant life. It’s not just that we will live eternally, it’s that we’ll really live.  The way of sin is death.  The way of rebellion brings pain and trouble.  I said last week at Bible study that the consequences of a life lived as God would have us live is not just a reward in heaven, but a better life here on earth.  There are inherent, built in consequences to sin which is what God wants to prevent from happening in our life.  Jesus has come to give us life, to give us the words of life, that we might know how to really live.  So that we might not have to face the consequences of our rebellion. 

You know, the world tells us that if you want to really live, you need to do the things that the world says are rewarding.  You need to fulfill the lusts and passions of the flesh. That’s really living.  But the truth is that way leads to despair, to shame, to heartache, and ultimately to death. In reality, the believer who is obedient to God’s truth is living the Christian life as it was designed to be lived. The more rebellious you are, the more undisciplined you are, the more disobedient you are, the less you enjoy life and the more you suffer the consequences of sin.  And furthermore, our text teaches that if you aren’t facing the reproof of God when you sin, then that is evidence that you are not actually a child of God at all.  You know, when my dad thought I had run away from home and he was going to discipline me, he did not even attempt to discipline my friend who was also there.  Because my friend was not his son.  But because I was his son, he did discipline me. If you’re living a life of sin and not facing any chastisement or discipline, then chances are you’re not his child.  

But if you are his child, then His discipline is given that we might have the kind of life that He has planned for us.  A life that is full, that is peaceable, that is content, that is holy, that is righteous, that is profitable not only on this earth, but also in the life to come.

And that brings us to the last point, which is the other product of discipline; which is righteousness.  Holiness.  Listen to vs 10, “but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Now notice something in vs 11, he says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful.”  There is a godly sorrow that leads to repentance.  And repentance leads to joy as our fellowship and communion with God is restored.  I don’t want you to get the idea from my story while ago that I was always this innocent victim of my dad’s discipline.  Most of the time I’m sure I deserved what I got.  I was a unholy terror as a kid.  But when my dad got finished disciplining me, most of the time, and I eventually stopped crying over the red marks on my rear end, I would end up coming back in the living room where my dad was sitting in his chair, and I would gradually sidle up to him, until he saw me and motioned me over.  And then I would crawl up onto his lap and lay my head on his chest and he would put his arms around me.  And I knew that I was loved, and that things were ok between us.

That’s the point of God’s discipline towards us as well.  It is to make us holy, righteous and that righteousness is the fruit of peace with God. When we are rebellious towards God, then there is no peace.  But when we submit to Him as our Master and Lord, as our Heavenly Father, and we repent and obey, then we have peace with God.  Our fellowship is renewed.  See, our sin does not make God disown us.  God could never disown us. In Isaiah 49:15-16 God says,  “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.”

God intends through discipline to make us more like Jesus Christ.  He works through hardship, difficulties, trials and tribulations to refine us, purify us, to cleanse us from unrighteousness, to sanctify us and to make us holy.  Even as He is holy.  It is necessary.  It is useful for His purposes.  And in whatever affliction or difficulty we might bear, we can be assured that it is for our good, and for His glory. The discipline of God is building us up to righteousness so that we can live lives that are marked by peace.  

There is a famous line in a hymn written by William Cowper in 1774.  The line says, “Behind a frowning Providence, He hides a smiling face.”  Discipline often seems like God is frowning, like God doesn’t love you.  But behind a frowning God of Providence, there is the love of God for His children.  If you are God’s child, then God is at work in you to conform you to the image of His Son.  And we are conformed to His image by the fellowship in His suffering.  This world of sin, this body of sin, is overcome by suffering and by sacrifice.  And God works in that suffering, to bring about deliverance from sin, through the process of sanctification.  But He does so because He loves you and wants to have fellowship with you.  Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.  But consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Consider Jesus who endured all types of affliction and trials and hardships in His battle against sin. And He has overcome sin and the world and the devil, and now sits at the right hand of God to be our helper, our intercessor, our Great High Priest.  Let us submit to the Father’s discipline in all our afflictions and hardships and trials that we might become like Christ, and have the life of Christ revealed through us to the world.

I suppose that I have been a runner my whole life.  Long before it was popular to go jogging, I used to run long distances as a young boy. I read a lot as a child, my parents choosing not to have a TV in the house, and I was inspired by some of the stories I read of biographical characters of earlier times.  And I suppose from those stories I was inspired to run.  

It’s kind of embarrassing to talk about it now, but I had a great interest in American Indian culture as a young boy, and I read about how particularly the Apache Indians could run tremendous distances.  They had  unique ways of training their young men to become long distance runners.  It was said that an Apache warrior could run down a horse, going more than 20 miles a day. And so I used to pretend I was training to be an Apache warrior and run long distances.  I used to get my younger brother to do it with me.  We would take off our shoes and shirts and run on gravel roads thinking that would make us tough like the Apaches.   

I don’t know if that played into my running interests or not as I grew older.  But I continued to run through high school and I still run 3 or 4 times a week today.   I’m not a fast runner, I’m a long distance runner.  And I’m not even particularly good at that either.  In other words, I don’t run at a fast pace.  My strongpoint is that I just don’t quit.  I just keep plodding along.  And if you are on the road early in the morning you may see this tall old guy that looks like he’s jogging in slow motion down Route 26. When I’m on the road, it often serves as mechanism for my prayer life.  Perhaps I should pray that I don’t get run over or have a heart attack.  But for the most part I just pray about all the things I need to pray for.  And I find that the two go together pretty well, the jogging serving as a cadence for my prayers.  So I say all of that to illustrate that today’s passage is something that I can relate to.  And I suspect that a lot of you here can relate to running yourselves to some degree.  

Our text today likens the Christian life of faith to that of running a long distance race. I think the author is attempting to illustrate the doctrine that was given at the close of chapter 10 in vs 38, “BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”  And then living by faith is likened in chapter 12 to running a long distance race.  illustrating that faith is not just some sort of static or passive thing, once and done, but it’s a life of faith, it’s a pattern of living by faith, persevering by faith that is what is being talked about here.  

He first talks about this race in the sense of the inspiration for the race. I mentioned earlier that I once found inspiration in the lives of early people on the frontier.  Hebrews talks about the inspiration that comes from those who have run the race of faith in the past.  I think he is talking specifically about those men and women of the Hall of Faith, as listed in chapter 11.  

Now notice what he says about these people in vs. 1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  The word “Therefore” ties this back to chapter 11, the men of old that were listed there as heroes of the faith.  And you will notice that in that listing never was simply the starting point of faith given the emphasis, but the work or perseverance in which by living out they illustrated a life of faith.  

 So it’s a process, a pattern of faith, a life of faith that was given to us by this great cloud of witnesses.  And their exemplary faith should inspire us to run with faith.  Some people have interpreted this statement to conclude that it indicates the saints who have gone on before us are in heaven, seated in the clouds of heaven, so to speak, like some sort of amphitheater,  and they are watching us to see what we will do.

That’s not how the better commentators interpret this statement.  But rather it indicates that their lives were a testimony or a witness to us.  Their testimony, their witness of seeing that which is invisible serves as an inspiration for us to do as they did, and run the race that is before us by faith in Christ.

Now my view of eschatology means that I believe the dead in Christ are in Paradise, which is not in heaven, but in the heart of the Earth, so there is no way for the dead to be seated above the clouds in heaven looking down, yet I do believe that to some degree, we know not how much, the dead in Christ are aware of what is going on here.  And though I doubt that is their primary interest, yet I find evidence in scripture that they are aware of what’s going on here.  So to that extent they are witnesses to our lives.  

I’ll just give you a few examples to back that up.  Samuel, when he came up from the dead and spoke to Saul, spoke of things that were happening then.  He was conversant about the present day, even though he was dead.  Another example is given by Jesus in the story of Lazarus and the rich man.  Both the rich man and Abraham spoke of the rich man’s brothers who were still alive. Also another example is at the transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus concerning His ministry. So there is ample indication that they know of what is going on here, but I doubt our lives are the focus of our existence.  But rather the context makes it clear that this cloud of witnesses is a host of witnesses, witnesses to the faith, testimonies to a life of faith, that we are to look to as examples for inspiration to run our race.

Probably one of the few useful things that the internet has produced, amid all the unhelpful aspects of the internet, is youtube. And though youtube has every conceivably bad thing on it, it also has some good things.  For instance, you can fix anything by going on youtube and finding a tutorial.  Even someone as mechanically deficient as I am can usually fix things or learn things from watching youtube videos.  And so I often watch videos about things I am interested in.  Sometimes that includes exercise videos.  And I watch them in hopes that they will inspire me to get going on some exercises and get in shape or lose some weight.  

But what I’ve found is that inspiration alone is not enough.  I can watch four or five exercise videos a day, and never lose a pound.  I watch guys bust out 20 pull-ups, but I can only manage 3.  I may get inspired from watching and decide that starting tomorrow I’m going to start doing pull-ups every day, but by day two or three I’m usually already over it.  Inspiration can be a good thing, but it’s not enough on it’s own.

So what the author of Hebrews tells us is that in addition to inspiration we need to apply preparation. I was going to use the word “perspiration” because that indicates what is involved.  But I think I’ll stick with preparation.  What I mean by that is we need commitment.  We need to add work to our faith.  James said, “Faith without works is dead.”  We have to begin the work, the preparation, the training for the race.  

Notice he says in vs 1, “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  If you’re going to run a race, especially an endurance race, then you must get rid of things that will slow you down or trip you up.  In the King James it says lay aside every weight.  As I’ve said many times in regards to this verse, a weight is not necessarily a sin.  A weight may be something perfectly fine in and of itself, but it’s not the sort of thing you want in a race.  And the reason is that it may slow you down.  It may trip you up.

