Faith Exemplified - The Promise is Provided

Well, if you would take your Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter 11. I did say that we'll be in verses 39 to 40 in the message. And at the conclusion of the message, I will ask you to turn to Ephesians 2.10. Ephesians 2.10. Now I think that we can all see that we are just about to finish up chapter 11, which is all about the great heroes of the faith. I have repeatedly called chapter 11 the Hall of Fame of the Saints of God. Now I know some of you are faithful to do some study on your own, and in your own study you may run across other titles such as the Heroes of the Faith, the Honor Roll of the Old Testament Saints, or simply the Faith Chapter.

I like that last one, the Faith Chapter. That's what this is all about. But all through this chapter we have seen how the author of the book of Hebrews exalts the great value of the life of faith as seen in each of these unique examples, and how they should be admired and how they should be emulated. Of course, we would never emulate their flaws, and sins, and mistakes. Now if we're counting and grouping these examples, we can see that the author gives us a sweeping, well-encompassing look into the life of faith as seen in the Old Testament.

The author names over 16 specific men and women, as well as dozens of unnamed examples, and he also names some bad examples alongside the good. I'll give you an example. He gives us the great example of Abel who worshipped God by faith, but he contrasts Abel with his brother Cain who worshipped God in his own way, in his own efforts. There are others that you can contrast throughout the list. But notice that he did not leave out any. He shows us the faith of the pre-flood patriarchs, and then he shows us the patriarchs, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

He shows us the faith of the Exodus and conquest generation and Moses and his parents, as well as the Israelites there at the Red Sea and even Rahab. He gives us the faith of the judges and kings when he mentions Gideon, Barak, Samson, Japheth, David and Samuel. And he gives us the faith of the unnamed survivors who were tortured, mocked, flogged, chained, and imprisoned, and the unnamed martyrs who were sawn into, killed with the sword. So it is clear to see that the author gives us this sweeping, all-encompassing, panoramic look into the life of faith as seen in these Old Testament saints of God.

But before we move into how the author wraps up the chapter, we need to see how all of these examples were different, very different, but exactly the same. Each of these men and women lived the unique, one-of-a-kind life of faith that God had marked out for them. None of them were the same. The life of faith that God marked out for Noah was much, much different than the life of faith that God marked out for Abraham. We can see the differences in all of these saints. It's obvious. But each of them had one thing in common, all possessed and demonstrated faith in God, all possessed a faith that had substance. Theirs was not a hope-so faith.

Theirs was not some idealism. Theirs was not some kind of a sentimental feeling that they called faith. Each of them were justified before God by faith. And each had a personal walk with God that was guided by and fueled by faith. All of them from Abel and Abraham to Samson and Samuel, possessed and demonstrated a true and a living faith in God. They all knew that faith is a way to life and faith is a way to live. Remember, we borrowed that from John MacArthur back in the beginning of our study of chapter 11, and I told you we would ride that all the way through.

And if we could go back in time and sit down and ask these individuals why they lived like they did, they would all say the same thing in their own words. From Abel to Abraham, Samson to Samuel would speak of a true. They would speak of a substantive, a personal faith in God and a personal walk with God. And for us it's exactly the same. All the born again believers here at Grace Life Church of Brookhaven possess the very same faith in God. We have all been justified before God through saving faith in Christ. And we have a personal walk with God. As believers we possess and we demonstrate a true, a personal faith in God.

But we all live out the unique, one of a kind life of faith that God has marked out for us since before the foundation of the world. I give you an example. My personal walk of faith is much different than Keith's personal walk of faith. Evan and Devin Ulery's personal walk of faith as husband and wife, mother and father in their family is much different than the personal walk of faith of Travis and Sarah Crotwell. And all of the different walks of faith seen in the lives of the saints here at Grace Life Brookhaven are beautiful to see.

The longer we live life together, the longer we are in this local body together, we are seen these individual walks of faith. It is beautiful to see folks. Now this morning we find ourselves right here at the last two verses of the chapter and how the author really wraps up these examples. In these verses we will see that although these saints received great and unbreakable promises from God, they actually never received the most important promise of all. And we will see how they relate to us in a surprising way, a surprising way. So these verses are all about faith exemplified the promise provided. That's the title of the message.

Faith exemplified the promise provided. Let's read the verses. Verse 39-40. All these, of course all these that have been mentioned from verse 1-38, 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. Now in the message and out of these verses we will make four observations this morning. First we will see how all of these saints were commended. And second we will see that none of them received the promise. Now there's going to seem like a contradiction here.

