Faith in Every Circumstance

Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Pastor Mike Scrivani preaches on Hebrews 11, verses 32 through 40.

! For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

May God add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated? Imagine two Christians facing difficult circumstances.

Both are faithful in their devotion to the Lord and are committed members of the same church. Both receive a diagnosis of a serious illness.

The church gathers around them, prays for them, asks the Lord to heal them both. After weeks of uncertainty, the first Christian receives encouraging news from the doctor.

Their treatment has been successful. The illness is now in remission, requiring no further treatments or surgeries. Full recovery is expected, and they will soon return to good health.

The family rejoices, the church celebrates, and everyone gives thanks to the Lord. The second Christian facing the same illness receives disappointing news from the doctor.

The treatment has not been effective. Their condition worsens, and the doctor explains that more treatments and surgeries are needed with no guarantee of success.

The family and the church continue to pray and trust the Lord, but eventually this believer passes away. Which Christian had greater faith?

The first Christian whose story ends in healing, or the second who trusted and continued to trust God even when physical healing never came.

We could apply this scenario in other ways. One Christian missionary goes, preaches the gospel, and many are saved. Another Christian missionary goes to another place, preaches the gospel, and he's imprisoned and killed.

Which Christian had the greater faith? Or a scenario where one Christian is faithful, faithful to give to their church, uses their spiritual gifts to serve others, and is faithful in their practice of all the spiritual disciplines.

But they get laid off from their job. While another Christian is devoted to the Lord in all the same ways, and he receives a promotion. Which of these Christians had greater faith?

Take, for example, two Christian couples who are unable to have children. Both pray for children. One couple has a child, the other doesn't. Who had greater faith?

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get my point. We can be tempted to assume that in each of these scenarios, the Christian who experienced healing or received a promotion or shares the gospel with the result that many are saved, or the couple who is able to conceive experienced a greater victory of faith.

But what do we say about the other Christians whose suffering continued and intensified? Did they not have as much faith?

Did God punish them for not believing enough? Those who preach or follow the health and wealth gospel would say yes. They suggest that those who suffered lacked faith or wavered in their belief.

They would say that maybe there's a secret, hidden, unconfessed sin that obstructed God's ability to act. They would blame the person's suffering on their use of negative words, expressing doubt, or telling people they are sick instead of claiming healing and victory.

Well, our text this morning is one you'll likely never hear preached by a health and wealth preacher, because it shatters the idea that living by faith in God means escaping suffering in this life.

In verses 32 through 35, we read about people who conquered kingdoms, obtained promises, escaped the edge of the sword, and experienced astonishing miracles.

And then in verses 36 through 38, we read about people who were tortured, imprisoned, mocked, killed with the sword, and lived in poverty.

Two groups of people both trusting in God, experiencing difficult circumstances that had completely different results. Yet the writer of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, places these two groups together right next to each other.

In this chapter, that is all about living by faith. Why? Why does he do that? Why does he do that? Because living by faith doesn't mean trusting God only when we receive the outcomes that we want.

It means trusting him so completely that we remain faithful to him regardless of our circumstances or their outcomes. As we see in our text this morning, all these who lived by faith in their circumstances, whether it brought an end to their suffering or not, all these who lived by faith continued to look forward to the fulfillment of God's promise to send someone someday who would do something greater, who would one day put an end to all suffering, and who would do that by suffering himself, to give them a reward that far exceeded any earthly victory and surpassed all earthly suffering.

So the main idea for this morning's sermon is that biblical faith trusts in God in all circumstances by looking forward to the fulfillment of his promises.

Brother, sister, our text this morning confronts us with some important questions.

Questions like, will we trust God and live by faith no matter what our circumstances are? When you experience victory, will the accompanying reward satisfy you so much that it diminishes your desire for and anticipation of your eternal reward in Jesus Christ?

When you experience suffering, will you endure and will you rejoice? Will you continue to live by faith, trusting that God has provided something eternally better for you?

As I mentioned last week, we're often eager to expose the misuse of Scripture by health and wealth preachers, yet when we encounter suffering or hardship, we sometimes find ourselves wishing or even thinking that the lies that they tell should be true for us.

We look to our good deeds, and we reason that we should not suffer. And when we do so, we forget passages of Scripture like James 1, 2 through 4, which says, We forget the truth that Peter shared in 1 Peter 1, 3 through 9.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though for a little while, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him, and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

There's an outcome, brother. There's an outcome, sister. There is a future. There is a reward in Christ that far exceeds any earthly victory or earthly suffering that you'll experience in this life.

