Hebrews 11

CHAPTER 11THEME: Faith

Hebrews 11:1

CHRIST BRINGS BETTER BENEFITS AND DUTIESChapters 11-13 constitute the second major division of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Up to this point the epistle has largely dealt with that which is doctrinal, but we are now coming to that which is very practical. We begin with the chapter that is often called “the faith chapter,” and that is very interesting because the average person does not think that faith is a very practical sort of thingwe will find that it is. Chapter 11 is also called by many “the catalog of the heroes of faith.” I want to look at this chapter from the viewpoint of faithwhat faith has done in the lives of men and women in all ages, under all circumstances, from the very gate of the Garden of Eden down to the present moment. This chapter illustrates this for you and me, and these people are witnesses who encourage us to live by faith. It is so easy to make the Christian life a series of rules. One of the reasons that so many people like to get under the Sermon on the Mount or the Ten Commandments is because men love rules and regulations. It seems so simple and easy to obey rules. Whenever I drive to a new location, I always ask the individual to tell me how to get there. They generally write it out for me: “Turn left here, go so many blocks, and then turn right.” I like it that way because it is easy to follow. Life is like that for a great many folkthey want to follow a neat set of rules. But in this chapter we are going to find people who went an altogether different route. They walked by faith, and that is the way God wants us to walk today. We will also see in this chapter that unbelief is the worst sin anyone can commit. God has a remedy for every sin but the state of unbelief. This does not mean that there is an unpardonable sin. There is no act which you could commit today that God would not forgive tomorrow. But if you continue in a state of unbelief, God has no remedy for that at all. DEFINITION OF FAITHThe first statement in this chapter is a scriptural definition of faith: God has two ways in which men can come to Him today. The first is that you can come to Him by works. Yes, if you can present perfection in your works, God will accept youbut so far nobody has been able to make it. Adam didn’t, and no one since has ever been able to do it. Abraham didn’t, and David didn’t, and Daniel didn’t. None of them made it by being perfect. Therefore, this is not a satisfactory way to come to God, but many people are hobbling along that futile route. The only other way to come to God is to come by faith. Many folk don’t find faith a very satisfactory way either and feel like the little girl who was asked to define faith. She said, “Well, faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” That is what faith means to many. They think it is a leap in the dark, an uncertainty, or some sort of a gamble. If that is what it means to you, then you do not have faith, because “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” which means that faith rests on a foundation. To other folk faith is a great mystery. It is a sort of sixth sense, some intuition into the spiritual realm, or an open sesame to a new world. Faith to some of these people is like belonging to a secret order into which you are initiated, and there are some mystical works which God will accept in lieu of good works if you just believe hard enough. My friend, the demons do a pretty good job of believing, and they are not saved. There are a lot of cults and “isms” today which are demonic and are run by demons. Faith for these people is like a fetish or some good luck charm which you hang around your neck or carry with you. But that is not faith. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said: “It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not even thy faith in Christ that saves thee, though that be the instrument. It is Christ’s blood and merit.” That is what saves you, my friend. Faith just lays hold of itthat is all. Faith, therefore, is not something mysterious at allit is that which looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is not something which is added to good works. Some folk in our churches today treat faith like it is the dressing which is added to the salad of good works. You have a salad and you put French dressing on it, or bleu cheese dressing, or Italian dressing. Many people just add their faith as a dressing on top of their good works. My friend, that is not faith at all. Let’s look at the scriptural definition of faith that is given to us here: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I like very much what Dr. J. Oswald Sanders (of the China Inland Mission which is now called the Overseas Missionary Fellowship) said: “Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.” That is good. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” The Greek word for “substance” is hupostasis. It is a scientific term, the opposite of hypothesis or theory. It is that which rests upon facts. In chemistry it would be the chemical which settles at the bottom of the test tube after you have made an experiment. In my college chemistry class the teacher would give each one of us students a test tube and ask us to find out what was in it. I would take some of whatever was in the tube and add another chemical or two to it and heat it on the Bunsen burner to discover what was in the tube. One day I nearly blew up the laboratory with my experiment because something had been put in the test tube which should not have been put there. Five years later the janitor who swept out the laboratory told me he was still sweeping up little pieces of the big glass Florentine receiver which I had used in my experiment! Fortunately, the glass flew only onto my vest and not into my eyes. I experimented with one test tube for two weeks before I went to the professor to tell him what I thought was in it.

I said it was a certain kind of powder and he told me I was right. I had a substance in the bottom of the test tube, and the professor, because he knew his chemistry, was sure of what it was (I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t too sure!). But that substance in the bottom of the test tube was what I was looking for. That is the reality. And that is what faith isfaith is a substance. Dr. A. T. Robertson translates substance as “title deed.” What is the title deed? What is the substance? It is the Word of God, my friend. If your faith does not rest upon the Word of God, it is not biblical faith at all. It has to rest upon what God says. Actually, it means to believe God. The question is whether you believe God or not. Don’t come up with the “I’ve got intellectual problems” excuse, because that won’t work. The thing that keeps men from the Word of God is sin. It is sin in your life that keeps you from coming to God. It is the heart that needs to believeit is “the heart that believeth unto righteousness.” When you are ready to give up your sin, the Holy Spirit will make real to you the Word of God. A very fine man who heads up a wonderful Christian organization in this country sent me (and other ministers) a book he had written and requested my evaluation of it. It is a very fine book, but it is in the realm of apologetics, proving that the Bible is the Word of God. It is one of the best books on the subject I’ve seen, and I told him so. But I also told him very candidly that I have come to the place in my ministry where a book like that is of no value to me. I already believe the Bible to be the Word of God. I’ve already been through all those little experiments.

I have proven what it is. I know the Bible is the Word of God. I’ve put it all in the test tube. I’ve made the experiment. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” I know it is the Word of God. The Spirit of God has made it real to me. Paul wrote to the Colossian believers, “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col_1:9). To know the will of God is to know the Word of God. He prayed that they might know the Word of God. The Greek word for “knowledge” which Paul used is epignosis. There were Gnostics in that day who professed to have super knowledge. Paul told the Colossians that he wanted them to have super knowledge which was genuine by knowing that the Bible is the Word of God, and he believed that the Holy Spirit would make it real to them. Don’t misunderstand me: I did go through a period in college when I almost gave up the ministry. I had an unbelieving professor who was an ordained Presbyterian preacher. I admired the man because he was an intellectual, but he was taking the rug out from under me and taking it out fast. The things he was teaching were about to rob me of my faith, and I had to go to God in prayer. Then I met a man who had two degrees for every degree the first professor had, and this man put me back on the track. He showed me that there were answers for the questions the other man had raised. So I have the answers for myself. I’ve got a substance in my test tube, and I don’t need to make any more experiments today. I know the Bible is the Word of God. Therefore faith rests upon the Word of God. Our dogmatism comes from the Book. That is the reason the writer to the Hebrews said in Heb_10:39, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” There are only two ways to go. Either you are going backwards, or you are going to go forwards. Anything that is alive cannot stand still. Out yonder in the forest there is regression and deterioration taking place, but there is also growth and development. Nothing alive out there is standing stillit cannot. “The evidence of things not seen.” We have seen that faith is the substance of things hoped forthat is scientific. The second word used here is “evidence.” In the Greek the word is elegchos. It is a legal term meaning “evidence that is accepted for conviction.” When I was studying classical Greek in college, I observed that this word is used about twenty-three times in Plato’s account of the trial of Socrates. Evidence is something you take into court to prove your case. It is that which the entire business world rests upon. Business is transacted by faith.