And third we will see that we received something better than they did. And then last, how all of these Old Testament saints were made complete or perfect with us, with us. So let's get started. Number one, notice all these saints were commended. That's right there in the beginning of verse 39. All of these Old Testament saints were commended. Now listen to how the different translations read here.

The New American Standard says, "And all these having gained approval through their faith." And there's a footnote in the New American that says, "They gained approval or they obtained a testimony?" The English Standard says, "And all these though commended through their faith." And I have grabbed ahold of the word commended. Now what does it mean that they were commended? What does it mean that they gained a testimony of approval? The word from where we get this language, it means to be a witness, to bear witness, to affirm that one has been seen or heard or experienced something. And what we have here is this.

God Himself is bearing witness or giving a testimony concerning all of these Old Testament saints. God is giving a good report or commending all these Old Testament saints. So this is the testimony or the report from God. God was and is commending all of these Old Testament saints and He does this using the author of the book of Hebrews from verse 2 all the way to verse 38. Really the entire chapter is all about them being commended. But we have to ask, what was God commending them for? Why did they gain the approval of God? Why did they gain this good testimony from God? Think about it.

Was Noah commended for getting drunk after the flood and laying uncovered in his tent? We see that in Genesis 9. Was Abraham given a good report because he lied about Sarah, his wife, out of fear? Or was he commended for when he took Hagar for a second wife so as to fulfill God's purposes the world's way? We see that in Genesis 12 and 16. Was Moses commended for when he murdered an Egyptian, resisted God's call on his life, and when he struck the rock in anger and dishonored God before all of the people? We could keep going on because we've seen their flaws. Gideon was flawed. Barak was flawed. We know that Samson was grievously flawed.

King David was flawed. Even Samuel was flawed. He didn't take care of his family. Didn't keep him in line. Simply all of these Old Testament saints were commended by God and given a great testimony before man and being approved by God for their walk of faith even though they were flawed in their walk of faith. That is why before each of their testimonies of faith listed here in Hebrews 11, the author is repetitive. He says, "By faith, by faith, by faith, they lived and they died as they did." Now church, think with me here.

It is one thing for man to commend or give a good testimony of another man, but it's an entirely different thing for God to commend, for God to give a good testimony about a man or about a person. Let that sink in. It's one thing for a man or a person to commend or give a good report about another man, but it is an entirely different thing for God to commend or give a good report about another man. At my mother's funeral and my dad's before, as a family, we commended our parents.

At my parents' funerals, all of our family gave my parents a good report and a good testimony for the many good things that they were and they did in our family and in their lives. But right here, notice, God, God is commending all of these saints. He is giving them a good report about all of them for their life of faith, even in their flaws, even when some of them were grievous in their flaws. Now let's think about this a little more. At the end of our lives, we can hope to be commended and given a good testimony from our spouse, from our children, from our family.

At the end of our lives, we can hope to be commended and given a good testimony, a good report from our church family, even from those in the world. But it is something altogether different to be commended and given a good testimony by God and for God. Think about that church family. Think about that. Maybe that needs to be our goal. Maybe that needs to be our desire. Look, church, that's what the whole book of Ecclesiastes is all about, going all the way to the end of life and working backwards. Really it's not backwards. Now how is this possible?

How is it possible for our family, our spouse, our children, how is it possible for our church family and God to give us a good testimony at our death just like these Old Testament saints? Well, we'll talk about that at the conclusion of the message. So these Old Testament saints were commended. They gained God's approval through their faith. Next number two, the author shows us that none of these saints received the promise. Look back at the verse. The New American, the legacy standard, the English standard read the same thing. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised.

Now here we see what can be misunderstood and this can even seem like a great contradiction because we know that many of them did receive what was promised to them. We see this in verses 32 to 35. Notice the promises they received. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Japheth, and David, and Samuel, 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 enemies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.

So they received many promises fulfilled. And we see this also in chapter 6 verse 15, which clearly says that Abraham waited patiently and obtained to receive the promise. Of course this refers to the promise God made Abraham concerning a son. In spite of Abraham's great failures and great sins, God kept his promise and gave him a son Isaac, who was the son of promise. That leads me to an important question. What promise is the author referring to here? In verse 39, what promise did these saints not receive? The author was not referring to the promises made that pertain to their unique walk of faith that God had marked out for them.

