Faith That Overcomes The World 7-12-26 PM
I. Overcoming faith grows by looking to God (Heb. 11:23-29).
a. The account begins with the parents of Moses, Amram and Jochebed.
i. Pharaoh had commanded that all Hebrew baby boys be killed.
ii. Moses’ parents knew the command but they refused to allow fear of the king to become greater than their trust in God.
iii. They hid Moses for three months.
iv. Their faith didn’t mean they felt no fear, but that fear did not control their obedience.
v. Their faith became the environment in which Moses’ own faith would eventually grow.
b. Years have now past and Moses has grown up in the house of Pharaoh.
i. Moses had position, education, privilege, and access to wealth.
ii. Moses had what so many spend their whole lives trying to obtain.
iii. Moses refused to let Egypt define him.
iv. Notice that the text does not say sin offers no pleasure – it says the pleasure of sin is fleeting.
1. Sin promises much and delivers little.
2. It offers pleasure but hides the consequences.
3. It offers comfort but takes away peace.
4. It offers freedom but produces slavery.
v. Moses had to choose between temporary pleasure with Egypt and temporary suffering with God’s people.
vi. The reason for this is found in verse 26 (Heb. 11:26).
1. Moses looked beyond the palace;
2. Beyond the borders of Egypt;
3. Beyond the suffering;
4. He looked to the reward of God.
vii. Moses endured because he was looking for the invisible God rather than the visible king.
1. Pharaoh was visible, but temporary.
2. God was invisible, but eternal.
viii. The funny thing about Moses is that he did not start out as a man of great faith.
ix. At the burning bush he offered several excuses.
1. Who am I?
2. What shall I say to them?
3. I am not eloquent.
4. Please send someone else.
x. Moses began his leadership phase with weak and hesitant faith, but he did not remain there.
xi. His faith grew to the point where he could stand before the most powerful man on earth and say, “Thus says the Lord…”
xii. His faith was then displayed through the Passover.
1. Moses believed God’s warning and trusted God’s provision.
2. This led him to instruct the people to obey.
3. The blood had to be applied, and everywhere it was, the firstborn lived.
4. Everywhere it was not applied, the firstborn died.
xiii. Then Moses led God’s people to the Red Sea.
1. Behind them was Pharaoh’s army and in front was the Red Sea.
2. Humanly speaking, there was no escape.
3. The people panicked but listen to what Moses said… (Ex. 14:13).
xiv. Moses had learned to look to God.
1. He could not part the sea or defeat Pharaoh’s army on his own.
2. But he trusted the God that could.
c. Some of us become discouraged because our faith is not as strong as we think it should be.
i. Remember Moses.
ii. He grew in faith, moving from excuses to courage – from looking at himself to looking at God.
iii. We have to grow in the same way.
d. Faith grows when we listen to God’s word, obey what He has said, remember what He has done, and trust Him with what we can’t control.
e. We also have to make the same choice Moses made.
i. Will we enjoy temporary pleasure or identify ourselves with God’s people?
ii. Will we seek the treasures of the world or the reward of God?
iii. Will we fear the anger of man or endure by seeing Him who is invisible?
f. The world is overcome whenever we say:
i. I would rather suffer with God’s people than prosper without God.
ii. I would rather lose the approval of people than lose the approval of God.
iii. I would rather possess Christ than possess everything the world can offer.
g. Growing faith looks past our own weakness and trusts God’s power.
II. Overcoming faith obeys even when God’s way seems unusual (Heb. 11:30-31).
a. Israel’s first great challenge after crossing the Jordan was the fortified city of Jericho.
i. The city was protected by large walls.
ii. God’s place sounded unlike any battle plan man had ever devised.
iii. The people were to march around the city once for six straight days.
iv. On the seventh day, they were to march around it seven times.
v. After the seventh time, the priests would blow trumpets and the people would shout, and God said the walls would then fall down.
