God's Better Plan
Hebrew 11:29-40
Harry Stoliker
April 29, 2007 EBC
Listen
Let's keep in mind as we finish this great, great chapter 11 that the author tells
us why he wrote this 'hall-of-fame' chapter and how we should use it. Do you know
where he tells us that? In 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so
easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
The biographies of faith are designed to make you and me want to throw off any sin
that is keeping us from living for Christ in our generation!
These examples of great saints who lived by faith through any and all situations
are supposed to make us want to continue to obey Christ even when it is hard for
us. We should go back to this chapter often and say: "Wow, if my brothers and sisters
of old could keep the faith and walk in obedience in their generation, so can I.
If God gave them strength, He will give me strength in my weakness too!" The great
cloud of witnesses were not spectators, they were the runners of the race of faith.
We are not spectators either; we are runners in the race of faith.
What is the lesson this morning? Biblical faith works powerful things for God's
glory through weak people! These people were not only weak; they had made many bad
decisions in life before they began to live by faith. They weren't spiritual superstars
but ordinary sinners. So, weakness or past bad history doesn't have to keep us from
spiritual victory. Let's run some more with the saints of old.
V.29 Passing through the Red Sea was an act of biblical faith!
The Exodus was THE
great event of the entire OT and forms the paradigm for salvation in the NT. Even
though most of the people of Israel didn't have true faith in God and perished in
the wilderness because of their rebellious hearts, some did have faith: Moses, Caleb,
Joshua. In this instance the many were temporarily saved by the faith of the few.
Picture their situation as they stood at the shore of the Red Sea.
Listen to this quote by Philip Hughes: "In front of them was the apparently insuperable
barrier of the Red Sea and behind them the fearsomely pursuing army of Pharaoh,
who had had a change of heart regarding their departure.(He wants them back in
slavery and sends his powerful army out to retrieve them.) Unless God should prove
himself the God of the impossible, there was no chance of survival for so weak and
ill ordered a multitude. And it was Moses, the man of faith, who rallied the despairing
people with the exhortation: "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the
Lord, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you
shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still"
(Ex. 14:10ff.)Thereupon, and entirely by the power of Almighty God, so that faith
in his word alone was fully vindicated, a way was opened up before them through
the waters of the Red Sea." How we need men like Moses in our day to set the pace
in faith and call us to believe that God is the God of the impossible! We need men
like this in our church, in these days, for the glory of Christ!
We stumble all over things we think are impossible, don't we! We cower at what we
consider impossible. What business do we have deciding something is impossible???
There are probably several things in your mind and heart that you honestly believe
are impossible, aren't there? At least you have trouble believing that they will
ever happen in your lifetime, can you admit that much? You might think a certain
person will never get saved because they are so rebellious against God right now.
You might be feeling discouraged because a broken relationship seems beyond repair.
You might be depressed or angry at yourself because you can't seem to overcome a
particular sin. You might think we'll never get that balcony built or launch out
on some other project to reach our community. How do you think God feels about those
things you are thinking are impossible? Does he feel discouraged because He doesn't
have the power to bring about the things you and I consider virtually impossible?
We need a Moses to stand up and say to you: "Fear not, stand firm, and see the
salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom
you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have
only to be still"
The crossing of the Red Sea was an utter impossibility from any human perspective.
How are you going to get 2+ million people across a sea before a pursuing army arrives
to slaughter them?! God engineered this event, the Impossible Crossing of the Red
Sea, to speak to you this morning! Do you believe that? Rom. 15:4 "For everything
that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance
and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
Oh, if we could only have more faith in the Omnipotent, Sovereign Kindness of our
God! All I can say to you this morning is "Stop doubting, it gets you nowhere! It
only insults God and frustrates you even more. God doesn't honor doubt and fear;
he honors biblical faith that is focused on the glory of Jesus Christ! Cry out to
God for biblical faith. Turn away from your pride of doubting God! Yes, that is
what it is! It is pride because you are setting yourself up as the standard as to
what God can or cannot accomplish!"
Jesus once told his disciples what was really hard, even impossible for man. Do
you remember what it was? Luke 18:24 "Jesus looked at him (the rich man) and said,
"How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God." Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus replied,
"What is impossible with men is possible with God."
What's it going to be with you this morning? Are you going to wallow in the mud
of doubt and despair or are you going to start trusting Christ with biblical faith
and rejoicing in the hope of His power?
V.30-31 By faith the walls of Jericho fell!
