It's good that when we do these pulpit swaps, we don't actually have to bring pulpits with us. Rich would have the short end of the straw on that one, or the long end, I suppose. Let me ask if you would please turn with me in the Scriptures to the book of Hebrews. And I'm actually going to start in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 32, getting the tail end of chapter 10. And we're going to read all the way to chapter 12, verse 2, into the very beginning of chapter 12. So it's a somewhat lengthy reading, but it's an exciting text and one of great encouragement. And so I urge you to give heed to the Word of the Lord for your encouragement this morning. Luke chapter 10, beginning in verse 32. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised for yet a little while. And the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God, and without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven, and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites. and gave directions concerning his bones. 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 if 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. And 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 mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weaknesses, 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 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 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 are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings 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. Amen. In the 1800s, the story is told of a wife of a wealthy American merchant who went abroad to Europe to travel and to tour a while and while she was touring it said that she came across a beautiful necklace in a shop there in Europe and wanted to purchase it. And it was rather expensive, maybe $5,000 or so, and so she sent back a telegram to her husband or a telegraph to her husband asking if she could make that purchase. And it's said that her husband thought the price was way too much. It was outrageous. So he sent back his response, no, a price too high. Well, she got that telegraph, and she was delighted. Because when she got it, she read, no price too high, and just thought about how much her husband loved her, and went and bought the lovely necklace, and brought it home to a shocked husband. who allegedly filed suits against the Telegraph Company, and it's said that that was the point at which they began to introduce punctuation into telegraphs. No stop, price too high, stop, and so forth. Now I emphasize, it is said, because this is a pretty well-known account, and it's an old enough of a legend. It may be true, but it's hard to document. So it's hard to know if exactly that really happened. But it certainly illustrates the truism. How prone we are to hear words that say one thing and jump to the conclusion that they say what we're looking for and wanting to hear. And indeed how important punctuation can be in how we read something. Well, this text here, particularly verse 1 of chapter 11, is a very popular verse. I imagine if you go to the local Christian bookstore, you'll find a number of signs that have that verse on it. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen. This may be a text, though, where we have the presence of a punctuation mark that sometimes introduces a misunderstanding of it. And what I mean is that big number 11 right there at the beginning of the chapter. You see, chapter divisions are helpful, but they're not original. And sometimes they do get in the way. And I fear that if we don't pay attention to these verses that lead into it and help us to understand the kind of faith that's being talked about, we really miss the depth of the riches and the joy of what is being promised to us and what we are being taught by this hall of faith that's given to us here in Hebrews chapter 11. So what I'd like to do with you this morning is to take some time to look, first of all, at why it is we need the faith that is here being commended to us. Why it is that we need this faith, you and me, today. Secondly, I want to look with you at what kind of faith it is that's being talked about, or what facet or feature of our faith is here being emphasized. And then thirdly, we'll take a few moments to look at some of the examples here in this catalog of faith. We can't take time to go through the whole of Chapter 11, but I want to draw your attention to a few features of this catalog of men and women of faith from biblical history. for your encouragement. And then we'll close by noting the application that the text gives to us, those therefores given to us at the beginning of chapter 12. And my prayer is that as we take time to meditate upon this scripture together this morning, the Spirit will use this text to strengthen your faith in Christ, bringing to your life those fruits of joy that are there for us in Him. Let's look, first of all, at why it is that you and I need this faith that's here being commended to us, this particular aspect of the Christian faith that's being underscored. And perhaps the first thing that we really should understand about this text is that it's not really about faith, first and foremost. First of all, this text is about endurance. It's about perseverance. And that's really what is said to us here at the front, is that you need endurance. There in chapter 10, verse 36, you have need of perseverance. You see, this whole book of Hebrews was written to a church that was suffering. Now, if we peek ahead to chapter 12, verse 4, we read that they have not yet suffered unto blood. They're not being persecuted and slaughtered, as does happen sometimes, but they are suffering for their faith. And notice here in chapter 10, verse 32, the writer even notes that this suffering began with their conversion, when they first came to faith. He says, Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. You know, many commentators note that the text probably could and maybe even should be translated. Recall the former days when, because you were enlightened as you came to faith, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. You see, coming to Jesus is not necessarily the end of a person's sufferings in this life. In fact, sometimes it can be the beginning of many struggles and hardships, with much joy to displace those troubles. But nonetheless, the Christian life is typically characterized by sufferings in this world. And we ourselves experience it. I remember