And so I've prayed and I pray the Lord will draw your attention this morning to the hope that you have in Christ and that you will look forward to your future, living by faith in the present, trusting that for you in Jesus the best is always yet to come.

If you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, maybe you haven't heard the gospel or believed it, maybe you're here because you are in some kind of a struggle.

Something is troubling you. And the Lord has brought you here today. You're searching for answers. And if that's you, you are in the right place, friend.

Maybe you've experienced a victory of some sort recently, but you realize the fleeting joy of it.

It hasn't been enough to satisfy you. And you know you were made for something more, for something greater. You're in the right place. Biblical faith trusts in God in all circumstances by looking forward to the fulfillment of His promises.

And so in our text this morning, we see three facts about what it means to live by faith in all circumstances. The first fact is verse 32 through the beginning of verse 35, which is that biblical faith trusts God to conquer our struggles.

Biblical faith trusts God to conquer our struggles. Again, I'm going to read those verses beginning verse 32 through the beginning of verse 35. And what more shall I say?

For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Verse 32 begins the last section of chapter 11. And the writer of Hebrews begins this section with a rhetorical question.

What more shall I say? In other words, his list could go on forever. He's barely scratched the surface.

You know, sometimes a pastor or a speaker will say something like, there's more I could say, but time doesn't permit me to continue. Sometimes that's true. But not all the time.

I concluded my first book review for my doctorate with a statement in the last paragraph that basically said, these are just some of the insights the student learned from reading this book, but much more could be said.

And the person who graded that book report was a graduate teaching assistant, and he was brutally honest. And next to that sentence he wrote, in other words, you really have nothing more to say, but you want to sound like you do.

And I read that, and I thought, well, that was rude. But it was true. It was true. In this case, the writer of Hebrews truly has a lot more that he could say.

There are plenty of examples. The Bible is full of examples of people who live by faith, and if he covered all of them, the book of Hebrews would be the longest book in the Bible by far.

But he recognizes that time and space preclude a detailed exposition. He's made his point. And he has more things that he still needs to say, and so he moves at a quicker pace through these final examples.

He begins this section by naming six men. Three of them are well-known, Samson, David, and Samuel. The other three are less known, Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah.

Each of them were rulers or leaders of some kind. However, none of them, you notice, is praised for the office that they held, but for the faith that they had in God.

A quick point of application for us here is that you don't need a title to do God's work and to live by faith. Gideon is the first person mentioned in this short list.

He was a judge. Israel's judges in the Old Testament served as leaders in times of battle, in times of crisis, decision makers. Gideon's best known for leading the Israelites in battle against the Midianites and Amalekites.

He mustered 32,000 troops to take on Israel's foes, but God kept reducing His army, first by 10,000, then by 21,700, leaving Gideon with 300 men to fight an enemy, which Judges 7.12 describes as being as abundant as the sand of the seashore.

This appeared to be quite the mismatch. However, God had a purpose in putting Gideon and his small force in this circumstances, which He told Gideon before He began shrinking His army in Judges 7.2.

The Lord said to Gideon, Gideon equipped each man with a trumpet and an empty jar containing a torch.

In the middle of the night, they surrounded the enemy camp and at Gideon's signal, they blew the trumpets, they smashed the jars, startling their foes, and the Lord sent their enemy into terror and confusion, causing them to turn on each other and flee in terror, and God won a great victory through 300 men.

While Deborah was serving as Israel's judge, God instructed her to summon Barak to lead an army of 10,000 against the enemy forces commanded by Caesarea, the general of King Jabin of Canaan.

Once again, God's people were outnumbered and once again, this served His purpose to show that truth strength doesn't rest in greater numbers, but in the one true God who is all-powerful.

Samson was another of Israel's judges. He's not remembered so much by us for his faith as much as for his physical strength and his promiscuity.

Samson was blessed by God with great power, but when he foolishly divulged the source of his power to Delilah, which I do not think, by the way, was his hair.

His hair was only a sign of God's special relationship with him, but when Samson divulged that information to Delilah, he demonstrated in that moment that she was more important to him than God was.

And so for a time, Samson had his strength removed from him, and the Philistines brought him to the temple of their false god, Dagon, where they celebrated their victory over their once unconquerable foe.

They placed Samson between pillars of the temple. When he asked the young man to place his hands on the pillars to lean on them, in Judges 16, 28 through 30, we read that Samson prayed.

He called to the Lord and he said, O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.

