Please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 16, a psalm I hope you're familiar with by now as we have just sung it. We will now hear it read. Here, the psalm speaks of the salvation that is found in the Lord God who delivers his servant, not just from, but through death. Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good apart from you. As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply their drink offerings of blood. I will not pour out nor will I take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion in my cup. You hold my lot. The lions have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel, and the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. My flesh alone dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Now turning with me to the New Testament, to Hebrews chapter 11, as we look at verses 32 to 40. Hebrews chapter 11 beginning in verse 32 through the end of the chapter. What more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms and forced 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, and 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 a 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 of 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. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Father, we do thank you for the giving of your word. We ask now that through its preaching, we would hear our savior speak from heaven, that through the ministry of your inerrant and infallible word, you would guide, comfort, and correct your church. As we walk this earthly place as pilgrims and immigrants in this land, We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Why does this guy keep on talking? I think that is the most common question I find myself asking at any given Presbytery meeting. Perhaps you feel the same way about my preaching. Maybe perhaps to put things in perspective, we began working our way through Hebrews chapter 11 back in January. Back before y'all even knew that Derrick Barson was our pastoral candidate, and it's now almost July, you think of how much more can we take going through a given chapter. I was reading through one of Augustine's sermons earlier this week, and of course, there's a preacher known for the gift of gab, and he actually, I think jokingly, referred to his sermons as a form of martyrdom. for the members of his church because they would have to endure through his long-winded sermons week in and week out. Why is this guy still speaking? It's actually interesting because this is how one translation takes this opening question here in verse 32. This is the rhetorical import. In other words, that the author of Hebrews in this written sermon seems like he's beginning to come to a close and of course in decent preacherly fashion, he goes on for another two and a half chapters. But if that's the question that you ask, I think you're in good company. Because this is the question he himself asks. What we see here is that chapter 11 is so vital to the main point that the preacher has been making all along. That the Old Testament testifies of the world to come. As you recall through the many sermons that we have gone through now through the book of Hebrews, we find that this has been his main theme all along, Jesus is better. Jesus has inaugurated a new world by his death and resurrection from the dead. And this is not just found through some isolated proof text here or there. If you recall when we looked at chapters 5 to 10, As Hebrews looks at Christ as our high priest, he argues that on the basis of just two verses. But what he's showing here in chapter 11 is this is not just some random proof text, but rather this is in fact the sum and the substance of the totality of the Old Testament. That Christ has come and that Christ is better. The hope and longings of all and everything to which the Old Testament prophets had spoken and look for, that Christ has, by his resurrection from the dead, gone on ahead as our archagon, as the pioneer and trailblazer of our faith to prepare a place before us. In the first half of this chapter, he zoomed in on key figures in the life of Israel, that of the patriarchs and Moses. Now here in the second half, he reminds us that the testimony of the saints, even in the land of Canaan, likewise attest to a promised land that still awaits, a promised land that does not find its ultimate fulfillment, and a little strip of land in the Middle East. We'll consider this from three particular vantage points this morning. First, we'll consider the triumphs of faith. You'll see that here in verses 32 through the first half of verse 35. Secondly, we'll consider the trials, or perhaps better, the tragedies of faith in verses 35 to 38. And finally, one last time, we will return to the question of the testimony of faith as we have begun in verse 1 of this chapter. So the triumphs of faith, the tragedies of faith, and the testimony of faith. Now, if you were to rattle off your family history, I think most of us would not spend our time talking about that crazy drunk uncle and all of the illicit exploits that he was known for. I think most of us would spend our time wanting to highlight the respectable members of our own line. Think of going to a high school reunion and talking about your family with friends. You don't talk about your third cousin who has been in prison for robbing a bank, rather you talk about your great-great-grandfather who was, you