I have a credit card, and when I drive into the gasoline station I hand it to the attendant. When he takes the card, he believes the oil company will pay him; he believes that I am the owner of the card and that I am the one who will pay for the gasoline in the long run. I say that man has a lot of faith. The oil company also believes that I’m going to pay. (Actually, they know I am going to pay, because they will take away my card if I don’t!) But the whole transaction takes place by faith. Any man who accepts a check written to him by another is moving by faith. This is elegchos, evidence which is accepted in a court of law. Faith is not a leap in the dark. Faith is not a hope-so. Faith is substance and evidencesubstance for a scientific mind, and evidence for a legal mind. If you really want to believe, you can believe. You can believe a whole lot of foolish things, but God doesn’t want you to do that. He wants your faith to rest upon the Word of God.

Hebrews 11:2

Who are “the elders”? The elders could be one of three different groups. It could be just a group of old people, or it could refer to the office of elder in the New Testament church. Remember that Paul told young Titus that he was to appoint elders in the churches. Or, finally, “elders” could refer to Old Testament saints. These saints were referred to in Heb_1:1, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers….” The fathers are the elders.

This verse could be rendered, “By such faith as this the fathers received witness.” These Old Testament worthies believed God, and for them it was not a leap in the dark and it was not a hope-so. Their faith rested upon evidence. Noah built an ark, and he did it by faith. What kind of faith? Was it just some dream he had? No.

God gave him an abundance of evidence because Noah walked with God for many years. The problem with many of us today is that when a crisis comes to us and we ought to be able to rest in God and lay hold of Him, we are not able to do so. When we haven’t been doing it all along, it is such a new experience for us that it is very difficult to do. However, if you learn to trust God when the sun is shining, it is easier to trust Him on the day when there are dark and lowering clouds in the sky and you are in one of life’s storms. “The elders obtained a good report.” Because they were wonderful people? No, because they believed God. I think Abraham was a wonderful man. He probably had more going for him than the best Christian today. Even the world would have counted him an outstanding individual. But we are told that it was by faith that Abraham believed God. “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness” (see Gen_15:6). God put righteousness to his account, not because of his good works, but because he believed God. “The elders obtained a good report,” and they did it by faith. God wants us today not only to be saved by faith, but to walk by faith. Christ died down here to save uswe look back in faith to Him. Now we walk daily by faithwe look up to Him, the living Christ. That gets right down where the rubber meets the road. That’s for right now. Are you going shopping today? Are you going to work? Are you going to school or to some social engagement? Well, then go by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We walk by faith, not by sight. That is how God wants us to live this life.

Hebrews 11:3

There are two explanations for the origin of this universe. One is speculation, and the other is revelation. By faith we accept revelation, and, my friend, by faith you will accept speculation. Speculation has many theories, and many of them have been abandoned. Right now the theory is evolution, but even evolution, I am told, is going out of style today. It is the best the unbeliever can hold on to, but it is mere speculation, and they have to have a whole lot of faith to go along with it! “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” Actually, this could read, “the ages were set up by the Word of God.” The Word of God, we have already been told, is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word of God is more powerful than an atom or hydrogen bomb. Someone has said that atom bombs come in three sizes: “big,” “bigger,” and “where is everybody?” Well, the Word of God is even more potent than that, because the Word of God has the power to transform lives. And when you and I come to the Word of God, we either accept or reject God’s statement concerning the origin of the universe: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen_1:1). That is revelation. Either you believe God, or you go by speculation.

Don’t tell me that evolution is scientific. It is not. If it were, then all the scientists would be in agreementand they certainly are not in agreement. Today many outstanding scientists are beginning to let go of their worship of evolution. They see so many fallacies in it that they are moving away from it. You either believe God (that’s revelation), or you believe speculation.

Faith must be anchored in something. I heard this whimsical story about a guide in a museum who was taking a group of people through the museum and they came to a reconstructed dinosaur. You know how they find one bone and make up the rest of it so that they have a great big dinosaur! Well, the guide said, “This dinosaur is two million and six years old!” Of course, the crowd looked at him in amazement, and one extrovert said, “What do you mean two million and six years old? Where did you get the six?” “Well,” the guide said, “when I came to work here six years ago, it was two million years old. Now it is two million and six years old!” My friend, that shows how utterly ridiculous all this datingwhich goes back millions of yearscan really become. Faith means that you have a solid basis for the origin of the universe. I won’t have to change my theory as scientific knowledge grows; it has been in operation a long time: “God created the heaven and the earth.” We come now to consider the faith of individuals. I want to give you a quotation from The Triumphs of Faith by Dr. G. Campbell Morgan which is fitting at this point. He said, “Life is to be mastered by faith, and not by doubt; it is to be forevermore illuminated by hope, and not darkened by despair; and in its activity love is to be practised in fellowship.” We are going to see this illustrated as we consider the lives of these people. Faith is not some jewel like a diamond which you put in a case and look at.

That is the reason I do not want to call this chapter a catalog of the heroes of faith. These are men and women who got right down to the nitty-gritty of lifefaith was operative in their lives. Faith is not something which you put on display in a showcase. Faith rests upon the Word of God. We are given here the experience of three individuals who lived before the Floodantediluvians we call them (one of them even lived through the Flood and after it). Abel is the first, and in him you have the way of faith. Then in Enoch we have the walk of faith. And in Noah we have the witness of faith. These men lived before the Flood, and faith was in operation at that time. These men walked by faith, lived by faith, and were saved by faith.

Hebrews 11:4

THE FAITH OF ABELNow with Abel God put down the principle once and for all that men must approach Him on only one basis: by faith, and that salvation will be by faith in Christ. Not only did Abraham see Christ’s day and rejoice, but so did Abel. I want to go back to the Book of Genesis and the story of these two boys, Cain and Abel. I want us to see just what it was that Abel had and Cain didn’t have. What was the difference between these two boys? In Gen_4:1 we read, “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.” What she really said was, “I have gotten the man from the Lord.” What man is she talking about? Well, God had made it clear to Eve that there would be coming one in her line, “the seed of the woman.” Speaking to Satan, God said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen_3:15). But, you see, Adam and Eve did not know that the struggle with sin was going to last so long. They thought their first son would be the man who was coming to defeat Satan, but Cain was not the Savior; he was a murderer. We read further in Gen_4:2, “And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.” We ought to stop here and make a comparison between the boys, because they were actually antipodes apart, although they were brothers, the sons of Adam and Eve. The late Dr. Henry Rimmer thought they were twins. I don’t think they were twins, but I do think they were more alike than twins today could possibly be. For instance, in a family today you can have two boys, and the first boy might be a fine, upstanding boy.

He goes through school, makes straight A’s, goes to college, and then becomes a professional man, perhaps a doctor. But the other boy doesn’t do well in school at all, and he drops out. He begins to drink and to smoke marijuana and get into trouble. Now what is the explanation? The psychologist will come along and say that according to the Mendelian theory the upstanding young man has taken after an ancestor on the mother’s side of the family, but the other boy takes after an ancestor on the father’s side. That is the explanation that is often given, but you cannot use that method with Cain and Abel.