Someone said that in the ancient Greek games, which may have been the template for this passage, they used to train by running with weights tied to their bodies.  And before the race day, they would take off the weights.  Back when I was young and played basketball, we used to wear ankle weights in hope that it would make us better at jumping.  I was a terrible jumper.  I may be tall, but I can’t jump. Nowadays I think that they say that ankle weights aren’t good for your aquilles tendon.  But anyway, before the game, we would of course take the weights off.  We knew that we couldn’t wear ankle weights in a game and have any chance of winning.

I think that oftentimes in our life of faith, we burden ourselves with a lot of things that serve to keep us from really being effective in this life as Christians.  We weigh ourselves down by things such as possessions, careers, relationships, and so forth, which render us ineffective and inefficient in our faith.  They are not necessarily sinful, but they can become so, if they keep you from accomplishing your purpose.

I think it’s important to realize that the author of Hebrews and the Apostle Paul, talk about this life of faith as not just exercise but a race to be won.  A prize to be gained.  You know, when I run I don’t run in a race. I’m just jogging hoping to see some health benefit.  But they speak of running in a race.  Listen to Paul in 1Cor. 9:24-25 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.  Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then [do it] to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”   Do you think of your life of faith in that way?  As a contest?  As something to be won?  Or do you just see your life of faith as something passive, as just a life of leisure? I believe the apostles see it as a competition, as a goal, as a reward that we are to strive for.  Now that may go against this idea that we talk about so often that the Lord has done everything and we do nothing.  I think we have a responsibility to live by faith. We are responsible to put the spiritual life we have been given to work. 

One of the greatest weights or hindrances to this race of faith comes in the form of distractions.  We tend to lose our focus, to get distracted from our commitment to live for Christ.  I think that’s what is indicated there in the phrase “which so easily entangles us.” We can be tripped up very easily and fall away from our steadfastness as we allow our focus to be distracted by things that are not important. It’s no secret that I love surfing.  And there is nothing wrong with surfing per se.  But it can very easily become a distraction that keeps me from more important things.  And I’m sure you have your distractions as well, it might be  a love for golf, it might be fishing, even perhaps a friend or a family member.  I’m sure God knows what it is, if you don’t.  It’s things that distract you from your race.

And then he says not only to lay aside the weights, but the sin which so easily entangles us.  I’m ashamed to say that I am so easily entangled by sin.  I’m sure that is not the case with you.  But it is for me.  Sin is always crouching at the door.  But as God told Cain, you must master it.  We have victory over sin through our Lord Jesus Christ.  But I’m afraid that we all have a weakness for certain sins.  Your weakness may not be my weakness.  And my weakness may not be your weakness.  But we are have weaknesses.  And we need to lay it aside.  We need to turn from it.  Leave it behind.  Stop holding on to your sin.  

I think the problem is that too often we say, “Well, it’s just a little sin.  It’s not that big of a deal.”  And yet in a race, every little thing ends up making a difference.  I will never forget years ago we led a Christian Surfers missions trip to Eleuthera.  And there were no commercial planes that could handle all of our surfboards and equipment we wanted to take.  Only small planes can land at the airport.  So I found an old WW2 prop plane that was owned by Missionary Aviation, and we chartered it for the trip.  It was one of those planes the paratroopers used to jump from.  They had taken all the seats out of one side of the aisle and put a cargo net so that we could hold all of our surfboards and supplies were were going to be using down there to build a playground. And before the flight, they had us all line up and we had to weigh every little thing that was going on the plane.  They wanted to make sure that we did not exceed the capacity of the plane or it would not be able to make the takeoff. That didn’t exactly give me a lot of confidence in the plane.  

But I think we would be well served if we examined ourselves with such a critical eye.  Our life of faith after all is a matter of life or death.  And little sins, or little weights, can make a crucial difference in our results.  Jesus said we are to count the cost of being His disciples.  And oftentimes that cost is things that we want to hold onto, but really need to lay aside if we expect to win the victory.

Counting the cost speaks of difficulties that will beset us.  The race of faith does not come easily.  And to that end, we must add to inspiration, and preparation, another one, which is determination.  Notice it says, “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  The KJV says, “let us run with patience.”  The Greek word is “hypomone” which should be a familiar word to us.  It’s most well known context is in James 1:3 which says, “Consider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces “hypomone” or endurance.  And let endurance have it’s perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  

Hypomone is translated there as endurance.  But it also means patience, in that when you are suffering, you bear up under it.  To endure it.  Not to rid yourself of the trial, but to endure it patiently, knowing that God uses trials to train and refine us, to complete us that we might be useful to Him.

One thing is clear, is that the race we are called to run is not a sprint, but a marathon.  It’s an endurance race.  And that kind of running requires dedication.  I can tell you from experience, that when you run long distances, your mind will start finding every excuse possible to stop.  Or just walk for a while.  I find it really tempting to stop when I’m about halfway. I start thinking it’s ok if I just walk for a bit.  It takes determination to keep putting one step ahead of the other.  I’ve found that I need to trick my mind when those thoughts come.  My mind will say stop, and I’ll say, just go to that stoplight, or that house, and then you can walk.  And when I get to that house, I either trick myself again or I find that I forgot I was going to walk at that point.  But I keep making small goals for myself to go just a little further.

The life of faith, we must remember is described in chapter 11 vs 1 as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Now that sounds great.  But in actuality it is often a source of discouragement.  How often have you found yourself in a situation and you said, “I don’t know when this will end!”  “I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”  We need  determination, perseverance  so we can endure to the end.   The point is that there is not always an immediate result to our faith.  It’s not a sprint.  It’s a marathon.  It’s going to cost us some sacrifice. It’s going to be painful sometimes.  You’re not always going to feel wonderful. The life of faith is not like going on a pleasure cruise.  But the reward is going to make it all worthwhile.

One of the greatest inspirations for running for me is an ex Navy Seal whose name is David Goggins.  At some point after he had been in service for a while he found himself quite heavy, about 260 lbs. And he decided he was going to do an ultra marathon to honor other Seals who had fallen in battle.  But he had never ran a marathon so first he had to do a race that would qualify him for this marathon.  And so he ran this race of 100 miles, in 24 hours, and he just wouldn’t quit. Everyone else was running in teams, they took turns at different legs of the race.  He ran the whole thing by himself. He had extreme dedication to finish the race, to not quit.  By the end of the race, his feet had several broken bones, he had all these physical problems, but he endured to the end and qualified to enter the next marathon.  Today he has ran in virtually every Ironman marathon in the world.  He is known as a tremendous runner of immense fortitude.  Ironically  he says he hates running.  But he is determined to do his best at it, and to not give up, and he has overcome great hardship and pain in order to accomplish almost super human feats. At last count he competed in over 50 ultra marathons and finished in the top five in about 20 of them.  Incidentally he also set the world record in 2013 for 4030 pull-ups.  Talk about inspiration.

The word “race” in vs 1 comes from the ancient Greek word agona, a word used for conflict or struggle of many kinds, and it was a favorite word of the Apostle Paul.  It suggests that this race is going to be difficult. In order to achieve great things you have to be willing to endure great hardships.  We love to sing the song Amazing Grace that says “through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.”  But the truth is that we are really surprised to encounter any difficulties in the life of faith.  But that’s not what the Bible teaches.  Jesus said in this world you will have tribulation.  They will hate you because they hate Me. They will persecute you. That’s part of the life of faith that we must persevere through.  You have to be willing to make the sacrifice.  And the greatest inspiration of someone who made the greatest sacrifice of all time is of course, Jesus Christ.  So the author says that in addition to inspiration, and preparation, and dedication, we must add consideration. He says  “Consider Jesus.”  

The first step in considering Jesus is according to vs2 is fixing our eyes upon Jesus. Looking unto Jesus.  The idea in the Greek there is to look away from whatever else distracted you, and to fix your eyes on Jesus.  Focus on Jesus.  He has gone before us, and we can go where He has gone.

Let me tell you something.  You can run a lot faster if you have someone in front of you to set the pace.  But people will fail you.  The Old Testament saints of chapter 11 failed in their faith from time to time.  But Jesus never fails.  Jesus was the perfect example of faith, and you can count on Him to lead you in the way that you should go.  

Peter, you will remember took his eyes of Jesus and instead of walking on water he found himself sinking beneath the waves. He started looking around him.  Maybe he looked back at the boys on the boat and was about to say “Hey guys, look at me, I’m walking on….” then glub, glub, glub, the next thing he knew he was drowning. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Peter, perhaps having learned his lesson the hard way, says in 1 Peter 2:21, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in His footsteps.”  I have said before that the original language there refers to a sort of handwriting exercise like they use to teach children how to write.  You trace over the lines on the pattern and learn how to write the letters.  That is how we are to follow Jesus.  Step by step, in the pattern which He has laid out for us.  That’s how you fix your eyes upon Jesus.

Notice it continues by saying, “fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This idea of Jesus as the author and finisher of faith, or of our faith, speaks of the eternal purpose of Christ to become flesh, and to live the perfect life, to submit Himself fully to the Father’s will in all things, to believe in the Word of God, to trust in the care of God and the faithfulness of God.  And we are to trace our steps over His pattern.

He began the race as our representative, and He has finished the race.  He traversed the span of death and hell and time and space and was resurrected, and ascended to heaven to act on our behalf as our intercessor and Great High Priest.  And where He has gone, we can go.  As He was resurrected, so we will be resurrected.  As He is in the presence of the Father, so we will be in the presence of God. Because He lives, we live.

