Tony Evans - The Triumph of Faith
We've now come to the end of Hebrews 11, and we're talking about what it looks like to life your life by faith. We're talking about the men and women in Hebrews 11 who are men and women from the Old Testament being spoken of in the New Testament to encourage you and I what it means to make our daily operation a faith operation. The author of Hebrews has gone name after name: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Israel, Rahab, and he says these folks saw the hand and the movement, the power and the presence of God; and they saw it by faith. He has made it clear in Hebrews 11, verse 6, without faith you won't see God because without faith you do not please him. Faith must always, watch this, precede sight. Once you have sight, it is no longer faith.
That's why Hebrews 11, verse 1 says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen". If you have to see it first, you've canceled faith, for faith is prior to and apart from sight. Faith leads to sight, but faith must always precede sight. Now, having explained this, he now comes to his culminating section, his culminating point in the book, in the chapter. He begins in verse 32 of Hebrews 11, and I love how he opens it up and he says, "And what more shall I say"? He says, "What can I say now? I'd walk you through 31 verses. I've given you the great heroes of the faith and what they were able to achieve by faith. So what more can I tell you? What more can I say"? he says. In fact, he goes on to say in verse 32, "For time will fail me". He sounds like an old preacher. "If I just had a little bit more time, if I had a little bit more time, I could tell you so much more, 'cause there's so much more to tell about the firepower of faith". But he's run out of time, he's run out of space.
So he says, "Well, I don't have time to go into the detail I went into in the first 31 verses, but let me throw a little something, something extra along the way. Let me give you a little something something". He said, "If I had some time, if I had the time I'd tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, but I don't have time. I don't have time. I don't have space to go in all these other folk I haven't gone into". So since he didn't have a time, I'm going to take a minute to tell you about these folk he didn't have time to go into detail on like he did all the previous people in the first 31 verses of chapter 11. He starts off with Gideon in verse 32. Gideon was a judge, but Gideon was not scared. He was scared. He was a passive guy, and then God called on him because Israel was being invaded by the enemy, and he said, "Gideon, I want you to go out there and I want you to take care of the enemy of my people".
So Gideon as scared as he was went out and amassed an army of 32.000 men, and God looked at Gideon in the Book of Judges and said, "That's too many people. I can't use 32.000". Now, Gideon logically was saying, "We getting ready to fight an army. That's a big army. I need as many men as I can get". To which God said, "You may need them. I don't. Your army is too big. So I want you to shrink it down, shrink it down again, shrink it down again until you get down to 300". "God, you got to be kidding me. You want me to fight an army that's huge with 300 men". "I know, Gideon. I want you to fight an army with 300 men and me". So guess what he did? He dropped logic, what he could see comparing his 32.000 with a group that he was going to fight. He dropped his logic, and he obeyed God. When he obeyed God, he routed the army with 300 men because God joined the 300 when he obeyed what he couldn't see. If you ask him to logically figure it out, he couldn't do it. He had to do what God said do even when what God said do made absolutely no sense at all.
So since the author of Hebrews didn't have time to tell you, I just thought I'd tell you that by faith Gideon routed an army even though he was scared to do it. The next name you get is Barak. If Gideon was scared, Barak was weak. He was a weak man. He was a man who ran from difficulty and ran from trouble. In fact, he got his strength from a woman named Deborah. He was too scared to go into battle himself, he told Deborah, "I ain't going, girl, unless you're going with me". So Deborah, as many women have to do, had to hold up my man's hands, had to say, "Come on. Man up, Barak". And with the encouragement of Deborah, who had heard the Word from the Lord and transferred it to Barak, he believed that Word even though he was a weak man and God used him by faith to route the enemies of Israel.
Gideon was scared, Barak was weak, and Samson was a player. Samson was a man who had moral dilemmas, passion issues. But even though he was a weak man in a certain area as born out again in the Book of Judges, when he was willing to operate by faith, God would supernaturally invade him and use him to take care of the Philistines so that the Bible says he killed 1.000 men with the jawbone of a donkey and at his ending days he killed more in his death than he had killed in his life because when God got his attention he would see the supernatural enter into the natural. The man had some problems, the man had some issues, but he still shows up in Hebrews 11. It didn't nullify the consequences, but what it did say was, when you're ready to operate by faith, you can see God show up.
Jephthah. Let me tell you about Jephthah. I'm only telling you 'cause the author of Hebrews didn't have time. Jephthah was the son of a prostitute. He was a child of a prostitute. In Judges chapter 11, the first three verses tell you that. So he had a bad background, questionable mother, rejected by his siblings. He was in a messed up family situation, but when God was looking for somebody to deliver his people he went over to Jephthah and said, "Jephthah, I know that your background isn't the best, I know that your family situation isn't preferable; but if you will do what I tell you to do, I'm going to use you in spite of your past. I'm not going to let your past control your present or what I'm going to do with you on your future, but you got to do what I tell you to do".