Who were the ancestors of Cain and Abel? They didn’t even have grandparents. You cannot use the explanation of heredity for the difference in these two boys. I think they were as alike as two peas in a podthey looked alike and acted alike in many ways, but they were different. Neither can you use the explanation of environment as making the difference between Cain and Abel. A great many people today think that environment is what makes the real difference between men. They say that if we could just make the environment all right, every person would be all right. If we could just get rid of the slums and put people into nice homes, then the people would be nice also. But it doesn’t always work that way. These two boys had the same environment. I cannot think of a home that was as much the same for two boys as was the home of Cain and Abel. Gen_4:3 goes on to say, “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.” “In the process of time” means at the end of days. I think it was the Sabbath day, for these boys belonged to the first creation, the old creation. They came at a specified time. “That Cain brought"the word brought has in it the thought that it was brought to an appointed place. “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell” (Gen_4:4-5). Now what was the difference between the two offerings? Didn’t both of them come in obedience to God? No, they did not. You see, God had revealed to them that they were to bring a sacrifice, a lamb, and that little lamb pointed to Christ. Someone will argue that Genesis does not say that. No, it doesn’t say that, but Hebrews 11 does say it: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” How could he? He came by faith. What is faith? Let’s look at it again: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (see Rom_10:17). Abel had a revelation from God. So did Cain. They were both in the same family. But Cain ignored it, and he brought what he wanted to bring, the fruit of the groundthat which he had produced. In other words, here is the first man who brought his works to God. A lot of people are still coming to God the same waythey come by works. They have done this and that. Cain brought that which he had raised. But Abel brought a lamb and slew it. If you had been there, you might have asked, “Brother Abel, why are you bringing a lamb?” He would have said, “God commanded it.” “Do you think the little lamb takes away your sin?” “Of course not,” he would have said. “I just told you that God commanded us to bring it. He said to my mother that there is One coming in her line who is going to be a Savior, and that Person is the One to whom this little lamb points. I am coming by faith, looking to the time when a deliverer and a Savior will come.” There at the very beginning God made clear the way to Himself: “Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.” We come to God on the one basis that we are sinners and that the penalty for our sins must be paid. That is the reason a little lamb had to be slain. That little lamb couldn’t take away sin, but it foreshadowed the coming of Christ who is “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” And it was offered in faith. Abel’s offering pointed to Christ, and he came by faiththat is the way of salvation. God made the way very clear at the beginning, my friend. Today, though a man be a stranger and a wayfaring man and a fool, he need not err therein. God has made it very clear to us: Christ is the way to Himself; God gave Him to die for our sins. Abel, therefore, illustrates to us the way of faithit is the blood-sprinkled way, the way that is Christ.

Hebrews 11:5

THE FAITH OF ENOCHWe come now to Enoch, and in him we see the walk of faith. If you come to God through Christ, then you are to walk with Him. It is then the walk of the believer that becomes important. Genesis 5 is where we find Enoch mentioned for the first time, and it is a very sad chapter. “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him” (Gen_5:1). We are told that Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son, Seth. Then Adam died, and Seth lived and begat a son. Then Seth died. “In Adam all die"that is the way that it’s been going on for a long, long time. The fifth chapter of Genesis is just like walking through a cemetery and reading what is engraved on the tombstones.

It really becomes monotonous, but it is still the rather sad story of mankind even today. It is the same picture as the present hour in which we live. Things haven’t changed muchman still dies. Oh, I know we have extended man’s life span, but what are a few years when you put them down next to a thousand years, or even eternity? But in Genesis we read of Enoch: “And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Gen_5:19-24). That is the story of Enoch. Genesis 5 gives us a certain genealogy; it follows a very definite line. We are told that all these begat sons and daughters, but we are not told anything about them. Just one particular son is lifted outEnoch, the son of Jared. We are told that Enoch lived sixty-five years and begat a son by the name of Methuselah. Enoch had other children, but apparently his firstborn was Methuselah. “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah.” I do not know what he did before he begat Methuselah, but I’m sure he did not walk with God. It might have been a careless life. It could have been a life that was lived in indifference, or perhaps in open sin. The record does not say. It simply says that he walked with God after he begat Methuselah.

One day he went into the nursery and looked down into the crib at that little fellow who was kicking and gooinghis name was Methuselah. We always think of Methuselah as being an old man who had such a long beard that it got in his way and he walked on it. But at this time he was just a little baby, and when this man Enoch looked down at that little baby, he recognized his responsibility, and it changed his life. He started to walk with God. My friend, if the presence of a baby in the home won’t change your life-style, nothing else will. Even the preacher won’t be able to say much that will affect you, but these little ones have a way of speaking for God, even though they don’t say a word. They come out of the everywhere into the here, and they seem so fresh, and somehow or other they bring a message from God. Certainly Methuselah did for this man Enoch, and it changed his life-style. The record tells us that after Methuselah, Enoch had other children, but it does not tell us that he died. Notice: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” In Enoch we see the walk of faith. The writer to the Hebrews says, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death …for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” His walk pleased God because he walked by faith, not by rules and regulations. He believed in God, and he walked in a manner that pleased Him. Then God took him. He didn’t diehe was translated. This is the first rapture of a man recorded in the Bible. He was removed from this earth’s scene and was taken away. We have quite a picture here, by the way, which I think has a spiritual message for us. There are those who believe the church will go through the Great Tribulation period, and they have used Noah as an example. But Noah represents, not the church, but those in the world who are going to be saved during the Great Tribulation. God is going to keep them. Who are they? They are the 144,000 of Israel and also a great company of Gentiles.

They are not part of the body of believers that we designate as the church. We are told in the Book of Revelation that before the winds of the Great Tribulation begin to blow across the earth and the four horsemen of the apocalypse begin to ride, 144,000 out of the nation Israel will be sealed and also a great company of Gentiles. These are represented by Noah. My friend, God can keep you in the Great Tribulation, but it is not a question of whether or not God can keep you, the question is what God says, and He says He is going to remove the believers. He told the church in Philadelphia, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev_3:10). What hour is going to try the earth?

The only one mentioned in Scripture is the Great Tribulation period. This great company of both Jews and Gentiles is to be keptand Noah represents them. Enoch is the man who represents the church. Enoch didn’t go through the Flood. He had been translated. He was not in the ark.

God could have put him in the ark, but He didn’t. He could have kept Enoch in safety during the Flood, but instead He removed him, and that is what He is going to do with the churchEnoch represents the church. “By faith Enoch was translated.” Translated is a good translation, because it means to take something out of one language and put it into another. I have enjoyed listening to the tapes of our radio Bible study broadcasts in Spanish although I can’t understand a word that is being said. The man who is giving my message in Spanish is reading it, but you would never know it. He’s doing an excellent job. The manager of the station in South America says they have everything in that broadcast except my Texas accent! Well, I like the way the man does it, and it is a translation. It was taken out of the English language and put into the Spanish language for South America. Enoch was translated out of one sphere of life and translated into another. The best way I know to describe it is the way it was told by a little girl who came home from Sunday school, and her mother asked, “What did your teacher tell you about today?” The little girl said, “She told us all about this man Enoch.” You can see that this was a good Bible teaching Sunday school. And the mother said, “Well, what about Enoch?” So the little girl told her mama this story: “Enoch lived a long time ago, and God would come by every afternoon and say to him, ‘Enoch, would you like to take a walk with Me?’ Enoch would say, ‘Yes, I’d like to take a walk with You, God.’ And so every day God would come by Enoch’s house, and Enoch would go walking with God. One day God came by and said, ‘Enoch, let’s take a long walk today. I want to talk to you.’ So they started out. Enoch got his coateven took his lunch, and they started walking. They walked and they walked and they walked, and finally it got late. Enoch said, ‘My, it’s getting late, and I am a long way from home.

Maybe we’d better start back.’ But God said, ‘Enoch, you are closer to My home than you are to your home, so you come on and go home with Me.’ And so Enoch went home with God.” I don’t know how to tell the story any better than that. And that is what will happen one day with the church. The church, that is, the body of true believers, walking with God like Enoch was, will one day go home with Him. The Lord Jesus is coming: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Th_4:16-17).

Hebrews 11:6

“But without faith it is impossible to please him.” Enoch pleased God. How did he do it? By faith. My friend, unless you are willing to come God’s way and believe Him, you cannot possibly please God. “For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” In this Hebrew epistle there is a great deal said about rewards, and the reason is that the emphasis is on the Christian life. In light of the fact that we have a living Savior up there who is for us, there is a reward for living the Christian life. But salvation is not a rewardit is a free gift. You work for your reward, but not for salvation. Salvation comes by faith, and the walk of the Christian is also by faith. Enoch walked with God by faith.