1. No battering ram, siege ramp, or conventional military attack.
2. March, wait, and obey.
vi. Have you ever thought what the people in Jericho thought when they saw this being done?
vii. Think about how strange it must have sounded to the Israelites, yet the obeyed.
1. They did not try to improve God’s plan.
2. They did not change His instructions in any way.
3. They did not march for a few days and then quit because nothing was happening.
viii. The walls fell, not because marching has some natural power to destroy stone walls, but because God acted when His people obeyed.
ix. Faith does not require us to understand everything God commands.
x. Faith requires us to trust the One who commands it.
b. We then read about Rahab.
i. She, along with everyone else, had heard about what God had done for the Hebrews.
ii. She told the spies she knew God had given them the land.
iii. She believed Jericho would fall because she believed that Israel’s God was the true God.
iv. It’s important to note that the Hebrews writer is not praising her lie or even condoning it.
v. Hebrews is praising her faith in receiving and protecting the spies because she believed God would give Israel the victory.
vi. We don’t use her faith as an excuse for dishonesty.
vii. The text commends her trust in God and her willingness to act on that trust.
viii. Rahab’s past did not prevent her from turning to God.
ix. Her city was under condemnation, but she chose to align herself with God’s people.
x. She did everything she was told to do and, as a result, she and all that were in her house were saved.
c. God’s instruction will not always agree with the wisdom of the world.
i. They world probably won’t understand why we forgive those that wrong us.
ii. The world probably won’t understand why we remain sexually pure.
iii. The world will not understand why we refuse to compromise truth for acceptance.
d. People may even mock obedience because it appears ineffective.
i. Israel marched for six days and the walls still stood.
ii. Faith kept marching.
e. Sometimes we stop obeying because we don’t see immediate results.
i. We pray briefly and quit.
ii. We resist temptation for a short time, then surrender.
iii. We try to restore a relationship and then become impatient.
iv. We serve without recognition and begin wondering whether it matters.
f. Jericho reminds us that the absence of immediate results does not mean God has failed.
g. Keep marching, obeying, trusting.
h. Rahab reminds us that faith is available to people with broken pasts.
i. Her life had been marked by sin but her future was changed by faith.
ii. God’s grace does not excuse our past – it redeems us from it.
i. Faith obeys God completely, even when His way seems unreasonable.
III. Overcoming faith acts courageously for a better resurrection (Heb. 11:32-35a).
a. An important thing to note is that the people mentioned here were not perfect.
i. Gideon was hesitant.
ii. Barak needed encouragement.
iii. Samson was impulsive and morally weak at times.
iv. Jephthah made a reckless vow.
v. Samuel’s own sons did not follow his example.
vi. The prophets sometimes became discouraged.
b. Hebrews is not teaching that faith makes us flawless, but that flawed people can accomplish God’s purposes when they trust Him.
c. Inspiration begins to point out some tremendous things these people did all through faith.
d. They conquered kingdoms:
i. Gideon led a tiny army against Midian and God led him to victory.
ii. Barak led small Israel against the forces of Sisera.
iii. David defeated many nations around Israel.
iv. All these victories were demonstrations, not of human greatness, but of divine faithfulness.
e. They enforced justice:
i. David, at his best, ruled with justice and fairness.
ii. Samuel judged Israel and called the nation back to faithfulness.
iii. Godly leaders acted to restrain evil and defend what was right.
f. They obtained promises:
i. God fulfilled all His promises according to Joshua.
ii. He gave Israel the land, delivered the people from their enemies, and established David as king.
iii. Some promises were received during their lifetimes, but the ultimate fulfillment remained ahead.
g. They stopped the mouths of lions – Daniel’s faith did not keep him out of the lion’s den but it did sustain him while in the den.
h. They quenched the power of fire – think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being cast into the fiery furnace.
i. They escaped the edge of the sword:
i. Think how many times David had to evade Saul.
ii. Elijah escaped Jezebel’s threat.