know, the roommate down the hall of the vice president's cousin. You do everything, we do everything we can to try to exalt ourselves by associating ourselves with the respectable people. And yet when the preacher here begins rattling off the heroes of the faith in verse 32, I think for those of us who know our Bible history, we recognize that these are all men who have a pretty shoddy reputation, to say the least. I think it's rather fascinating these past few weeks in the news, the number of protests that have arisen for a number of reasons. These attempts to tear down American icons, to rename towns, landmark states, fight songs, and even mediocre bands don't Get me wrong, I'm not trying to make a political statement, it's just an observation. We have a society that's obsessed with rewriting history according, an attempt to fit a particular narrative, right? It doesn't matter if you're George Washington or Ulysses Grant. There's these attempts that if you don't fit a particular narrative, we want to kind of scrub you from the history books. How many of the heroes listed here in this passage would survive that type of scrutiny in today's culture? You take Gideon, for instance. Read through the book of Judges. I think we grow up and we remember the first half of the story of Gideon, the man full of fear who hides behind a vine press and is commanded to lead God's army to battle. It's a good thing. He obeys. He demonstrates such faith. But towards the end of his life, he certainly seems to become a man on a power trip. As the nation proclaims him as king, what does he say? He says, no, no, no, no, I'm not king. Then he turns around and names his son what? Abimelech. My father is king. Kind of gives us insight into his own psychology. It's much like Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War, isn't it? He refuses the title of king after they killed the previous monarch. But then he has Parliament declare him to be Lord Protector. And then he declares his son to be his successor. It seems to be a distinction without difference. Think of Barack, the judge who is something of a coward. Here's a man who refuses to fight when Deborah, a woman, comes and says, you need to go fight. What's his response? Well, I'll go if you go. You think of Samson, probably the The guy in the Old Testament who kept his parents up late at night worrying about where he is. The man who is cocky and rebellious, chasing and carousing with pagan women. Think of Jephthah, the man who leads a tremendous military victory on behalf of the people of God and then makes a rash vow to the Lord, says, the first thing that I see when I come home, I will sacrifice it to you. And what's the first thing he sees? his beloved daughter, which he sacrifices to the Lord foolishly. You have Samuel, who's not the most discerning father. He appoints his son as judges in the land despite their own wickedness. And then, of course, there's David. I think to call him an adulterer and murderer is something of a dramatic understatement. Here's a man who's a peeping Tom, sees somebody else's wife and then gets his guards to bring her to him. so that he can indulge in his own lust while her husband is away, actions that would make, I think, even Harvey Weinstein blush. And yet, these are men listed in Hebrew's Hall of Faith. It doesn't provide a whitewashed history. Rather, the author of Hebrews is utterly transparent. Praise God. that he does not treat us as the world treats its own. Think of Psalm 130, if you, O Lord, would mark but one of our iniquities, who would stand? Who here is spotless? What we see, rather, is that rather than trying to give a piece of political propaganda in Hebrews chapter 11, the author is utterly transparent and he highlights what we might call the crazy drunk uncles of the Old Testament, the people that you would almost want to be ashamed of. And yet he's not ashamed of them because the Lord is not ashamed of them. What a grace is it to know that the perfectly just God does not treat us as our sins deserve, but rather he justifies those who trust in him despite our many heinous sins. I think this is important as we reflect on our own ecclesiastical heritage. Think of Luther's pernicious anti-Semitism. Very last sermon he ever preaches in a pulpit is this tirade against the Jews. You think of Jonathan Edwards' slavery and the fact that Charles Hodge owned slaves. You have Dabney's vicious racism. Even the founder of our denomination, J. Gresham Machen, a vocal proponent of segregation, even at Princeton seminary. When we look back on the heroes of the faith, both in the Bible and in our own reform tradition, we don't have to pretend that their sins are not there in order to commend them for their faith. There's no need to whitewash our history, nor is there any need to excuse their sins because they are heinous sins. But rather, we continue to see Hebrews 11 as a paradigm through which we see our own history, to highlight the wideness of God's mercy towards those who put their hope in him. What an encouragement it is that in a world that devours its own, we have a savior who does not act as such. That the God of heaven took to himself a true body and a reasonable soul. that He might bear our sins, that we sinners, though we are, might be welcomed and received into God's family. Here with these men with legacies who by human standards are, and even by God's own standards, are stained with sin, there