Hebrews 11:7

THE FAITH OF NOAHAbel showed the way of faith; Enoch illustrated the walk of faith; and now Noah is the witness of faith. “By faith Noah …to the saving of his house.” Many of us are accustomed to saying that Noah preached 120 years and never made a convert. Actually, that is not quite accurate. It is true that he didn’t win any of the Babylonians living there in Babel, but he surely won his family. He led every member of his family to the Lord, and that was really something. Again, we need to go back to Genesis and look closely at this man Noah. We are told in Gen_6:5, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” That is a sad commentary on mankind. Man surely got away from God in a hurry after he left the Garden of Eden. However, we are told that there was one godly man left: “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Gen_6:9). Does this mean he was only a nice man who paid his debts and did many helpful things for people? No, he did more than that: “Noah walked with God.” How did he walk with God? The writer to the Hebrews tells us: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” This man Noah believed God when God told him He was going to destroy the earth by a flood. There are some people who suggest that up to this point it had never even rained on the earthand that is probably true. But way up on dry ground, probably near Mount Ararat, away from even the Euphrates River, this man Noah began to build a boat because God said there was going to be a flood. God gave Noah the instructions for the boat. It wasn’t that clumsy-looking thing that you see pictured in Sunday school papers. When I was a little boy, my thought was, I’d sure hate to be in that boat! Probably it was very modern-looking equipment, and the size and construction of it would conform to modern ship building. We are told that the length of it was 300 cubits, the breadth of it was 50 cubits, and the height of it was 30 cubits. And it didn’t have just one little window in the side.

God said to Noah, “A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it” (Gen_6:16). The window went all the way around the top, and the roof came down over it. The ark was 300 cubits, or about 450 feet, long, and it had three decks. The men in that day were good builders and they were familiar with this type of construction. Therefore Noah began to do what I’m sure the population in his day considered to be a very foolish thing. I’m of the opinion that the sightseeing buses ran a tour out to where he was building the boatand I’m sure it was a popular tour. I have often wondered what it was that brought Noah’s three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, back home. These boys, I’m sure, had moved away and started their own businesses. Perhaps Ham was a contractor, a successful builder himself, down in Babel. Maybe one day he was meeting with a contractors’ convention where he heard a man telling about a trip he’d made to the north country. There he had heard of a man who was building a boat on dry ground. He felt it was really ridiculous, and everybody agreed, including Ham.

But then Ham, knowing his dad lived up there and having heard some things about his dad, asked the man if he had seen the boat builder. The man said he had seen the builder and the builder’s name was Noah. Ham probably turned white when he heard that. He stood up and said, “Listen, that’s my father who is building that boat. I agree with youit sounds foolish. I laughed as you laughed, but you don’t know my dad.

My dad walks in the fear of the living God. I’ve gotten away from that, but if my dad says a flood is coming, it’s because God has caused him to give out a message of warning. You can just put it down that God has spoken to him and a flood is coming. I was brought up in that home, and I know that I might cut corners but my dad wouldn’t. My dad never told a lie. My dad lived for God.

If you don’t mind, I’m going to get my hammer and saw, and I’m going up there to help him build that boat!” I think Shem and Japheth had similar experiences and went back home to help their dad. Why? Because this man Noah had a witness for God. My friend, I say this very candidly, the most important thing you can do is to witness to your own familynot by everlastingly giving them the gospel, but by living it before them and letting them see that you have a reality in your life. This reminds me of an encounter that Gypsy Smith had when he was holding meetings in Dallas, Texas. A lady came up and told him that God had called her to preach. He felt the same way about women preachers as I do, and so he asked her if she was married. She was. He said, “How many children do you have?” She had five children. “Isn’t that wonderful,” Gypsy told her, “God has called you to preach, and He’s already given you a congregation!” May I say to you, whether you are a preacher or not, if you are a child of God and you have a family, that is your congregation.

God gave you that congregation. Noah won his family. No one outside his family believed, but his family believed because they knew his witness. Noah “prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” What a wonderful thing that he was able to do that!

Hebrews 11:8

THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM AND SARAHWe come now to Abraham, the man who is known as the man of faith. That is the way he is identified in the Word of God. Abraham is the supreme illustration of faith in the Epistle to the Romans and also in the Epistle to the Galatians. The writers of the Gospels refer to him, and even the Lord Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (Joh_8:56). In Abraham we will see the worship of faith. We have seen in this epistle that the worship of God leads to obedience to God. It leads to work for God. It leads to doing the thing God wants you to do. We do not need to spend time browbeating people, telling them they should get busy for Godthat is not the proper motivation. But if they can truly worship God and catch something of the glory of the person of Christ, then you can depend on them to work for God and to obey Him. The most important word in this verse and in this entire section is obeyed, and worship leads to obedience. In Genesis 12 where the story of Abraham begins, we read that he came out of Ur of the Chaldees and went to Haran. He delayed in Haran and lost a great deal of time, but finally he went to the land of Canaan. When he appeared in the land, God appeared to him. “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him” (Gen_12:7). Everywhere this man went he built an altar. When he came into the land of Shechem he built an altar. When he went down to the plains of Moreh he built an altar unto the Lord.

Everywhere Abraham went he built an altar to God. I have been impressed on my trips to the Holy Land with the number of buildings that Herod put up. He not only built the temple, which was never really completed, but he also built palaces and forts and cities all over that land. But there was no actual worship of God on his part. All Abraham did was put up an altar, but he worshiped God, and that led to obedience of God. He worshiped God by faith; then he obeyed God by faith.

Hebrews 11:9

When God told Sarah at ninety years of age that she was to have a child, she laughed because it was ridiculousit seemed utterly preposterous. She couldn’t accept it, but God gave her the strength and power to believe Him. Many of us need such strength. Do you remember the man who brought the demon-possessed boy to the Lord Jesus? The Lord Jesus told the man that He could help him if he would believe. The man said, “I believe.

Help thou mine unbelief.” The man recognized that he had a weak faith, but the Lord Jesus must have given him the faith because He healed the boy (see Mar_9:17-27). Sarah had a little boy named Isaac. Why? She “received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Sarah represents the power (or strength) of faith.

Hebrews 11:12

This is what happened, and it all took place by faith. But notice that Abraham and Sarah never saw the fulfillment of God’s promise to them:

Hebrews 11:13

Walking by faith will cause all of us to recognize that as children of God we are just pilgrims and strangers down here on this earth.

Hebrews 11:14

Faith looks out yonder to the future. And the child of God today is looking to the future. I am not in the employ of the local chamber of commerce, but I very frankly love Southern California. I have lived here longer than I’ve lived any place in my lifesince 1940and I love it, in spite of the smog and the traffic and all these people who followed us out here. I wish we could have put a wall around California (after we got here, of course!), and then we could have had this wonderful place to ourselves. All of us who have come out here certainly haven’t helped the place, but I still prefer it to any other. I have a “ranch” out here in California. It’s not what you call a big ranchit’s about 72 feet wide and about 128 feet deep.

But I have my house right in the middle of it, and I have it well stocked. I have orange trees, avocado trees, tangerine trees, nectarine trees, apricots, plums, and lemons. You see, I’m really a rancher. The other day I just looked up and thanked the Lord that He gave me that place. It is the first place I have ever owned and paid for, but He gave it to me, and I thank Him for it. However, I told Him, “Don’t let me get in love with this place, or I won’t want to leave it to go to a better place.” We are strangers and pilgrims down here, because we are walking by faith, looking to a better place. “For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.”

Hebrews 11:15

Anyone can turn around and go back to the world if he is satisfied with the things of the world. However, a child of God, by faith, is going ever onward.

Hebrews 11:17

Now we come to the end of Abraham’s life, and the supreme sacrifice he made in offering up Isaac, the boy that God had given to him.

Hebrews 11:18

Abraham had other children, but Isaac is the one called “his only begotten.” (The word son in verse Heb_11:17 is not in the original text.) Isaac was the only begotten because God gave the promise concerning him.

