Through Many Dangers, Toils and Snares

Through Many Dangers, Toils and Snares

“Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares”

(Hebrews 11:36-40)

Series: Captivated by Christ (Hebrews)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

  • Take your Bibles and join me in Hebrews chapter 11.

In a moment we’re going to pick up at verse 36.  We read last time about great victories in the faith.  We talked about how so many Old Testament believers were by faith from through many trials, Daniel delivered from the lions’ den, David delivered from Goliath.  I was reading Adrian Rogers last week.  He said about Daniel being thrown in the lions’ den, he said “God gave the lions lockjaw.”  And he added this pun, he said, “Old Daniel just got his Bible and used a lion for a pillow and started to ‘read between the lions!’”  Then, when talking about Goliath, and you’ll remember that David prevailed over the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone.  He slung a stone at Goliath and it struck him in the forehead and he fell over.  And Adrian said, “You know, old Goliath was amazed.  And you know why he was so amazed? It was the first time anything like that ever entered his head!”  

Well, you could divide verses 30 and following largely into two groups—people who by faith saw great victories, and people who by faith suffered great tragedies; people who received grace to escape suffering; people of who received grace to endure suffering; people who by faith were protected and people who by faith were persecuted.

The writer seeks to encourage Christians undergoing persecution and suffering.  Just prior to Chapter 11, this great chapter on faith, the writer said back in Chapter 10, 

Hebrews 10:32-34:

32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 

33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 

34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

And then the writer goes on to provide a number of examples of people from the Old Testament who lived by faith, people who also “accepted the plundering of their goods,” people who knew “they had a better and an enduring possession for themselves in heaven.”

  • Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

                                               

36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 

37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, [k]were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 

38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 

40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

  • Pray.  

The title of the message is, “Through many dangers, toils, and snares.”  Many of you will recognize that phrase as a line from the popular hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come, ’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

The verses of our passage this morning take us through many dangers, toils, and snares and show how God gives grace and faith to persevere, faith to go on believing, faith to go on enduring, God’s gift of grace and faith to “lead us home.”

From last time, verse 35 contains the phrase, “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.”

Some scholars believe this phrase may refer to the intense suffering that occurred between the testaments, a time referred to as the “intertestamental period,” the period in-between the Old and New Testaments, intertestamental.  There was a span of roughly 400 years from the end of the Old Testament to the beginning of the New Testament, from the last prophet Malachi to the appearance of John the Baptist.  Many believers were persecuted during that time and, while not recorded in the inspired Word of God, their persecution is recorded elsewhere.  There’s an interesting account, for example, in the second book of Maccabees.  

This account is especially interesting in that the word in verse 35, the word “tortured” used in verse 35 is a verb, derived from the Greek word, “tympanum,” a word from which we get our English, tympani, as in the tympani, the drum.  This word torture means to beat as one beats a drum.  2 Maccabees 6:18-30 provides a horrid account of the torture of Eleazar, a believer who was killed by an “instrument of torture,” having been stretched across a drum and beaten to death.

36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 

Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned (Jeremiah 20:2; 37:4; 15-21).  Micaiah (1 Kings 22:26-27) was imprisoned.  Hanani the prophet was imprisoned by King Asa (2 Chronicles 16:7-10).

These “others” are included here in the great roll call of faith.  They had faith even in the midst of persecution.   

So they didn’t suffer persecution because they didn’t have enough faith!  They had enough faith.  They had faith in the Lord yet, for reasons known only to God, they endured hostility, suffering, and persecution.

This is an important reminder given popular Christian culture’s frequent emphasis on “celebrity Christianity;” you know, “Look at all these great celebrities who are Christians.  Look at these famous people who are followers of Jesus.”  Well, we are grateful for all who come to Christ, but not everyone is going to be a celebrity.  Most will live in obscurity.  There are some Christians who are serving in missional contexts all over the world.  They are not Christians of celebrity.  They are Christians of obscurity, unknown to most.  They don’t have Facebook accounts with 5,000 friends nor Twitter accounts with swelling numbers of followers who “retweet” their every utterance.  They are men and women of faith who love God more than celebrity.  They live by faith.  They look to the reward.

These folks in verse 36 had faith.   Yet they were mocked, beaten, scourged, and imprisoned.  Many of our Christian brothers throughout the world are suffering for their faith in Christ.  They are our real heroes, those who often face persecution and suffering but continue on.

