Well, good morning. Brothers and sisters, I give you the greetings of the Reformed Evangelical Church. of Lyon, France, where I minister. Where I've been in ministry for a number of years now, and several of the members. A good number of them uh asked me to tell you how grateful they are for your support.
In prayer, uh which has been going on for a number of years now. And so they realize that Much of the ministry that's going on in Lyon. It is uh going on thanks to uh the Uh generous giving of our brothers and sisters in the United States, and so thank you on their behalf. I would like to invite you to turn in your Bibles to a magnificent passage of Scripture. It's Hebrews chapter 11.
which many of you know. Probably a favorite passage of Several of you. And I'm not going to read the whole chapter 11, but simply the second half of it. The reason being I'd like to draw your attention to where the author is going. Um where he lands uh in the beginning of chapter 12.
So we'll read from Verse 23 of Hebrews 11, verse 23. all the way to the third verse of chapter 12. Hear now the word of the Lord. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents. because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land.
But the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute. Did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. What more shall I say?
For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah. Of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women received back their dead by resurrection.
Some were tortured. refusing to accept release.
so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging. And even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy.
wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these Though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Since God had provided something better for us, That apart from us They should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which. Cling so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Looking To Jesus. The founder and perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him. who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary.
or faint hearted. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks for joining God. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you so much for giving us your word, the Holy Scriptures, and we pray now that you would help us by your Spirit.
to understand them. to receive them, to believe them. and to put them into practice to your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Well, sometimes. The Christian life can be so So discouraging. Here's why. First of all, there's the opposition. That comes from the world, of course.
In some instances, it can go as far as physical persecution. Secondly, there's this constant temptation that we face to live in a way that goes against the precepts of our faith. And that struggle against temptation, that struggle to live faithfully can be so tiring after a while. Thirdly, the mere circumstances of our lives can be very complicated. Illness, debt, poverty, family crisis.
Work-related pressure, and so on, all of which can eat at our devotion to God. Fourthly, There's the pessimism that can come as the result of conflict with other Christians or as the result of the church letting us down. And then, of course, fifthly, there's the simple reality of what what is called spiritual warfare. You know, sometimes it's just just a bit hard to to explain, but you just feel weighed down spiritually, as if you were trying to r to run in two feet of mud.
So it's true, the Christian life can be very discouraging, and that's the reality that the author of our passage intends to address. And his m message is simple. And it's this: Dear beloved Christian, you who are tired and struggle in your faith, and fear maybe that you may break under the weight of your circumstances. And you too, who are just perhaps beginning your journey of faith, or who are still wondering whether you want to start this journey, listen carefully. This is the message.
It's so worth it. It is so worth it. And we need to realize that God has given us every means to succeed. And for that reason, it is so worth continuing all the way to the finish line. That's the message.
of this passage. And so we see this in our passage through a series of examples of people who've lived in the faith. And who've walked by faith through circumstances that were often very, very, very difficult. But the point is that all of them succeeded. Because they had their eyes fixed on something else, or rather, someone.
Else that was infinitely bigger and better than the worst difficulties that they. could encounter on the way.
So what's the first Lesson we learned from this passage. Number one, Genuine faith ordinarily leads believers to act in ways that go against their immediate interests. That's what we see in verses 23 to 31. It's what I've called the continual complication of the Christian life. See, there's a kind of realism that we must have concerning the way of the Christian life, it's hard.
And there's nothing unusual about that. The Christian life is hard.
So, many of you are familiar with this passage of Scripture. As I said, I started the reading in the middle of that glorious chapter, which is Hebrews chapter 11. It's a chapter where the author intends to explain to his audience what. Faith is. It's a very important moment in the book of Hebrews.
Why? Because for the previous ten chapters, The author's been explaining what God has done to open up an access to Him for human beings. He's done this. Through Jesus Christ, whom the author introduced in the beginning, in the first chapter of Hebrews, as the Son. Who is God incarnate, God with a human nature, who lived the life of a perfect man and who willingly offered himself as a sacrifice to take upon himself the penalty of the sins of all believers.