Hebrews 11:19

God did not ask Abraham to offer up Isaac until he had come to the end of his life. The reason is that Abraham would not have had the faith to do it. God will never test you “above that ye are able” (see 1Co_10:13). Therefore God never asked Abraham to give up Ishmael, that is, to sacrifice him on an altar. Do you know why? Well, to begin with, Ishmael wasn’t the promised son.

And the second thing is that Abraham would not have done it, you can be sure. Abraham even begged God not to send Ishmael away but to let him keep the boy and make him the son of promise. You see, Abraham wasn’t ready at that time to do such a thing. And certainly at the beginning of Isaac’s life when he was just a baby, Abraham never would have offered him. When Isaac was about thirty-three years of age, Abraham was ready to obey God and trust Him. Therefore, we have here the testing of faith. I want to look at Abraham a little bit differently from the way we ordinarily see him. We usually think in terms of the great promises which God made to him concerning the land to be given to him and the multitudes which would come from him. But what was it that Abraham actually received during his lifetime? What was it that he actually saw? He did not see the fulfillment of those great promises, but what God did give to him was a home. When he was a young man living in Ur of the Chaldees, he one day said to a beautiful young girl, “I love you. I want to marry you.” And so Abraham and Sarah got married. Then one day Abraham came homeit was a home of idolatryand he said to Sarah, “The living God has called me. He wants me to leave this place.” I can just hear Sarah say, “But you have a good business. All your relatives live here. Your friends live here. And, by the way, where are you going?” Abraham would have to say, “I don’t know.” “What do you mean that God called you and you don’t know where?” He said, “God will lead me, and I’m going out.” And Sarah said, “I’ll go with you.” And so this young couple went out. They didn’t have too much faith. They took papa with them and some of the relatives, and they came to Haran. They hung around Haran until Papa Terah died and they buried him. Then Abraham moved into the land and God appeared to him. God said to him, “Abraham, I am going to do all these things I promised, but I am also going to give you a son.” Now that is what is going to make the homeAbraham and Sarah are going to have a son. Abraham and Sarah had the basis for a godly home in that day. It was the kind of home God wants young people to have todaywe call it a Christian home. To establish this godly home God did not give them a course or send them to a preacher for counseling. Frankly, we preachers have done too much counseling, telling young people how they ought to do it. We have become too idealistic, but God was very practical. He said, “Abraham, if you are going to have the kind of home I want you to have, you are going to have to get away from papa and mama.” That is what God meant at the very beginning when He said to Adam and Eve, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Gen_2:24). Although Adam and Eve didn’t even have a mother and father, God set down this great principle at the very beginning. I never thought that I would be a grandfather who would tell the parents how to raise a child. I didn’t do so well myself as a parent, but I have learned that it is the easiest thing in the world to tell them how to do it. Well, they will make mistakes, but it is none of my business. We made our mistakes, and they will make theirs. Papa and mama are not to interfere with the home of the children. God set Abraham as far away as possible where relatives were not going to be able to interfere. I think this is primary to building a godly home. God had Abraham leave his home. It was a godless home he left, a home of idolatry. Joshua made that clear (see Jos_24:2). A great many rules and regulations concerning marriage are being given to young couples in our day. I don’t want to sound revolutionary, but I do want to say what the Word of God says to do. You can forget the rules and regulations until you are walking by faith. If you are a child of God, you are to walk by faith in that home. The father is to walk by faith and the mother is to walk by faith. And do you want to know something?

The home will never be an ideal home. I am weary of hearing folk tell how they went to a counseling session and now they have the most glorious home you have ever heard of. Well, may I say to you, I have been married to my wife for a long time and we disagree on many things. The fact of the matter is, she has a right to be wrong! But we’ve always been able to come to the place where I could put my arm around her and tell her I love her in spite of the fact that she is wrong. My young Christian friend, if you think you are going to start an ideal Christian home, I think you are mistaken.

You will find that you will be tested just as Abraham was tested when he ran off to Egypt. I am of the opinion that all the way to Egypt, Sarah said, “Abraham, I don’t want to go down to Egypt.” But they went to Egypt. He almost lost Sarah to someone else down there because he lied and said she was not his wife. That certainly is not an ideal home, is it? When Abraham returned to the Promised Land from Egypt, we find that he had trouble there with his nephew. Maybe Abraham should have left him in Ur of the Chaldees, but finally Lot moved down to Sodom, leaving Abraham alone up in the hill country. Here again, we see that neither Abraham nor Sarah were what we would call ideal. Abraham doubted God. He didn’t believe that God ought to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. God had to make it clear to him that what He was doing was a righteous and just thing. And He had to make it clear to Sarah that He could give her power to have a son. He gave them that little child to raise in their home. Abraham and Sarah’s home was the kind of home God wants you to have. If you think that following a few little rules is going to avoid all the rough places and hardships in life, you are wrong. You will find out that one day you will argue with your wife. You are going to find out that one day you are going to have a problem with the child God gives you. Your home will not be ideal by any means. How are you going to handle all these problems? By faith, my friend, by faith. When you and I have reached the place where we are willing to put our child upon the altar for God, then you and I have arrived. Abraham and Sarah’s home was just about as near to what God wants down here as any of us will be able to attain. Christian friend, if it is going hard with you and you are having problems, then God is trying to teach you something. Let God be your teacher. Don’t run to your pastor or think you can take a course that will solve all your problems. You and I are going to have problems, but if we walk by faith, He will see us through. Abraham’s worship of faith led to obedience in his life, so that it could be said of him, “…Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom_4:3).

Hebrews 11:20

THE FAITH OF ISAACNotice that very little is said concerning Isaac, especially when it is in contrast to his father Abraham. What can we say concerning Isaac? He represents the willingness of faith. Isaac was a grown man, probably around thirty-three years of age, when his father Abraham offered him on the altar. That certainly demonstrates his willingness! “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” The one thing that is pinpointed in Isaac’s life is his faith in blessing his sons. Now that seems a very strange thing. Isaac was a well digger. He would dig a well in a certain place, and the enemy would take it away from him. He would then dig another well, and again it would be taken away from him. In many ways he was a rather colorless individual, but the thing that characterized him was willingness. He was willing to bless Jacob and Esau concerning things to come, but there was nothing in the immediate present that would cause him to bless them.