One of the highlights of our upcoming Missions Celebration Weekend, is having a special guest with us October 20 and 21:  Kambiz Saghaey (kahm-BEEZ sop-AWE- ee).  (pic on wall).  Kambiz is a Persian church leader and presently a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he also serves as the Coordinator for Persian Leadership Development.

Kambiz “once worked to stop a church there from telling people about Jesus, just as Saul did in New Testament times. In fact, for nine months he tried to shut that church up. But the church stood firm. Eventually Kambiz began doubting his Muslim faith. He asked God to show him the truth. A voice told him that Jesus Christ is the truth. In that moment, Kambiz became a follower of Jesus. Now he equips people to share their faith, just as the apostle Paul did. And that church he tried to stop? He became its pastor! Kambiz survived prison and certain death in Central Asia and eventually he and his wife came to the U.S. Now he is studying and serving as coordinator of the Persian Leadership Development program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, offering help to Farsi-speakers.” (From SEBTS website).

He’s going to be with us for our Missions Celebration Weekend October 20-21.  On that Sunday Kambiz will be preaching.  We’ll also be having our missions fair in the fellowship hall all that morning.  You can walk through the fellowship hall and find out more about over 20 missional activities and partnerships you can be a part of.  More info in your copy of First Facts.

To prepare for that weekend, we’re encouraging everyone to download the 31 Days Iran app for your smartphone.  It looks like this (pic on wall).  You can learn a great deal about what God is doing in saving folks in Muslim backgrounds.  You can learn a bit about their culture and how specifically to pray for them.  Just a quick tidbit each day with a prayer at the end.  Yesterday’s prayer, Day 29, was a prayer based on Hebrews, Hebrews 4, so that was cool since we’ve been studying this great letter.  

Most of us are very patriotic citizens, as well we should be.  God has “shed His grace” on America and we recognize our country’s exceptionalism is one of the reasons so many immigrants thrive here and flourish here.  We also believe that national security and a shrewd immigration policy is part and parcel of preserving the greatness of our nation.  At the same time, we must always remember that we are first citizens of heaven.  And our greater calling, indeed our greatest calling, is to get the gospel into the heads and hearts of every single person of every tribe, tongue, and nation.  What a joy is our great commission!

So while we recognize that the leadership of many Muslim countries is largely corrupt and evil, the people of each nation are not to be equated with their leaders.  We don’t like people equating us with all of our political leaders, do we?  There are thousands of Christians in Middle Eastern countries like Iran and God is drawing still more image-bearers to Himself through the efforts of those who risk their lives to tell them about Christ.  There are people working to get the good news of the Gospel into the lives of others; people like Kambiz.  We’ll look forward to hearing his story when he is with us in worship October 20th, that’s three Sundays from today.  You will not want to miss hearing his story!

37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted (not in some translations; tempted to forsake their faith), were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 

Jewish and Christian literature from outside the Bible records the death of Isaiah.  The early church fathers of the second and third centuries, Justin and Origen for example, record the tradition of Isaiah’s being sawn in half.

Other prophets were persecuted as mentioned here in verse 37.  Zechariah, for example, was put to death by stoning (2 Chronicles 24:21).

Some were “slain with the sword.”  This is a contrast here with verse 34.  Some through faith “escaped the edge of the sword (v.34)” and some did not escape, but verse 37 “were slain with the sword.”  

They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.  This is the clothing of the prophets.  2 Kings 1:8 describes Elijah as wearing “a garment of hair, with a leather belt around his waist.”  And John the Baptist, you’ll recall, came preaching in the spirit of Elijah.  And John the Baptist dressed like Elijah.  The Bible says in Matthew 3:4, “Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.”  A man’s man!  RG Lee used to say, “He ate honey, but he didn’t preach it!”

Jesus warns in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

Speaking of false prophets, that word “destitute” in verse 37 is incongruous with the teachings of the so-called prophets of the health, wealth, prosperity gospel.  These preachers and teachers wrongly teach that if you have enough faith you can fill your sinful self with all the money in the world, all the cars, boats, houses, and lands.  Their mantra is, “Just name it and claim it.  Name what you want and you can claim if you only have faith to believe.”  Well, the Apostle James disagrees.  He says in James 4:3, “You don’t receive what you ask for because you ask for the wrong reasons, that you may consume it upon your lusts, or feed your selfish pleasures (my paraphrase).”  No, it’s not always God’s will that people prosper financially.

These folks in verse 37 had faith.  That’s why they are listed here in the faith chapter.  The great chapter on faith, the roll call of faith.  They are in this chapter because they had faith.  Yet they are described as “destitute,” poor, penniless.  

