WEBVTT 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:20.640 We love stories where faith wins. We love David 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:24.820 standing over Goliath. We love Daniel walking 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:28.000 out of the lion's den. We love Shadrach, Meshach, 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:30.519 and Abednego stepping out of the furnace without 00:00:30.519 --> 00:00:34.619 even smelling like smoke. We love Joshua watching 00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:39.119 the walls of Jericho come tumbling. And the reason 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:41.640 why we love those stories is because for most 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:45.060 of us those stories look exactly like what we 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:48.520 would expect faith to look like. You trust God 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:53.770 and God comes through. The giants fall, the fire 00:00:53.770 --> 00:00:56.130 doesn't burn you, the lion doesn't kill you, 00:00:56.250 --> 00:01:00.549 the walls come down, you win. And if Hebrews 00:01:00.549 --> 00:01:07.079 11 stopped midway through verse 35 then that 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:09.959 is basically the story that faith would tell. 00:01:11.569 --> 00:01:14.349 Look at the language. They conquered kingdoms, 00:01:14.769 --> 00:01:17.810 enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped 00:01:17.810 --> 00:01:20.510 the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:23.390 escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong 00:01:23.390 --> 00:01:26.609 out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign 00:01:26.609 --> 00:01:31.489 armies to flight. And then it reaches this unbelievable 00:01:31.489 --> 00:01:34.629 conclusion in verse 35 where it says women received 00:01:34.629 --> 00:01:37.760 back. They're dead. I mean, where do you go from 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:43.290 there? Kingdoms conquered, lions silenced, fires 00:01:43.290 --> 00:01:47.189 extinguished, swords escaped, armies defeated, 00:01:47.489 --> 00:01:53.879 even death itself reversed. That is faith winning. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:59.379 But here's what's strange. Verse 35 doesn't end 00:01:59.379 --> 00:02:04.519 there. In fact, there's not even a period. The 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:08.139 writer just keeps going and says some were tortured. 00:02:09.530 --> 00:02:13.330 And suddenly everything Changes. Same verse. 00:02:13.810 --> 00:02:18.310 Same chapter. Same subject. Same faith. But now 00:02:18.310 --> 00:02:21.219 nobody's escaping. They're tortured. They're 00:02:21.219 --> 00:02:22.979 mocked. They're flogged. They're chained. They're 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:25.699 in prison. They're stoned. They're sawn in two. 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:27.939 They're killed. They're homeless. They're destitute. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.960 They're afflicted. They're mistreated. And Hebrews 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:35.560 looks at those people and says, that is faith 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:42.439 too. There's one contrast in particular that 00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:46.909 I can't get past. If you look at verse 34, It 00:02:46.909 --> 00:02:50.280 says they escape the sword. Then look at verse 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:55.050 37. They're killed by the sword. Think about 00:02:55.050 --> 00:02:58.979 that. By faith, one person escapes the sword. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:03.270 By faith, another person dies by the sword. So 00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:07.710 what are we supposed to do with that? Because 00:03:07.710 --> 00:03:10.370 if the person, if I'm the one who escaped by 00:03:10.370 --> 00:03:13.069 the sword, then I've got a testimony. Let me 00:03:13.069 --> 00:03:15.909 tell you what God did. I prayed, I trusted Him, 00:03:16.050 --> 00:03:18.830 and He delivered me. And we ought to praise the 00:03:18.830 --> 00:03:20.389 Lord for that. But what about the other person? 00:03:22.379 --> 00:03:25.219 What about the one who prayed and the sword fell? 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:28.919 What about the one whose circumstances didn't 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.159 change? Where they didn't get the answer they 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:33.639 wanted to? Where they trusted God and they lost 00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:37.419 something? What about the Christian who did everything 00:03:37.419 --> 00:03:40.900 Hebrews 11 says to do, and from where they're 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:46.300 standing, it looks like they lost? That's the 00:03:46.300 --> 00:03:51.370 tension Hebrews 11 wants us to feel. And I think 00:03:51.370 --> 00:03:54.050 we have to be very careful here because if we 00:03:54.050 --> 00:03:57.879 only read half of the passage, we can develop 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:01.689 a completely distorted view of faith. We can 00:04:01.689 --> 00:04:05.770 start thinking that faith is proven by the outcomes. 00:04:09.030 --> 00:04:13.430 It's easy to think that. If I really believe, 00:04:13.430 --> 00:04:15.909 God will fix it. If I really believe, I'll get 00:04:15.909 --> 00:04:17.490 through it. If I really believe, the door will 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:19.930 open. If I really believe, everything will work 00:04:19.930 --> 00:04:23.610 out the way that I hope. Hebrews 11 will not 00:04:23.610 --> 00:04:31.350 let us say that. People who died by the sword 00:04:31.350 --> 00:04:37.850 had faith. People who escaped by the sword had 00:04:37.850 --> 00:04:41.930 faith. So apparently there is a kind of faith 00:04:41.930 --> 00:04:44.430 that conquers and there is a kind of faith that 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:46.829 keeps believing when it looks like you've been 00:04:46.829 --> 00:04:53.069 conquered. Both of them are here in Hebrews 11. 00:04:53.149 --> 00:04:54.750 So what I want us to do this morning is I want 00:04:54.750 --> 00:04:56.730 us to basically take three passes through this 00:04:56.730 --> 00:04:59.579 scripture. First time we're gonna ask a question, 00:04:59.779 --> 00:05:01.019 second time we're gonna ask a question, third 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:03.379 time we're gonna ask a question. And I think 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:05.240 when we're finished, we're going to discover 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:08.779 something about faith that will completely change 00:05:08.779 --> 00:05:12.079 what we mean when we say or use the word win 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:15.990 or victory. I've entitled the message today, 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:21.389 A Better Victory. So first pass through. Here's 00:05:21.389 --> 00:05:25.829 the first question. What does faith do? What 00:05:25.829 --> 00:05:29.610 does faith do? And at first, it seems like the 00:05:29.610 --> 00:05:32.810 answer is, well, faith wins. Look at verse 32. 