Jephthah obeyed God and routed the enemies of God in spite of a poor background. Then there's David. David's short, David's small, David's young, David's inexperienced, but he runs into this mammoth man named Goliath of Gath. And in 1 Samuel 17, he takes a slingshot and five smooth stones and brings the giant down to his level and below. So he didn't let his size determine where this battle was going to wind up. So just because the author of Hebrews 11 didn't have time, I thought I'd tell you about it. Then there's Samuel. He says, "Samuel", Samuel had a problem. Samuel was weak as a father. We find out Samuel was weak as a father, and when he was weak as a father we're told in 1 Samuel chapter 8 that his sons no longer followed the Lord.
And so Samuel had some flaws as a dad he didn't even win his own sons. But when he was willing to operate by faith, the prophet Daniel would be anointing the king of Israel, setting the nation of Israel on a spiritual course that would lead them to a new direction. Now, why does he go through those names, and why did I go through those names? Because each one of those folks by faith achieved greatness, wound up in the hall of faith or one of our heroes in Hebrews chapter 11 even though they had flaws in their lives. Every one of them had weak spots. Every one of them had areas that they hadn't developed yet. Every one of them had places that needed to be shored up and strengthened. But when they were willing to operate by faith, God graduated them to our museum, the hall of faith, and made them one of the heroes.
I don't know about your yesterday. I do know if you'll live by faith today, God can still use you tomorrow and recognize you for what you have done and achieved by faith. But it must be by faith, and faith must precede sight. If you're waiting for sight, it's no longer faith. In each one of these men's lives, in each one of the people found in chapter 11 of Hebrews, men and women, there was a challenge that demanded faith. So the reason God allows a negative obstacle to come into your presence is to see whether you're going to face it by faith or face it by sight. When you face it by faith, God joins you in it. When you face it by sight, you take care of it. He said, "But let me tell you what faith can do".
Verse 33, it conquered kingdoms, performed act of righteousness, obtain promises, like Daniel in the lion's den shut the mouths of lions, like the three Hebrew boys quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, in weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. He says faith, watch this, is unprecedented in its power 'cause it can route whole nations, it can put out fires, it can make lions keep their mouths shut. He says you don't understand the power of faith, but you must be operating by biblical faith, which means faith must precede sight. So if you're saying, "God, show me this and then this is what I'll do," that's not faith. You say, "Show me, then I'll respond". No. "You respond to me, then I'll show you". It must be by faith.
When you accept Jesus Christ, you accept Jesus Christ through faith. By grace are you saved through faith. You accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and through faith, through trusting him for the forgiveness of your sins you're given eternal life. But while you trust Christ through faith, you are now supposed to live your life by faith. Two different things. Trusting Christ for salvation is receiving a gift. Living by faith is doing a work. That is why the Bible says in James 2, "Faith without works is dead".
Let me tell you something else about faith. Verse 35, "Women received back their dead by resurrection". That's what Elijah and Elisha did. They raised up the dead sons of the widows. They raised them up. He says by faith God flipped the natural order of things so that that which died became alive. Any of you in a dead situation? Doesn't look like there's any way to change it. Doesn't look like there's no power you can go to to flip it. You don't have enough money to buy your way out of it. But my question is, have you operated by faith? And faith must precede seeing or else it's not faith, and it will always involve something you do. Not something you feel, not something you say; it will always involve an act of obedience to God, and many times the acts of obedience will not make sense. You won't get support from carnal friends. You won't get support from family. You may not even get support from you.
That's why David said sometime he had to encourage himself in the Lord. He says, "And others". Somebody say, "Others". This is the part of the sermon you're not going to like. He says, "And others". Verse 35, "Were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others," verse 36, "experienced markings and scourgings; yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskin, goatskin, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated". They are those who were penalized for their faith. There were those who were penalized for their stand. There were those who were mocked, and scorned, and rebuked, and talked about as soon as they're born. There were those who went through losses, losses.
Now, what caused the loss? He said something very interesting that you might miss. He says, "Not accepting their release". That's interesting. He talks about all this negative stuff, and then he throws in there, "Not accepting their release". Well, now if you tell me I don't accept my release, that means one was offered to me. Okay? If I didn't accept something, that means I rejected it. So they could have gotten out of their torture, they could have gotten out of their mocking, and scourging, and negative repercussions, but they chose not to get out of it. They chose to say, "No, I'd rather die. I'd rather be sawed in half. I'd rather be mocked. I'd rather be scorned. Thank you for offering me release, but I turn it down".
