Hebrews 11:23-31
This time of year I find myself trolling for motivation to finish the Christian race strong. Perhaps it’s because things slow down and I have time to reflect and think about my life…. What am I doing? What am I giving my life to? Why am I living my life the way I do?
There are things I know. I don’t want to watch the game from the sideline. I know I don’t want to take my place in the stands and watch the other runners run even though the temptation to get up in the stands and watch the others run is really strong…. “I’ve done my running, it’s time
for others to run”… How unbiblical is that? I know I want to run the race that God has for me and I want to finish really strong. I want to be able to say with Paul, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
And so this time of year I’m always looking for stories that can feed my ‘grit’ factor, stories that speak of ‘staying in the game’ and ‘perseverance’ and ‘endurance’….stories that’ll feed my soul so I can continue the ‘long obedience in the same direction’ which is the Christian life…stories that will help me faithfully plug along through to the end.
So in the final days of 2015 I started a couple of biographies—one on Teddy Roosevelt 1 and one on the Wright Brothers. Leave it to me to try to read two books at once.
I was intrigued by Teddy Roosevelt’s story because I remember hearing that he was a physically weak asthmatic, home-boy of a child who was challenged by his father –Theodore
Roosevelt Sr, a rather god-like figure in his life—to remake himself. “Theodore, you have the mind, but you have not the body, and without the help of the body and without the help of the
body, the mind cannot go as far as it should….You must make your body.”
And we know the rest of the story….he became a stirring example of courage and physical health.
I was intrigued by The Wright Brothers story because I had heard that they faced a slew of challenges and they just kept at it. They persevered through many setbacks.
I also ran across a story about a couple of Wycliffe supporters who were in their 80s—Ken and
Neve Shoemaker—just everyday people like you and me. And even their story had a gritproducing effect in my life. Listen in on a conversation between the Shoemakers (again a couple in their 80s) and a Wycliffe representative who called them on the phone.
"We're on our last lap," Ken (the husband) told the Wycliffe representative on the phone,
"[but] we're committed to spend three hours a day in prayer—mostly for Wycliffe people. The other day Neve was awfully tired. She said she didn't know whether she was able to pray the full
1 Morning on Horseback
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three hours. I told her, 'Come on. Don't let up. We've got to finish the course.' That day we prayed three and a half hours." 2
It was that story that inspired the sermon title this morning… Come on, let’s finish strong! You and I need to encourage each other to finish the race strong.
I also did my share of scripture reading over the holidays. In Revelation I found this note in the margin of my bible in Revelation 13, “ Because captivity and sword are God’s ordained route to
victory for his saints, they must practice endurance ( and I add ‘they must practice not giving up’, ‘they must practice staying in the game’, ‘they must practice faithfully walking with Jesus every day’…)…. The marginal note continued… “Perseverance is a major theme in Revelation…
Rev. 12:17, 14:12, 16:15, 17:14, 21:7-8, 22: 7,10, 12, 14”
The need for endurance shows up in Romans 5… We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. I don’t know about you but I want character and I want hope and the only way to get there is by endurance.
The need for endurance shows up in James 1….Joyfully receive trials, James writes, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness… and steadfastness “is a life of faithful endurance amid trouble and afflictions” 3 …and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete.
Coming around full circle to the sermon series we are in the middle of—it’s taken a long time to get there, hasn’t it? ---the topic of endurance or perseverance is perhaps the key theme in the book of Hebrews.
As we’ve said several times before, the book of Hebrews was written to those who were tempted to leave Jesus altogether (“I’m done”, “It’s too hard”, “It’s not worth it”). The original readers were tempted to leave Jesus altogether and turn back to their Jewish roots. And so beginning in chapter 1, a clarion theme is trumpeted over and over… “Jesus is Better!”… Jesus is
Better!...Jesus is Better! Over the first nine chapters we hear this theme clearly. Jesus is better than the angels. He’s better than the Law. He’s better than the Levitical priesthood. He’s better than Moses. He’s better than the sacred Day of Atonement. Jesus is better than anything
Jewish. And then toward the end of chapter 10, the author turns a corner and begins to exhort his readers “Don’t turn back…Don’t give up…..You have need of endurance… You have need of
endurance… You have need of endurance. “Come on Neve, don’t give up, we’ve got to finish the course”
We find those exact words in Hebrews 10:36, “For you have need of endurance….