And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one, his left hand on the other, and Samson said, let me die with the Philistines.

Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it, so the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

God renewed Samson's strength, and in death he delivered a great victory for God's people. Does that sound familiar? Jephthah was another of Israel's judges.

He was an outcast due to the immoral nature of his birth, but God raised him to become a valiant warrior who delivered God's people from their enemies.

David, probably the most well-known of this list, was Israel's second king, a man whom God said was a man after his own heart and who experienced tremendous victory as a boy in the fields as a shepherd over lions, over bears, later over the giant Goliath, and then in battle after battle and victory after victory as he ascended to become Israel's next king.

Samuel was not a warrior like the others listed. He was a judge and prophet who fought a different sort of battle. His battle was from within with the Israelites as he stood against their turning to idols and sin.

In a sense, his battle took more courage since it's often harder to stand against our friends and loved ones than it is our enemies. After mentioning these six men by name, the writer of Hebrews lumps all the prophets together.

The prophets served as God's spokesmen, his mouthpieces, who delivered God's word to God's people and to powerful kings. Often, the message they delivered was a warning of God's judgment, which was often not well received.

People tried to shut them up by seeking their death, but in many cases, God delivered them in ways that revealed his unmatched power, as was the case with Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel.

The beginning of verse 35 mentions two instances where women received their young sons back from death. Elijah raised the widow of Zarephath's son from the dead in 1 Kings 17, and Elisha raised the Shunammite's son after he died in 2 Kings 4, 18 through 36.

The point of all of these examples is to demonstrate that whether the need was for political victory, overcoming enemies in battle, turning the hearts of God's people away from sin and back towards him, or bringing dead people back to life, the power to accomplish these things was from God, and these people trusted in him, in his promise to do what he said that he would do.

How about you? Do you trust God to do what he's promised to do in his word? I think deeper analysis of the lives of the six men listed in verse 32 provide another important lesson for us to see here about what it means to live by faith.

all these men are identified as having lived by faith. They also demonstrated weakness.

Gideon continually asked God for signs to confirm his word. Barak wasn't courageous enough to go out into battle without Deborah.

Samson was gullible, impulsive, and had major issues with lust. Jephthah foolishly vowed to sacrifice his own daughter, something God never told him to do.

David committed adultery and tried to cover it up with murder. It's harder to find Samuel's faults, but his sons didn't turn out well, and yet he still appointed them to serve as judges.

God conquered through these men's weaknesses externally, and he conquered their internal weaknesses as well.

He was gracious to save them from their sins and to use them as his instruments to accomplish his divine purposes. What I love here is that these men aren't remembered for their sin.

but for their faith. Brother, sister, isn't it good to know that God truly wipes away the record of our sin?

Isn't it good to know that God forgives, redeems, and restores? Isn't it good to know that God truly covers the sin that we expose to him? Isn't it good to know that the sins you've repented of that other people won't let you forget or won't forgive you for or want you to keep paying for which are ultimately committed against God that he doesn't hold those things against you if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ his son?

Isn't it good to know how God will remember you if you live by faith despite your weaknesses? And you know what? Maybe that's the struggle God has brought you here to hear this morning that he has conquered for you today your sin that you think that you have to continue to pay for or do more to receive God's forgiveness it does not work that way if your faith is in Christ he has conquered your sin 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 biblical faith trust God to accomplish what we cannot accomplish in our own strength it doesn't view any obstacle any challenge or struggle as too big for God to conquer if that is his will and so whatever the struggle you are facing trust that God is able to conquer it and know no matter what the outcome is in

Christ he has already conquered your greatest struggle your greatest problem which is your sin that has separated you from your holy creator so now secondly we see biblical faith continues to trust God in suffering biblical faith continues to trust God in suffering after recounting the great victories God won through those who lived by faith the writer of Hebrews turns his attention to those who continue to trust in God when the struggle didn't end and when victory didn't come and their circumstances continued and intensified their suffering he says in the rest of verse 35 through 38 some were tortured refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two they were killed with the sword they went about in skins of sheep and goats destitute afflicted mistreated of whom the world was not worthy wandering about in deserts and mountains and dens in the caves of the earth the word translated as torture in the