00:05:33.959 --> 00:05:36.600 of Hebrews chapter 11. And what more shall I 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:40.899 say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.459 Barak, Samson, Jephthah and David and Samuel 00:05:43.459 --> 00:05:46.839 and the prophets. I love the way the writer is 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:49.699 changing gears here a little bit. For most of 00:05:49.699 --> 00:05:51.899 Hebrews 11, he has been taking his time, has 00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:55.240 he not? He's been kind of naming a name and then 00:05:55.240 --> 00:06:00.259 talking about what happens. Here though, he basically 00:06:00.350 --> 00:06:04.009 looks at the clock and says, I don't have time. 00:06:04.670 --> 00:06:07.819 to name all the names of people of faith. We're 00:06:07.819 --> 00:06:09.660 going to be here all day if I keep doing this. 00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:12.939 What more should I say? Time is going to fail 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:15.740 me. In other words, I haven't run out of examples. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:20.389 I've run out of time. The history of God's people 00:06:20.389 --> 00:06:25.629 is overflowing with stories of faith. So now 00:06:25.629 --> 00:06:28.829 instead of telling the story, He just begins 00:06:28.829 --> 00:06:31.970 listing the names, calling the names. Gideon, 00:06:32.189 --> 00:06:35.089 Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. 00:06:35.459 --> 00:06:38.500 And I want you to notice something, before we 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:41.420 ever get to what they accomplish, I think there's 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:43.819 something incredibly encouraging here. And we've 00:06:43.819 --> 00:06:45.360 said this as we've worked through, but I want 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:49.839 you to look at this list of names again. Gideon, 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.319 Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:59.949 prophets. These are not superheroes. These are 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:05.069 not people without weaknesses. Gideon was hiding 00:07:05.069 --> 00:07:08.230 when God found him. And then he tested God multiple 00:07:08.230 --> 00:07:09.790 times to be like, are you sure? Are you sure? 00:07:10.329 --> 00:07:16.779 Are you sure? Barak wouldn't even go into battle 00:07:16.779 --> 00:07:20.759 unless Deborah went with him. Samson's life, 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:26.529 terrible mess. Jeb the story, terribly dark moments. 00:07:26.730 --> 00:07:30.139 And we certainly know what David did. These are 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:32.879 complicated people, weak people, and yet here 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:37.079 they are in Hebrews 11. That ought to encourage 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.089 somebody here today. This ought to encourage 00:07:40.089 --> 00:07:43.410 you here this morning because Hebrew 11 is not 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:46.910 a hall of fame of people who did everything right. 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:50.529 It is the testimony of imperfect people who put 00:07:50.529 --> 00:07:57.699 their faith in a perfect God. And if you have 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:00.139 spent time in this chapter thinking, I could 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:05.000 never be like these people, don't turn them into 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.389 something the Bible doesn't turn them into. They 00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:10.310 knew fear, they knew weakness, they knew failure, 00:08:10.370 --> 00:08:13.550 they knew what it was like to need God desperately. 00:08:14.699 --> 00:08:17.379 And then look what happened because of who they 00:08:17.379 --> 00:08:19.240 put their faith in. So let's talk about this 00:08:19.240 --> 00:08:22.100 faith that conquers. Verse 33. Who through faith 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:25.180 conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:28.879 promises, and stopped the mouths of lions? Conquered 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:33.019 kingdoms. We can think of the judges here. We 00:08:33.019 --> 00:08:34.840 can think of David. We can think of those moments 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:37.820 when God's people faced something much larger 00:08:37.820 --> 00:08:40.419 and stronger than they were and God gave them 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:42.360 victory. We think about Israel going into the 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:46.200 land of promise. They enforced justice. They 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:49.320 became instruments from whom God would push back 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:52.620 wickedness and establish what is right. They 00:08:52.620 --> 00:08:57.220 obtained promises. Now, we know from verse 39 00:08:57.220 --> 00:09:00.240 that they're not going to obtain all the promises, 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:02.500 but apparently there were things that God promised 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:05.620 along the way that God did in fact say yes to 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:08.600 in their lifetime. They got little installments 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:10.580 of what God had promised. God said He would do 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:15.279 things and then God came through. Stop the mouths 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:18.659 of lions. We know that story, don't we? Daniel. 00:09:19.370 --> 00:09:23.169 Thrown in the den of hungry lions because he 00:09:23.169 --> 00:09:26.570 refused to stop praying to Yahweh. The king comes 00:09:26.570 --> 00:09:28.570 running in the next morning and Daniel is still 00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:32.389 there. The lions are still there. The lions don't 00:09:32.389 --> 00:09:34.370 eat Daniel because God had shut their mouths. 00:09:35.370 --> 00:09:39.970 That's victory. Quench the power of fire. Now 00:09:39.970 --> 00:09:43.000 it doesn't say quench the fire. Quench the power. 00:09:43.309 --> 00:09:45.789 of the fire. The fire was still there for Shadrach, 00:09:45.789 --> 00:09:48.490 Meshach, and Abednego. They were in the fire. 00:09:49.009 --> 00:09:52.090 But the power of the fire to destroy them? God 00:09:52.090 --> 00:09:55.840 said, no, it's not going to happen. Nebuchadnezzar 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:57.960 looks inside and not only are they alive, they're 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:02.399 walking around. And Nebuchadnezzar says, did 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:05.309 we throw four men or three men in there? Because 00:10:05.309 --> 00:10:08.129 I see a fourth man and that one looks like a 00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:13.710 son of God. That's victory. Escaped the edge 00:10:13.710 --> 00:10:15.710 of the sword. Remember that one we just talked 00:10:15.710 --> 00:10:20.470 about? Escaped the sword. The point is obvious. 