Now why would they do that? Nobody wants to go look for persecution. Only a fool goes and looks for pain. Only a fool turns down the opportunity not to be in pain. But he says they turned it down. Two things you need to know. They turned it down, one, because of the reason they're going through it. They're going through it because of their association with the Lord. Their association with the Lord has put them in this mocking predicament. There's a second reason they said no. They said no, watch this now, because they saw a better resurrection. Okay? That's what it says. Not accepting their release because of a better resurrection. What will give you the ability to keep your stand as a Christian and keep living by faith is if you see something better.
See, one of the reasons we compromise our faith is, we don't think there's something better. So we'll renege on God, we'll renege on his principles. We're all tempted to do it. We've all probably done it on some level or another in our lives, and we'll do it because we're scared there's nothing better. "If I maintain my faith on this job and lose this job, I'm going to be jobless. So let me compromise my faith on this job". I'm not talking about doing a bad job on the job, I'm talking about compromising your Christian character on the job. "Let me go with the crowd because I may not be able to get something better". But when you understand that God is a God of resurrection, then you understand that that situation does not have final say so in your life 'cause God knows how to give you something better.
See, what the enemy wants to do is not let you live by faith so you don't get to see anything better. And as long as you don't see anything better, you stay stuck where you are and you stay stuck on what your 2020 shows you. And if you're 2020 doesn't show it to you anymore, you're not going to risk it 'cause you don't see anything better 'cause you haven't learned to live by faith. But once you learn to live by faith, God lets you see that he can resurrect situations that you think are going to kill you if you make the right decision in it. Thirty-eight, "Men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground".
Okay, let me say about folk for whom the world is not worthy. There are a few people in the congregation right now who this world is not worthy of. What makes the world not worthy of certain people? Because they live so high in the spiritual realm even though they're living physically in the earthly realm that the physical realm doesn't even know what they're talking about, the physical realm think they're weird, the physical realm thinks they're crazy, the physical world thinks they've lost their mind, the physical world thinks that they've become fanatic. And so we never get to grow to faith 'cause we hang out with folk who the world is worthy of; not who the world is not worthy of 'cause they don't live in this world, they live in that world while walking in this world. And what you want in your circle of influence are some folk who live up there even though they walk down here. They operate from heaven's point of view consistently. Faith is how they roll. It's not a place they visit. And so he concludes, he says, "In all these, having gained approval through their faith," watch this, "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".
So some or many of the Old Testament saints didn't get what they were looking for. Abraham never got to own the land God promised. He got to wander on it. He never got to own it although it was a promise. So they got to see God work, but they didn't get to see everything God said. He says the reason that some of the Old Testament saints didn't get to see everything God said was that God was waiting on us. Who's the us? The us are the New Testament Christians. That's you and me. There's before Christ, Old Testament; then there's after Christ, New Testament. He said in the Old Testament they got a bunch of stuff. We see miracles in Hebrews 11, but they didn't get it all 'cause they had to wait on us. In other words, they have some stuff we don't have, but a lot of them would love to be with us because you and I get a freedom they didn't have living under the law. You and I get some privileges they didn't have in the Old Testament.
So he says the reason God held out on them is so that they could catch up with us. So the idea is they're supposed to learn from us, we're supposed to learn from them so that we get the whole package of what God's promises are for his purposes in our lives. So, you and I are supposed to learn from Hebrews 11 in order that we might learn faith so that we can experience based on their example much of what they experienced until God brings us all together around his throne so we'll be able to take the Old Testament Christians and the New Testament Christians and have a conversation about the power of faith on both sides of the cross.
So I don't know about you, but you ought to be motivated now to live by faith. "Therefore", see, whenever you see therefore, you got to ask what is there for. "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses", come on, you've been in church long enough to know when the preacher says, "Do I have a witness"? The author of Hebrews says, "Do I have a witness"? In fact, he doesn't want a witness, he wants to know, "Do I have a cloud of witnesses"? That's a whole bunch of folk who can testify that, if you trust God, God is able to enter into your situation even when you don't see the results, and he's able to turn that mama out. Do I have a witness? Is there somebody who can testify that faith works in the hands of God's people?
The whole goal of living by faith is to be approved of God, for God to say, "You passed," to be part of the group of people who whether they saw a miracle or did not see a miracle God still did a checkmark and said, "You passed". And the way to pass in your Christian life is to trust God enough to follow his lead even when you can't see the outcome. Then you become part of that elite group of special people who get congratulated by the Almighty.