In John 11:25 Jesus said, ““I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and he that lives and believes in Me, shall never die.”  As He is, so shall we be.  But as He  endured the cross, so must we take up our cross and follow Him. As He suffered the shame, so we must suffer shame for the sake of Christ.  Not that there is any shame in following the Lord, but that the world considers it shame.  There is no shame today for anything anymore.  Things that would make our ancestors roll over in their grave are now looked at without blushing, without any sense of shame.  But ironically, that which is noble, that which is good, that which is trustworthy, the life of faith, the life of Christ, is something that is scorned by the world.  And if we are not careful, we will find ourselves hiding the light which we have been given to carry because we are ashamed.  

Paul said in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.”  I always liked the Olympic relay in which they carried the torch.  It was a symbol of the Olympic flame which has it’s roots in the ancient Greek games, and it is carried into every new Olympic Games around the world.  I want to proudly carry the flame which was lit for us by the ancient men and women of faith who ran before us.  I want to carry the flame in honor of the One who has gone on before us into heaven and finished the race and sat down at the throne of God.  The race that we are called to run is so much more important than any earthly games. The Olympic athletes dedicate their lives for a moment’s glory, for a temporal crown.  How much more should we dedicate our lives to run for an eternal crown of glory?  

Consider Jesus.  Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.  He is our reward.  One day we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is in all His glory.  Let us not grow weary and lose heart.  

One of the hardest parts about running an endurance race is that it is easy to get discouraged out there all alone running along the side of the road.  It’s early, it’s sometimes cold, sometimes hot, sometimes raining.  And it’s easy to get discouraged in the race of faith as well.  But in the race of faith we do not have to run alone.  The Spirit of Christ is given to live in us that we might have the strength to run, that we might have the comfort and help of someone who will be with us.  Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.  We can run the race well, we can finish the race, the can be victorious in the race, because He not only has gone before us, but He goes with us.  Jesus said, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Don’t lose heart.  Don’t be discouraged.  But encourage one another day by day.  And do not forsake the assembling of yourself together as is the habit of some, for that is how we are to encourage one another to keep running the race. Lay aside the hindrances and run the race.  Run with endurance.  Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and keep on keeping on. The reward that is set before us will make it all worthwhile when we will one day see Jesus face to face and be with Him forever.  

Paul said in Phil 3:7-8, 13-14 “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, … 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of [it] yet; but one thing [I do:] forgetting what [lies] behind and reaching forward to what [lies] ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  I pray you run in such a way that you might gain that prize. 

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. 

Today we continue to look at the hall of faith as recorded in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11.   And we have spent several weeks looking at various Old Testament characters who exhibited faith, the kind of faith which Hebrews says in chapter 10 results in righteousness,  which in turn results in life.  

Last time we looked specifically at how faith  perseveres unto death, and even beyond death, to lay hold of the promises of God.  The title of that message was Facing death through faith.  I would encourage you to go to our website and read that message if you missed it last week. I don’t want to review all that I said last week, but rather press on in regards to this subject of facing death in faith.  Death is inevitable for all men. Heb 9:27 says “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”  But there is a choice that is given to us in the gospel.  And that choice is to believe God, to have faith in God, and receive life that continues after the physical death of this body, or to disobey God, and to receive eternal damnation.  

Now though the focus of our sermon today is on Rahab, and her faith, there is verse 29 we don’t want to skip over which mentions the faith of the Israelites as they passed through the Red Sea.  And I would just mention that in that example we see the choice between life and death pictured very clearly.  The Israelites after leaving Egypt were caught between the Red Sea in front and the Egyptian army behind, and hemmed in by mountains on either side.  They were facing death, but they believed in God’s word, and they were saved by marching through the Red Sea, as though they walked on dry land.  

The Egyptians though, they were disobedient and unbelieving.  Time and time again God had given them the word of God through Moses, accompanied by signs and wonders from on high, and yet they continued to harden their hearts.  The result was that even when they finally gave in and let the children of Israel go, they changed their minds and pursued them with the intention of doing them harm.  And so though they had an equal courage to that which the Israelites had, and went boldly into the Red Sea on dry land, they did not have faith in God, and in fact were disobedient to what God had said that they should do, and so God caused the waters to return so that they were all drowned.

Now this illustrates the essence of the gospel.  Man is under the condemnation of death, and by faith in God we are granted life.  That’s the essence of the gospel.  And in a short form, that’s what is illustrated in vs29. It also illustrates that faith must be founded in the truth.  The Egyptians illustrate a type of faith in going into the Sea, but it is not united in truth and so it failed. Faith is not a saving entity in and  of itself.  It is faith in the truth of God.

The author then proceeds to give another illustration,  exhibiting in part the faith of the Israelites, and in part the faith of Rahab the Canaanite.  Now Rahab is who I would like to really focus on here today, and yet we are going to touch on a lot of other things in relation to our study of her faith.  But as a precursor to that, I must mention  the fact that Rahab’s inclusion here in this list of the heroes of the faith, is a really remarkable thing.

First of all, it’s remarkable in that she is a woman.  Of all the Old Testament heroes mentioned in this text, Rahab is the only woman to get prime billing.  It’s very interesting when you think of all the women of the Old Testament, and yet Rahab is the only one that is singled out as a woman of faith.  Now some of you perhaps are ready to raise your hand and say what about Sarah, wasn’t she mentioned in vs 11?  And you’re right, she is mentioned.  But if you were paying attention a few weeks ago when we got to that text, you will recall we spoke of the fact that the original Hebrew indicates it was the faith of Abraham and not Sarah who was being commended.  Remember Sarah laughed at the prophecy of the Lord?  But, irregardless, many translators believe it should be better interpreted as “By the faith of Abraham, Sarah received the power to conceive…”

But my intention is not to debate that again today.  Sarah as well as many other women such as Deborah and Esther and Ruth have many exemplary traits which are given as examples to us.  But I would point out that the author of Hebrews choses to highlight out of all of them, Rahab.  And that is extraordinary because of two things.  One she is a Gentile, a Canaanite, belonging to the city of Jericho, the enemy of God. And secondly, that she is a prostitute.

Now of the first point, from our perspective, being a Gentile is not such a big deal.  But from a Jewish perspective it was everything.  Gentiles were considered on a par with dogs.  And in those days, people didn’t have the same view of dogs that we have today.  They didn’t make pets out of dogs.  They didn’t buy them expensive toys and food and spend hundreds of dollars on them at the dog salon.  They didn’t pick up their poop from the sidewalk.  Dogs were considered a public nuisance.  And Jews considered Gentiles as dogs.  They despised them.  So for a Gentile to be brought into the family of God, when Jews thought they were the only ones deserving of God’s grace, was a real shocker.  And as you know, we all are Gentiles.  We too were outside of the covenant of God to Abraham.  But God has extended his grace to us by faith in Him, that as Galatians 3:7 says it might be the children of faith who are the sons of Abraham, and not just the descendants from the flesh.

The second point we can more easily identify as problematic.  And that is that Rahab was a harlot. Notice, even the author of Hebrews writing hundreds of years later still gives her this title.  Harlot.  There are some sins that go before us, and other follow after.  1Tim. 5:24  “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their [sins] follow after.”  Being a harlot seems to be one of those sins that do both.  It’s hard to lose the stigma of being a harlot in any age, no matter how contrite they may later be, or what they may later become.

But the fact is that sin is sin.  And most of us have committed sins that are just as grievous, if not worse than harlotry. The only credit we have is our sin is not so obvious.  But there are no such things as secret sins.  We may think so, but God sees all things, and He sees our hearts. Heb. 4:13 says, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” So there are no secret sins.  But we tend to look more disdainfully on those whose sins go before them.  Those sins which have immediate, drastic results like addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, etc.  We look down our noses a lot of times at such people caught up in those sins, and yet the sins of jealousy, lust, covetousness, idolatry, rebellion, hatred, lying, and such things we do not judge as harshly.  Because perhaps they are not so easily seen by others, and we hope are not so evident in us.

Nevertheless, God sees all.  And He certainly saw the sins of Rahab. And yet she is commended for her saving faith. Well, that’s God’s way of letting us know that the gospel comes to people who are in the natural sense unlikely prospects for God’s grace.  Jesus said I have come to seek and to save those that are lost.  We aren’t good prospects for salvation because of our merits, or because of our morals, but we are good prospects because we are sinners.

So Hebrews commends Rahab for her faith.  Twice in the account in Joshua 2 it says that she was spared because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.  But if you read the story, then you know that there is a problem with the way she does that.  The king hears of the spies and he sends men to Rahab’s house to seek them out, and demand that she give them up. Rahab had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.”  So she deliberately deceived the king’s men.

Now perhaps I would be better off to avoid this subject, but I can’t help but comment here because so many commentators over the centuries have made this out to be a sin on the part of Rahab.  And their argument is that if she would have told the truth, God would have delivered the spies another way.  But while I don’t doubt the purposes of God will be accomplished, I don’t know if I wholeheartedly agree with the premise that what she did was a sin.  And that is because the whole idea of a spy is to deceive, isn’t it? And these men sent by Joshua were spies. If you go into a land to spy out the land, the fact is you’re going to have to be devious, deceiving if you expect to be successful.  And so the question is, is it permissible to deceive in such cases.  At that point, I think Rahab had decided to be true to God rather than be true to her country.  Her theology was already established, and this was her chance to act in faith to God rather than in fidelity to her nation.  Her nation was an enemy of God.  