00:10:20.909 --> 00:10:24.549 The sword was coming and God got them out. They 00:10:24.549 --> 00:10:27.029 were made strong out of weakness. Stop there 00:10:27.029 --> 00:10:30.230 for a minute because this whole incredible list, 00:10:30.429 --> 00:10:33.870 that may be a phrase that some of you need more 00:10:33.870 --> 00:10:37.799 than others. It doesn't say God made strong people 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.590 strong. It's usually how we think about who God 00:10:41.590 --> 00:10:44.590 uses. God's gonna pick those that are pretty 00:10:44.590 --> 00:10:46.210 already strong and he's just gonna make them 00:10:46.210 --> 00:10:50.990 stronger. So that rules me out. What comes first? 00:10:51.570 --> 00:10:57.940 The weakness. comes first. He made the strength 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:01.500 out of the weakness. These weren't people who 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:05.360 possessed some reservoir of spiritual strength 00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:09.789 that I don't have or that you don't have. They 00:11:09.789 --> 00:11:11.909 needed strength from outside of themselves and 00:11:11.909 --> 00:11:16.220 God met them in their weakness. These people 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:21.450 were as weak as the weakest of us and yet they 00:11:21.450 --> 00:11:27.409 laid hold of heavenly strength. Maybe you feel 00:11:27.409 --> 00:11:33.690 really weak right now. Maybe you look at something 00:11:33.690 --> 00:11:35.450 happening in your life and you say I don't know 00:11:35.450 --> 00:11:39.379 if I'm strong enough for this. I don't know if 00:11:39.379 --> 00:11:42.100 I can handle another month of this. I don't know 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:46.320 if I can keep doing this. I don't know what's 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.580 gonna happen to me if this keeps happening. And 00:11:49.580 --> 00:11:53.059 maybe the answer is you're not strong enough. 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:57.500 But faith does not require for you to have strength 00:11:57.500 --> 00:12:00.899 for tomorrow already. God is going to make you 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:03.539 strong when you get to the place that you need 00:12:03.539 --> 00:12:07.019 that strength. You may not have the strength 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:10.679 for what comes tomorrow. But when you get there, 00:12:10.700 --> 00:12:12.740 God is gonna grace you with that strength if 00:12:12.740 --> 00:12:19.470 your faith is in Him. So maybe the question is 00:12:19.470 --> 00:12:22.070 not, am I strong enough for everything that might 00:12:22.070 --> 00:12:23.769 happen to me? Maybe the question should be, is 00:12:23.769 --> 00:12:25.690 God strong enough to give me what I need when 00:12:25.690 --> 00:12:33.389 I need it? And Hebrews 11 says, yes. Ryder keeps 00:12:33.389 --> 00:12:35.830 going. They became mighty in war and put foreign 00:12:35.830 --> 00:12:37.970 armies to flight. You feel the momentum building 00:12:37.970 --> 00:12:40.809 here? Kingdoms conquered, justice established, 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:43.649 promises obtained, lions silenced, fears power 00:12:43.649 --> 00:12:46.250 quenched, sword escaped, weakness turned to strength, 00:12:46.490 --> 00:12:48.190 now armies are running away, and then you get 00:12:48.190 --> 00:12:51.610 to the verse 35, and women receive back their 00:12:51.610 --> 00:12:56.669 dead. Death itself getting reversed by faith. 00:12:57.190 --> 00:12:59.750 And if we stop right there and we just answer 00:12:59.750 --> 00:13:02.450 the question, what does faith do? The answer's 00:13:02.450 --> 00:13:06.809 gonna be faith conquers. Faith conquers. Faith 00:13:06.809 --> 00:13:09.809 wins. Faith overcomes. Faith gets the miracle, 00:13:09.929 --> 00:13:15.940 but verse 35 isn't finished. Then it says some 00:13:16.059 --> 00:13:21.909 were tortured. Or some translations say others 00:13:21.909 --> 00:13:28.919 were tortured. Others. Who is the others? These 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:31.950 are the other people of faith. This isn't a different 00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:34.169 group of people, church. Listen, this isn't a 00:13:34.169 --> 00:13:36.409 different group of people. It's not the people 00:13:36.409 --> 00:13:39.429 of faith are over here conquering and then over 00:13:39.429 --> 00:13:41.970 here are a different set of people. No, these 00:13:41.970 --> 00:13:46.230 are other people of faith that get tortured. 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:54.840 Same faith, different story. And suddenly all 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:57.299 of those victories that we were celebrating in 00:13:57.299 --> 00:13:59.980 the previous verses disappear. And it says others 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:03.659 suffered mocking and flogging. No power of fire 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:07.830 being quenched there. Verse 37 gets even worse. 00:14:07.889 --> 00:14:10.090 They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They 00:14:10.090 --> 00:14:12.250 were killed by the sword. There it is again, 00:14:12.409 --> 00:14:16.830 the sword. Verse 34, they escaped the edge of 00:14:16.830 --> 00:14:19.610 the sword. Verse 37, they were killed by the 00:14:19.610 --> 00:14:25.690 sword. Both in the same list. Both commended 00:14:25.690 --> 00:14:28.789 for their faith. Both trusted God. Same faith, 00:14:29.230 --> 00:14:33.929 different stories. Completely destroying the 00:14:33.929 --> 00:14:37.350 idea that faith is measured by the outcomes. 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:41.620 What if the person who escaped the sword had 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:45.429 great faith? But what if the person who got killed 00:14:45.429 --> 00:14:51.950 by the sword had just as much faith? And what 00:14:51.950 --> 00:14:54.970 matters, because we are tempted to judge God's 00:14:54.970 --> 00:14:58.590 faithfulness by the story we get, what matters 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:06.330 is not the outcome. It is the God whom you are 00:15:06.330 --> 00:15:11.029 putting your faith in. And we celebrate the testimony 00:15:11.029 --> 00:15:13.769 when the doctors come in and says, we can't explain 00:15:13.769 --> 00:15:17.409 it, cancer's gone. We celebrate that. And we 00:15:17.409 --> 00:15:20.750 should. Praise God for it. We celebrate when 00:15:20.750 --> 00:15:23.370 the marriage gets restored, when the child comes 00:15:23.370 --> 00:15:25.570 home, when the job comes through, when the door 00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:29.389 opens, when the circumstance changes. Those are 00:15:29.389 --> 00:15:33.090 Hebrews 11 stories. But they're not all of Hebrews 00:15:33.090 --> 00:15:36.980 11 stories. Sometimes the Christian prays and 00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:38.820 puts their faith in God and the cancer doesn't 00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:43.110 go away. The marriage isn't restored. The door 00:15:43.110 --> 00:15:45.289 stays closed. The suffering continues and the 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:48.090 person who trusted God doesn't escape the sword. 