2 Preachingtoday illustration
3 ESV Study Bible note
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Why did the original readers have need of endurance? Why do you and I have need of endurance? … so that when (we’ve) done the will of God (we) may receive what is promised.”
Here’s a skeleton of the author’s argument in this section of Hebrews… the end of Hebrews 10,
11, and part of 12….
The writer of Hebrews basically says in Hebrews 10:36… “Come on, let’s finish strong.” And then he takes his readers into art gallery so to speak—an art gallery of pictures of many of the
‘heroes of the faith’ (and really to be more accurate we should call them ‘flawed heroes of the faith’’)
{Five or so days ago we visited an art gallery funded by the Walmart family in Benton, Arkansas.
It was really a wonderful art museum. Visitors were given a complementary set of head phones with which to tour the gallery. Many of the paintings had a numeric code and when you came to the painting you’d put that code in your device and some expert would tell you all about the painting. And there was way more in every painting than I had ever seen.}
Well that’s what the author of Hebrews does in Hebrews 11. He walks us through the ‘art gallery of faith’ and encourages us to stop and look at each picture in detail to glean some lessons on endurance. “You have need of endurance. Follow me into God’s ‘art gallery of faith’ where every picture tells a story—a story designed to help you ‘keep on keeping on’, a story to
help you “persevere.” You see Hebrews 11 billboards the truth that God’s people must be people of faith. And the life of faith is the only life that pleases God.
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Let’s briefly address the idea that these men and women listed in Hebrews 11 are flawed heroes. Think about it…what motivation would it be for you and me, with all our flaws, to be shown a lineup of super heroes walking by faith? Wouldn’t we say, “These people are different from me…I can’t relate to them!”..my life is so different from them!?
One author that I read said this about that….
4 Guthrie, page 386
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“But if this is our perspective we miss the whole point—this life of faith is normal for the people of God. This is “mere” Christianity, as C. S. Lewis put it. The author’s whole program is to call struggling, sometimes bumbling Christians to live boldly by faith. He calls us—with all our habits and hang-ups, warts and worries—to action. We are called to step out of step with the world, hop up on the stage of history, and take our place in God’s roll call of the faithful. Of course we are inadequate; but so have been all others who have evidenced the grace of God. It would not be grace otherwise.
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You see despite the passage of time and the geographical separation between the initial readers and ourselves, many of us come to worship this morning in a similar experience to those whom the letter was written….tempted, discouraged, and fearful, perhaps even wondering if we can make it through another week.
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If you have your bibles we’ll be looking at Hebrews 11, verses 23-31…Hebrews 11, verses 23-31.
Follow with me as I read the entire passage and then we’ll go back and pause and reflect on each picture presented there. I’m going to suggest that there are six pictures here in these verses that we read—three from the life of Moses, one from the people of Israel and their experience at the Red Sea, one from the people of Israel and their unusual defeat of Jericho, and a final picture from the life of Rahab the prostitute at Jericho.
Follow along as I begin reading….Hebrews 11:23….
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith
Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of
Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Well let’s pause before each picture in this art gallery of faith…
In verses 23-28, we’re given three pictures from Moses’ life that show that he ran God’s race by faith.
5 Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (p. 386). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
6 “Every Picture Tells a Story”, Alister Begg sermon, Heb. 11:17-28
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The
picture on display in verse 23, interestingly enough, is actually a picture of Moses’ parents and their faith when Moses was born. We know from Exodus 6:20 that Moses’ father was named Amram and that his mother was named Jochebed.
We know from Exodus 1 that a new king came to power in Egypt and he was threatened by the numbers of Hebrews in the land. And after attempting unsuccessfully to engage the Hebrew mid-wives in killing the Hebrews baby boys, the king made an edict that ‘all baby boys should be thrown into the Nile’ 7 And that’d the threatening backdrop for the birth story of the man we know as Moses.