And I realize that this raises a lot of sticky questions that are not easily answered. Some of you may be familiar with the story of Diettrich Boenhoffer.   He was a pastor and theologian in Germany during the time of Hitler.  And he participated in some degree in a plot to overthrow Nazi Germany and specifically to assassinate Hitler.  And eventually he was captured and hung at the galllows, just three weeks before the Allies liberated the prison camp. He is considered a modern day martyr for the faith.  And yet there are some questions that arise from his working as a intelligence officer for the Nazi’s.  And yet at the same time working secretly to overthrow the government and assassinate Hitler.  I’m not sure how much subterfuge he had to do in order to do that.  But isn’t subterfuge in reality false representation?  Are we going to say that a Christian could never be a spy in a foreign country?  I think we are sometimes too quick to judge that which we are never likely to have to endure ourselves.  But I mention this today not to be controversial, but because there may come a day in our lifetime, when we may be faced with similar situations and have to make decisions as to what to do.  I will say one thing dogmatically.  It’s never right to deny Christ under any circumstances.  In vs35 we find the statement that people of faith who were persecuted did not accept release so that they might obtain a better resurrection.  I think that refers to them not recanting their faith.  Christians in particular during Roman times were given the option of recanting and they would be freed.  It’s never ok under any circumstances to deny Christ.  Because our faith is expressed in our confession of faith.  So as a Christian, it’s unthinkable that we could ever deny our faith for the purpose of saving our lives or any other lives.   

Well, I’m not going to try to answer every question there, other than to say that Rahab is commended for her faith in regards to how she treated the spies.  Now there is another aspect of Rahab which is given as a type to us.  And that is she was a part of a condemned people.  God pronounced His judgment upon the land of Canaan, and particularly upon the people of Jericho.  They were under the condemnation of death.  They were destined for destruction.  For 40 years they had watched the Israelites, and seen the power of God manifested towards His people.  Little did most of the Jews realize as they traveled through the wilderness  that they were intended by God to be a testimony to a watching world.  And yet most of the time during those years all they did was complain.  They turned again and again to rebellion and complaint and mumbling against Moses.  And so God was not pleased with them and let that generation die in the wilderness.  

But nevertheless, the Gentiles living in Canaan and it’s surrounding areas had multiple witnesses to God’s grace towards Israel.  Rahab recounts in Joshua 2 what their perception had been of the events since the Jews were delivered from Egypt.  She said in Joshua 2:9-13 “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard [it,] our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”

That’s a pretty incredible testimony, isn’t it?  This is from a  woman who had no scriptures, had no prophet, had only the testimony of  God’s faithfulness in the life of the Jews, and yet from that she manages to come to faith in God.  That illustrates something that I have said many times, and that’s the greatest sermon that is ever preached is lived out in the life of a person transformed by the Spirit of God.  You are preaching a message to the watching world around you by your day to day life.  They may not seem to listen to what you say, but they see the way you live your life, and that speaks more to them than any sermon. And that goes for your family as well.  They are watching what you do more than hearing what you say.

So God had determined that Jericho is going to be destroyed, Rahab is one of the citizens of the city of Jericho and in this condemned city, she belonged with the others as condemned men and women. That, of course, reminds us of what this world is like, for that is what we all are naturally as we are born. We are part of a condemned world. We are condemned men and  women. The Bible makes it very plain that by virtue of the one sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden, all have sinned and are condemned.  But just as salvation from death came to Rahab on the basis of faith, salvation from condemnation comes to us on the basis of faith.

Now let’s look at this faith of Rahab.  Her faith comes not as a result of hearing about the love of God.  But her faith comes in response to learning of the judgment of God. She knows that God is going to destroy her city.  And she responds in faith to that impending judgment.  I think that we tend to minimize the judgment of God today.  We dare not speak of hell.  Of judgment against sin.  But without God’s judgment then there is no appreciation for the cross.  Before we can appreciate the love of God, we must come to understand the justice of God and learn to fear God. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”  So on the basis of that fear of God she asks for salvation from death for herself and her family.

Then in response to her confession of faith, the men offer her exemption from death.  But only if she does what they tell her to do.  Notice vs14,  So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.” … 17 The men said to her, “We [shall be] free from this oath to you which you have made us swear,  unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household. It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood [shall be] on his own head, and we [shall be] free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood [shall be] on our head if a hand is [laid] on him.”

I believe it was Clement in the first century who first published a sermon on the typology of the scarlet cord as a type of Christ.  When Rahab hung the scarlet cord outside the window upon the wall of Jericho, it was a sign of her faith in God.  It was obedience to the command of the spies.  If she failed to put out the cord, if she failed to bring in her family members under her roof, then she and her family would perish along with everyone else in the city.  The basis of our salvation is  suggested by that cord of scarlet that was hung from the window, fastened in the window. When we think of the fastening of the cloth hung from her window, we think of the Lord hanging on the cross, and we are saved by His shed blood for us.  So the scarlet cord is a foreshadowing of the cross of Christ.

Many years ago I used to deal in antiques and specialized in antique American Indian items.  And one of the things I used to look for were old Navajo blankets.  The ones that were really valuable were ones that had the very early dies.  And one of the first dyes that they had access to came from trading with the Spanish, and it was called cochineal.  Cochineal was used to make scarlet thread from ancient times.  It was derived from crushing a tiny bug.  And so it was very costly.  So perhaps there is even some symbolism to be found even in the cost of the dye.  Scarlet was a very costly dye color then as well.  And furthermore it came as a result of crushing.  Isaiah 53 says, “He was crushed for our iniquities.”  Rahab did not realize all that cord symbolized, but she had faith in what had been revealed to her, and was obedient to it.

Well, the story is familiar to all of you, I’m sure.  The Israelite spies made it back to the camp of Joshua, and the Lord instructed the Israelites to march around the city for 6 days, never uttering a word.  And on the seventh day, they were to go around 7 times, and then let out a shout and the walls would fall down. I can imagine the townspeople of Jericho watching this from the walls.  These walls by the way were immense.  Moses is recorded as saying that they reached up into heaven.  And Rahab her home built into the outer wall, so that her window faced out of the city.

But I can imagine how the citizens must have reacted to the sight of a million Jews marching around the city without saying anything.  It must have seemed bizarre, maybe even comical after a while.  I imagine they hurled insults and various objects at them, calling them names and so forth.  They ridiculed them, I’m sure.  And I can’t help but think of the correlation to the verse which says that “The word of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us who are being saved, it’s the power of God.”  

Why seven days?  Is 7 a magic number?  I don’t think so.  Seven represents completion in the Bible.  And for seven days God gave them time to repent and they did not. I believe that the possibility of salvation by faith was extended to Jericho just as it had been to Rahab.  And yet they hardened their heart during the patience of God, whereas Rahab prepared her house.  Peter says in 2 Peter 3 that we are to regard the patience of God as salvation. God patiently waited 120 years during the time of Noah before bringing on the flood, and yet no one was saved but Noah and his family.  The invitation of God stands until the patience of God runs out.  And one day the patience of God will be completed here on earth in our day as well, and the door will be shut, and the wrath of God will commence upon the condemned. I wonder if we truly believe that.  If we did, I can’t help but think we would be more fervent in our appeals to those that are lost.

But by faith the result is that the condemned sinner is brought to safety. And we read in Joshua chapter 6: 25, “And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day.”  After the walls collapsed, which must have killed most of the people especially as they were probably standing on the walls, the Israelites rushed in and slew every living creature as God commanded. And then they set the city on fire. And Rahab being saved from Jericho, which is burning, is a beautiful illustration of the saving of a brand from the burning, and an illustration of the destruction of the heavens and earth by burning as Peter describes in 2Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

Notice also the witness of her faith.  She brought her family under her roof, having convinced them of their need to trust in the God of the Israelites.  And as a result they were saved from destruction.  Any Christian who has been converted and has no concern for his own family, does not bring them before the Lord in prayer, does not seek opportunity to say something to them concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, his faith is a very doubtful kind of faith. The very first thing that she’s concerned about is her family.

I am sure that you all here are concerned about the faith of your family.  And yet I will ask you, when you have the opportunity to invite them to church, where they can hear the gospel preached, where they can see the testimony of Christ being lived out, do we find an excuse for not bringing them?  Do we seem to care only about our own destiny and not really about our loved ones? In Charles Spurgeon’s message on Rahab he says, “The spirit of proselyting is the spirit of Christianity, and we ought to be desirous of possessing it. If any man will say, “I believe such and such a thing is true, but I do not wish any one else to believe it, I will tell you, it is a lie; he does not believe it, for it is impossible, heartily and really to believe a thing, without desiring to make others believe the same. And I am sure of this, moreover, it is impossible to know the value of salvation without desiring to see others brought in.”

And that leads us to another  aspect of her faith, which is the exclusivity of salvation.  There was no salvation anywhere else. In John chapter 10, the Lord says, “I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, shall go in and out, find pasture.” And elsewhere He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.”  There is but one place of salvation, when Jericho is destroyed, and that’s Rahab’s house on the outside wall of the city. One safe place! Today, there is one safe place and that place is Jesus Christ!  There is one safe place, and that is where the word of God is preeminent and authoritative and true, in the house of the Lord.

There is  another place in scripture where Rahab is talked about and that is found in James 2:25 “In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?  For just as the body without [the] spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”  So the faith of Rahab was a faith that was working.  It wasn’t just a profession of faith.  Notice back in our text in vs 31, it says that Rahab did not perish along with those who were disobedient.  So there is a link between faith and obedience.  Faith requires action.  It requires stepping out in obedience to God’s word.