00:15:49.460 --> 00:15:53.960 And Hebrews 11 will not allow us to say, well, 00:15:53.960 --> 00:15:57.960 they must not have had enough faith. Hebrews 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:05.870 11 gets rid of all that because God put the people 00:16:05.870 --> 00:16:09.009 who died by the sword in the exact same chapter 00:16:09.009 --> 00:16:14.820 as those who escaped it. Same faith, different 00:16:14.820 --> 00:16:19.269 stories by the sovereign hand of God. The list 00:16:19.269 --> 00:16:21.269 continues, they went about in skins of sheep 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:23.309 and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. 00:16:24.730 --> 00:16:26.889 wandering in the desert and mountains and the 00:16:26.889 --> 00:16:32.000 dens of caves of the earth. Some of them looked 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.919 like winners. Some of them lost everything. And 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.000 right in the middle of this list of everything 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.820 that these people look like they are losing, 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:44.460 God puts this phrase, of whom the world was not 00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:48.509 worthy. I love that because the world looks at 00:16:48.509 --> 00:16:50.929 these people who went about in skins of sheep 00:16:50.929 --> 00:16:52.590 and goats and are destitute and afflicted and 00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:54.370 mistreated wandering in the deserts and mountains 00:16:54.370 --> 00:16:56.610 and dens and caves. The world looks at them and 00:16:56.610 --> 00:16:59.370 says, those are the nobodies. And God says, this 00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:04.279 world is not worthy of them. Not worthy of them. 00:17:05.420 --> 00:17:09.019 Complete opposite conclusion. God says, no, you 00:17:09.019 --> 00:17:12.640 don't understand. You are not worthy to have 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:17.079 these people among you. Complete reversal. The 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:19.640 world looked at them and pushed them to the margins 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.460 and God looked at them and said those are my 00:17:21.460 --> 00:17:24.640 possessions Those are my beautiful people and 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:27.519 this fallen sinful world is not worthy to have 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:29.920 them So be careful about determining whether 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.500 somebody is winning by looking where they are 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:36.819 in the moment by looking at what they don't have 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:40.160 Be careful about determining whether God is faithful 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.859 by looking at someone's circumstances, and especially 00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:45.779 be careful about looking at your own difficult 00:17:45.779 --> 00:17:48.500 circumstances and concluding that you maybe just 00:17:48.500 --> 00:17:54.470 don't have enough faith. Hebrews 11 gives us 00:17:54.470 --> 00:17:58.579 two kinds of stories. There's a faith that conquers, 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.079 and there's a faith that endures while not conquering. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.779 A faith that endures through suffering. So what 00:18:06.779 --> 00:18:10.700 does faith do? Faith conquers and faith endures. 00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:15.160 Same faith, different stories. But now we got 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.130 a problem. And I think it's a problem the writer 00:18:18.130 --> 00:18:21.130 wants us to feel. If one person escapes the sword 00:18:21.130 --> 00:18:23.230 and the other person dies by the sword, how can 00:18:23.230 --> 00:18:28.319 we call both victory? How can we call both of 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:31.799 these things victory? How can the person who 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.400 conquers the kingdom and the person who is hiding 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:37.200 in a cave both be winning? How can the person 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:40.339 who gets the miracle and the person who doesn't 00:18:40.819 --> 00:18:43.740 both have a better victory? We're gonna find 00:18:43.740 --> 00:18:46.160 the answer as we pass through the text the second 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:49.420 time. Alright, so now the question becomes, what 00:18:49.420 --> 00:18:53.230 does faith see? What does faith see? I want to 00:18:53.230 --> 00:18:55.569 show you something sitting right here in the 00:18:55.569 --> 00:19:00.299 middle of the text. It's incredibly easy to miss 00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:06.809 if you just read right through it, okay? Before 00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:12.390 verse 35, faith is conquering, right? Middle 00:19:12.390 --> 00:19:16.630 of verse 35, and you back up, faith is conquering. 00:19:18.859 --> 00:19:22.470 Then the second part, of verse 35 and following, 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:28.029 faith is suffering. But there's something, verse 00:19:28.029 --> 00:19:32.849 35 is the hinge of this entire text. Please catch 00:19:32.849 --> 00:19:37.869 this. Verse 35 is the hinge of the entire text. 00:19:38.130 --> 00:19:44.720 It is the place that the text shifts gears and 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.740 there's a turning point. This is on purpose. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:52.660 Look at verse 35. What two words, what one word 00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:57.730 is repeated twice. Look at it, verse 35. What 00:19:57.730 --> 00:20:05.799 word is repeated twice? Resurrection. Not repeated 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:14.160 necessarily in the ESV. The idea of a resurrection. 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:19.940 Women receive back their dead and then a promise 00:20:19.940 --> 00:20:25.069 of a better resurrection. Here's the hinge of 00:20:25.069 --> 00:20:28.670 this entire section. Women receive back their 00:20:28.670 --> 00:20:30.609 dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing 00:20:30.609 --> 00:20:32.869 to escape release so that they might rise again 00:20:32.869 --> 00:20:35.230 to a better life. You see what the writer's done? 00:20:35.779 --> 00:20:41.690 He has put the focal point on resurrection. Two 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:45.619 resurrections in one verse. They sit on opposite 00:20:45.619 --> 00:20:50.500 sides of the turn. Okay, catch this grammatically. 