Joshua was the new leader of Israel
and had to face impossibilities as well. His first challenge was to conquer a city
that was surrounded by strong walls. The people had to march around the city in
complete silence except for seven priests blowing trumpets in front of the Ark of
the Covenant. One trip around the city each day for six days. Then on the 7th day
they made seven trips around (13 in all) and on the 7th trip they all shouted at
the top of their lungs. The wall fell. This was one bizarre military strategy that
must have taken a lot of faith to execute! We know that the city was surrounded
by two rows of wall – one 6 feet thick and the other 12 feet thick. Now, what made
the walls fall? Was it the vibration of the marching horde of people, the sounding
of trumpets or the screaming of the people? No. It was the power of God working
through faith. When we trust in God's instructions on how to defeat our enemy's
victory will be ours!
Rahab was a very, very unlikely candidate for being saved by faith! Yet, the Scriptures
don't accentuate her former life of sin and prostitution, but they commend her for
risking her life because she had faith in the God of Israel, and believed Him to
be the King of the nations.
V.32 The author runs out of time to unpack the biographies of other OT men and women
of faith.
Perhaps that will be part of what we will do in heaven – listen to the
stories of faith that were lived out here on earth. What can we say about these
'heroes' of the faith in general?
-
They had plenty of personal faults, sins, quirks,
and foibles. So, if you think you have to be super-spiritual before God can use
you by the power of faith, you're wrong. These folks had made some bad decisions,
showed cowardice, tested God because of fear, etc.
- Both men and women are in
the list. V.35 Women received by their dead…Rahab was not killed (v.31).
- It was
not their personal strengths that made them powerful. V.34 "…whose weakness was
turned to strength…" You bet they trembled when they faced the sword, the lions,
the war machines, the jeers, loggings and flying stones. Yet, they turned to God
in their fear and He turned their fear into strength. Do you think He can do that
for you when you are afraid of something? We cannot say: "God I can't serve you
because I am weak and afraid!"
-
They kept their eyes on a "better resurrection."
V.35 Notice he speaks of two kinds of resurrections in this verse! Some women received
there dead back from the graves, i.e. there were real physical resurrection from
the dead. Then also, he speaks of a "better resurrection" which points to the ultimate
spiritual/physical resurrection in the last day. Keep your eyes focused on the FINAL
resurrection, and you will have sufficient power and faith.
-
They could live with
joy in Christ without any of the luxuries of this world. They wore sheepskin and
goatskin, not silk and linen. They wandered in the desert and mountains, not in
the comfortable cities with all the conveniences. They lived in caves and holes
in the ground, not in clear, expensive, well-build, fully-furnished, finely-appointed,
multi-level mansions. Yet they all experienced they joy of Christ in their lives.
- They were more than willing to live and die without seeing many promises fulfilled
in this life. V.39 Their life theme was "faithfulness" not "fulfillment."
They determined that their job was to just be faithful, not to enjoy all the eternal blessings of
heaven in the here and now. They were content to let God be God and let Him plan
out their lives and when God would fulfill His own promises. Life didn't have to
work out the way they would have liked it in order for them to remain faithful to
their heavenly King. No wonder it says: "The world was not worthy of them!" (V.38).
They didn't bargain with God and say "If you give me this or that or make my life
comfortable, then I'll remain faithful to you."
V.40 "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would
they be made perfect."
What does this verse mean? It's a bit hard to understand, isn't it? What is the
"something better for us" mean? It was God's plan that we should have the privilege
and encouragement of looking all the way back to the time of Abraham to see how
the OT saints put their trust in the FUTURE FULFILLMENT of the Messianic Covenant.
We can see how to live an entire life of faith in God's promise of ultimate and
sure salvation in Christ. They didn't see Christ come and died looking for Him.
We may not see Christ come in our lifetime, and we should live and die looking for
Him as well. We have the encouragement of being surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses
who have shown us that it is entirely possible to live such a life of faith.
In the final day, at the return of Christ and the consummation of all things, the
picture will be made complete, all will reach its perfect fulfillment and end, the
OT saints and the NT saints, who have all been saved by grace in the work of the
Messiah, will be united in a great choir of praise to the Lamb of God before the
Throne of God!
APPLICATION
Is your biblical faith nourished and encouraged by this great cloud
of witnesses? It should be.
Will you be like them? Will you believe that God can give you the biblical faith
to live for His glory in spite of your great weakness? In spite of your bad past
or history? In spite of personal faults or sins?
Will you keep your eyes of "the better resurrection?"
Can you live with fewer earthly luxuries and more joy in Christ?
If He doesn't return in your lifetime or if you don't see with your eyes all the
answers to prayer that you have requested of Him, will you remain faithful as a
soldier of the Cross until you die?
By His sustaining GRACE we can say "yes and amen!" to all these questions!
Let's praise Him together in prayer for such a wonderful gift as BIBLICAL FAITH.