Well Jochebed conceived and gave birth to a baby boy. Exodus 2:2 says that when she noticed he was a fine child (some versions say ‘beautiful’ child), she hid him three months and then hatched the ‘pitch–covered-papyrus-basket-floating-in-thel-reeds’ plan. It seems that there was something about Moses’ appearance that sparked his parent’s faith. Our text here in Hebrews, verse 23, says because they saw the child was beautiful they were not afraid of the king’s
edict. Now there’s a problem here. Doesn’t every parent think their child is the most beautiful baby ever born? “(I mean) all my children were “beautiful” and extraordinary (too)—and so were all yours! Right? Amram and Jochebed had nothing on us!” 8
It is curious that the physical appearance of the child would spark the parent’s faith. Didn’t God chastise Samuel for sizing up Jesse’s sons physically when he came to anoint a king from among them?
Josephus, the Jewish historian, might offer some help here. He tells us that Amram, Moses’ father, had a vision in “which God told him he would have a son who would deliver his people”. 9
Now a vision like that would surely spark parental faith, wouldn’t it? Yes.
But there is another place in our bible that might help us. Stephen mentions Moses in his sermon in Acts 7. Stephen says in Acts 7:20 that the baby was beautiful in God’s sight. If we try to tie it all up, it seems that the parents perceived in some way that baby Moses was uniquely special to God.
10 It seems that Amram and Jochebed had spiritual insight into (Moses’ future) significance.
11 And this triggered their faith.
They hid Moses for three months. And then, when it became impossible to conceal his presence, they came up with a creative plan that floated him right into Pharaoh’s palace!
12 The
7 Hebrews 1:22
8 Hughes, R. K. (1993). Hebrews: an anchor for the soul (Vol. 2, p. 117). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
9 Hughes, R. K. (1993). Hebrews: an anchor for the soul (Vol. 2, p. 117). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
10 John Calvin wisely remarked: It seems contrary to the nature of faith that he says that they were induced to do this by the beauty of his form.
We know that Jesse was rebuked when he brought his sons to Samuel in the order of their physical excellence, and certainly God does not hold us to external appearances. I reply that the parents of Moses were not induced by his beauty to be touched with pity and save him as men are commonly affected, but there was some sort of mark of excellence to come, engraved on the boy which gave promise of something out of the ordinary for him
11 Hagner as quoted by Guthrie, page 380
12 Hughes, R. K. (1993). Hebrews: an anchor for the soul (Vol. 2, p. 117). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
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whole story is remarkable. Who found baby Moses? Pharaoh’s daughter. Who was standing nearby to suggest a nurse for the baby? Moses’s big sister. Who got to nurse the baby, who got paid to nurse her own baby? Moses’s mother. The whole story is remarkable.
Why do we sit up worrying about our kids? Why do we toss and turn at night fearing that things may not go well for them? God’s got our kids in his grip, doesn’t he?
There’s something to be said about the importance of a parent’s faith in the lives of their children. I was with a married couple who are friends recently, and the husband said, “My mother prayed for my spouse before she was ever born.” …the power of parental faith in the lives of children.
One author offers this….
“What encouragement there is here for any who are attempting to try to raise a godly family in today’s secular desert. Moses was preserved by his parents’ faith. Their faith, their prayers, their bravery, and their creativity saved him. And more, he became a great man of faith through their faith. His experience was exactly that of the preacher who gave his mother the tribute, “My mother practices what I preach!” Moses preached and practiced the faith he saw at home as a child. Those of us who are parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and teachers not only have great power, but also immense responsibility to the children in our lives. Israel’s deliverance began with an obscure couple believing God in the midst of darkness. Think what a faith like that could accomplish today!” 13
God’s people must be people of faith. And the life of faith is the only life that pleases God.
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You and I are such “If I see it I’ll believe it” type of people aren’t we? The life of faith is the only life that pleases God. ‘Come on Neve, don’t give up…we’ve got to finish the course!”