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:54.000 All of these great things God is doing, women 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.160 receive back their dead. Some were tortured. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:00.920 There's the turn. What's right after the turn? 00:21:02.230 --> 00:21:05.230 Better resurrection. So you got resurrection 00:21:05.230 --> 00:21:08.089 on this side of the turn. resurrection on this 00:21:08.089 --> 00:21:11.390 side of the turn. The hinge of this entire thing 00:21:11.390 --> 00:21:16.930 is resurrection. This passage turns that they 00:21:16.930 --> 00:21:19.950 may obtain a better resurrection. This isn't 00:21:19.950 --> 00:21:22.750 accidental. In fact, scholars have noticed that 00:21:22.750 --> 00:21:25.829 this verse seems to be deliberately constructed 00:21:25.829 --> 00:21:29.849 to straddle the two halves of the passage. In 00:21:29.849 --> 00:21:32.789 fact, Gareth Cockrell has even argued that the 00:21:32.789 --> 00:21:35.170 better resurrection is the key to understanding 00:21:35.170 --> 00:21:42.019 all of Hebrews 11. So resurrection is the hinge. 00:21:43.049 --> 00:21:45.710 And once you see it, you can't unsee it. And 00:21:45.710 --> 00:21:47.990 here's what makes it even more beautiful. These 00:21:47.990 --> 00:21:51.029 two resurrections in verse 35 are not the same. 00:21:51.430 --> 00:21:53.750 The first one says, women receive back their 00:21:53.750 --> 00:21:56.609 dead. The writer is almost certainly taking us 00:21:56.609 --> 00:22:00.569 to Elisha and Elijah, where the widow of Zarephath 00:22:00.569 --> 00:22:04.930 and the Shumanite woman receive back their children. 00:22:05.369 --> 00:22:08.509 Their sons had died. Dead children in the arms 00:22:08.509 --> 00:22:17.549 of mothers. And the prophets pray for them. the 00:22:17.549 --> 00:22:20.609 dead begin to breathe again. That's victory. 00:22:23.230 --> 00:22:27.609 That's the climax of the conquering. By faith, 00:22:27.890 --> 00:22:31.569 the dead came back. You can't get a bigger earthly 00:22:31.569 --> 00:22:35.960 victory than that. Here's a problem with that 00:22:35.960 --> 00:22:40.329 though. Those boys died again, didn't they? Yes, 00:22:40.329 --> 00:22:42.769 they were raised back to life, but their bodies 00:22:42.769 --> 00:22:45.109 were going to age again. Sickness was still going 00:22:45.109 --> 00:22:46.769 to exist. Suffering was still going to happen. 00:22:47.609 --> 00:22:51.109 Death was going to come again. The resurrection 00:22:51.109 --> 00:22:53.009 was glorious, but it wasn't the better resurrection. 00:22:53.089 --> 00:22:55.230 It wasn't the final resurrection. And that's 00:22:55.230 --> 00:22:58.089 why I love the phrase, a better resurrection. 00:22:59.289 --> 00:23:02.009 There's that word again, better. We've been hearing 00:23:02.009 --> 00:23:03.769 it through the entire book, better hope, better 00:23:03.769 --> 00:23:05.490 covenant, better promises, better sacrifices, 00:23:05.650 --> 00:23:07.349 better possession, better high priest, better 00:23:07.349 --> 00:23:09.710 country now, better resurrection. That's Hebrews, 00:23:10.049 --> 00:23:12.609 better, better, better. Jesus is better. Everything 00:23:12.609 --> 00:23:15.349 he brings is better. So the first resurrection 00:23:15.349 --> 00:23:19.279 of verse 35, somebody gets their life back. But 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.900 the better resurrection of 35, you get the life 00:23:22.900 --> 00:23:26.490 to come. The first says you can have your old 00:23:26.490 --> 00:23:28.609 life back, the second says you can have a life 00:23:28.670 --> 00:23:34.970 that never ends. Now, all of a sudden, if 35 00:23:34.970 --> 00:23:39.549 is the hinge, if resurrection is the point, which 00:23:39.549 --> 00:23:43.349 I think it is, textually speaking, that resurrection 00:23:43.349 --> 00:23:46.369 is the point, the better resurrection is the 00:23:46.369 --> 00:23:50.380 hinge, then all of a sudden, it makes sense why 00:23:50.380 --> 00:23:56.319 they could do what they did. They saw something 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:02.789 better. Some were tortured. It says refusing 00:24:02.789 --> 00:24:06.109 to accept release so they might rise again to 00:24:06.109 --> 00:24:08.410 a better life. Don't miss that. They could have 00:24:08.410 --> 00:24:13.250 been released. Apparently there was an exit. 00:24:15.990 --> 00:24:20.269 They could have made their suffering stop. They 00:24:20.269 --> 00:24:23.109 could have got their lives back, but in order 00:24:23.109 --> 00:24:25.150 to do that they would have to compromise their 00:24:25.150 --> 00:24:26.710 allegiance to God and they said we're not going 00:24:26.710 --> 00:24:31.519 to do that. Why? Why would they say we're not 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.710 going to do that? Not because they like suffering. 00:24:34.869 --> 00:24:36.710 Not because the pain didn't hurt. Not because 00:24:36.710 --> 00:24:39.410 they were naturally tougher than most people. 00:24:39.930 --> 00:24:42.329 Or they weren't afraid to die. It's because they 00:24:42.329 --> 00:24:47.819 saw something. Oh, go back to Hebrews 11, what 00:24:47.819 --> 00:24:50.940 is faith? Faith is the assurance of things hoped 00:24:50.940 --> 00:24:53.980 for, the conviction of things not seen. Okay, 00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:56.400 now we're getting, what is the ultimate thing 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:01.970 not seen? Resurrection. So I can go through these 00:25:01.970 --> 00:25:04.170 people can go through what they what they went 00:25:04.170 --> 00:25:08.589 through Because they had not ordinary sight they 00:25:08.589 --> 00:25:12.509 had a faith seeing that saw something beyond 00:25:12.509 --> 00:25:17.940 the physical Beyond the the the physical release 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:20.900 beyond prison beyond struck the torture beyond 00:25:20.900 --> 00:25:24.019 swords beyond the grave They saw past all of 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:26.980 that to a better resurrection and that changed 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:31.859 the calculation for them They were being offered 00:25:31.859 --> 00:25:34.910 their lives back And in effect, they said, why 00:25:34.910 --> 00:25:39.789 would we trade the better life for more years 00:25:39.789 --> 00:25:45.440 of this old one? Why would we give up the best 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:49.200 thing for something lesser? Now we're beginning 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:51.259 to understand the second half of this passage. 