some years ago when I was studying abroad in Scotland, doing postgraduate work, I got on the train one day to go into Edinburgh to, or to Scotland, or excuse me, to Glasgow to get some books at the library. And one of my friends was sitting there on the train and I sat down to talk with him. And he had another friend sitting with him and he was going to introduce me to him. And so he mentioned to this friend of his, you know, Michael here is doing postgraduate work. And so this fellow brightened up and said, oh, very interesting. What are you studying? And I said, oh, I'm doing studies in the Old Testament, biblical studies. And you could see his countenance fall. And he said, oh, I thought maybe you were studying something useful, like economics or political science. And you know, that is the attitude that we encounter in our world. We live in a culture that does not regard Christ highly, and that often mocks Christ And if you identify with Christ, you will share in His sufferings. In Hebrews, the author notes here two kinds of such sufferings. First of all, in verse 33, he notes that you yourself may be reproached or afflicted in your faith. Or, he goes on to note, you may be partnered with those who are thus reproached and afflicted. caring for brothers and sisters who undergo such hardship. In some cultures, the persecution is intense. In others, it is more subtle. But whether it be the violent waves crashing against the shore and breaking the rocks, or those steady, lapping waves that ever so gradually wear away at the stones, as long as sin is in the world, there will be suffering on the part of those who live a Christian life. Faith is not the end of sufferings in the world. In fact, sometimes it may be the cause of more. But the text here is not being written to promote affliction. It's not something we look for, and this is not a downer text. It just notes this reality, underscores this fact, and based on it, the author exhorts us You have need of endurance. And you and I here in this room today, we have need of endurance. You will be going out after this wonderful day of rest where we step apart and consider God's grace and worship Him. And you will be going back out to your daily activities and responsibilities in the world. And in the week ahead, you will face temptations. You will face those who do not think highly of Christ, and as you identify with Christ, you will share in those sufferings. This text speaks to you and me this morning, saying, you have need of endurance. And that is why the author goes on to speak to us about faith. Note here in verses 37 and 38 of chapter 10, this quotation from the Old Testament prophets, where he says to us that having need of endurance, he gives us now this solution, this means of, this source of endurance for our lives. Yet a little while in the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous ones shall live by faith, that is, faith in that promise of the coming one who is coming. And if he shrinks back from that faith, then my soul has no pleasure in him. But the author has high expectations of you and the church, aided by the Spirit, that you will not be of those that shrink back, but those of such faith to persevere and preserve the soul. A note here, there are many tenets of the Christian faith that we delighted. We delight in the promise of atonement and forgiveness in Christ for those who repent. We delight in the assurance that God is sovereign and reigns over all things for his glorious purposes. And Hebrews 11, speaking of faith, speaks of the whole system of Christian faith. But in particular here, it is specifically emphasizing this facet of our faith. The coming of Christ. the promised one, the one who was promised to lead us forth into victory, to take this broken and painful world and set it right again. Jesus Christ came and paid for our sins in his first coming, and he has promised that he is leading his church forward as his kingdom advances, and he will yet come again to complete the consummation of that glorious kingdom with a second coming. It's a great tragedy when we come to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. And think about that new iPod we're wishing for or something like that. And maybe that's what I need to hope for and bolster up enough a confidence in. And then it will appear. No, this is emphasizing our faith in that promise in particular. which we do not yet see, but we have the assurance of. The coming of Jesus Christ, the King, that He is coming, and the completion of His kingdom and glorious purposes will occur. It's a common technique for runners who are running a race, as they're running, to fix their eyes beyond the finish line. It is a means of endurance when running. that you run at your best where you are right now. I run at my best at the space where I am right now by keeping my eyes fixed beyond the finish line to what is ahead. You see, you and I have much to do for Christ right here and now in our lives and in our place and time. And yet, we run best and endure when our eyes are fixed on that certain promise that Christ is coming back and the glories of His kingdom are unfolding and will be finished. You have need of perseverance and this is the particular aspect of faith which Hebrews is emphasizing to you and that means, that source of perseverance that you would have a heaven-minded faith that you would be heaven-minded in your living week by week and day by day, faith in the coming of Christ and confidence in the completion of all His promises and in His final victory. This is that particular aspect of faith which we are to ground ourselves in, that gives us endurance in the struggles of life in a sinful world. With that, the author breaks into this beautiful poetic catalog of examples of faith for your encouragement. This host of examples that goes through chapter 11. They're here because I believe very often that you and I and other Christians may feel very alone in our faith and in our walk. But this is here, this beautiful survey of the whole Bible, and really the history of the world, in order to assure you that you are not alone in this faith. There is a great heritage of faith that goes before you, sharing in this eager expectation of Christ and His purposes. There's no way this morning that we can visit each of these examples together. There are something like 20 different names, men and women of faith in this chapter, and something like another 20 unnamed situations at the end of the