And, finally, Rahab’s faith provides a picture of spiritual blessing. In Matthew 1:5-6 we read that a prince of Judah by the name of Salmon was the father of Boaz by a woman named Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king, and thus of the line of Jesus Christ.  Think of that, Rahab, a harlot, brought into the family of God, not only brought into the family of God, but in time married Salmon, a prince of Judah, and from the prince of Judah there has come the true prince, making her one of the great, great-grand mothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Rahab, the harlot, shows that no one need despair at the judgment of God coming upon the world. As Paul said “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”  Faith in Christ results in life everlasting for those who were formerly condemned to destruction.  I hope that you have such faith in Christ, and have committed your life to live for Him.  There is hope in none other.  And I trust like Rahab, you will see the blessing of God upon your life, as you live in His service and that you will see the salvation of your family, through the witness of your faithfulness.  If you do not have the assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ, then believe in Him today, and call upon Him to save you.  

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”

In our study of Hebrews we have come to the great faith chapter, chapter 11, and the author is giving a roll call of the heroes of faith.  He introduced this doctrine of faith in chapter 10 vs 38, saying that “my righteous one shall live by faith.”  And we have said that the emphasis given in that verse is on “shall live.”  So he says that righteousness is granted on the basis of faith.

Then, you will remember he described faith in chapter 11 vs 1, saying, “Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.”  And in our message last week we concluded that based on the context of that statement we might say faith is being sure of what we hoped for, and certain of what we do not see, as revealed by the word of God, so that we might live in accordance to that faith.

And that brought us to the hall of fame of faith, in which he gives illustrations of living faith in the men of old.  He started with Abel, who was an example of the worship of faith, then Enoch, who illustrates the walk of faith, then Noah illustrates the working of faith.  We looked at all three of those men last time.  

Now this week we begin to look at his account of the faith of Abraham.  Abraham is often called the father of faith, or the father of the faithful.  In Romans 4:16 Paul says that salvation is of faith “according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”   And it’s interesting that all  three major world religions consider Abraham as their father, Christians, Jews and Muslims. 

Abraham’s faith illustrates all of the aspects we have seen so far in the previous men of old, and then some.  He is a great example of living faith.  He is the premier example of saving faith as well.  We are given Abraham as an example of saving faith in Romans 4:3,  Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23, all of which say essentially the same thing, which quote from Genesis 15:6, which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

In other words, Abraham is given as the premier illustration that men are saved by faith and not by works. He was justified by faith in the Lord. But as James says, faith without works is dead.  And to that end, James says that faith produces works.  James 2:21-23  “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?  You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;  and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”  In other words, Abraham was justified by acting on that faith, not just by passively believing, but actively trusting and then acting upon that belief in what God had promised. 

Now that sort of living faith is what I think the author of Hebrews wants to illustrate here.  That not just a profession of faith, but  a life of faith that is essential to the Christian life.  I have determined that there are 7 characteristics of living faith that are illustrated for us here in the life of Abraham.  There are many things that can be learned from the life of Abraham, but these 7 characteristics are given to us here in this passage, and I think that they are all examples that are for our benefit, if we are to truly live by faith and receive approval from God.

Number one, Abraham illustrates the obedience of faith.  Vs 8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” 

Notice first that Abraham was called by God.  The scriptures clearly teach that God calls men and women to follow Him, to become His disciples. There is a sovereign call of God that is God’s prerogative, and I confess that I do not understand how it works.  But I am satisfied that He is just, and He is good, and that He has come to seek and to save those that are lost.  But though I do not understand His call, yet I believe it’s His divine right, and no man comes to Christ unless God draws him. 

But though that may be true, it is also true that it’s man’s responsibility to respond in obedience to that call.  And somehow God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are both in play.  I am not responsible for God’s call, but I am responsible for my obedience to that call.  And Abraham was found faithful because he was obedient to the call of God.  He went out from the land of Ur of Chaldee, a pagan country, the land of his fathers, who were idolators, and he went out following the call of God.  He acted in obedience to the word of God.  It’s so important to recognize that if Abraham said he believed God but remained where he was, then it would be evident that he did not have faith.  But he was obedient to God’s call, which was the evidence of his faith.

And that an example of  faith according to vs 1, isn’t it? “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Abraham went out not knowing where he was going, as vs 1 indicates faith is the evidence of things not seen.  Faith steps obediently into the unknown being assured that what God has said promised was true.  Let’s not ever minimize the importance of obedience. Faith and obedience are inseparable.  As James said, your obedience by your works is evidence of your profession of faith.  Bottom line, if you say you love God, but don’t do the works of God, then either you are a liar or God is.  I would suggest that the evidence for your faith is your obedience. 

Obedience doesn’t mean perfection though.  Anyone who has studied Abraham knows he wasn’t perfect.  He fell short several times in his life.  But his faith justified him so that when God recounts the life of Abraham he says he was considered righteous in the sight of God because of his faith.

Secondly, Abraham lived by faith. This has already been said, but it’s illustrated in vs9 “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign [land,] dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;  for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

I think a lot of us are happy to consider ourselves saved by faith, but then we live according to what we think is the reality of the world.  Abraham was in the world, but not of the world.  He didn’t live in a palace, which he probably could have afforded, simply because he was looking for the city of God.  His citizenship was in heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem.  Some of us are living like we are going to be here forever.  I remember many years ago when I was a successful antiques dealer, I built a big brick house in the Williamsburg style.  And I spared no expense in making sure all the details were correct for the period.  I had wide plank flooring throughout, 10 foot ceilings, four fireplaces, the works.  And I told myself that I would live there all my life, and then I would pass it on to my kids and they could live there, maybe their kids after them.  But God had other plans.  He took my house away from me that I might not be so attached to things of this world, and to have my hope fixed on the house which God is preparing for me.  Abraham didn’t put down roots  in this world.  He was looking forward to what God had prepared for him, and furthermore, he separated himself from the idolatry of the world, even to the extent of leaving his family.  Nothing was more important than being close to the Lord.

Thirdly, Abraham looked by faith. Vs10, “he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  Another way of saying that might be that Abraham kept his eyes upwards.  He had a spiritual perspective.  He saw through the lens of hope in a future which God promised him.  He was not focused on the reality of his present circumstances, but he was focused on eternal things.  That eternal perspective is illustrated in vs 13, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” 

Listen, there is a real temptation in evangelical circles today to think of the Christian life in terms of the physical, and not the spiritual.  We want to ascribe faith to the idea that God wants us to be successful, God wants us to be healthy, wealthy and wise. God wants us to live our best life now, and that means that we get to have our cake and eat it too.  I used to think that way when I was an antiques dealer.  I thought that being a Christian meant that God would bless me financially and materially, and bless me in regards to my health.  I had to go through some really difficult times, financial ruin, physical illness, seeing my career go up in smoke, and the loss of those things that made me change my perspective, from me being the center of my world, to God being the center of my world.  Abraham kept looking up.  He had a spiritual perspective and looked for fulfillment of God’s promises in eternity.

The fourth aspect of faith we see in the life of Abraham is the power of faith. Now vs 11 illustrates this principle.  But there are some problems in the translation.  And the best translators think that this verse is speaking of Abraham’s faith in regards to Sarah’s ability to conceive.  Now I can’t explain that, since I’m not a Hebrew scholar.  But those that are think that is the proper meaning of this text.  Anyhow, it takes two to tango, as they say, so I think it’s fair to include both Abraham and Sarah as having the power of faith to conceive, though they were both physically well beyond their time in life when that would have been possible.  

So vs 11 should read, “By faith Abraham also together with Sarah received ability, or the power to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since he considered Him faithful who had promised.”  Paul said in Romans 4:19 concerning Abraham, “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.  Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

You will remember that God gave Abraham the promise 25 years before that he would have a son, and yet God waited until there was no human possibility any more in Abraham or Sarah’s bodies, until he was 100 years old before bringing about the conception of Isaac, that we might know that the power of God is not limited by what is humanly possible, but His power is made perfect in our weakness. God is the God of impossibles.  Jesus said in Mark 10:27 “With men [it is] impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”  But as a caveat, let me remind you that the impossible was according to the promise of God.  God promised it, with man it was impossible, but God’s power overcame man’s weakness.

The next characteristic of the faith of Abraham is he had faith even in death. Verse13 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.  For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.  And indeed if they had been thinking of that [country] from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Abraham and his heirs were convinced that God would fulfill His promises to them, and even in death they continued to look forward o the fulfillment of those promises.  They believed in the promises so fully, that their faith was not diminished by death.  And that is because faith believes that eternal life is from God, and though this body may pass away, they will continue to live through Him.  

Christian faith confidently looks beyond death, because we believe in the promise of everlasting life.  Jesus said in Mark 12:26 concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, “But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the [passage] about [the burning] bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’?  “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living…”  In other words, Jesus was saying that the patriarchs were still living. 

And Jesus said in John 11:26 “everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  Well, Abraham certainly believed in that, because Jesus said later, that Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56).  Hebrews 2:14 tells us that Satan keeps us in bondage through the fear of death, but Christ has died to take away death and render him powerless.  That’s the triumph of our faith; death has lost it’s power.

The 6th characteristic of the faith of Abraham is probably his most famous, and that the testing of his faith. In vs 17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;  it was he to whom it was said, ‘IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.’”

Abraham’s offering up of Isaac was the supreme demonstration of his faith.  All of the aspects of faith were tested in this great event.  The test of one’s faith reveals the character of one’s faith. And Abraham’s test of faith revealed the character of his worship.  In fact as I’ve often pointed out, worship is first mentioned specifically in the Bible in this context.  When Abraham is about to leave his servants and travel on to the mountain alone with Isaac, he says in Genesis 22:5, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” What an amazing way to speak of sacrificing your child, as worship to God. I’m ashamed to consider how we have trivialized worship today, merely clapping hands and watching people sing.  The first point of worship is sacrifice, and that is, according to Romans 12:1 primarily laying down your bodies, your life, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship.  