Hebrews 11:21

THE FAITH OF JACOBWe come now to a very colorful individual This man Jacob lived a life of faith in relationship to his father, and to his son Joseph, and to his grandsons. But the one thing that was selected out of his life happened when he was dying. You must wait until the end of this man’s life before you can say that he was a man of faith. At the time of his death he blessed both of the sons of Joseph, his grandsons, and he worshiped “leaning upon the top of his staff.” There are several things which we can observe from the life of Jacob. He is an illustration of human nature and of the fact that it is by grace that we are saved. If it had not been for the grace of God, Jacob would have been lost. He had no human meritnone whatsoever. I’m not sure but what that is a picture of all of us. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling. “Rock of Ages” Augustus M. Toplady Dr. J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, had a way of emphasizing the fact that before God we are nothing, and that God is the only one who can take nothing and do something with it. He told the story of a young, self-confident missionary who arrived on the field with his wife. Finally one day the young fellow came to Dr. Taylor and told him that it was difficult for him to think he was nothing. “Young man,” Dr. Taylor said, “you are nothing, whether you believe it or not. You can just take God’s word for it!” This man Jacob is a picture of our human nature. We hear a great deal today in psychology about prenatal care, natal care, and postnatal care, and how important these are in shaping the life of the individual. The gynecologist and the psychologist give a lot of emphasis to the care of a baby before birth, at birth, and immediately after birth. What can be said of Jacob’s life in these respects? The Bible tells us that Jacob and Esau struggled within their mother. Even before birth, Jacob was wrestling and trying to get the upper hand! He struggled even at birth. He came out last, but he came out holding on to the heel of his brother. He was a heel-grabber, and he was that all of his life. Also Jacob was a deceiver and he was a rascal. God, however, did transform his life. First of all, in the life of this man, we find that he was a deceiver in relationship to his father. God had promised Jacob the blessing, but he couldn’t wait for it. He took it from his brother Esau by a very deceptive method, which forced him to leave home, and he spent the night in Bethel. He was very homesick, but no change had taken place in his life. Even when he went down to live with his Uncle Laban he was still relying on his wits. Then God had to stop him when he was finally returning to the land. The Lord wrestled with him that night at the brook Jabbok. That night God crippled himHe had to get Jacob. Later in the life of Jacob we see that the very sin he committed came home to him in the life of his son Joseph. One day his sons brought that very bloody coat of many colors which belonged to Joseph, and they said to Jacob, “Is this the coat of your son? Do you recognize it?” And Jacob began to weep. In the same way in which he had deceived, he was deceived by his sons into thinking that Joseph had been killed. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the childrenthis is certainly an example of that. However, at the end of this man’s life, the writer to the Hebrews shows us Jacob’s faith in relationship to his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh. “By faith Jacob, when he was a-dying….” He is on his deathbed, and this is the first thing in his life you can lift out and say, “By faith Jacob….” He “blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped.” For the first time there will be obedience in his life. It has always interested me that he worshiped “leaning upon the top of his staff.” What staff? Remember that he had been crippled, and he had a staff that enabled him to walk. Even when death came, this man did not want to lie down and die. There was no blessing in the life of Jacob. It was a life of sin and deception, chicanery and crookednessand no blessing ever eventuates from sin. The important thing for you and me to see is that God can take any life and straighten it out. Where there is confusion and deception, if there is faith anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can lay hold of Him. Faith was operative in the life of Jacob, but we have to come to the end of his life to see it.

Hebrews 11:22

THE FAITH OF JOSEPHI am confident that the writer to the Hebrews and the Holy Spirit of God could have chosen many incidents from the life of Joseph which would illustrate faith. We could cite the time when this man was down there in Egypt and put into prison. You would think that this was going to be the end for him, and many of us would have cried out in complaint at that time. But that incident was not recorded here. And there are so many other illustrations of faith in the life of this man Joseph. What a contrast he is to his father Jacob! There are no faults or flaws in his life. There is probably no one in the entire Old Testament who is more closely a type of the Lord Jesus Christ than is Joseph; however, he is never spoken of as a type in Scripture. The analogy between the two is striking. Joseph was the best beloved son as was the Lord Jesus. Joseph had a coat of many colors which set him apart from his brethren and gave him lordship over them; he had a vision and his brethren thought he was a dreamer. The Lord Jesus, too, came with a message, and they thought he was a dreamer. Joseph obeyed his father, and the Lord Jesus said He had come to do the Father’s will.

Joseph’s brethren hated him; it is said of the Lord Jesus, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (Joh_1:11). Joseph was sent by his father to seek his brethren, and the Lord Jesus came to this earth seeking the lost. Joseph found his brothers who were shepherds in a field; shepherds came by night when the Lord Jesus was born. His brethren mocked Joseph, refused him, and plotted to kill him; the same happened to the Lord Jesus. Joseph was sold into slavery, and the Lord was sold for thirty pieces of silver. Joseph’s coat was dipped in blood; the soldiers gambled for the vesture of the Lord Jesus Christ, with His blood upon it.

Joseph was sold into Egypt where God raised him up to save (in a material way) the world; the Lord Jesus went down into deathafter having been tempted by the world, the flesh, and the Devilto become the Savior of the worldboth Jew and Gentile. While on the throne, Joseph gave bread to the people; Christ is the Bread of Life. While in Egypt, Joseph got a gentile bride; the Lord Jesus is calling out of this world a people to His name. Joseph made himself known to his brethren when they came to Egypt; someday the Lord Jesus will make Himself known to His own brethren. The interesting thing about Joseph is that he had faith in the dream which was given to him, faith while in the pit into which he was placed, faith all the while he was in Egypt, and faith was what buoyed him up through all the adverse circumstances. You would think that at the end of his life he would be satisfied with Egyptbut not this man. He said, “When the day comes that the children of Israel leave this land, be sure and take my bones with you” (see Gen_50:25). Why didn’t they take his body right then and bury it yonder in the land of Ephraim? The reason is quite obvious: this man was a national hero at the time. But there came a day when there rose a pharaoh who knew not Joseph, and when the children of Israel left, they took up his bones and buried them at Shechem in the Samaritan country.

Hebrews 11:23

THE FAITH OF MOSESNow we move down quite a few years to the time when the children of Israel are in slavery in the land of Egypt. Moses represents the sacrifices of faith. Moses had godly parents who were willing to take a real stand for God. Faith was involved in the very birth of Moses.

Hebrews 11:24

We see faith at work in the life of Moses. He was brought up in the palace and would have been the next pharaoh, but Moses had faith to choose the right.

Hebrews 11:26

Someone else other than Abraham saw Christ’s day and rejoicedMoses did.

Hebrews 11:27

Moses had faith to actfaith will lead to action. Many folk today are saying, “I believe, I believe,” but do nothing. May I say, faith reveals itself in action. God saves us without our works, but the faith that saves produces works. Therefore Moses “forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”

Hebrews 11:28

Moses had faith to obey God. God said to do this, and Moses did it. This is exemplified in the life of this man. He forsook the pleasures of Egypt, went out into the desert, and came back to deliver his people. This is faith to obey God.

Hebrews 11:29

Whose faith do we see here? Is this the faith of the children of Israel? No. They had none. When they saw Pharaoh and his chariots coming, they said in effect to Moses, “Let’s get back to Egypt as quick as we can! We made a mistake in leaving.” It was Moses who had faith. He went down to the water’s edge and smote it with that rod; and it was by his faith that the waters opened up and they were able to march over to the other side. Then they sang the song of Moses. The people are identified with Moses, but this was Moses’ faith.

Hebrews 11:30

THE FAITH OF JOSHUAWe have in the life of Joshua the watch of faith. If you had not met Joshua about the fifth day they were marching around the city of Jericho, you might have said to him, “It doesn’t look like you are getting very far. Why are you doing such a foolish thing? You are a general with a whole lot of intelligence, but you are not using your intelligence.” He would have said to you, “You have forgotten that I saw the captain of the hosts of the Lord, and He told me that headquarters is not in my tent, but in heaven. I found out that I am not the general. I happen to be a buck private in the rear ranks, and I am to take my orders from Him. He said to march around the city, and I am marching around. You just watchthese walls will come down. I’m following the strategy of Someone who knows.” In Joshua we see the watch of faith. Faith to believe GodGeneral Joshua had learned that.

Hebrews 11:31

THE FAITH OF RAHABI want to call Rahab’s story the wonder of faith. Her story is in connection with the story of the walls of Jericho. She was living inside the city, and I am sure that after seven days those on the inside were wondering what was going to happen. “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not.” Many years ago a book was published with the title Religion in Unlikely Places. I do not know if Rahab was included in that bookI never read itbut she certainly should have been. Jericho was the last place in the world you would have looked for faith. Rahab lived in a very wicked, pagan, and heathen cityand she practiced the oldest profession there. Those who practice that profession have usually been considered to be sinnersuntil recently, of course, when the “new morality” came along. This woman was a sinner, and yet we are told here, “by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not.” I’m sure that the mayor of the city and others who were in high position felt that they were good enough to have been saved, but they were not saved. We are told they perished in the city because of just one reason: they did not believe God. We will see that God was very generous in the way He dealt with the city of Jericho. I know the critic finds a great deal of fault with God for destroying the people of Jericho. I had a professor in college who could weep crocodile tears because of what happened to the people in the city of Jericho. The thing that always disturbed me about this man was that he showed very little interest in other peopleincluding his students, by the waybut he could really work up a lather when it came to the people of Jericho. We want to look closely at this woman Rahab, because she expressed her faith in a very definite way. When the people of Israel had crossed over the Red Sea, that word got to Jericho, and the inhabitnats of Jericho lost their courage. But they never dreamed that during flood season the great host of Israel could be brought across the Jordan River. There was no bridge on which they could cross, and the river was on a rampage at that time. How in the world could the people get over? The people of Jericho had felt that they had time to plan a defense and didn’t have to worry until the flood season was over. Then Joshua sent spies into the city of Jericho, and they came into contact with the harlot Rahab. I have a notion she made a business proposition to them, but I do not know whether they accepted or not. I do know they made it very clear that they were on a mission, that they needed protection, and that God was going to give the city of Jericho into their hands. They at least gave her that much information. She took them in and hid them on the roof of her house and no doubt risked her own life in doing that. She asked one favor from these men, “When you take this city, I want you to remember me and my family.