chapter. We certainly cannot visit all 40 or so of these one by one this morning. But for your encouragement in these examples, I do want to look briefly at a couple of things in the way this catalog is put together. You see it in a three-part list. of these heroes of faith. The first, beginning in verse 2 with the creation, and continuing on to verse 12 with Abraham and Sarah. And there the writer himself takes a break, sort of steps aside from the list, and in verses 13 to 16 he gives us a summary of the lesson that we're supposed to be learning from these examples, the first five or six of them. And there he summarizes for us what that example is, that these all died in faith, not having received a thing's promise, but having seen them and greeted them from afar. You see, Abel was righteous, and he died for it. He died because he was righteous, because he gave that offering which was pleasing to God, and his brother persecuted him for it. Enoch was taken without dying. And he pleased God because he believed that God is a rewarder and will reward his people. Noah and so forth on to Abraham and Sarah who left the prestige of the city in which he was raised in wealth and in comfort and went to live in tents as a stranger in a land that was promised to him but which he never owned a single acre of. Why? Why put up with such sufferings? Was this a sad and miserable lot? No, these are joyous men and women. As verses 15 and 16 tell us, they weren't thinking of a land like the land from which they had come. No, they desired a better country, a heavenly one, the one which God had promised and of which he himself is a builder and maker. You see these in the first part of this list in chapter 11 are those who are looking ahead to a better kingdom. This theme continues on in the second part of the list from verses 17 through 31 as we pick up with Abraham again and continue on through Moses on into the entrance of the land with Rahab and so forth. And here we see this continuing anticipation in God's promises, generation after generation dying without seeing the fulfillment of the promises yet, but nonetheless trusting in them and finding joy in them. And notice how it is expressed in particular connection with Moses, the one on whom the author takes the most time. And he points out to us in verse 26, how Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. looking to the reward, thereby leaving Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king. Do you note there the contrast between two kings? Moses was looking ahead to the promised king. Christ is a royal title. It's the title of the king of God's people. And Moses looked at the king of Egypt beside him and the king whom God had promised to send and to provide for his people, and said, I am going to serve Christ, even though I do not see him yet with my eyes, I am going to serve him and his kingdom. I remember as a kid watching that Cecil B. DeMille movie, The Ten Commandments. I imagine most of you have seen that as well. I remember as a child watching that, I always used to wonder, why doesn't Moses just become the next pharaoh. That's the way the movie portrayed it anyway, that he allegedly would have been the next pharaoh. Why didn't he just stay and become the next pharaoh? And then he can free all the Israelites. But you see, the Exodus wasn't so much about liberty. It was about serving God and His King, and being part of His kingdom, and not the kingdom of Egypt, the kingdoms of this world, for all their purported glory. Moses was filled with love for Christ and expectation of Him. And though He had not yet come, He believed He was coming and endured the reproaches of the King before Him in order to serve and be faithful to the coming One. So we have introduced to us men and women who look forward to a better kingdom, who look forward to a more glorious King, And then the third part of this list and final part in verse 32 shifts into high gear and starts rattling off names and then giving us events without names attached to them. You might notice how these events are described in verses 33 and thereafter. There's about 10 items here that are very positive, conquering kingdoms, enforcing justice, and so forth. And what an encouragement to find these 10 items here. Because you see, the kingdom is advancing in victory. God does give his people victory, and the church moves forward in conquest in the name of Christ. There are great and exciting victories that we experience as God's people. But there are also sufferings. And so, after giving us those 10 points of victory in verse 35 to 38, it also gives us 10 or so points of suffering. That these were tortured, refusing to accept release, suffering mocking, being stoned, and so forth. And it is these in particular who suffered in their faith that verse 38 says, of these the world was not worthy. And so the whole catalog closes again in verses 39 to 40, reminding us that each generation of those described, each ended their part of the race, completed their course in life without receiving what was promised. Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect, that is not be made complete. See, what if God had brought Abraham into the land and at that point had brought the final judgment and purified the whole world and renewed the heavens and the earth and consummated the kingdom at that point? You and I would have had no part in it. You see, what Hebrews is showing us is that it is out of God's love for you that he works in such patience. giving them, generation after generation, His great and precious promises to lean upon, wherein to endure and to persevere, and to find joy serving Him and expecting His reward. And yet, He continues in patience, not finishing it in any of those generations, because of His love for you, whom He is drawing in in this generation. And who knows how many more generations will yet hear this text, apply to them and their generations yet to come. But you see it is here at the end of the list that what the writer of Hebrews is doing is having traced out this heritage of perseverance by heaven-minded faith from creation onward that he now comes down to you, his audience, and invites you to add your own name to that list. And so he gives us these words of application. the therefore in chapter 12 verse 1. You see, you too here today have need of endurance. And in this heritage of expectant faith in the coming one, we have the tried and proven means of such endurance demonstrated to us by this