So Abraham offered up his son, which he had waited faithfully for 25 years to receive from God, and he called it worship.  Next  revealed  in this test is Abraham’s obedience.  Abraham didn’t delay, he immediately got up early the next morning and set out on the three day journey to Mt. Moriah. He was obedient even though it must have broken his heart.  He was obedient even though it must have been unbearably hard.  He was obedient even though he could not see how it could possibly work out.  He was obedient because he valued friendship with God as more important than any human relationship.  Thus James said Abraham was called the friend of God.  Jesus said, “How can you say to Me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say?”  If you love the Lord, then you will be obedient to the Lord and put Him first above all else.

The other primary aspect of Abraham’s test is that it revealed his faith in the face of death.  Abraham not only believed in life after death, but he believed that God was able to raise the dead.  Our author makes the point that Abraham had received a specific promise; that “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.”  So Abraham believed God’s promise so completely, that he knew that somehow God would have to raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill that promise. 

Notice also the text I read from Genesis 22 while ago, Abraham said “the boy and I will go over there, and WE will worship and return to you.”  So Abraham had supreme confidence in the promise of God, and in the power of God to raise even the dead.  What faith!  But again, I want to remind you that in every circumstance, in every testing, Abraham’s faith is founded not on his own preferences or wishes, but upon the promises of God.  Faith without an underlying promise of God is not faith at all, its’ just wishful thinking.

The last point is almost a restatement of the previous one, Abraham calculated his faith. The text says considered, or in other versions its accounting, or considered, or reasoned.  All of which are trying to express the idea in our modern lingo that Abraham did the math. Our faith is founded on the promises of God which cannot fail.  He considered all that God had said, all that God had brought about, all that God had promised concerning the future, and he calculated that God was able to raise the dead.  Now I’m sure that Abraham had never seen anyone ever raised from the dead before.  But when he considered all that God had promised and what God had done, he deduced that was God’s only option.  Because he knew that God kept His promises, His word will not fail.  

And though none of us have ever witnessed someone being raised from the dead, we believe in the promise of God that we who are dead in Christ will rise first, then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with the Lord at the last trumpet, and we will live forever with the Lord.  I hope we believe it as fervently and calculatingly as Abraham did.  After all, we have the resurrected Jesus who has gone on before us, being witnessed by 500 people after his death.  Abraham had none of that.  

But what else Abraham saw and believed in this is something special as well.  And that is the author says “from which he also received him (that is Isaac) back as a type.”  What that is referring to I have already mentioned.  But in this illustration of the ram caught in the thicket to provide a substitute for Isaac, was a parable or a type of Jesus, who was the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world.  And in light of that illustration, many believe is what is meant by Jesus saying, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”  

In other words, Abraham recognized what God was promising.  That through Isaac, His seed would be called, through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed, and He that was to come would be the one who would crush the serpent’s head, by offering Himself as our substitute, to take our place in death, and God would raise Him from the dead, and seat Him on the throne of majesty on high, as our Savior and Lord.  Abraham saw figuratively at that point Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God who would take away the punishment due to us.  No wonder Abraham rejoiced to see that day.  He received life for his son, and in the ram caught in the thicket he saw the antitype of Christ, the Savior of the world.  

Well, that’s the faith of Abraham.  It’s saving faith.  It’s faith to live by.  It’s faith to die by.  It’s a life of faith.  But that life of faith must have a beginning.  We are born again by faith in Jesus Christ.  To believe in Him is first and foremost believing in who He is and what He came to earth to do for me, and what He ever lives to do as my High Priest.  And my response to His call is to repent of my sins, and turn from the world and follow Him in obedience.  And God said my faith is credited as righteousness.  By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, its a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. I pray that you respond to Him in faith today, and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, that you may receive new life through Him and that you might continue to live by faith that we might have victory over sin and the world and even death. 

As we finished up the last chapter, you will remember that I said that the writer was making an introduction into the life of faith.  He has spent 10 chapters telling us who Jesus Christ is, and what He came to do, and what He is now doing, and what He will do in the future. And if we are going to be able to draw near to God, it must be through Jesus Christ, and by Jesus Christ. And that is our goal, to draw near to God, to be reconciled to God, to have life through God.

But if we are to draw near to God, then it must be by faith in what Jesus has done, by faith in what He is doing and what He will do, and faith in what He has told us to do. And so the writer concluded chapter 10 with one tremendously important principle in vs38, “My righteous one shall live by faith.”  And we said that the emphasis in that verse is on the words, “shall live.”  It is a living faith.  It is  trusting and acting in faith in what God has said.

So in chapter 10, faith was contrasted to knowledge.  Knowledge without living faith was shown to be what faith is not.  In this chapter then we are told what faith is.  And that is how the writer starts the chapter, by saying what faith is.   But rather than giving us just a definition of faith, the writer tells us what faith does.  This famous chapter known as the faith chapter, or the account of the heroes of faith, is full of the works of those heroes.  As James said, “faith without works is dead.”  And these are examples of living faith.

Here, the word faith indicates the belief or knowledge which leads to faithfulness, and the hope that without seeing, believes it true, and acts accordingly.  So this is not simply a doctrinal definition of faith, but statement of what faith does, and enumerated by many illustrations of men and women living in faith.

In vs 1, then, the author says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  It’s a parallel statement, a two part description of what faith does.  Faith is the assurance or some versions translate “substance” of things hoped for.  Both are indicated here, meaning the basis, the confidence of things hoped for. .

Now lest we run away with that statement and conclude that everything we might wish for is therefore Biblical faith, on the contrary it means that which is true.  And the evidence of that being true is that our hope is founded upon the scriptures, upon the word of God. Faith is not wanting something to be true, and then wishing it to be true, and therefore it can become true. The “things hoped for” are not mere figments of the imagination; their basis is the word of God, and therefore they are true though not yet realized. Faith is believing God’s promises to be true, though there might not be any evidence that it is true.

The early church father Chrysostom said, “Faith gives reality or substance to things hoped for.”

Last week I said that faith looks back at what God has done, and what God has said.  And in vs 1 we see that hope is an essential element of faith, in that it looks forward to what God has promised to do.  That forward looking apect of faith is indicated in the phrase quoted in the previous chapter, the just shall live by faith.

And the second part of that description is that faith is the evidence or conviction of things not seen.   We see the ground wet in the morning, and though we did not see it rain, and there may be no clouds in the sky, yet we believe the evidence indicates that it did rain.  So we see the evidence of God and His promises fulfilled, though we were not there to see all of them.  We believe in the evidence of scripture, both in it’s prophecy and in it’s fulfillment.  We believe in it’s historicity and it’s authority to determine our life, and then act on that faith.

So then faith is being sure of what we hoped for, and certain of what we do not see, as revealed by the word of God, so that we might live in accordance to that faith.  

In vs 2, the writer adds, “For by it, [for by faith] the men of old gained approval.”  Literally: obtained a good testimony.  They obtained a good testimony from God.  They gained approval from God.  Romans 4:3 “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”  That is merely an embellishment on the statement in chapter 10 which we have been quoting, “My righteous one shall live by faith.” Our righteousness comes on the basis of our faith in God.  That is how we get approval from God. 

That principle is stated in Philippians 3:9 which says, “and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”  So we gain righteousness through faith, specifically faith in Christ’s atonement for our sin.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, [God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”  Through our faith in Christ and His work, God transfers our sin upon Jesus, and His righteousness upon us, that we might be approved by God, that we might draw near to God and receive life through Him.

Now notice that they obtained a testimony from God that they were righteous.  Vs.4, “through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying…”  So the testimony of God is the testimony of scripture, that these men of old were righteous before God because of their faith. And we will be looking specifically at this testimony in the weeks to come as we go through this chapter. 

So we that believe are also testified by God in His word that we are righteous, and we appropriate that testimony by faith in His word.  For instance, we believe Romans 3:21-22 which says, “But now apart from the Law [the] righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,  even [the] righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.” That is the testimony or the witness of God that we are righteous, approved by God.

That approval that results in righteousness is restated negatively in vs 6.  “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”  Without saving faith, it is impossible to be found pleasing to God. Without faith, it is impossible to be approved by God, impossible to draw near to God.  

As Jesus said, “No man comes to the Father except by Me.”  So we come to the Father, through faith in Jesus Christ, by faith in His righteousness, by faith that His sacrifice was acceptable to God, and efficacious for me, and that He is our Mediator who even now ministers for us in the spiritual realm, ever living to make intercession for us. And that faith in Him, results in our righteousness before God, that we might draw near to Him through Christ’s blood.

Now we are going to look at four testimonies today of the kind of faith that the writer is talking about.  The first is found in creation itself.  In vs 3 it says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”  This verse is critical because it shows that faith is founded upon the word of God. The foundation of our hope is the word of God.

And at the very beginning of the word of God, in Genesis, is the account of creation, where God spoke and things were created out of nothing.  Evolution believes that things evolved into more complex things.  But there had to be something from which it evolved.  Water, for instance, is an essential compound to evolution.  But evolution cannot account for how water existed.  Evolution depends upon the existence of matter.  But creation depends upon God who created something out of nothing by His word.