I want you to save us.” And they promised to do that. They told her to put out a scarlet line in the window to identify her house, and that when Joshua took the city he would be very careful to save her and her household. Rahab’s testimony is found in the Book of Joshua: “And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath” (Jos_2:9-11). This is a strange statement that comes from this woman, but it is a tremendous revelation of the fact that God did not arbitrarily destroy the city of Jericho. You see, for forty years word had been filtering into Jericho about a people who crossed the Red Sea. In other words, Rahab said, “It was forty years ago when we heard about that. And I for one believed. Others believed the facts, but they did not believe in God. They never trusted the living God.” Later on, they heard how God was leading Israel and that He had given them victory on the other side of the Jordan against the Amorites.

Jericho should have profited from that information. Finally Israel miraculously crossed the Jordan River and parked right outside the door of Jericho. What had God been doing? He had been giving the city an opportunity to believe in Him, to trust Him, and to turn to Him. I think it should be obvious to anyone that if God saved this harlot who believed in Him, He would have saved the mayor of Jericho and He would have saved anyone in the city if he had trusted Him as this woman trusted Him. He saw all of them on one basisHe saw them all as sinners. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Rahab probably was a more open sinner than the mayor was. I am of the opinion that the mayor’s private life would not have stood inspection, and I am sure that was true of many others in that city, but they had ample opportunity to trust God. They had forty years to decide whether they would believe God, and they did not. If that college professor of mine were still alive, there is a question I would love to ask him. God gave them forty years to make up their minds whether they would trust Him or not. Only one woman made up her mind to trust God, and God saved her. It is obvious that since she was saved, anyone else would have been saved if they had trusted God. Now if you think forty years was not quite long enough, do you feel that God probably should have given them forty-one or forty-two years? My friend, if after forty years they are not going to believe God, they are not ever going to believe God.

God is longsuffering. He is patient. He is not willing that any should perish. Even a harlot who will trust Him, God will save. The people of Jericho believed the facts which they heard, but they didn’t trust God. If they had, they would have been saved. Now when this woman evidenced that she believed God by asking the spies to save her when they took the city, she took a step of faith, and in that step of faith she risked her life. Her faith began to move. Faith goes into actionit does not sit on the sidelines. So this woman Rahab “perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. “We have heard what God has done through you, and we believe it,” she said. “I trust Him. I trust Him to the extent that I am willing to risk my life.” She evidenced the faith that she had. We see in this woman Rahab the wonder of faith. We see that in this lost world God doesn’t view one group of people as so much better than another group of people. God sees us all as sinners, and when anyone will turn to Him, God will save him. How wonderful He is!

Hebrews 11:32

THE FAITH OF “OTHERS"The writer of this epistle has come to a point in the history of the Old Testament at which he says, “What more can I say now?” He could go in any direction and could list heroes of faith, if you want to call them that. He could demonstrate how faith has worked in the lives of many men and women. So he gives us a list and makes it clear that he is not able to discuss them in detail, but that all should be included in this marvelous chapter. We see the war of faith in the lives of these men he mentions. Not one of them is dealt with in detail, but all have something in common: everyone mentioned here was a ruler. Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel were all judges; David was a king. They were all rulers, and they were all engaged in a war for God. Each one of them won that battle by faith. I will not be able to go into detail with each of these men, but I would like to take note of this man Gideon. Many people say that all they have in their church is a “little Gideon’s band.” What they mean is that they have a small number of people. But, my friend, it was not the small number that was significant about Gideon’s bandit was the faith these men had. Yet Gideon was a man who actually had very little faith at the time when the Lord called him. Gideon was a judge at the time the Midianites had taken the land of Israel. The Hebrews couldn’t even harvest their cropsthe Midianites would take it from them. This young man Gideon was down by the winepress harvesting grain. That is not where he should have been. The grain was usually taken up to the top of the hill, pitched up in the air where the wind could drive the chaff away. In that land the wind blows in the afternoon.

But Gideon was a coward. He took the grain down there by the winepressway down in the valley, where no one could see him. Talk about an operation of frustration! You can just see Gideon down there pitching up the grain. When there is no wind to blow the chaff away, do you know what is happening? The straw comes falling down around his neck.

I can’t think of anything more uncomfortable and discouraging than to pitch up the grain and have all the straw down your back! Well, that was Gideon, and it was at that time the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said, “…thou mighty man of valour” (Jdg_6:12). That really wasn’t the proper address for Gideon, and he didn’t think the angel was talking to him. I think he looked up and said, “Who me?” He was the biggest coward of all, and he was willing to admit it. “Why,” he said, “I belong to the smallest tribe. My family is the small family in the tribe. And I’m the smallest potato in the family. You picked the smallest pebble on the beachI’m a nobody.” And God said to him, “That’s the reason I picked youbecause you are a nobody. I want you to believe Me.” We will find that God began to strengthen the faith of that man until the day came when with only three hundred men he was able to get a victory over the Midianites. Faith operated in the life of this man Gideon. How many Christians today feel like there must be some great big show, some big demonstration, some big meeting if the ministry is going to be of the Lord? May I say to you, God doesn’t move quite like that. I’m of the opinion that the greatest work for God is being done by individuals and by little groups throughout this country and around the world. I was amazed to meet a man in Lebanon who, by the way, is a member of the Gideons International. He is an active Christian layman and a real witness for Christ. You don’t hear about himhe’s not one who is getting publicity.

And then, in the land of Israel, there is a very wonderful Hebrew Christian who has been persecuted a great deal, but he is a real witness to God. There are a great many “Gideons” around today, and they move by faith. God will use a nobody if he will trust Him. God is moving in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. The writer to the Hebrews mentions Gideon, Barak, and Samson. I don’t know whether I would have put Samson in the list or not. Samson was a real failure as far as his service was concerned, but He did believe God. There was a time when the Spirit of God came upon him and he began to deliver Israel; he never completed the job, however. The writer goes on to mention Jephthah and David (oh, we could stop and talk a long time about David!) and Samuel and the prophets. But the writer makes it clear that time would fail him to mention them all. Now notice what all these men didtheirs was the war of faith:

Hebrews 11:33

“Stopped the mouths of lions"we know this refers to Daniel, although he isn’t mentioned by name here.

Hebrews 11:34

This is the war of faith, and these are the victors. We see now the wideness of faithfaith has moved into every area of life:

Hebrews 11:35

“Women received their dead raised to life again"remember the widow of Zarephath whose son Elijah raised back to life (see 1Ki_17:17-24). “And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.” In other words, he is now talking about martyrs.