Well the
picture from Moses’ life is given in verses 24-27.
Perhaps you’re aware of this but Moses’s life can be divided into three 40 year intervals. We get that from Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7.
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For the first 40 years of his life, Moses was the Son of Pharaoh’s daughter and he lived in the palace. It was a time of unparalleled privilege and wealth. There were pleasures untold. When
Moses was 40, it came into his heart to visit his people, the Israelites.
16 It was at that point that he came across an Egyptian beating up an Israelite and he killed the Egyptian and had to flee Egypt and live as a lowly shepherd in Midian for forty years. When forty years had passed in the desert, God met Moses at the burning bush and called him to deliver the people from
13 Hughes, R. K. (1993). Hebrews: an anchor for the soul (Vol. 2, p. 118). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
14 Guthrie, page 386
15 Acts 7:23, 30
16 Acts 7:23
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Egypt and bring them to the Promised Land: 40 years in the palace, 40 years in the desert, and
40 years as the deliverer of God’s people.
The picture that we have of Moses in verses 24-27 of our Hebrews text probably refers to that crucial intersection where he left the palace and fled to the desert. Let’s look at the back ground of that event on the screen… Exodus 2:11-15
So we pick up the story from Moses’ life when he was about 40. The text in Exodus on the screen would lead us to think that Moses needed some character work—he was a bit impetuous and needed to grow in self-control. And maybe he did. But our text in Hebrews, especially verses 24-25, seems to give us the back story. It seems that Moses came to an intersection…an intersection that every young man and young women comes to… will I align myself with the people of God or will I just flow with the culture? Our text in Hebrews says he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
In Pharaoh’s court Moses had everything that represented security. There was great privilege, incredible wealth, and untold sinful pleasures. Outside of Pharaoh’s court there was only impoverishment, slavery and obscurity. It must have been a tremendous challenge for him.
Why would a young man give up so much to embrace so little?
{As I wondered, isn’t this the intersection that every one of our youth in this room comes to?
You’ve grown up in a Christian family. Your parents have protected you, they have provided for you, they’ve given you a foundation for your faith. And for years you’ve lived buoyant on their faith. But now you have a choice to make. What will you choose? Are you going (to align with the people of God or are you going to flow with the culture?
17 )}
17 Alister Begg, “Every Picture Tells a Story”
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Moses chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Let’s not make the mistake of arguing that sin is not pleasurable. Sin is pleasurable. But we’ve got to come to the place where we see and feel and believe deep in our souls that the pleasures of sin are fleeting….temporary…. passing…and not worth it.
Verse 26 tells us that Moses considered the reproach he suffered for the sake of the Messiah
(the Messiah is the word Christ right? ) greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. Now how’s that for an upside down perspective?
As Christ truly suffered for the people of God, so also Moses, those many years before, suffered for the people of God. As Christ suffered reproach—accusations, opposition, disapproval,
disappointment, hardship, distress—Moses suffered reproach also. In fact the writer of
Hebrews says that Moses bore the Messiah’s reproach before the time of the Messiah.
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And unbelievably, when Moses thought about all of his suffering, it was greater wealth to him than all the treasures of Egypt. Now it’s hard for us to imagine all of the treasures of Egypt but let’s try anyway. Ok so you’ve got the treasures of Egypt in your mind? Now imagine all the reproach Moses suffered as he led the people of Israel all those years. And honestly at this point of his life we don’t know how much reproach he experienced. Was he aware in some way of all the reproach he would one day experience.. .all the grumbling and complaining…all the rebellion and idolatry…Korah’s rebellion…Miriam’s rebellion…the incident of the spies going into Canaan…the painful vote that carried the day…ten said ‘NO!” How could the reproach that
Moses suffered for the Messiah be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt? Sounds like fuzzy economics doesn’t it? What does verse 26 say? He considered the reproach of Christ
greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt…WHY?... for he was looking to the reward. What was Moses’ motivation? By focusing on his reward, Moses turned his gaze away from (his) present suffering to what was heavenly and lasting and promised by God.