we see that here God does not condemn them for their faults, but rather commends them for their faith, for their miraculous victories that they conquered Canaan, that they imposed justice and established godliness in the land, that they secured God's promises, that they shut the lion's mouths, that they passed through the fire, and that they escaped death. What we see here in verses 32 to 34 are three triads, three sets of three descriptions of the various ways in which the saints of the Old Testament triumphed through faith, through victory, through deliverance and through empowerment, all of these escalating to the greatest triumph of all, the resurrection from the dead, the triumph over death itself. How great a testimony faith is when we read the story of David and Goliath, when we read the story of Daniel in the midst of the lion's den or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But if we just stop there, I think we would do ourselves a disservice in expecting that the immediate outcome of faith will always be one of victory. Faith triumphs ultimately in the end, but it does not always triumph immediately, as now the author highlights the trials and the tragedies of those who trusted God as well. I think it's great reading about the resurrection stories and accounts that we find in the Old Testament. But if you start recounting, how many resurrections do we find in the Old Testament? Only two. Out of the whole history of Israel, prior to the coming of Christ, only two people were raised from the dead, and neither of them were Israelites. Both of them were Gentile, the sons of Gentile widows. And even then those two sons grew up to die again. As for the rest of the saints, they remained dead and in the grave. Not only that, many of them were tortured for their faith. That Greek word there for torture quite literally means that they were pounded like a drum. And yet they refused to accept release. Of course, the implication that they refused to accept release was that there was a possibility for a way out. There was a way for them to escape death. And yet they refused to do it because they knew that a better resurrection, that a better world awaits. And so they refused to bow the knee to the gods of this world. You think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. and their answer to King Nebuchadnezzar when he commands them to bow the knee. What's their response? He said, the Lord will deliver us from the fire. But even if he doesn't, we still will not bow the knee. Here are men who entrusted themselves to the Lord despite whatever the immediate outcome was because they knew that the resurrection hope still awaits. Of course, Shadrach and company were spared, but not everyone was. We read of Joseph in the book of Genesis who was in prison for years because he refused to sleep with his boss's wife and became the victim of slander and false accusations. How's that for payment for retaining your integrity? You have Naboth. who refused to relinquish his God-given inheritance, this promised land that the Lord had given to him, that had been allotted him, and he refused to relinquish it to the king of Israel, and so he was murdered after becoming the victim of a false accusation, accusation of blasphemy. You have Obadiah and hundreds of prophets who hid in caves to flee Jezebel's wrath because they would not bow the knee to Baal. Jewish history tells us outside of the Bible that Isaiah the prophet was sawn in two because he refused to compromise the preaching of God's word. Then you have our Lord and Savior himself, who even his opponent said, if you truly are who you say you are, come down from the cross. Christ refused and died. Is this because that none of these, that any of these did not have enough faith? That is certainly what the charlatans on the so-called Christian television networks want to say. Name it, claim it. If you're suffering, then clearly it's because you do not have enough faith. But that just does not comport with the biblical testimony of faith. We see here a particular pattern in verses 32 to 40 of this chapter, the triumphs and both the tragedies of faith. And this tells us that it is not the immediate outcome of what happens that validates the legitimacy of your faith. Rather, faith does something objectively in the midst of trial. It testifies of the new world to come. in the midst of this present world that is passing away. It is not that their faith was subpar, quite the opposite, as we see here in verse 38. Why is it that tragedy strikes these particular saints? We're told here the reason. It's because the world was not worthy of them. I think this really recalibrates our understanding of how we endure suffering and how we understand suffering in this present life. To entrust yourself to God and to suffer the loss of limb or life is not proof that your faith is invalid. It is not evidence that God has somehow slipped or tripped or fallen off of his throne. It is not an evidence of lack of faith. Rather these, what we might call tragedies of faith, is itself God's own testimony that the world is not worthy of you. What is it that Psalm 116 tells us? That in the sight of the Lord, the death of the saints is precious. So interesting that in the earlier church when a Christian was martyred, The church would refer to the day and anniversary of their martyrdom as their birthday. It's the day of their entrance into the new world. What we see here is faith is not the missing link. It is not that key ingredient to having your best life now. Rather, faith testifies that the best is still to come. I think we've all experienced the same problem. You get a group of friends together on a Friday night. You want to go down to the local restaurant for a steak or a burger, some type of red meat. And you call for reservations. You want to beat the rush. You call up the hostess and you say, Charles, party of eight, 6 o'clock. 