And then he rose from the dead on the third day and he ascended into heaven 40 days after that. And the Son is now seated at the right hand of the Father as the ultimate high priest, which means the ultimate, the perfect mediator between God and man. which means that there is now an access That is open for human beings to forgiveness, to heaven, and to God Himself through Jesus Christ. This salvation. Which was promised to humanity since the days of Adam and Eve.
Well, the author of Hebrews sometimes calls this salvation, he calls it perfection. It's his way of describing eternal life with God. in the world to come. But here's the thing. And the question That's raised at this point of the of the book of Hebrews.
How do you receive this salvation? Through faith. And that's why it's so important when you reach Hebrews chapter 11, it's so important to know what faith is. And it's important to have that faith and to keep That faith, despite all kinds of opposition, that's the whole point of Hebrews chapter 11 and even of Hebrews, period. Because the the original audience Of this book were people of Jewish origin who'd acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah and who recognized that in him, in Christ, The promises made to Israel in history were fulfilled.
But now you see these former Jews were being persecuted for that Christian profession of faith of theirs. And they were being tempted to return to the Jewish religion, as if the Messiah had never come after all. And that would. Obviously, it has been tragic if they'd returned to Judaism.
So, here's the author of our passage trying to convince this original audience that they need to have faith and they need to keep the faith because it's only ever been through faith that anyone in history before or after the coming of the Messiah has been saved.
So, that's the context, if you will, the context of our passage. And so, in Hebrews chapter 11, the author begins to give this long list of examples of people in biblical history who had that faith. and who were declared righteous on account of that faith. This is the faith that the author wants his audience to imitate. But here's the point.
this genuine faith as demonstrated through the life of these other believers in history. implies that sometimes One must logically accept to follow the difficult path. rather than the easy path path path. You see In our passage, it would have been easier to obey Pharaoh. and let baby Moses be killed instead of hiding him as his parents did by faith.
It would have been easier for Moses to forget that he was an Israelite and simply uh take advantage of all the privileges of uh Egyptian royalty. It would have been easier for him to submit to Pharaoh rather than lead the Israelites out of Egypt. You see? And then again, there you have Moses and the Israelites willing to face desperate circumstances because they were living by faith. They put lamb blood on their doors.
Because they were told that it would protect them from the plague that would kill all the firstborn. of Egypt, but when you think about it, what a strange thing to do. Later you have hundreds of thousands of them. Israelites standing Like idiots almost, on the shore. of the Red Sea.
They're trapped, they're going to be killed by the Egyptians, but they're counting on God to intervene when the Egyptian army was after them. How counterintuitive! Then, under the leadership of Joshua. They circled the city of Jericho. seven times counting on God to do something.
lest they be utterly ridiculed and massacred By the Canaanites, how counterintuitive again? You see? And then you have Rahab, who by faith took an enormous risk. By hiding the Israelite spies instead of securing her own comfort and safety. by handing the spies over.
to their enemies. What's the big idea? You see, the big idea is that genuine faith ordinarily leads believers to act in ways that go against their immediate interests. It's the continual complication of the Christian life. Nothing surprising here, according to the author of our passage.
But why would faith habitually lead us down that path? that so often appears counterintuitive. The answer is in our passage. It's because the eyes of faith are fixed on something other than the immediate circumstances. Did you notice that our passage speaks several times about what eyes are seeing?
They saw that the child was beautiful, verse 23. He was looking to the reward, verse 26. He endured as seeing him who is invisible, verse 27. There's a principle here. with which we're all quite familiar.
Sometimes in life we do things that many would consider bizarre. or very bothersome, sometimes even a bit Masochistic, but why do we do these things generally? It's because we're after a greater benefit. We're aiming for something much better. A much higher goal.
But we often know that in order to attain it, we must endure difficult circumstances. And so we accept that in general. Many of us know, for example, what it's like to prepare for a major test at school, for example. You have to study. That's unpleasant.
You must sacrifice evenings and weekends. Yet, some people may find that absurd. Hey, my friend, why won't you come out tonight and have fun with us? Why do you inflict this on yourself? Why sleep so little?
Why stay home for two whole weeks? and not see your friends. And not answer your DMs on Instagram, and not eat, and not shower. Why do you do that? I know why.
It's because you're looking to the reward. And in our passage, the author says that faith functions a bit the same. It's the continual complication of the Christian life, and you have to be realistic about that. Believers look further ahead. to the reward.