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You see fuzzy economics –reproach is more valuable than Egyptian treasures--becomes brilliant economics when we take into account the reward that God has for us. And what is our reward?
Listen to Paul’s words in 2 Timothy… Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day, and not only
to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Simply put, our reward is life with God in unparalleled bliss forever and ever and ever. “Come on Neve, don’t let up, we’ve got to finish the course!”
18 ESV Study Bible note
19 See Hebrews 10:34-36
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Come on, sweet friends at Kilgore Bible Church, let’s finish strong! Let’s live with eternity in view. Let’s live by faith and see our unseen future reward clearly.
One final note here. Moses’ example is a great example for those to whom our author is writing. Weren’t they suffering because of their Christian faith? The reproach of Christ, the author says, is way more valuable than the treasures of Egypt when you take into account the
future reward that God has for us. “Be like Moses, brothers and sisters!” “Come on, let’s finish strong!”
Well look at verse 27… By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he
endured as seeing him who is invisible. He saw the invisible God more clearly than anything else.
We know that Moses left Egypt twice--once after he killed the Egyptian (the passage we read
on the screen, Exodus 2:11-15) and the final time when he delivered Israel through the Red Sea.
Which ‘leaving Egypt experience’ is the author of Hebrews talking about here in verse 27? We can’t be dogmatic—and admittedly students of scripture go both ways here—but because verse 28, the next verse, is about keeping the Passover (an event which occurred before Moses fled Egypt the second time), I think the author is moving chronologically and has in mind
Moses’s first flight from Egypt. The questions then are, “Why does the author of Hebrews say he wasn’t afraid of the king? Didn’t we read in Exodus 2 that Moses was afraid of the king?”
“Perhaps the author is suggesting that Moses’s fear was not the ultimate reality in his life.
(Make sense to me….in my life fear and faith coexist) Yes Moses feared dying, but at a deeper level perhaps he trusted that God would protect him and that his life would be preserved.” 20
Again let’s make the point that this would be so relevant for the readers. ‘You are tempted turn away from Jesus and turn back to your Jewish roots…. Focus instead on the unseen one who is protecting you….Just as he preserved Moses from danger, so he will preserve you.’
Well the
and final picture from Moses’ life is in verse 28 and concerns Moses keeping the
Passover ordinance.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
You and I have trouble I think understanding how much faith it took to undertake the Passover ordinance that very first time. God gave Moses very specific and very clear directions. But
20 Schreiner, page 364
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Moses had to make it happen and encourage each family to participate. “(Admittedly the instructions were strange), the demands (were) costly (a lamb without blemish) and the ritual was unprecedented” 21 It was the first time anything like this had ever been done.
But Moses led the way by faith.
In verses 29-31, the author rounds out his example list with three other pictures.
Verse 29 … .
29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the
Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
A familiar story from Exodus 14. As you probably remember, the people of Israel saw the
Egyptians marching after them and the bible says they feared greatly…
Well the Lord said to Moses…and this is Exodus 14:16…. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. So there’s the specific promise of God-- The sea will be divided and the people of
Israel will go through on dry ground. Because the people of Israel believed God’s promise they walked through the sea.
But put yourselves in their sandals… stepping onto the sea bed with a wall of water on both sides…what a risk! …always wondering if the water would stay standing. We know the people of Israel took that risk, but they did so because they believed it was the way that the Lord would deliver them. They believed the promise of God.
And again this particular picture would be especially helpful to the original readers who were tempted to go back to their Jewish roots because of persecution. “You’re fearful,” the author of Hebrews says, “as were the Israelites….but like them you should trust the Lord to deliver you.” 22
, Vs. 30 … 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for
seven days. (Think about how much of Israel’s history the author skipped—the wilderness wandering. We know there wasn’t much faith to celebrate at that time.