Psalm 33 says in vs6 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.” And in vs 9 “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

That which was not seen, became visible according to the word of God.  And in the same way, our faith looks forward in hope that what is not yet seen will one day become visible.  Paul says in Romans 8:24-25 “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Perhaps that’s why Abel is the first man to be spoken of as a man of faith, and not Adam.  Because Adam had seen God, and Abel had not.  So the first example of faith is found in vs4, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

Everyone is familiar with the story of Cain and Abel.  Abel was a herdsman, and so he brought a lamb for his offering to God, whereas his brother Cain was a farmer, and he brought the first fruits of his crop.  The scripture says that God had regard for Abel’s sacrifice, but He did not regard Cain’s.  Now Abel’s sacrifice was offered in faith.  But that does not mean that if Abel had brought a fruit offering in faith God would have accepted that as well.  Faith, you remember is founded upon the truth of God’s word.  Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

So although it is not stated fully, it is believed that God gave an example of the kind of sacrifice that He would accept when He slew the animals in order to make clothing for Adam and Eve after their fall.  The picture of the blood being shed  and then being clothed in righteousness cannot fail to be seen in this example.  I believe that Cain deliberately disobeyed that illustration by God and decided that his offering to God would be according to what he thought was acceptable.  So he brought an offering based on his works, and Abel acted in faith according to what God had shown Adam and Eve. He may not have fully seen the significance of the blood being shed from a lamb for the forgiveness of sin, but nevertheless, he was obedient in faith to what God had declared.

What is apparent again and again in the testimonies recorded in this chapter, is that faith is tied to obedience to the word of God.  And also it should be noted in this example of Abel, that faith does not always result in a physical reward here on earth.  Abel died because Cain murdered him in jealousy.  But God Himself testifies to the righteousness of the faithful. Abel’s blood still speaks to us, reminding us of the value of the hope of eternity.  

And one more note, is that though Abel is dead in the flesh, yet he still speaks.  I think that speaks to the fact that the dead in Christ are alive and waiting the resurrection. Jesus speaking to the Jews said in Matt. 22:32  ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  That’s another illustration of the vs, “My righteous one shall live by faith.”  The life that God gives as a result of faith in Christ is eternal life, and they who believe in Him shall never die.

That principle is illustrated further by the second example of faith who is Enoch.  Not a lot is said about Enoch in the Bible other than he was the father of Methuselah, and that he lived 365 years.  Then the famous line in Genesis, “Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.”  In the Greek translation of the Hebrew text, there is an even closer association with our text, in that it says, “And Enoch pleased God, and he was not, for God took him.”  The writer of Hebrews quotes directly from the Septuagint repeatedly, and so it’s evident that was what he had in mind here.

Look at our text in vs5, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

What is noteworthy about Enoch’s faith is that it pleased God, because he walked with God, therefore he walked according to God’s word. Psalm  119:9-11 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping [it] according to Your word.  With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.  Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” 

Enoch walked with God. I don’t think that necessarily has to be taken literally, that he walked with God in person. I think he is presented here as a man of faith, therefore believing in things he could not see.  So to walk with God means he was in daily fellowship with God, he was in agreement with God.  Amos 3:3 says, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”  So Enoch walked by faith according to God’s word, and God was pleased with him.

Again also we see this reference to those of faith not tasting death.  Enoch was taken up because his faith was pleasing to God.  We too who are of the faith will never die, but will be taken to Paradise, to await the resurrection at the last trumpet, and we will be with the Lord forever.  And we are reminded in vs 6 that if we would be pleasing to God, then we must have faith, for without faith we can never be found pleasing to God.  We must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.  

One more illustration here this morning, to finish up those who lived during the age of the antediluvians.  And that age appropriately ends with Noah.  Vs 7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  

Noah had never seen rain, much less had ever seen a flood. And yet he believed God who said it was going to rain, and he built an ark in obedience to God’s word and it was credited to him as righteousness.  God’s word was the substance upon which he acted, and in obedience he built an ark according to God’s word.  What an amazing testimony he gave to the world, preaching as it were, of the judgment to come for 120 years.  He never saw a convert.  But our text does say that through his faith, he brought salvation to his household. 

Oh, that we might be men and women like Noah.  Firmly, resolutely being obedient to the Lord’s word, in spite of the fact that it is unpopular, in spite of the fact that the world thinks we are crazy.  And somehow our faithfulness in preaching the message of the truth, we might save our families from the coming judgment.  The Bible teaches us that it is appointed for a man once to die, and after that the judgment. The only hope for the world is that by faith our judgment  is transferred to Jesus Christ, and by His sacrifice we receive His righteousness. 

And we are told that Noah’s faith resulted in him becoming an heir of righteousness.  To be an heir is to receive something which you did not earn, but receive as a gift of Him who has died.  And we receive righteousness by faith in Christ. 

The key verse in all of Hebrews is “My righteous one shall live by faith.”   Saving faith, Biblical faith is first of all faith in God’s word.  It’s faith in Christ’s atonement as efficacious for my sin.  It’s walking in agreement with God’s word, acting in accordance to His will, trusting and abiding in Him.  Faith is believing in His promises, acting in obedience, standing firm in the midst of persecution or ridicule, and by that perseverance being a testimony to a watching world, and just as importantly a testimony of living faith to our families.  And such faith results in becoming an heir of salvation, even eternal life, that we will never die, but live forever with the Lord.  

Are you a man or woman of faith today?  Do you believe His word, and believe that Jesus died for your sins, that you might be approved by God?  I trust that you will have faith to follow Jesus, and walk with Him and trust in Him as your Savior and Lord.  The promise of righteousness is given to all who draw near to God by faith in Christ Jesus.  

Hebrews, as many of you have probably realized by this point, has some pretty difficult passages.  And we are looking today at what should be the last of such passages that present for many people theological difficulties, or perhaps what they even might consider theological inconsistencies.  And I say inconsistencies, because on the surface it would seem that certain verses in this book are at odds with the teaching of the New Testament as a whole.  

But I hope to dispel any such concerns here today by treating this passage in a way that is first of all consistent with the greater message of the gospel.  It is a dangerous thing to let a verse or two in one passage become a dogmatic doctrine, especially at the expense of other scriptures.  As I have often said, scripture is best used to interpret scripture, and scripture should be used to confirm scripture.  As we saw last Wednesday in our study of Gideon, he asked three times for confirmation of the Lord’s word.  And God did not rebuke him, but confirmed it to him.  Scripture will never contradict scripture.  

Many theologians, in attempting to address this passage, tend to enter the debate on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, or on the opposing argument, that you can lose your salvation.  I would readily confess that I am not as smart or as educated as many of those theologians and so I am not going to debate them on those issues.  In fact, call it ignorance on my part, or hopefully divine illumination, or at the least common sense, I don’t really see those issues addressed here at all. But rather what I see presented here is a contrast between faith and knowledge.  

The author in the next chapter is going to address the type of faith that is required for salvation, and for living the Christian life.  In fact, both require the same thing.  One cannot have saving faith, and another type of faith that is for living the Christian life.  But what the author is doing here I believe is setting up the next chapter, called the faith chapter, by giving something of an introduction to faith, and doing that especially by showing what faith is and is not.  In chapter 11, he tells us what faith is, and gives us many examples of living faith.  At the end of this chapter, as I see it, he tells us what faith is not.  

Now let’s take a look at our text from that standpoint.  As we finished up the last section prior to this passage, the author spoke in vs23 of holding fast the confession of our hope.  Hope is another way of expressing Christian  faith.  He could just have easily have said, hold fast the confession of our faith.  Isn’t that what our creeds consist of?  Our salvation is based on our faith. But as I said last week, faith looks backwards at what Christ has done, and hope looks forward.  But hope is still an essential element of faith. In the very next chapter, vs 1, it says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So faith and hope are essentially related.  In vs 38 of this chapter, we are told that the righteous one shall live by faith.  “Shall live” refers to forward looking faith, or another way to express it is hope. You shall live.  That’s hope.

In describing this hope, the author goes on to say don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together, love one another, and encourage one another as you look forward to Christ’s appearing.  That is living faith, living in hope, confidently trusting in God’s word.  And we said last week that exhorting one another was primarily  the preaching of the word of God, among other things.  

Now as to the preaching of the word of God, we are told in Romans 10:17  “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  So we know that the preaching of the word of God is essential to the building up of faith. But the point that is made here, is that knowledge of the truth is not in and of itself saving faith.  In other words, it’s possible to know a lot of facts about God and our Savior Jesus Christ, to even believe in God, and yet not have saving faith.

That is what he is saying in vs 26. “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”  In other words, it’s possible to sit under the preaching of the word, to hear the word of God, to believe in it in an intellectual sort of way, and yet not be transformed by faith in Christ, not be reborn by faith, not be a new creature by faith, but yet still be enslaved to the same sinful passions, and still willingly engaged in them. 

Such persons have a knowledge of the truth, but still continue in sin.  Now this is not talking about sinning occasionally, or even becoming backslidden, but this is talking about someone who has heard the truth, but it never goes deeper than skin deep. They have never truly repented of their sins, but instead, they willfully, intentionally, continued in their sin.

Now how do I know that is what is being spoken of here? Because the author himself delineates this willful sinful lifestyle in vs29.  Notice the three aspects of this kind of willful behavior as outlined in  Vs29.  “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

First of all, this is someone who has heard the truth, they have a knowledge of the truth, but in deliberately continuing in their life of sin they essentially  trample underfoot the Son of God.  That means they have a contempt for the work of Jesus Christ.  Secondly, such persons consider the holy blood of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as lesser value than the value of their own autonomy. In effect, Jesus giving up His life has not resulted in them giving up their life.  And third, such a person has insulted the Spirit of Grace.  He has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.  He has rejected the conviction that comes from the Spirit of God, resulting in eternal damnation.  If you reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit, then you cannot be saved.  If you have contempt for Jesus Christ then you certainly cannot believe in Him and have faith in Him.  And if you consider HIs sacrifice as an unclean thing, then His sacrifice is of no benefit to you.  As it says in vs 26, for such people “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” 

Now it is patently clear that such a person who meets all the characteristics outlined in vs 29 cannot be a Christian, they never were a Christian, and unless they have a dramatic change of heart before they die they will never become a Christian.  In fact, I think all of us would be in agreement that if they did in fact express the rebellion and disdain for Christ mentioned in vs 29, then they wholeheartedly deserve to be consumed by the fire as described in vs 27. They are actually enemies of Christ. They give homage to another sovereign, who is no less then themselves. And so they deserve the terrifying judgment which is to come upon the adversaries of Christ.