Hebrews 11:36

Here is another group of people. They didn’t gain great victories out on the battlefield. They didn’t enter the arena of life before large audiences and perform great feats for God. These are the “others,” and they are the ones who, if you want heroes, are really God’s heroes. They had trials and mockings and scourgings and bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned and they were “sawn asunder.” Jerome insists that it was Isaiah who was sawn asunder, but of course that is only tradition. We don’t know who suffered that cruel, horrible death. And others were tested, tempted, and slain by the sword. I want you to notice a contrast here. Back in verses Heb_11:33 and Heb_11:34 when we were talking about the victories which were won, it spoke of how they “subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword.” They escaped the edge of the sword, but here in verse Heb_11:37 the others were “slain with the sword.” How do you explain this? One group by faith escaped the edge of the sword, and another group by faith were slain with the sword. We have come to a question which is still to me a very difficult subject: Why do the righteous suffer? I know that if you are in good health today it is easy for you to toss it off and say of others, “Well, God is testing them.” However, these people went through all these things by faith. They didn’t look upon it as if they were being tested. They endured because they did it by faith. They could trust God when the day was dark, when the night was long, the suffering was intense, and when there was no deliverance for them at all. Others were tortured; others were slain by the sword. It is wonderful to be able to get up and quote Scriptures such as Psalms 34 which says, “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them…. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles” (Psa_34:7, Psa_34:17). That is wonderful, and God does that. But what about the “others,” the others who didn’t escape the edge of the sword? What about those who suffered?

Stephen could look at the religious rulers of his day and say, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?” Prophets never had it easy, my friend. Stephen himself was the first martyr to the Christian faith. Before they stoned him to death, Stephen told them, “…they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers” (Act_7:52). And when the Lord Jesus called Saul of Tarsus, that brilliant young Pharisee, He said, “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Act_9:16). The Lord Jesus has also made it very clear to us, “…In the world ye shall have tribulation [trouble]: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (Joh_16:33). Finally, it says of Paul and Barnabas as they went out on one of their missionary journeys that they went “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation [trouble] enter into the kingdom of God” (Act_14:22). My friend, there are a great many people who have demonstrated their faith by winning battles and by being delivered, but there are others, multitudes of them, who have suffered for the faith. Down through the long history of the church there have been the Waldensians, the Albigenses, the Huguenots, the Scottish Covenanters, and many others. The poet Martha Snell Nickelson was a member of my church when I was pastor in downtown Los Angeles, and I had the privilege of baptizing her. She suffered a great dealso much so that we had to baptize her in the bathtub in her own home. She screamed with pain whenever she was touched. This woman went through untold suffering before she passed on into the presence of the Lord. And right now there are literally thousands of heroes of faith lying on beds of pain. It is nice to read about walking out onto the stage of life and gaining a great victory. It is wonderful to be able to report that you have been healed. But what about those who are suffering? What about that unknown missionary out yonder on the field who is suffering for Jesus’ sake? What about the minister who suffers? Let me pass on to you something which I learned recently that deals with this question. The apostle Paul wrote, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1Pe_4:12-13). Paul made this statement to the Colossians: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Col_1:24). How could Paul fill up the sufferings of Christ? Wasn’t Christ’s redemption for us complete and perfect? It certainly was, but there are certain sufferings that the Lord Jesus experienced in His life down here which were not redemptive sufferings.

His redemptive sufferings took place on the crossnone of us can add anything to that. But you and I, if we are going to stand for Him, are going to have to pay a price for it. Some of us may have to suffer just a little. Will you forgive me for being personal here? When I had my first bout with cancer, the Lord healed me. I rejoice in His goodness and grace and mercy to me. I have gloried in that, and I promised Him that I would give Him all the glory if He would heal me. I guess I have talked pretty loud about what God has done for me. Then I began to receive hundreds of letters from peoplepeople who have terminal cancer and ask for prayer.

I try to be faithful in remembering them in prayer. But frequently I get a letter from a loved one saying that one of these suffering saints has gone to be with the Lord. I especially remember a letter from a woman whose husband had suffered a great deal with cancer and then died. I had to take a second look at this thing. God doesn’t always raise up a person from a bed of sickness. While some are healed, there are thousands today who are in the hospitals, thousands lying on beds of pain. Do you know what the Lord did after healing me of cancer? He gave me gallstone trouble. It took a while for the doctors to even diagnose the problem, and I suffered a great deal. I think the Lord was saying to me, “I’m going to give you a thorn in the flesh so you will keep your mouth shut. You boast too much about the way I moved in your behalf. I want you to remember that I do not always heal everyone.

The ones who really suffer are the greatest saints. They are the ones who know what real faith is. You don’t know what it is to trust Me in a time like that.” The Lord put me flat on my back, and I have never suffered as I suffered at that time. Then the Lord sent me through a battle with hepatitis, and I want to tell you, I thought He was against me. I went to Him and talked this thing over. It was at that time that He spoke to me from this chapter about the “others"the others who were slain by the sword, the others who sufferedand who did it by faith. My friend, if you can walk up and give your testimony and tell how God has healed youand I could join you in thator if you can get up and say how successful you have been in business, I want to remind you that there are multitudes of God’s saints today who are suffering. They are paying a tremendous price. Do you know how they are doing it? They are doing it by faith. They have lots more faith than I have, and I think they are choicer saints than I am. I have been humbled by many a letter from some wonderful saints who are doing a work for God, tucked away in out-of-the-way places and suffering for their faith. The writer to the Hebrews is speaking of a company of people who lived by faith. He simply calls them “others"I love that! I don’t want you to forget the “others” who are today living by faith and dying by faith. The suffering has ended for many of them, and they have already gone into the presence of the Lord and will never have to die again. This passage means something to me that it didn’t before, and I hope it means something new to you also.

Hebrews 11:39

What promise is it that they did not receive? God made many promises, and many of them received the promises that He made to them. But the promise is His promise that He will raise them up and that there will be a kingdom established here on this earth. They have not received that promise yet, because God is still today calling out a people to His name, and, as it says here in Hebrews, “bringing many sons home to glory.” “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.” We are told here the reason for that

Hebrews 11:40

God has us in mind! Wasn’t that gracious of Him? “That they without us should not be made perfect.” God is very patiently calling people out of this world to His nameand that is the church. And until that church is completed, He is just going to keep calling them out. We have seen in this chapter the world and the work of faith. I want to say something, and I hope I will not be misunderstood. I do not want to hear the testimony of a person who has been saved a week or a month or three months, although I do rejoice in their salvation. But let me illustrate my point: I got a letter the other day which told me about a man who accepted the Lord Jesus under my ministry in 1943. He had just died, and I understand that a marvelous testimony was given at his funeral as to the wonderful man of faith he was. When I am told by young people how many have accepted Christ through their witnessing, I want to say to them, “Well, it will be wonderful if three years from today or thirty years from today you can come back to me and say that these all lived and died by faith.” Some people feel that faith is something untried, something you really can’t be sure of, something that doesn’t really rest upon a foundation. My friend, we have had here a company of witnesses. Many of them lived long livesthey lived by faith. They found out that it works. Again may I say that I no longer give apologetic messages, proving that the Bible is the Word of God. I just give messages from the Bible. I let the Holy Spirit minister the Word to folk. I just preach the Word of God to them and, when I do that, I receive many letters telling how their faith has been strengthened. You do not have to tell me how wonderful faith is. I am an old man now. I’ve been at this a long time, and you don’t have to tell me this thing works. I know it works. You see, when they made the first airplane and even when the thing flew off in the air, there were those present who said they didn’t believe it and they couldn’t believe their eyes. Well, there are a lot of folk today who are just as blind as a bat spiritually. They say, “I want it proven to me.” My friend, if you are honest and are willing to put away the sin in your life and turn to Jesus Christ and trust Him as your Savior, then I would like to talk to you three years from today, because nobody would need to prove anything to you. You would know faith works. There are multitudes around us right now who can say “Amen” to all of this. They already know that faith works. It’s operative. It’s real. It is something genuine. My friend, have you come out of the realm of make-believe and into the realm of reality? Have you found out what Jesus Christ really can do for you?