great cloud of witnesses. And so he brings this whole grand and beautiful lesson down to this very simple and practical point for you. in chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Let us, on the one hand, lay aside the weight and sin which clings so closely and bogs us down in our running. And let us, secondly, run with endurance the race that is set before us in our generation looking to Jesus The founder, and yes, the completer of our faith. You see, these two let-up statements are really not two different things, but just two different aspects of one great act of persevering faith. I think very sadly, we often focus on the first of these, laying aside the sin and the weights that bog us down, and miss the second one, which is really the power to accomplish the first. keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus in our running with endurance. One of the old Puritans, I can't remember which one it was and didn't have time to look it up, but one of the old Puritans in one of his books was describing heaven. And I remember him remarking how much he was looking forward to heaven. But then he added this comment. He says, I am greatly looking forward to heaven, to be with Jesus. But if I get there and Jesus is not there, I don't want to be there either. Well, of course, Jesus is going to be there with us in heaven for eternity. The Puritan father who made that statement certainly was not introducing any question about the matter, but he was emphasizing the point that our joy in heaven is because of Christ. It is he who has loved us. And we love him. And as we set our hearts upon him looking to Jesus, in anticipation of His coming to receive us back to Himself, in victory and the consummation of all His promises, that we find joy in the midst of our race, that we find the strength in that faith to endure, and yes, to set aside those sins that bog us down in our running. You see, at the end of the day, ultimately, you and I will serve in our lives whatever it is that we love. If your heart is fixed on the pleasures of this world, you will serve those pleasures one way or another. But if, like these saints of old, you find your hearts being filled with that faith which focuses on Christ and nurtures a love for Christ so that your heart and your eyes are fixed upon Him, therein you will experience the grace to cast aside those sins which weigh you down. At the end of the day, this whole grand passage is really just an exhortation to cut those anchors that tie your heart to the sins and distractions of the kingdoms of the world and positively to tie your heart to the Christ and to His kingdom that He is advancing in our midst and one day will consummate in glory. I love the way Calvin put it in his commentary in this text. Calvin wrote, Indeed, wherever there is a lively perception of heavenly things, the world with all its allurements is not so relished that either poverty or shame can overwhelm our minds with grief. If then we wish to bear anything for Christ with patience, Let us accustom ourselves to a frequent meditation on that felicity of heaven in comparison with which all the good things of the world are nothing but refuse. Do you believe that? You know, God has promised that there will be a wiping away of every tear. God has promised that when Christ catches us up to himself, there will be a renewal of the body and all its aches and pains. There will be that final deliverance of the soul from all its weaknesses and temptations. There will be a securing of the new heavens and the new earth in peace and righteousness in Christ forever. This is the rest that we look forward to. And that as Calvin exhorts us, we frequently meditate upon, week by week, every Sabbath, stepping apart from the world to refresh our hearts in the promises of God. It is in this faith, and this particular facet of our faith, that we find the grace to endure. Let me draw this to a close with just one final observation from this text. You see, we have this list of 20 or so persons described to us, and 20 or so circumstances described to us, but there really is one final example of heaven-mindedness that the text sets before us, and it is Jesus Himself, there in chapter 12, verse 2. You see, Jesus Himself suffered greatly, and we are told that He, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated in his reward at the right hand of the throne of God." That phrase, despising the shame, I think in English we use despising typically to mean sort of hatefulness or something. The proper sense of the word is that it's treating it lightly. And the point is that Christ experienced intense suffering, but even as intense and as great as that suffering was, it was something that was light in comparison to the great joy that He saw ahead that was before Him. Have you ever thought about that and realized that Jesus Christ, in His intense anguish on the cross, was nonetheless motivated by joy to do it? Here is a supreme example of such heaven-mindedness. enduring suffering, the joy that was ahead. This really is the great paradox of the Christian faith, that despite lives often afflicted with suffering, we live in joy, great joy, powerful joy, and joy unquenchable. My prayer for you this week is that you this week would walk in that joy, having your heart fixed in the promises of God's glorious Kingdom and His glorious King, as we together await His coming. Let us pray. Our Lord, we rejoice in the great and precious promises of Your Word. How great was the faith of those so long ago who trusted in Your Word before Christ came. Lord, what an encouragement it is for us that our faith has been strengthened, yes, by sight, because we have seen Christ come. We have the eyewitness accounts for us in the scriptures. So many of your promises have already been accomplished. And we just strengthen and encourage our trust in your promises as we look forward to the fulfillment of them all. Lord, I pray that you would fix this hope in the hearts of these, your people who are gathered here today, that as we go forth into the week ahead, that you would sustain us in the joy of Christ and his victories, and that sustaining us in that faith, you would strengthen us to run with patience the race that is set before us, casting aside those weights and sins that tie our hearts to the world, and fixing our hearts upon Christ, and looking forward to that great and glorious day. Lord, may it come quickly. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.