00:25:53.099 --> 00:25:55.519 We read all of this, and if you're like me, you 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:59.650 ask, how could they do that? How could somebody 00:25:59.650 --> 00:26:04.130 be told, you either abandon your God or we're 00:26:04.130 --> 00:26:07.779 going to saw you in half? And they say, saw me 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:14.089 in half. And we read that and we go, how? How 00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:20.119 does somebody do that? It's because their faith 00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:22.960 saw something that their physical eyes couldn't 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:31.009 see. A better resurrection. Let's read this again 00:26:31.009 --> 00:26:33.890 with better resurrection after every line. Some 00:26:33.890 --> 00:26:37.309 were tortured. Why didn't they give up? Better 00:26:37.309 --> 00:26:41.230 resurrection. Others suffered mocking. Why do 00:26:41.230 --> 00:26:45.960 they keep going? Better resurrection. Flogging, 00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:48.519 better resurrection. Chains, imprisonment, better 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:51.059 resurrection. Stoned, better resurrection. Sawed 00:26:51.059 --> 00:26:53.279 in two, better resurrection. Killed by the sword, 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:55.839 better resurrection. They went about in skins 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.279 of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:01.579 How can all of those lose everything and still 00:27:01.579 --> 00:27:04.740 believe better resurrection? Wandering in the 00:27:04.740 --> 00:27:09.200 desert and in mountains and dens and caves. How 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:11.339 do you lose your home and still believe better 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:14.720 resurrection? Now we know what faith sees. Faith 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:19.369 sees beyond what can be taken away. Listen to 00:27:19.369 --> 00:27:22.950 that. Faith sees beyond what can be taken away 00:27:22.950 --> 00:27:27.359 to something that cannot be taken away. And that's 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:29.539 why I think one of the most important lessons 00:27:29.539 --> 00:27:32.640 from this passage is the resurrection changes 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:36.480 what you're willing to lose. It changes what 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:40.250 you're willing to lose. If this life is all there 00:27:40.250 --> 00:27:45.940 is, then hang on to it at all cost. If this body 00:27:45.940 --> 00:27:49.470 is all you get, then preserve it at all cost. 00:27:49.910 --> 00:27:52.390 If this world is all you have, then get everything 00:27:52.390 --> 00:27:57.029 you can from it while it lasts. But if resurrection 00:27:57.029 --> 00:28:00.269 is coming, then math changes, doesn't it? The 00:28:00.269 --> 00:28:03.269 calculation changes. You can lose something now 00:28:03.269 --> 00:28:05.690 without losing everything. You can surrender 00:28:05.690 --> 00:28:08.109 something now because something permanent is 00:28:08.109 --> 00:28:10.569 coming. You can endure something now because 00:28:10.569 --> 00:28:13.150 ultimately you're not going to lose your life. 00:28:16.059 --> 00:28:19.150 It's interesting. Resurrection actually doesn't 00:28:19.150 --> 00:28:21.890 just show up first in verse 35. You know that? 00:28:24.069 --> 00:28:26.849 Go back to Abraham's story, verses 17 through 00:28:26.849 --> 00:28:28.970 19. And while you're doing that, I'm going to 00:28:28.970 --> 00:28:32.750 time my share real quick. Everybody take a deep 00:28:32.750 --> 00:28:37.210 breath. This is a moment for a deep breath. This 00:28:37.210 --> 00:28:42.220 passage needs that at times. God tells Abraham 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:46.950 to offer Isaac. Hebrews tells us that Abraham 00:28:48.450 --> 00:28:53.410 believed that he considered that God was even 00:28:53.410 --> 00:28:56.150 able to raise Isaac from the dead. In other words, 00:28:56.190 --> 00:28:57.990 if I gotta go up here and I gotta sacrifice my 00:28:57.990 --> 00:28:59.990 son, I believe God will raise him from the dead. 00:29:00.109 --> 00:29:03.690 There it is, resurrection. And actually, if you 00:29:03.690 --> 00:29:08.140 look at Hebrews 11 all the way through, you're 00:29:08.140 --> 00:29:10.880 gonna see God rescuing people from death in almost 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:14.440 everybody that's mentioned. Enoch doesn't experience 00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:16.500 death. He walked with the Lord and he was no 00:29:16.500 --> 00:29:25.859 more. Noah survives a worldly flood. Isaac is 00:29:25.859 --> 00:29:28.299 figuratively received back from death. Moses 00:29:28.299 --> 00:29:31.440 survives Pharaoh's death sentence. Israel survives 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:35.339 Passover. Israel passes through the sea. Rahab 00:29:35.339 --> 00:29:38.099 survives Jericho. Daniel survives the lions. 00:29:38.579 --> 00:29:41.240 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survive the furnace. 00:29:41.529 --> 00:29:44.250 Others escape the sword. Women receive back their 00:29:44.250 --> 00:29:46.170 dead. Again and again and again, we've already 00:29:46.170 --> 00:29:48.950 seen deliverance from death, deliverance from 00:29:48.950 --> 00:29:50.750 death, deliverance from death, deliverance from 00:29:50.750 --> 00:29:54.549 death, deliverance from death. And then, see 00:29:54.549 --> 00:29:57.500 the building here. They're escaping death. They're 00:29:57.500 --> 00:29:59.940 being delivered from death. Then we get all the 00:29:59.940 --> 00:30:03.799 way to verse 35. They actually die. And then 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:07.140 after they die, they're given their life back. 00:30:07.750 --> 00:30:11.099 And then we get to the better resurrection. You 00:30:11.099 --> 00:30:13.849 see what he's been doing all along? It's it's 00:30:13.849 --> 00:30:15.369 like subtle almost because you read through it 00:30:15.369 --> 00:30:17.029 the first time and you're like you're just reading 00:30:17.029 --> 00:30:19.170 the stories And then you go back and you're like 00:30:19.170 --> 00:30:21.230 wait a minute. He's been delivering from death 00:30:21.230 --> 00:30:24.529 with all of these people Delivering from death 00:30:24.529 --> 00:30:26.609 delivering from death delivering from death die 00:30:26.609 --> 00:30:30.650 delivered from death tortured killed sawed into 00:30:30.650 --> 00:30:36.170 beheaded delivered from death so this whole thing 00:30:36.230 --> 00:30:42.569 is pointing to our Resurrection hope has a name 00:30:42.569 --> 00:30:48.730 now doesn't it Yeshua of Nazareth? In English, 00:30:48.730 --> 00:30:52.750 we call Him Jesus. And because He lives, the 00:30:52.750 --> 00:30:54.710 Christian can say, this hurts, but it isn't gonna 00:30:54.710 --> 00:30:57.599 be forever. I'm weak, but this isn't gonna be 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.950 forever. I may lose something, but it isn't forever. 00:31:01.569 --> 00:31:04.029 My body may fail, but it isn't forever. I may 00:31:04.029 --> 00:31:06.569 eventually go to the grave, but even that is 00:31:06.569 --> 00:31:09.910 not forever. Maybe that's the kind of faith some 00:31:09.910 --> 00:31:11.549 of us need this morning. Not the kind of faith 00:31:11.549 --> 00:31:13.490 that is just gonna be like, I'm gonna have this 00:31:13.490 --> 00:31:14.849 faith and I'm gonna conquer, I'm gonna conquer, 00:31:14.890 --> 00:31:16.930 and I'm gonna conquer. Maybe you just need the 00:31:16.930 --> 00:31:19.410 kind of faith that doesn't make the problem disappear. 