He was and he is referring to the ultimate promise that was made to all of them. And the ultimate promise was that a redeemer, the Messiah of God, would be provided. As one writer put it, this promise refers to the actual historical appearance and the redemptive work of Christ Jesus, the Messiah. And the apostle Peter speaks of this. In 1 Peter 1, 10 to 11, I'm reading the verse. Peter says concerning this salvation. Well what salvation? The salvation found in Christ Jesus.

And this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Notice what Peter is clearly telling us here. God revealed to the Old Testament prophets things concerning this salvation in a promised Messiah Jesus. And they wrote about these things. They saw and they wrote of the sufferings of the promised Messiah and the glory of the Messiah that was to come.

They believed in, they looked far and they hoped in these things even though they did not fully understand these things. But we need to see that there was no mistake or failure here on anyone's part. The failure of these saints to receive this promise was not because of any failure on God's behalf, nor was this from any failure found in the faith of these saints. Simply these things happened as they did, when they did, and how they did according to God's perfect plan in using imperfect people. You see that? These things happened as they did, when they did, and how they did according to God's perfect plan even using very imperfect people.

And the lesson right here for us is this. This is all about God's providence. God determined that these saints would be born before the coming of the promised Messiah. All they had was promises, pictures, types, and shadows about the promised Messiah to come, and that was part of God's purpose and plan. But God determined that we were to be born after the coming of the promised Messiah. We have all the promises and the pictures, the types and the shadows about the promised Messiah fulfilled. He has come. And that was all part of God's purpose and God's plan.

And right here I have some probing, thought-provoking questions, and some fail at these questions. Was it our time better? Or is our time better? Would it have been better to have lived in their time or for them to live at our time? Years ago I was having a discussion trying to counsel a young man in the life of our church that was having some difficulty in some of the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, specifically concerning divorce. And he grievously said it would have been better to have been born in this time when they stoned people for sin such as divorce. I said, "No, brother, you have no idea what you're saying.

No, you do not want that." But the question, was their time better or is our time better? Would it have been better to have lived in their time or for them to live in our time? Listen church, God makes no mistakes. God determined that Abraham was to be born in his day and time and that we were to be born in our day and time and God's plans and God's times are perfect. God's providence is perfect. And to add to the seriousness of God's providence as to when we have been born, Ecclesiastes 7.10 tells us that it is a sin to believe that to have been born in any other time would have been better.

That kind of thinking is a sin against God and the providence of God. Now I will say one more thing here before we move on. Capitalize. Let's capitalize on the day and the time in which we've been born. Many Christians do not. So none of these Old Testament saints receive the promise, the promise Messiah of God. And then next, number three, the author says we receive something better. We receive something better. Look at verse 40, "Since God had providing something better for us." Now there is quite a lot going on here in verse 40, but notice the author changes the language. And this is very important to see.

He uses the word "us." He uses the word "us." The Amplified is very accurate and we see it two times. The Amplified says because God had us in mind and had something better for us. Now we may not see it yet, but here the author is coming back full circle to the reason why he wrote the letter in the first place. We'll get to that. But here he says two things to do so. When the author used this word "us," he was speaking of Christians. He was speaking of born-again believers in Jesus Christ. He was and is speaking of those under the New Covenant. And get this. And this gets right to the heart of that which is better, which is the New Covenant.

You see, that which is better is Christ who was and is the perfect fulfillment of the Old Covenant and everything in the Old which became the New Covenant. This literally and truly means that the New Covenant is better, more useful, more serviceable, more advantageous than the Old. Take a step back and look at the contrast he's giving us here. In verse 39, the author says that those Old Testament saints were commended by God for living the life of faith that he had marked out for them. It's plain to see. But although they received the fulfillment of many promises from God, they never received the fulfillment of the promise.

Another way of saying it, the author says that the Old Testament saints were commended by God for living the life of faith that he had marked out for them under the Old Covenant. But Christians are born-again believers in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah of God. We us we, we receive that which is better, that which is more useful, that which is more advantageous, Christ, the Messiah of God, the New Covenant. And right here I want to say something and this is no slight, no sin against the providence of God now.

If God had ordained that I be born in the time of these Old Testament saints, that would have been right just and fair according to God's perfect plan and providence for my life. But he didn't. That needs to be repeated. If God had ordained that I be born in the times of these Old Testament saints, that would have been right and just and fair according to God's perfect plan and providence for my life. But he didn't. And I am so glad, I am so glad that God ordained that I was born in the better time with the better covenant, the New Covenant.