And because of that, it's often going to be more complicated and more difficult here and now. It's normal, you see, to encounter opposition from the world. It's normal to have to make choices that go against the flow and that sometimes lead to adversity. It's quite normal to come up against obstacles in life, such as illnesses, unemployment, discouragement, conflict, ostracism. Because the path on which we're traveling as believers is difficult.
But we ought not to be surprised by that. Because you see, we're not aiming at our immediate interests. We're not aiming for our immediate interests. Rather, we know that our destination is further ahead. Which brings us to the second point.
Secondly, The path on which God leads believers can be very difficult. but there's something magnificent at the end. There's something magnificent at the end. And this is what I've called the optimal orientation. of the Christian life.
The path of the Christian life is taking us to the ultimate marvelous destination. And it is that, amongst other things, which kept these other believers going in our passage. Look at verses thirty-two to forty.
Now you may have noticed the author starts moving a A bit faster with his list of examples of people in Scripture who had that genuine faith. and who walked by faith. He references lots of names and lots of different situations. And when you read that, you may start to feel a bit overwhelmed by all of these examples. But what's his point?
I think that what he means for us to notice Is the radical diametric contrast between what happened to some of these people? And what happened to other? Others of these people. You see, all of them lived and walked by faith. But Wh whereas some of them experienced amazing miracles and victories, Others seem to have only known defeat.
and misery. Did you notice that in our text? On the one hand, you have supernatural interventions of God who demonstrated favor and blessing. On the other hand, You have torture. And death.
and persecution and humiliation and abandonment. What in the world? How does that make sense? But look at what the author is saying. He's saying that no one in his list Neither in the first category nor in the second has actually obtained in their lifetime.
What was promised to them?
Some of them who lived by faith experienced amazing things, verses 33 to 35, and others who also lived by faith. experienced horrible, horrible things. Verses 35 to 38. And there's a reason why the author mentions these two categories in that order. It's because he wants us to ponder that second category.
He's actually insisting on the fact that the Christian life, the life of faith, is often very, very difficult. In a way, he's saying, hey, hey guys, don't assume. That by faith you're going to see miracles every day. Just take a moment and think of all those believers who came before us and who only ever experienced defeat. during their lifetime.
That too is the way of faith. That's what he's saying. And perhaps that's the way that God has prepared for you too. It's possible. That's what he's saying to his original audience.
Maybe even it's probable for you. Jews who have Messiahship of Jesus It's probable that the way of faith for you is going to be really, really, really hard. But the point is that whether or not you experience victories here on earth, That's not the most important thing. Because your real destination is further ahead. It's further ahead.
And here's what's really important according to the author. It's that all of these people, regardless of their circumstances, were commended. through their faith. All of them. In both categories.
They were commended. through their faith, verse 39. That is to say that they were declared righteous. Through faith. And yet none of them, regardless of their circumstances, actually received in their lifetime what was promised to them.
Why? Well, the answer again is in our text. It's in the verse that follows. that apart from us They should not be made perfect. What is the author getting at here?
He's saying that the promises that God had made to all of these believers of the Old Testament concerned something that was to come later in history.
Something of which we too, believers of the future, would be a part. And what the author is emphasizing here is the fact that the salvation of believers has always been and will always be substantially the same. God has only ever offered the same salvation, the same perfection, as our author calls it, to human beings, and all believers of all of history will enter into that salvation together. What is that salvation or that perfection of which we're speaking? It's the fact that one day, if we've been declared righteous through faith, we'll be resurrected and will receive an incorruptible body.
We will be delivered once and for all from all evil, from all fleshly desires and from all sin, and we will be perfectly comforted in all of our sufferings. We will live forever in a world that will have been completely renewed in perfect fellowship with God and with one another, where death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things will have passed away, as it says in the book of Revelation at the end. at the end of our Bibles. How is this possible? It's possible because Jesus came and he saw and he conquered.
Believers in the Old Testament were looking forward to his coming and his work. And we who have faith today. We look backward to his coming and his work, but we also look forward to his coming again. And to the completion or the consummation, as we say sometimes. Of his plan for us and for the universe.
And all together, you see, believers of all times and all eras. From before and after the first coming of Jesus, we will enter into this eternal state. Together. Together. And we will be made perfect together.