I think we all would agree with the author, that if the Israelites who rebelled against the law of Moses received the penalty of death in their human bodies for their rebellion, how much more should those who have rejected one greater than Moses, Jesus Christ our Great High Priest, who ministers in heaven for us, how much greater punishment should these persons receive,  even to their very souls?

The Bible makes it clear that judgment is certain, it is promised, and it is coming soon.  And lest you take it lightly, God Himself warns us in vs30, which is quoted from Deut. 32:35-36,  “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” Now He is speaking in the sense that all the people on this earth are His people.  Both saved and unsaved.  2Cor. 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  He is sovereign over all, and those that rebelled against Him as their Lord will suffer the judgment of that rebellion.

Now for the good news, the gospel is simply that for the Christian; good news, which is that for the man of faith, God has placed our judgment upon Jesus Christ.  His sacrifice took away our judgement. Isaiah 53:8 says “by oppression and judgment He was taken away.” In vs 6, “But the Lord has caused the inquiry of us all to fall upon Him.”  That’s the good news for those who have saving faith in Him.  But for the one who has rejected His sacrifice, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, and so that person must bear the judgement of God upon themselves.  And that is a terrifying thing to consider.  Vs.31, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

So that’s a picture of the person who rejects Jesus’s sacrifice, scorns the blood of the covenant, and disregards the gospel; they are without hope, without faith, and destined for judgment and destruction.  I don’t find any indication that this could ever be referring to a person who has become a true believer by faith in Christ.  I don’t find any reference to someone that has been saved but then fell into sin.  I don’t find any reference to someone that has backslidden.  Such Christians will receive discipline, without which it would be evident that they are not the children of God, but illegitimate children.  God does discipline his children when they sin. 

In the next chapter he makes it clear the distinction between discipline and judgment. Hebrews 12:6-11 “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”  It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom [his] father does not discipline?  But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He [disciplines us] for [our] good, so that we may share His holiness.  All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

So God does reserve discipline for His children so that they may share in HIs holiness.  But our passage today is not talking about discipline of His children, but of judgment towards those who are clearly not his children, nor were they ever.

Now my assertion that those were not ever truly saved is born out by the author of Hebrews as well in the next section, starting in vs 32, in which he states that he is convinced of better things concerning his readers.  We aren’t sure who his readers are particularly, but it’s believed to be a Christian church made up of primarily Jewish converts somewhere near Rome.  But irregardless of exactly who he is referring to, we can be confident it was to an early Christian church, probably prior to the fall of Jerusalem.

And so he says in vs32-35, “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,  partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.  For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.  Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.”

Now obviously, he is describing a congregation who has first of all been “enlightened.”  This same word was used back in chapter 6 vs4, and in that case, it is clear from vs 9 which follows, that it is a referral to salvation.  Hebrews 6:9 “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.”

So in this passage, he says that his audience after being enlightened, or born again, endured a great conflict of suffering. Now I don’t think it is important that we identify which particular persecution of the early church he was referring to.  I don’t believe there is any consensus among theologians anyway.  But the point is that suffering and tribulations are part of parcel of the Christian life.  Jesus Himself said in this world you will have tribulations.

1Peter 4:12-13 tells the early Christian church, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”  

Their perseverance in the midst of persecution was an indication of their faithfulness. Their faithfulness in persecution, in suffering, was evidence of a life of faith.  He says because of their faith they were made a public spectacle.  That makes me think of the public spectacle that went on last week in the Senate confirmation hearing regarding Judge Kavanaugh.  I don’t know the extent of that man’s faith, or his innocence for that matter.  But I can easily see a template there that there are those in government who would make a public spectacle out of anyone who professes to be a Christian or to hold onto Christian values.  I’m sure the day is coming when a lot of us will have to pay the  price of being a public spectacle because of our faith.  

James called such trials, tests of our faith.  These Jewish Christians, the author is saying, are evidenced as Christians by the perseverance in their faith.  They were not sunny day Christians.  But when they had to suffer, even as Christ suffered, they bore that suffering well, without renouncing their faith.  Though their possessions were taken, they accepted it joyfully knowing that they had a better possession and a lasting one in heaven reserved for them.

I wonder if we would have the same attitude in the midst of persecution.  If our possessions were taken because of our faith, I wonder if we could manage to continue joyfully to worship the Lord, to assemble together, to risk our lives for the sake of others who were suffering?  I wonder.  Because I must confess I see most Christians today as unwilling to suffer the loss of anything for the cause of Christ.  They give lip service to God, but when church or service to God interferes with the kid’s soccer game, the soccer game wins and church loses.  When an important job or contract interferes with our worship of the Lord, then it seems that God’s priorities take a backseat to our needs.  I’m afraid that outside of some  imaginary dramatic time in the future which we might have to bear persecution, in reality in the here and now we dutifully avoid even the most innocuous affronts to our faith by caving in to demands of the world.

But nevertheless, the author commends the Christians here for standing firm in persecution, and looking for a lasting kingdom which will not fade away.  So their faith is commendable, and their faith is made up of three elements which he describes in the next couple of verses.  First he says, your faith needs confidence. The Greek word there is parrēsia, which means freedom, boldness, assurance, especially in speaking.  I think he’s indicating a boldness in proclaiming the gospel, which he says has great reward.  The rewards of proclaiming boldly the gospel has the reward of winning souls for the kingdom of heaven.  I think there will be no greater reward  given in heaven, than to those who lead others to the Lord.

Then he says, you need endurance, or perseverance, steadfastness.  But endurance for what?  To do the will of God.  That’s so important.  We are saved to do the will of God.  Paul reprimanded the Galatian church in Galatians 5:7 “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?”  You need endurance to finish the work which God has called you to do.  Do not be weary in well doing.  It’s more than possible for a Christian to get distracted from what is really important. It’s very easy to get discouraged in this life of faith.  It’s easy to become despondent when you see the world seemingly prospering in their rebellion, but we are suffering in our obedience. But there is a great reward for those who finish the race that is set before them.

This is another evidence of faith, that you do the will of God.  Peter had a lot to say about the will of God.  In 1Peter 4:1-2 he sys, “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”  That is really the essence of the life of faith, to live for the will of God, rather than according to our will.

So we live in faith, with endurance and boldness, doing the will of God, with an eye on the future hope of Christ’s return, that we might receive our reward.  Notice, the Christian looks forward not to judgment, but to a reward.  Christ has taken our judgment, and our reward is to be with Him forever.  

Verse 37 and 38 contain another quote from Habakkuk, in chapter 2 vs 3 he says,  “FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”

This is really the key verse of this whole chapter.  And it sets up the next chapter as well.  On the one hand it is an Old Testament prophecy  regarding the coming of the Messiah.  But on the other hand it is a prescription for the life of a Christian.  This quotation from the second part of the verse, the quote “my righteous one shall live by faith,” is used in the New Testament three times.  It’s used in Romans 1:17, Gal.3:11, and here in this verse in Hebrews.  And the emphasis that it is given here in this instance in Hebrews is on the word “live.”  That’s really the key to this passage, the idea that faith is not just a head knowledge, but it is a way of living, in trusting in Christ, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, no longer living for the lusts of the flesh, but for the will of God.

This is the distinctive of a Christian.  It’s not knowledge of the gospel, it’s not knowing a lot of facts about God, it’s trusting and obeying the word of God.  It’s living in faith, living by faith, not only in the past work of Jesus Christ on the cross, but in the present work of Christ in me and through me.  Do you have faith enough to let Christ have control of your life?  Do you trust God enough to give Him everything to be used for His service?  That is how we really live, by the power of Christ in us.  No longer for ourselves or in our own wisdom or strength, but in faith we submit to the Lord all that we are, and in all that we do.

The author of Hebrews has confidence that the church he is addressing does in fact have that kind of faith.  And so he gives them an encouraging word in vs39, “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”  Now the first part of that verse obviously refers to the people in the first example, those who had a knowledge of the truth, but continued to willfully sin by rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and spurning the offer of salvation He sacrificed Himself to procure.  Those people he says are those destined for destruction.   When they saw the cost of Christianity they drew back, or shrunk back, and they do so to their ultimate destiny which is destruction. 

But he is convinced this church he is writing to who have suffered for the cause of Christ, and persevered in faith, those folks he says have faith to the preserving of the soul.  There is your case for the perseverance of the saints.  A living faith, a faith that continues to the end, results in the preservation of the soul.  Our faith in the Son of God, who is eternally seated in the heavenlies, interceding on our behalf, having made a perfect, effective, once for all sacrifice, is able to keep that which I have committed to Him.  

The question today is do you have that living faith in Jesus Christ.  It’s possible to have gone to church your entire life, and have all knowledge, and yet not be saved.  I pray that if you’re here today and have never trusted Jesus Christ with your life, turned from your sin, and asked Him to change you and remake you into a child of God, then you would take advantage of this time to do so today.  Do not harden your heart.  Do not consider HIs sacrifice as a common thing that is of no interest to you.  In a very little while,  He is coming again, and He will not delay.  His righteous one shall live by faith.  Are you righteous in the sight of God?  You can be through faith in Jesus Christ.