00:31:20.609 --> 00:31:22.789 Does it pretend like you're not losing something 00:31:22.789 --> 00:31:25.230 or you're not hurting? But the kind of faith 00:31:25.230 --> 00:31:29.730 that says whatever happens to me can never cancel 00:31:29.730 --> 00:31:36.059 out what God has promised to me. So we've walked 00:31:36.059 --> 00:31:38.339 the passage twice. This third one is going to 00:31:38.339 --> 00:31:39.660 be a little shorter, but it's really important 00:31:39.660 --> 00:31:42.059 and you got to see this. What does faith do? 00:31:42.220 --> 00:31:44.160 Same faith, different stories. What does faith 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:47.880 see? Same hope, different resurrection. Now, 00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:51.900 where does faith take us? Same promise, but one 00:31:51.900 --> 00:31:57.920 people. Look at verse 39. All these, though commended 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:00.180 through their faith, did not receive what was 00:32:00.180 --> 00:32:03.119 promised. All these. Who's the all these here? 00:32:03.660 --> 00:32:06.660 Now it's everything, everybody that's been listed. 00:32:07.900 --> 00:32:11.059 Starting all the way back with Abraham, working 00:32:11.059 --> 00:32:13.759 all the way back with Noah, and then we're going 00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:16.420 to work all the way forward to all the Christian 00:32:16.420 --> 00:32:18.220 martyrs who are being killed for their faith. 00:32:18.539 --> 00:32:22.200 All of these Everybody we've met in this chapter, 00:32:22.619 --> 00:32:25.079 Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:27.720 Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, 00:32:27.819 --> 00:32:29.640 Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, the people 00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:31.720 who conquered kingdoms, those who died by the 00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:34.220 sword, all of these, Hebrews said, died without 00:32:34.220 --> 00:32:36.440 receiving the promise. You're like, wait a minute, 00:32:36.460 --> 00:32:40.220 wait a minute, they're in heaven. They're in 00:32:40.220 --> 00:32:42.940 heaven. How have they not received the promise? 00:32:46.339 --> 00:32:51.670 If you don't have a good eschatology, if you 00:32:51.670 --> 00:32:55.319 don't have a good theology of the end times, 00:32:57.630 --> 00:33:01.450 And many Westerners don't because we think we 00:33:01.450 --> 00:33:03.349 win when we die and we go to the present heaven. 00:33:05.549 --> 00:33:08.170 This text says all of these people who are already 00:33:08.170 --> 00:33:10.250 dead and with Jesus right now in the present 00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:15.940 heaven have not obtained the promise. Now, is 00:33:15.940 --> 00:33:19.259 it better than being sawn in two? I mean, then 00:33:19.259 --> 00:33:22.329 they're in the glory of God. But you know what 00:33:22.329 --> 00:33:24.940 they have not experienced? The resurrection. 00:33:25.950 --> 00:33:27.490 They haven't experienced a better resurrection 00:33:27.490 --> 00:33:31.390 yet. That hasn't happened. They're actually waiting 00:33:31.390 --> 00:33:33.269 for something. Did you know that? Did you know 00:33:33.269 --> 00:33:34.970 that people in the present heaven are waiting 00:33:34.970 --> 00:33:36.910 for something? You say, Neil, you better have 00:33:36.910 --> 00:33:38.490 some Bible for that because I don't know about... 00:33:38.490 --> 00:33:40.410 Well, the martyrs in Revelation, the martyrs 00:33:40.410 --> 00:33:43.029 are looking at God going, how long? How long, 00:33:43.049 --> 00:33:47.359 oh Lord, before you make this all right? They're 00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:50.079 with God right now saying, how much longer? How 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:54.700 much longer? How much longer? The people of God 00:33:54.700 --> 00:33:58.480 who have died for it by faith and are with Jesus 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:01.500 right now in the present heaven have not obtained 00:34:01.500 --> 00:34:04.180 the promises and they are still waiting for something. 00:34:04.380 --> 00:34:10.199 What are they waiting for? Us. They're waiting 00:34:10.199 --> 00:34:17.380 for us. Look at verse 40. Since God has provided 00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:20.280 something better for us, now all of a sudden 00:34:20.280 --> 00:34:22.719 we're included in this. We haven't been included. 00:34:22.989 --> 00:34:24.889 It's just been by faith these people, by faith 00:34:24.889 --> 00:34:27.269 these. Now the sudden in verse 40, we're included. 00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:31.079 God has provided something better for us that 00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:34.599 apart from us, they should not be made perfect. 00:34:37.110 --> 00:34:39.369 Do you remember what Paul said when Paul was 00:34:39.369 --> 00:34:41.590 like, listen, to be absent from the body is to 00:34:41.590 --> 00:34:43.630 be present with the Lord. It is better for me 00:34:43.630 --> 00:34:46.269 to not be here and to be present with God. So 00:34:46.269 --> 00:34:48.289 all of your loved ones that have passed in faith, 00:34:48.630 --> 00:34:51.969 they're better off. No question about it. But 00:34:51.969 --> 00:34:54.460 you know what Paul says, but Paul says, I don't 00:34:54.460 --> 00:35:00.170 want to be naked." They're like, what? Because 00:35:00.170 --> 00:35:01.590 the people that have died who are present in 00:35:01.590 --> 00:35:03.570 heaven right now do not have a physical body. 00:35:05.369 --> 00:35:09.449 Their spirit is there. And I'm under the assumption, 00:35:09.650 --> 00:35:12.329 just from some clues in the text, I'm under the 00:35:12.329 --> 00:35:16.340 assumption that their spirits look like them. 00:35:18.059 --> 00:35:20.849 Okay? Here's why. Do you remember at the Mount 00:35:20.849 --> 00:35:24.739 of Transfiguration? You remember this? Who were 00:35:24.739 --> 00:35:27.079 the three disciples that were with Jesus? Peter, 00:35:27.079 --> 00:35:30.139 James, and John, right? The inner three. They 00:35:30.139 --> 00:35:32.400 went with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration. 00:35:33.230 --> 00:35:36.829 And Jesus transforms. Right? And all of a sudden 00:35:36.829 --> 00:35:39.070 they see Him in a glory they have not seen Him 00:35:39.070 --> 00:35:43.840 before. And standing next to Him is who? Moses 00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:48.440 and Elijah. Elijah, right? Moses and Elijah. 