Together we will Receive this single salvation. Which is the substance of the promise offered to us by God in His Son Jesus Christ. But from here and now, to there and then You see the Christian life. can really be difficult. The author of our passage wants us to reckon with that reality.
It's kind of like when you go hiking in the mountains.
Sometimes Things go really smoothly when you go hiking in the mountains.
So we live about an hour away from the French Alps.
So we get to go out often and hike on steep slopes in the mountains, the most beautiful mountains in the world, if you ask me. And sometimes things go really smoothly and you feel great, you're physically in shape and you don't encounter any problems on the way. But other times it's more complicated. Other times you have muscle pain, you start running out of breath, your equipment fails, your backpack hurts your shoulders, your shoes are giving you blisters. That can happen pretty ordinarily.
when you go hiking. But you see in general when you have a bit of experience hiking You're not going to give up and head home when that happens. You're going to persevere. Why? Because you have a sense of what's waiting for you at the top.
Especially if you've been to the French Alps before. And you know that once you've made it to the summit, You will quickly forget the hardships of the way there.
So your hiking to the summit is not dependent on the circumstances that you're going to face on the way there. Similarly, our Our passage here is teaching us that the path on which God leads believers can be very difficult. But there's something magnificent at the end. The author wants us to imitate the faith of those who've gone before us.
Some of whom received blessings and victories. During their lifetime, okay. Many of whom, though, experienced horror. Instead. but all of whom All of whom were looking ahead.
to the perfection that was promised to them. to the ultimate marvelous destination that that would be made accessible and that has been made accessible for us. By Jesus. Is that something we you think we could do too when we're facing difficulties? What if we looked further ahead?
What if we remembered We're where we're going ultimately. Yes, there's continual continual complication. In the Christian life, and honestly, for some, it's way worse than simply complicated. For some, it's pain. Deep suffering, for some, it's persecution and death, it's warfare, it's imprisonment, it's torture.
So it's easy for me to say, right, from My comfortable Western Situation. But nonetheless, Scripture says to all of us. That it's worth it. It's worth it. And so we need to support one another and encourage one another with these truths as we walk this difficult path.
We need to keep our attention together on the optimal orientation of the Christian life. We will not be disappointed. And now my f final point. Third and final point: we have every reason. And every resource To persevere to the end despite all manner of adversity.
And that's what I've called the monumental motivation. the monumental motivation of the Christian life.
So, you see, the author has given us plenty of examples of people in biblical history who had faith.
Okay, and who consequently acted in ways that were contrary to their immediate interest because they were looking further ahead, they were looking to the reward, they could see the invisible. And that's one of the main ideas actually of the whole chapter eleven of Hebrews. It's that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Consequently, faith manifests itself in actions that do not make sense otherwise.
So, the author wants us to think about all of these examples. of believers who came before us, but he still has one example he wants us to consider. And what's happening here in the text is the author has been setting us up for something. He's been saying that we must look ahead to the reward. That we must fix our eyes on what's invisible.
That we must see the things promised and greet them from afar. He's been building suspense, you see. Talking about something that's ahead, something that You must fix your eyes on though it's invisible. And now he's going to tell us what it is that we must see. It's Jesus himself.
It's Jesus himself. He is the author. of our salvation. He is the champion of our faith. He is the substance.
He is the reward. He's our hope, our righteousness. our redemption. He's everything to us, you see. as he was for those who came before us, even for those who lived before.
His first coming. Just like Abraham. to whom Jesus was promised as the offspring to come. Or Moses, who in our text considered the reproach of Christ. Greater.
than the treasures of Egypt. And the amazing thing is that, according to the author of this passage, Jesus himself lived. By faith. according to his human nature. Because he too says in verse 2, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
despising the shame. And eventually, he was seated at the right hand of the Father. He too looked further ahead. to the reward, to the ultimate and marvelous destination. And he too consequently walked on the path of humiliation.
abandonment, torture, and death. What was Jesus after? He was after us. What was the joy that was set before him? It was the joy of having us.
with him. For eternity. You see Jesus lacked nothing as the Son of God He, the eternal Son of God, who existed eternally with the Father and with the Spirit in full and perfect joy already. But both instead of that joy, and at the same time for the joy that was set before him of redeeming for himself men, women, and children of all nations, while he willingly submitted himself to sufferings worse than anything that we could ever experience.