I’m sure you’re familiar with the story of Jericho’s capture in the book of Joshua. Wouldn’t you agree that the battle plan was singularly strange… Israel was to march around the city for six days. On the seventh day Israel was instructed to march around the city seven times, and while
21 Hughes, R. K. (1993). Hebrews: an anchor for the soul (Vol. 2, p. 121). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
22 Schreiner, page 365
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doing so, the priests were to blow trumpets. At the end of the march they were called to shout with a great shout at the ‘prolonged blast of the horn.’ 23 And unbelievably the walls fell down and the city was captured.
God told the people that if they went through these unusual actions, the walls would fall down flat. By faith the people did what God said and the walls of Jericho indeed fell down flat.
, …
31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Unbelievably Rahab the harlot is the climactic example in Hebrews 11. She represents someone who was willing to leave her culture and to align herself with the people of God. And again she functions as the perfect example for the original readers because she was willing to suffer the reproach of being identified with the people of God.
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___________
Six pictures that encourage us to endure by faith, to finish strong. “Come on Neve, don’t let up. We’ve got to finish the course!”
Hebrews 11 billboards the truth that God’s people must be people of faith. And the life of faith is the only life that pleases God.
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Come on, brothers and sisters, let’s finish strong!
Two points of application….
■ Let’s undertake daring feats in 2016 even when we don’t have a specific promise from God
Now I don’t want to throw you off with the phrase ‘daring feats’. Sounds like something from another age doesn’t it? But I’m talking about simple acts of courage done by faith… husbands suggesting to wives, “Let’s read the bible together.” or “Let’s pray together regularly”…Husbands leading their families in devotions…. or thinking about ways to reach the neighbors for Christ… “Let’s invite the neighbors over for dinner”
23 Josh. 6:5, 20
24 Schreiner, page 367
25 Guthrie, page 386
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I appreciate Justin’s emphasis in the very first message that we had from Hebrews 11. He suggested a way to interpret the phrase ‘by faith’ –a phrase that occurs some 18 times in the chapter. Do you remember his suggestion? He suggested that whenever we saw the phrase
‘by faith’ we could replace it with the words ‘Because he believed God’s word…’ So, for example, Hebrews 11:8, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place
that he was to receive as an inheritance…BECOMES….‘Because Abraham believed God’s word he obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.
The reason that Justin’s suggestion is so good is that it anchors our faith in the promises of God.
Our faith isn’t just faith suspended in an empty atmosphere…. “By faith I’ll invest $10,000 in this
real estate deal” OR “By faith I’ll move to Henderson”…. What’s the basis for such faith?
Nothing !? So we should do our best to tether or anchor our faith to specific promises of God.
But what do we do when we don’t have a specific promise of God that God has given us?
The bible is not silent here. We could call this other consideration… the ‘perhaps of faith’ 26
And I bring this up to emphasize that we have ample reasons and motivation as we approach a new year to completely throw ourselves into God’s work. (I want to make sure that we don’t wait for specific promises from God before we jump in with both feet)
I think you know the story in Daniel 3 about Daniel’s friends who refused to bow down to
Nebuchadnezzar’s 90 foot statue, and were consigned to be thrown into the fiery furnace.
Listen to their response to Nebuchadnezzar…it’s a great finishing strong response…
16 … “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Do you hear the ‘perhaps of faith’ in their response? They didn’t have a specific promise from
God that they would be delivered.
Let’s diagram what they say…
26 Not original, from Davis’ 1 Samuel commentary
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We see a similar ‘perhaps of faith’ in the life of Esther…. In that story Haman had arranged and gotten permission to eliminate the Jewish people. And Mordecai, Esther’s living relative came to her to encourage her to be involved.
So Esther agreed and she asked Mordecai to get everyone to pray. Did she have a specific promise of God that she would be delivered? No….she said ‘if I perish, I perish’
Well let’s think about our lives….
I will seek to get involved!
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I will seek to get to know God better!
I will ________________!
■Let’s invest in habits that will help us finish strong.
Let’s invest in the Word. Do you have a plan for reading through the scriptures? Do you regularly invest in God’s word? Take some steps soon to regularly invest in God’s word.
Prayer. I hope you’ll plan to invest in our week of prayer. You’ll find a schedule in the prayer guide you were given this morning.
Let us pray.
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