Greek also refers to a drum and it was used to describe an ancient torture technique where a person was laid across a drum like structure maybe like a stump and they were handcuffed to the side of this thing or to this thing and they were beaten with clubs like someone would beat a drum they could have been released if they compromised their faith in God if they recanted of whatever truth from God they proclaimed they could have been spared but they would not sacrifice a better future for immediate release from the suffering they endured for refusing to deny God and his word we witnessed this morning a believer's baptism today did you know that during the early stages of the protestant reformation this act what we did today could be punishable by death felix mance was about 19 years old at the time of the protestant reformation he was the son of a catholic priest priests weren't allowed to marry so you can understand the scandalous nature of his childhood so he grew up without a father and despite this felix became well educated and he was drawn to the teachings of the swiss reformer earlrich zwingli in 1519 two years later felix questioned if zwingli who had become his mentor was compromising on the issue of baptism that zwingli and the other reformers had not reformed enough he and his friends could not find infant baptism in the bible and believed that what was not in scripture was a human invention they became known as anabaptists or re-baptizers and they were forbidden by the state from baptizing anyone by immersion felix refused to compromise his biblical convictions he was arrested imprisoned and ordered to deny his stance on baptism but he stood firm on january 5th 1527 felix was taken out to the river near lake zurich he was bound he was weighed down and he was thrown into the river where he drowned for his refusal to compromise his biblical convictions he died for a truth found in scripture that baptists freely believe and practice today and i could go on the bible that you have here written in english william tendale read about his story and what he suffered through his desire that the plow boy the little boy in the field would be able to have god's word to be able to read it to know his savior more intimately and personally felix mance william tendale were familiar with our text this morning being a student of scripture they also knew that the sufferings that they would endure were not uncommon for god's people jeremiah was mocked and beaten repeatedly hanani was imprisoned by king asa for rebuking him for not trusting the lord king ahab imprisoned micaiah for prophesying his death zachariah was put to death by stoning

for rebuking his people jewish tradition states that isaiah was sawn in two in the new testament the apostle james was put to death with the sword by king herod in acts 12 the circumstances of the death of the apostles aren't recorded in scripture but church tradition tells us that peter was crucified upside down in rome matthew suffered martyrdom in ethiopia killed by a sword wound james the half brother of jesus not officially an apostle was the leader of the jerusalem church he was thrown from the southeast pinnacle of the temple when he refused to deny his faith in christ nathaniel was flayed to death in what is present day turkey andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in greece thomas thomas was stabbed with a spear in india matthias was stoned and then beheaded paul was tortured and then beheaded in rome john was boiled in a basin of water that didn't kill him but he was sentenced to the mines on the prison island of patmos for the rest what they thought would be the rest of his life the only apostle who died peacefully but not without suffering it's not important how the apostles died but that they were all willing to die for their faith if jesus had not been resurrected the disciples would have known it and people will not die for something they know to be a lie the fact that all of the apostles were willing to die horrible deaths willing to suffer continually refusing to renounce their faith in christ is tremendous evidence that they had truly witnessed the resurrection of jesus christ the point for the original readers of hebrews was to press into their minds to encourage them to press on in their faith in the face of growing persecution they had example after example from scripture of those who died trusting in god they were willing to continue to suffer for their faith instead of compromising their convictions they were convinced that they would rise again to a better life they knew that god does not give promises that he does not deliver from and they also knew that god does not promise deliverance from all suffering to the contrary jesus told us those who follow him that doing so was costly in mark 8 34 through 35 our lord called the crowd to him with his disciples and he said to them if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it in john 15 20 he said remember the word that i said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you if they kept my word they will also keep yours suffering in this world as christians for christ intensifies our longing for him in the world to come romans 8 18 the apostle paul says for i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us and then thirdly biblical faith is convinced of god's salvation biblical faith is convinced of god's salvation verse 39 through 40 and all

these though commended through their faith did not receive what was promised since god had provided something better for us that apart from us they should not be made perfect old testament saints whether they experienced god conquer in their struggle or continued to suffer put their faith in god's word and his promise the promise promise of a messiah a savior though they didn't experience the fulfillment of that promise in their lives they believed that it would be fulfilled one day and so for the original recipients of hebrews and for us today we have seen the fulfillment of that promise we have seen something better jesus has come he has come and he has lived the sinless life that none of us is capable of living as we've seen today through the examples of those who lived by faith they were not perfect they sinned and they sinned in big ways in great ways in many ways just like you just like me for

God to be able to bring us into right relationship with him required him to send his only son who lived the sinless life that you and I are incapable of living and then to die as a sacrifice on the cross to atone for our sins we're on the cross the Bible says he who knew no sin became sin he suffered in our place he endured the wrath of the father for all the sins that we have committed in our lives past present future he shed his blood as lamb of God atoning for our sins he died and on the third day he rose again and the Bible says that those who have faith in him they are cleansed by his blood we are washed white we are made white as snow we are forgiven we receive that righteous sinless life of