6 o'clock comes. You show up. You're there. But not everyone in the party has arrived. And so you ask the hostess, can we be seated early? What does the hostess tell us? Nope. Everybody's got to be present. Help yourself to drinks at the bar and get some appetizers, get some dessert. Give a foretaste of what's to come, but you're not allowed to be seated. You can't get the meal until everyone has arrived. And as the author of Hebrews brings this chapter to a close, He looks back on the life of the Old Testament saints, both the victors and the victims, both Moses and Abel, both David and Isaiah, those who triumphed and those who suffered. And we find that all of them died. And they all died waiting because the Lord would not seat them without us. Hebrews chapter 2 began with this very point that Christ has gone on ahead. In John's gospel, Jesus says, would I go ahead to what? To prepare a place for you. And the path through which he went was the path of suffering unto glory. The cross and resurrection, it is the path, it is the doorway, it is the entrance through which every believer is called to undertake. But he goes forward to prepare a place for us. so that the saints under the old covenant and the new might be seated together at the same time, the marriage supper of the lamb on that last day at the resurrection of the just. What Hebrews has brought into view this entire time is this, that we are citizens of another world. And faith is our passport and our visa. It marks our entrance into the new world. And so we sit here at the terminal as immigrants and sojourners, making our way through this earthly pit stop in the midst of a country that has declared war on our heavenly home. And so we have to ask, what does it look like to be like the saints of old What does it look like to have faith in this world? How is it if faith is a testimony of the new world to come? How do we, as the people of God, testify to that new world that awaits? Hopefully, you will see as we have taken our sweet time these past six months looking at this chapter, with each individual, Time and time again, it was always the promised hope of the last day shapes how we live our lives today. Addressing our children. We live in a world that hates authority. So what does it look like to have faith? What does it look to testify to the world to come even as a child? Well, scripture tells us. Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in that promised land that the Lord is giving us. Recognize that these parents and even my siblings were given to me for a reason, even when it doesn't seem like it on those long car trips and family vacations. Husbands, We live in a world where sexual promiscuity and self-satisfaction are treated as an inalienable right. What does it look like as a faithful husband to testify of the world to come? It means this, to love your wives unconditionally, to die for them if you must, and to die to yourself and your desires daily because you must. as a testimony of Christ's love for his own bride, the Church. Why, as we live in a world where submission is an ugly word, what does it look like to testify of the world to come? To understand properly within what the New Testament says in terms of its boundaries of submitting in the Lord to your husband, as a witness to a watching world of how the Church submits to her Savior. To our parents, that you are to treat your children as a blessing and not as a burden. They're not a hindrance to your own career advancement. Your kids aren't there to advance your career. Rather, your career is there so that you can support and raise your children, that the Lord has entrusted them to your care, that you might teach them a new generation to fear the Lord and to walk in his ways as pilgrims in this life. To our singles, The reminder that marriage is not the end all, be all. Because in the new world that awaits, there is but one marriage, that of Christ and his bride, where nobody will be left excluded. And to our seasoned saints nearing death, what does it look like to testify of the world to come? It looks like this, to live knowing that this life is not the end, and to leave a testimony for this generation, that a better world awaits all who walk by faith. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Father, we thank you for the testimony of the saints of the Old Testament, that you receive them not on the basis of works, sinful as they all were, to encourage us that you receive us and accept us not on the basis of our works, but by faith and trust in you. And we ask that you would use this chapter as we've given great consideration to your word to spur us on, to set our sights not on the things of this world, but on our heavenly home, a home that awaits us and a home that we have not yet seen. A home that outstrips anything that we could ask or think according to the greatness of the love that you have granted us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.