I like how William McDonald expresses this really when I read it I thought this is what I'm trying to say. This is what I think. This is what I feel. This is my words and his words. Those Old Testament saints, they experienced some thrilling triumphs, some tremendous trials. He says and I'm quoting, "Think of their exploits and their endurance." Think about Noah, his exploits, his endurance, his thrilling triumphs. For over a hundred years he built a boat on dry land preaching repentance towards God the whole time.

Think about the endurance that he must have had in his faith and walk with God preaching, building, preaching, building for over a hundred years. Think about that awesome and wonderful day when God closed the door to that ark and the rain started coming down and judgment of God was poured out on the world. How thrilling, how unbelievably thrilling and chilly. Think about Abraham's tremendous trials, his exploits and endurance.

Think about Abraham waiting and waiting and waiting for the child of promise and then one day faithfully obeying God and taking him up on the mountain and raising the knife to even slaughter his own son as a sacrifice before God. Could you imagine peeking around a rock to watch that? Think about Rahab, her tremendous trials and triumphs. She risked her very own life to hide those spies. She believed in God by faith and she was included with the people of God. Just imagine after that seeing Rahab walk out with all of the people of God.

Wow, what unbelievable exploits, what unbelievable trials, what unbelievable endurance, how thrilling to live that kind of life. Those Old Testament saints were not as privileged as we are. They lived on the other side of the cross which was nothing but promises, types and shadows at best. We live in the full glory, the full revelation of the cross, you see. We have received something better, something more advantageous, something better called the new covenant. That's why I just can't understand folks who get all caught up in the old covenant. It's all been fulfilled folks. We've got that which is better.

Then last number four, the author says all are made complete with us. All are made complete with us. Go back to verse 40. "Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect." It's obvious we see this us language again, but we see something just as curious as this better, that is this perfection. And again, here the author is coming back. He's coming full circle to the reason he wrote the letter in the first place. We'll get there. But to see what this perfection is, we need to see what it is not. This is not some kind of moral perfection. This is not some kind of a spiritual perfection.

The author is speaking of the ultimate goal of the redemption of Christ that was provided. Actually it was not until the promised Messiah had come and provided redemption from mankind on the cross that salvation was made complete. And look at how this applies to these Old Testament saints. Until the promised Messiah of God had come and provided redemption from men and men on the cross, their salvation was not complete. It was not made perfect. In a sense, their salvation was incomplete, although they were definitely saved. I like how John Mark Arthur explains it, I'm quoting.

He says, "Until Jesus' atoning work on the cross was accomplished, no salvation was complete, no matter how great the faith a believer may have had." And notice how this all applies to us. Actually the salvation of the Old Testament saints look forward to Christ and the work on the cross, but our salvation looks back to Christ and the finished work of Christ on the cross. They look to what happened in the future, but we look back to what has already taken place in the past. They look to a promise of what was to come, but we look at what has already taken place. The promise has been fulfilled.

And altogether, altogether, those Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints, including us, we are all made complete in Christ. I like verse 40 in the Amplified. So that they, these men and women of authentic faith, would not be made perfect, that is complete in Him apart from us. Before we move on, I want us to see three facts that come out of this part of verse 40. First here we have corporate completion. Here we have corporate completion. This is simple. The Old Testament saints were made complete in Christ with us, so in a very real way, the body of Christ was made complete through Christ's redemption and work on the cross.

Second, this does not mean that those Old Testament saints were somehow second rate or lesser than believers. That is not the case. They were true believers in every way, commended by God as living the life of faith by faith and in faith. I like how John MacArthur says it. It's real short. They were believers of the highest order. But third, here we come to the interdependence of the Old and New Covenants. Let me explain that. Yes, the Old Covenant saints were incomplete in that they came before the cross and redemption provided by the cross.

Yes, they were made complete by and through the advent of the New Covenant, but the work of Christ is the focal point of time in human history and eternity that completes the journey of both the Old Covenant saints and the New Covenant saints simultaneously. Both the Old Covenant and New Covenant saints depend on the work of Christ on the cross. Now look at how this applies to us today, but specifically you and me. I want to read verse 40 again in the Amplified, and then I'll explain it.

Because God had us in mind and had something better for us so that they, these men and women of authentic faith, would not be made perfect, that He is complete in Him apart from us. Now this is what I'm getting at. This is where I'm going. Along with us, those Old Testament saints were made complete with Christ. And if we look around the church, folks, we can see brothers and sisters among us. As we have lived the Christian life together alongside one another, we can see and explain how we enjoy close spiritual oneness together, all because we are made complete together in Christ, in the body of Christ. And think on this.