j. They were made strong out of weakness:
i. Gideon said he was the weakest member of the weakest clan.
ii. Samson’s strength only returned when he called on God.
iii. David was a young shepherd facing a trained warrior.
k. They put foreign armies to flight:
i. Israel’s greatest victories often came when the odds seemed impossible.
ii. Gideon and his 300 men are a prime example.
l. We may never stand before an earthly leader who demands we bow to an image, but every day we face pressure to bow to the world.
i. We are pressured to place career above character;
ii. Acceptance over truth;
iii. Comfort over service;
iv. Personal desire over God’s will.
m. Overcoming faith acts courageously because it believes there is a better resurrection.
n. This should change how we look at sacrifice:
i. Giving up sin is not losing life – it is choosing better life.
ii. Serving Christ is not wasting life – it is investing in eternal life.
iii. Remaining faithful under pressure is not foolish – it is preparation for resurrection.
o. Faith risks the present because it believes in the future.
IV. Overcoming faith endures when earthly deliverance does not come (Heb. 11:35b-38).
a. Some believers could have escaped suffering by abandoning their loyalty to God but they refuses.
i. Some chose death rather than unfaithfulness because they believed in a better resurrection.
ii. This is the center of overcoming faith.
iii. Jeremiah was mocked, beaten, placed in stocks, imprisoned, and lowered into a muddy cistern.
iv. Joseph was falsely accused and imprisoned.
v. Micaiah was slapped and placed in prison for speaking the truth to Ahab.
vi. Faithfulness does not always bring applause – sometimes it brings chains.
b. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, was stoned in the courtyard of the temple after rebuking the people for their unfaithfulness.
c. The Hebrews writer tells us that some were sawn asunder, or in two.
i. We don’t know for sure who this was.
ii. Tradition says it was Isaiah at the hands of wicked King Manasseh.
iii. This tradition is found in some ancient Jewish writings as well as in the writing of Justin Martyr.
d. Many prophets were killed with the sword.
i. Elijah stated that Israel had forsaken the covenant and killed the prophets.
ii. Jezebel had killed many prophets, although Obadiah hid 100 in caves.
e. They went about in the simplest of clothing, being terribly treated.
i. They wore rough clothing and lacked material possessions.
ii. They were treated as though they were worthless but God gave His judgment of their value in verse 38.
iii. The world rejected them but the world did not deserve them.
iv. The world considered them failures, but God considered them victorious.
f. There is an interesting linguistic pattern in verses 37 and 38.
i. The phrase “wandered about” is used twice here.
ii. This is interesting because it is two different Greek words translated this way.
iii. The first one emphasizes going around from place to place.
iv. The second one emphasizes roaming without a settled place.
v. We see that these worthy men were driven from place to place and had no secure home in this world – David hid in caves, Elijah fled to the wilderness, the prophets hid in caves to hide from Jezebel.
g. God’s faithful were sometimes treated as fugitives – yet they still overcame the world.
i. The world could take their homes but not their hope.
ii. The world could take their possessions but not their treasure.
iii. The world could take their freedom but not their faith.
iv. The world could take their lives but not their resurrection.
h. We have to reject the idea that faithfulness will always produce an easy life.
i. Hebrews 11 gives us two pictures of faith:
i. Faith escapes the sword and faith is killed by the sword.
ii. Faith shuts the mouths of lions and faith is tortured.
iii. Faith receives the dead back to life and faith dies believing in a better resurrection.
j. The difference is not that one group had strong faith and the other had weak faith.
k. Both had faith.
l. God, in His wisdom, chose to work through victory in some lives and through suffering in others.
i. We should certainly pray for deliverance.
ii. We should ask God to heal, protect, provide, and rescue.
iii. But our faith cannot depend upon receiving the answer we prefer.
m. We have to examine how deeply we are attached to this world.
n. Would we remain faithful if following Jesus cost us something important to us?
o. The saints in Hebrews 11 overcame because they knew this world was not their home.