Sermon Tone Analysis

Hebrews 11:11-40

Introduction:

Good morning again.

It’s a joy for me to be with you each week and share from God’s Word.

At this time children can be dismissed to children’s ministry time if they would like.

I invite the rest of you to open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11 where we will be camped out today.

We have a lot to cover so let’s dive right in.

Context to whom he is writing.........

When we think of Hebrews 11 and the great hall of faith, we don’t generally think of the idea of suffering and tribulation.

Yet for those who follow Jesus, we have a certainty that we will suffer and face persecution for our faith in Jesus.

Jesus guaranteed that his disciples would face tribulation.

They would face suffering and hard times.

We are not bandwagon fans.

We don’t only cheer and root on the home team only during a winning streak.

In fact, faith grows in the fertile soil of persecution and suffering.

It blossoms during the hard times.

False faith withers during persecution.

The author of Hebrews is writing to these Hebrew Christians who were facing pressure to return to the Old Covenant ways of life and worship and turn their backs on their newfound faith in Jesus.

- seems interesting that in the middle of this chapter on these great people of faith we have a prostitute.

Reminds me of that Sesame Street song… One of these things is different.

But it’s not.

She was commended for her faith.

Read Hebrews 11:11-40

This is the Word of the Lord.

Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand.

I. What they did (v.

4 - 35a)

Last week we talked about the first part of the hall of faith and what it was that caused these actions in their lives.

Their faith in God, a faith in a coming Redeemer drove them to obedience of God.

In this passage we have a recounting of just exactly what their faith catalyzed them to do.

The author’s goal is to positively illustrate what faith looks like in practice.

He wants to show his audience how faith looked in the real lives of real people who they would have most likely been familiar with.

Abel gave the Lord an acceptable offering (11:4b).

Enoch left the earth without dying (11:5b).

Noah survived the great Flood (11:7b).

Abraham inherited a land (11:8b).

Sarah bore a son through a barren womb and began a nation (11:11b).

Abraham believed that God could raise the dead (11:19).

Isaac and Jacob both predicted the future (11:20b, 21b).

Joseph anticipated the Exodus long before it happened (11:22b).

Moses’ parents defied the king of Egypt (11:23b).

Moses forsook the pleasures of sin (11:25).

Moses left the land of Egypt and was not afraid of the king (11:27b).

The people of Israel kept the Passover (11:28b).

The people of Israel crossed the Red Sea (11:29).

The people of Israel shouted down a city (11:30).

Rahab protected some Hebrew spies (11:31b).

- seems interesting that in the middle of this chapter on these great people of faith we have a prostitute.

Reminds me of that Seasame Street song… One of these things is different.

But it’s not.

She was commended for her faith.

As we read this section we see some people who we know messed up in their lives.

We have accounts of their sin even.

Yet, this passage focuses more on their faith than their deeds and doesn’t seem to mention their sins.

I like her appearing here because the playing ground is even.

We all are sinners.

All have sinned.

Some seek forgiveness that is only found in Jesus and some do not.

But the point here was her faith.

(Plug upcoming Family Christmas series)

There is another place where we find some sketchy characters in a list in the Bible.

It’s in the genealogy of Jesus.

For the advent season this year I’m going to be preaching a series of messages called Family Christmas where we are going to look at some of the people in Jesus’ geneology and how the gospel confronts our shortcomings and sins with love and forgiveness.

I am really looking forward to it.

End commercial.

Next we see some accounts of what the prophets and judges did in verses 33-35.

The prophets and judges subdued kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, quenched flames, escaped the sword, exchanged weakness for strength, put enemy armies to flight, and a few even raised the dead (11:33–35a).

Verse 34 “made strong out of weakness”

Understanding where the strength comes from.

They persisted and followed God’s leading.

Focused on God’s promise.

These things sound awesome so far.

All of us would be on board with this stuff.

But then we hit verse 35 and it gets a little, as Matt Chandler says, “Tarentino” .

There’s this shift from all of these things that humanly speaking we would call good or amazing to things that sound pretty terrible here halfway through verse 35.

Let’s read this.

II.

What they endured (v.

35b - 38)

1. Terrible torture (11:35b)

2. Ridicule (11:36a)

3. Cruel flogging (11:36b)

4. Imprisonment (11:36c)

5. Stoning (11:37a)

6. Being sawn in two (11:37b)

7. Death by the sword (11:37c)

8. Extreme poverty (11:37d–38)

The model we see in scripture for those following Christ closely does not seem to match up with what we hear from many popular television or Christina Book store preachers.

It was God’s plan for their lives to go this way.

It might be God’s will for your life that you glorify him through walking through cancer, through the death of a loved one, through suffering that so far you can only imagine.

We see biblical evidences of this.

Not one of you would say that Jeremiah wasn’t blessed and sent by God.

And yet when things happen to us we want to ask where God is.

He’s right there and we should trust Him alone.

Cling to Jesus.

Faith is built stronger in suffering and hardship.

The world was not worthy of these people

Their presence in the world is evidence of God’s grace.

Proclamation of the Word of God to sinful people was a greater privilege than the world or any of us deserve and yet the very fact that they were here is a gift of the grace of God.

He didn’t wish for us to perish, but to know Him.