Although we can never live life together, we are complete together in Christ with those Old Testament saints as well. If somehow, someway, we could bring them here to be with us together, we would experience the same oneness, the same togetherness in Christ with them that we have with each other. This leads me to give you a warning, a very serious warning and a very serious calling. Be very careful to maintain your unity and your oneness with believers in Christ. Division among brothers and sisters, believers in Christ, is a grievous sin. One of the hardest things for me to do as a pastor is to live with those who have broken fellowship.

True believers now, they've broken fellowship. They are not together with us. Obviously, God calls believers to move. Obviously, God has other believers in other denominations. Obviously, God has believers in other churches. But what I'm sharing with you is this, there have been people in the life of our church in years past, they were together with us and they allowed minute things, small things, petty things, even sinful things on their behalf. They allowed things to break fellowship. And it is a heart-wrenching theme when believers are broken in their fellowship. Look at what the text says right here. Christ Jesus has made us one.

We are one together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not break that fellowship. You will live crippled the rest of your Christian life if you do that. Sadly, I believe there are people who have been in the life of our church, they've broken fellowship, and they are crippled spiritually, and you were wounded spiritually. So all these Old Testament saints were made complete with the New Testament saints. Now as a step back from these verses, notice how the author was coming back now full circle to the reason that he wrote the letter in the first place.

We dealt with this quite a lot throughout the book, but we haven't dealt with this in Chapter 11. Remember, this is about original audience and context. The author was writing to a congregation that was predominantly, if not fully Jewish. They were in close proximity to Jerusalem. Scholars tell us that some of these true believers were still, some of these were true believers, some were merely professing believers, and scholars believe there were some Jews in and around the church who didn't profess Christ at all.

And the author was writing to encourage them to persevere in the faith and not to go back to life in Judaism under the Old Covenant. He was calling them not to go back to the Old Covenant sacrificial system, those ceremonies and temple worship. See this was before the temple was destroyed. The temple was right there before them. And in this chapter right here, the author exalts these Old Testament saints who trusted in God and his promises even though they did not live to see the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah.

And in verses 39 to 40, which is the pinnacle of the chapter now, the author is showing that these faithful saints did not receive what was promised in their lifetime because God had planned something better, more useful, and that is Christ the New Covenant. And Christ and the New Covenant was right before them as well. And in these things, the author was working very hard to show these Jews that returning to the Old Covenant would mean going backwards to that which was not advantageous, that which was not better. As a matter of fact, they were just a few years away from the temple being destroyed altogether.

So he was calling them to stay and that which was better. He was calling them to stay in the New Covenant. He was calling them to stay personally with Christ, you see? Sadly, people do today what some of these Jews did. Instead of coming to Christ and what is better and able to save them from their sins, many today hold on to empty religion. Many today hold on to some kind of a Christian heritage. Many today hold on to some kind of a Christian performance, Christian rituals. They don't come to Christ. They are making the same mistake some of these Jews did. Now as I conclude, I want to give us a two-part challenge.

First part, let's study each of these examples. Let's study these scriptures as we have broken them down in each message. The titles of each of these messages give us the theme. They give us the main point of each of their lives. And the messages that I have preached take us through each example very well. Finally we go back through this chapter, through this material once a year. Second, let's make sure we are walking with our Lord in the life of faith that He has marked out for us. This is where I would like you to turn to Ephesians 2.10. Many of you know this verse. Ephesians 2.10.

Paul is writing to the Ephesian believers, the Ephesian church, and he says, "For we," this is born again believers, "are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk or live in them." You may ask, "Pastor Chris, how do I find these good works?" Raise your life to be centered on and in the middle of a healthy New Testament church. As a born again believer, be right here in the center of church and church life. Be under the preaching and the teaching of God's Word. Be faithful to small groups. Be faithful to serve. Be faithful to have mentors in your life.

Be faithful to be connected with brothers and sisters in a very close way. Be faithful to be connected in the very center of God's work in the world. The center of God's work in the world is not necessarily in Israel, it's right here in the local church. And live the spirit field, spirit guided life in your personal life each day, each week, each year. Take all that God is giving you in your local church and walk with God in those things. Walk in them by faith and if you do, you will find those good works and if you do, you will be commended when you get to the very end of it all. It's pretty automatic.

If you do, you will be commended when you get to the end of it all. If you have a godly spouse, they will commend you. If you have godly children, they will commend you. Even if your wife and your spouse hate you and hate God, you'll have a local church that will commend you and that's how God commends us. So this chapter is faith exemplified. This is the great faith chapter, but these verses, it's all about faith exemplified. The promise is provided.