So basically what the author is saying Is yes, there's going to be times in our Christian life when we're going to feel very, very discouraged. But think about it for just a moment. Remember all of those believers who went before us, that great cloud of witnesses who Persevered to the end and were waiting for us at the finish line, waiting, so that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. Think about them. But above all, think about Jesus.
Lift your eyes to him, look at him who suffered more than anyone.
So that we would have faith and that we would be declared righteous through faith. And that we would receive salvation. See, He too is waiting for us at the finish line. But not only that, He's also with us for the whole duration of the race. He's with us always to the end of the age, as he promised.
Dear brothers and sisters, it's as if we were running in the Olympics. in a very big, you know, gigantic stadium. And here we are on the track. In the spotlight, and the race is hard, it's demanding, it's exacting. But all of those who've gone before us are right there in the stands.
And they're cheering us on. They're chanting our names. Alex. Alex. Thanks.
Can Uh BEV Larry, Larry, they're rooting for us. Oh, how they want us successfully. to reach the finish line. But better yet, There's our beloved coach. Jesus Himself, right there at the finish line as well.
He set an example of perseverance through opposition. He's called us to Him. He has formed us and trained us and equipped us and He's even with us here and now at every step and He will never forsake us. And so you see We have our conclusion in verse 3. Consider him.
who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, So that you may not grow weary. or faint hearted. Let's run the race with our eyes fixed On Jesus, you see the founder and perfector of Of our faith, the champion of our faith, and the one who will make it and make us perfect. And so I began this sermon by Saying that the Christian life could be very difficult for many different reasons. See, you know, social opposition, temptations, discouragement.
Life's complexities, conflicts, and of course the spiritual war that the devil himself is waging against our souls. But the main idea of this passage, I hope you heard it this morning, it's that it's so worth it. It's so worth it. God has given us every means to succeed. And for that reason, it's so worth continuing to the finish line.
God has given us every means to succeed because He's given us Jesus. who has done it all on our behalf. If we've received Him, we can rest in Him and count on Him. He's present every second with us through His Spirit, who is poured out in us if we're believers. Jesus dwells in us with the Father by the Spirit.
We have everything we need to make it to the finish line, you see. But let's realize that the race that is set before us is a community project. We're not supposed to run the race alone. Rather, we're doing this together with our brothers and sisters who are still at the moment. running in the stadium with us.
Our church family has been given to us as a means through which Jesus himself administers to us his grace and his encouragements. Yes, we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, many of whom have made it already to the finish line, but many of whom are still in the race, such as the brother or the sister sitting right next to you or in front of you or behind you this morning. We need to pray for one another. We need to spend time with one another. We need to share our struggles and our burdens in small groups and weekly Bible studies and prayer meetings.
The Sunday services, of course, need to be a priority in our lives for the good of our souls, but also for the benefit of our brothers and sisters to whom we have been given by the Lord. as agents of blessing to them. And most of all, let's remember. Let's do this purposefully. That the substance and the object of our faith is Jesus.
We're not saved because we have a great faith. but because we have a great Saviour. And it's not the size of our faith, it's not the strength of our faith that saves us, but it's the object of our faith that saves us, Jesus Himself. He's faithful. He's both the author of our faith and the perfector of our faith.
He is the one that we must look to. And thus we come full circle from the introduction of Hebrews, where the author said. in the first chap first two chapters that we That we do not yet see the fullness of our salvation as believers. But he says we see him. Who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory.
and honour. We see him. The eyes of our faith see the invisible as we look to Jesus. Just as the Apostle Peter says as well. The tested genuineness of your faith.
Will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, though you have not seen Him. You love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him. And rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith. The salvation of your souls.
Amen.
Let's pray. Thank you, dear Father in heaven, for Having sent your son For having given us Jesus. Thank you for sending your spirit. It dwells in us. Thank you for you have equipped us for the race.
And you are with us. every step. of the way. And you will lead us all the way to the finish line by your grace. Help us to remember that.
Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Help us to. Count on him to rest in him. to remember that he has done it all. on our behalf.
Amen.
Mm-hmm.