Christ and we're clothed with it when God looks at us he sees his son Jesus and that we are forgiven that we are redeemed we are restored into right relationship with him we are saved we live we have promise of future reward when we like Jesus are risen from our graves as well and we are with Jesus forever in a new heaven and a new earth that will never perish and will be completely unstained untainted unaffected by sin and he conquered through suffering if God ordains victory through faith as he did through those mentioned in verses 32 through 35 we rejoice in

God's goodness if there is suffering in our lives hope that continues on faith holds on to God looking forward to a better resurrection and you know what right now some of you are living in verses 32 through 35 praise God you've experienced some struggle some trial and through prayer there has been victory in a sense of that trial that struggle coming to an end some of you right now are living in verses 36 through 38 the suffering has continued the stress the anxiety the fear has intensified but you haven't lost faith and you continue to trust in the

Lord praise God and I think for all of us if we've walked long enough with the Lord we've been in verses 32 through 35 and we've been in verses 36 through 38 we've experienced those earthly victories and we've experienced those sufferings that didn't end the way that we had prayed for but in both circumstances hopefully what God has taught you is that the victory though good hasn't diminished in any way your hope for something better your delight in Jesus Christ and in those moments of suffering you've learned things from God that you wouldn't have learned otherwise and you look forward with great anticipation to the time when the

Lord comes to take you home where you go to be with him in whatever season in whatever case in Christ we have always something better to look forward to we have always something to hope in and you know it's verses 36 or 38 times where it's like I've said this before the Lord just shines a spotlight on you and your unbelieving family members and your unbelieving co-workers your unbelieving classmates and friends they're looking to see how are you going to react does this person really believe what they say and those moments are powerful moments for God to be at work in our lives to show to this world that we believe and we hope and we trust because we know that Jesus has saved us is with us and one day we will be with him and that is far better than whatever victory or defeat that we face in this life as we go to the

Lord in prayer look at the reflection questions I'm going to start in prayer but I encourage you to look through these questions now as we pray as we sing think about what you've heard proclaimed to you what we've read and seen in Hebrews 11 and ask yourself these questions when you face uncertainty are you more likely to focus on your circumstances or on God's character and promises sometimes we can focus so much on the circumstance that we forget who God is and we forget what God has said and is that your default mode that you just go right into worry and fear of your circumstances or do you first remember who God is and his character and his promises is revealed to you in his word is there an area in your life where you are waiting for God to act maybe right now whatever the situation or the struggle might be you're waiting for God to act and with that will you continue to trust him even as the struggle causes you to suffer will you continue to hope in the

Lord will you continue to stand firm will you be steadfast we have all these examples in Hebrews 11 and the great example of our Lord in beginning of 12 that tells you stand firm stand firm be steadfast the pain hurts but it will come to an end and the time will come when our Lord will dry every eye in this life in this pain and these sins and these struggles will be over hold on brother hold on sister the Lord is with you and I'll never leave you or forsake you let's pray Lord we are grateful for the hope that we have in you

God a hope that is certain is sure is fixed is steady whenever our lives seem to be falling apart whenever the struggle doesn't end whenever matters just seem to get worse when we're tempted to take matters into our own hands when we worry about tomorrow when we live our lives in fear when we do all these things and we forget forget what you've told us in your word we forget what you've commanded us we forget your character father when we sin in these ways you're still gracious to forgive us and help us and to remind us of what is true Lord you know everybody here this morning you know their present circumstance you know the things that are weighing heavy on their heart and their mind

God I pray that you in only the ways that you can would help them to take courage and to not be afraid and to trust that you are a God who loves who doesn't leave or forsake that you do work all things together for the good even the hard things that we would rather not go through and God I pray as a church that we would be a community here who demonstrate your character to one another father when we see a brother or sister struggling and that struggle comes to an end that we would rejoice that we would celebrate with them that Lord when we see a brother or sister struggling with something that doesn't get better maybe it ends in their death that Lord we would still rejoice in knowing that you provided ultimate healing for them whatever the case

God I pray that we would be diligent to follow you to encourage one another and to look forward to the day when we are with you forever and that no matter what happens to us in this life whether it's victory or defeat that it wouldn't diminish in any way the hope that we have in you in the future that we have to look forward to the future you've provided for us through Jesus Christ your son in whose name we pray amen to learn more visit us in person or see the website at highlandparkbaptist.net