00:35:49.099 --> 00:35:51.239 Standing on either side. How do the disciples 00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:53.730 know it was Moses and Elijah? Because they look 00:35:53.730 --> 00:35:56.130 like human beings. They didn't have a physical 00:35:56.130 --> 00:36:00.099 body yet. The resurrection hadn't happened. So 00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:05.420 I'm... I can, I mean I dine for this, but I'm 00:36:05.420 --> 00:36:09.059 under the conclusion from scripture that our 00:36:09.059 --> 00:36:12.510 spirits look like us. I don't think that when 00:36:12.510 --> 00:36:14.289 you die your spirit goes to heaven and you're 00:36:14.289 --> 00:36:16.190 not going to recognize anybody else that is in 00:36:16.190 --> 00:36:17.670 heaven. I think when you see your parents or 00:36:17.670 --> 00:36:19.429 you see your loved ones you're going to recognize 00:36:19.429 --> 00:36:21.250 them because their spirit is going to look like 00:36:21.250 --> 00:36:24.760 them. But they're not in a physical body yet. 00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:27.800 And that's why Paul says I don't want to be naked. 00:36:28.809 --> 00:36:30.949 I want my body resurrected. I want my spirit 00:36:30.949 --> 00:36:37.389 with my body again. So these people are in the 00:36:37.389 --> 00:36:40.590 present heaven waiting for a physical body and 00:36:40.590 --> 00:36:43.590 what they're waiting for is us because they cannot 00:36:43.590 --> 00:36:47.090 be made perfect until we are made perfect with 00:36:47.090 --> 00:36:52.349 them. Ultimately God has promised everything 00:36:52.349 --> 00:36:57.659 coming together in Christ and we're still waiting 00:36:57.659 --> 00:37:00.550 and they're still waiting. Christ has come, Christ 00:37:00.550 --> 00:37:02.550 has died, Christ has risen, Christ has accomplished 00:37:02.550 --> 00:37:04.909 redemption, but the better resurrection has not 00:37:04.909 --> 00:37:10.159 happened yet. So we're waiting. Not merely for 00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:13.440 God to save individuals, because he's redeeming 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:16.739 not simply individuals, he's redeeming a people. 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:20.760 Charles Spurgeon said this, it never was God's 00:37:20.760 --> 00:37:23.320 intention that any part of his church should 00:37:23.320 --> 00:37:26.920 be able to do without the rest of it. I love 00:37:26.920 --> 00:37:34.090 that. Hebrews 11 is not a museum with statues 00:37:34.090 --> 00:37:38.159 of spiritual superheroes. It is a family album. 00:37:41.800 --> 00:37:45.840 These aren't just stories. These are our stories. 00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:50.360 These are our people. This is our family. Our 00:37:50.360 --> 00:37:53.119 family gave their lives by faith. Our family 00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:55.639 were sawn into. Our family conquered kingdoms. 00:37:55.940 --> 00:37:59.940 This is our family. Old Testament saints, New 00:37:59.940 --> 00:38:02.099 Testament saints, together the people of God 00:38:02.099 --> 00:38:04.699 before and after Christ, together conquering 00:38:04.699 --> 00:38:07.980 kingdoms. The people who lived in caves, the 00:38:07.980 --> 00:38:10.639 people whose names everybody knows, and the millions 00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:13.260 upon millions upon millions of people that nobody 00:38:13.260 --> 00:38:16.579 remembers. One Christ, one people, one resurrection, 00:38:16.980 --> 00:38:22.010 one world to come, and nobody misses out. Now 00:38:22.010 --> 00:38:25.329 that's a better victory, church. Amen? That's 00:38:25.329 --> 00:38:28.550 a better victory. This isn't merely, I got what 00:38:28.550 --> 00:38:32.719 I wanted. It isn't merely that I survived. It 00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:35.179 isn't merely that I went to heaven when I died. 00:38:35.369 --> 00:38:37.889 The victory is that Christ is going to finish 00:38:37.889 --> 00:38:43.610 what he started, and the dead will rise. God's 00:38:43.610 --> 00:38:46.429 people will be made complete, and together we 00:38:46.429 --> 00:38:49.429 will inherit everything that God promised. Together. 00:38:51.309 --> 00:38:52.949 Some people aren't going to be resurrected before 00:38:52.949 --> 00:38:57.980 other people. So the question Hebrews 11 leaves 00:38:57.980 --> 00:39:01.079 us with isn't, will my faith get the outcome 00:39:01.079 --> 00:39:05.739 I want? The question is, what kind of victory 00:39:05.739 --> 00:39:11.880 am I looking for? Some escaped the sword and 00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:13.800 some died by the sword. Some walked out of the 00:39:13.800 --> 00:39:15.480 fire. Others walked into suffering and never 00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:19.400 came back out. Some got back their dead. Others 00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:22.139 chose a better resurrection. And Hebrews looks 00:39:22.139 --> 00:39:25.239 at every one of them and says they're commended 00:39:25.239 --> 00:39:29.389 through their faith. So maybe we need to make 00:39:29.389 --> 00:39:34.550 sure we're not defining victory too small. When 00:39:34.550 --> 00:39:39.079 a Christian missionary gets killed, it's easy 00:39:39.079 --> 00:39:43.449 for us to say, what a tragedy. No, no, what a 00:39:43.449 --> 00:39:48.360 victory, right? The bigger view is, what a victory. 00:39:51.079 --> 00:39:53.639 A victory so great that suffering can't take 00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:55.880 it away. A victory so great the sword can't take 00:39:55.880 --> 00:39:58.739 it away. The grave can't take it away because 00:39:58.739 --> 00:40:02.239 our victory is never ultimately found in escaping 00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:04.820 death. It is found in the one who went through 00:40:04.820 --> 00:40:10.550 death and came out the other side. Jesus didn't 00:40:10.550 --> 00:40:14.059 avoid the cross. He defeated it. He didn't escape 00:40:14.059 --> 00:40:17.619 the grave. He emptied it. And because He did, 00:40:17.719 --> 00:40:20.159 the worst thing the world can do to you is not 00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:24.639 the last thing that will happen to you. That's 00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:26.320 why the resurrection changes what you're willing 00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:30.659 to lose. You can lose all your comfort, still 00:40:30.659 --> 00:40:33.389 have Christ. You can lose all your possessions 00:40:33.389 --> 00:40:36.130 and still have Christ. You can lose the approval 00:40:36.130 --> 00:40:39.079 of the world and still have Christ. One day you 00:40:39.079 --> 00:40:42.280 can lose your life and still have Christ because 00:40:42.280 --> 00:40:43.960 there is a better country and there is a better 00:40:43.960 --> 00:40:48.110 resurrection. God has prepared something better. 00:40:51.309 --> 00:40:55.949 So church, when God shuts the lion's mouth, trust 00:40:55.949 --> 00:41:04.619 Him. When He doesn't, trust Him. When the fire 00:41:04.619 --> 00:41:08.630 loses its power, trust Him. When the fire destroys 00:41:08.630 --> 00:41:12.130 everything you love, trust Him. When you escape 00:41:12.130 --> 00:41:16.349 the sword, trust Him. When the sword falls, trust 00:41:16.349 --> 00:41:23.599 Him. Because for the Christian, death doesn't 00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:29.980 get the final word. Resurrection does. And that 00:41:29.980 --> 00:41:30.840 is a better victory.