38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

The Old Testament records 100 prophets hiding in a cave in 1 Kings 18:4 and Elijah hid in a cave in 1Kings 19:9.

“Of whom the world was not worthy.”  Like Noah whose faithful actions—verse 7—“condemned the world.”  To be approved by God is worth being despised by the world.

Then, these last two verses, verses 39 and 40:

39 And all these (all these Old Testament believers), having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 

These Old Testament believers mentioned in Chapter 11 “did not receive the promise.”  What is that?  Well, before we talk about that, let’s acknowledge that these Old Testament believers did receive a number of other promises and blessings from God, the promise of His presence, the promise of His guidance, and so on.  But the writer here is telling us that these Old Testament believers merely caught a glimpse of the future blessings of God.  They lived by faith in what they knew would come to pass in the future.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  It is seen through the eye of faith, the substance of things for which the heart yearns and knows will come to pass.

So Abraham knew God would give him a son and that through Isaac all the nations should be blessed.  But Abraham did not live to see that day.  Nor did he live to see the fulness of the Promised Land, not just the land of Canaan, but the land beyond.  As the writer says in verse 10: “for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  Or verse 16, he “desired a better, that is, a heavenly country.”

The Old Testament believers lived for a better hope to come, a future, greater hope.  But they “did not receive the promise.”  They did not get to see the fulness of the promises fulfilled.  Not only did they not get to see the fulness of the promises concerning the heavenly country, but they also did not get to see the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies concerning Jesus Christ.  They did not get to experience the joys and wonders of the new covenant, a far more simpler way of worship than the old covenantal sacrificial system of priests, and bulls, and goats.  They did not receive that promise—nor do we even enjoy the fullest measure of that promise.  Verse 40:

40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

God was planning something far greater for the Old Testament believers, far greater for all who believe, namely the giving of His superior Son Jesus Christ!  And Christ comes for all who believe in Him.  God has provided something better for us—Jesus Christ and all the promises of God that are fulfilled in Him.  So God has provided something better for us, for us all, believers of the Old and New Testaments, Jesus Christ and all that is ours through faith in Him.

So they—the believers of the Old Testament—“should not be made perfect apart from us.”  That is the believers of the Old Testament, along with all of us believers of this age, will together be made perfect.  To “be made perfect” is to receive the future and final blessings of the glorified state, once Christ returns and we receive perfect, complete, glorified bodies, and live forever in the sinless, perfect, glorified state of future heaven.

And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight

**Three (3) Faith Principles

The first principle is the most obvious:

  1. Persecution is Part of Christian Living

Passages like this one in Hebrews are clear and straightforward reminders that persecution is the norm for those who follow Jesus.  It’s the normal Christian experience.

The Apostle Paul is especially clear on this principle.  If I were to ask how many of you by show of hands were interested in living godly lives in the Lord Jesus, I suppose the majority of us would raise our hands.  And Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Our Lord Jesus Himself on numerous occasions reminds His followers that persecution and suffering are part of Christian living.  Near the end of His Sermon on the Mount He says in Matthew 7:13-14: “13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Strait is the gate.  That’s the King James Version.  Strait.  It’s a good word but it is often heard incorrectly because some assume it is straight, s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.  But it is not.  It’s the word strait, s-t-r-a-i-t, as in “Dire Straits,” a British rock band from the 80s, dire straits, a phrase that means great difficulty, danger, and fear-inducing trouble and turmoil.  Straits as in “the Straits of Magellan,” the dangerously narrow passage for sailors near the Southernmost tip of South America, a very difficult route to navigate because of the narrowness and because of unpredictable winds and currents.  

Jesus taught that the Christian life is like that.  To follow Jesus means going through difficult times full of unpredictable winds and currents of persecution and suffering.  It’s not always a comfortable route.  But it “leadeth unto life” for the few who go that way.  In contrast to the strait and narrow gate, Jesus says, “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.”   That’s the default position, the wide gate, the broad way.  There’s a lot of room for people going that way, the way that continues on to hell.  Thank God He rescues us from the wide gate and the broad path!  

Persecution is part of Christian living.  God’s will often includes suffering.  We may expect it.  People often rejected Christ so we should expect them at times to reject us.  But God is with us.  And while He may not always deliver Christians from suffering, He will absolutely deliver Christians through suffering.  He doesn’t always deliver from suffering, but He absolutely delivers through suffering.  In other words, He will be with us through the experience even if it leads to death when He simply delivers us through suffering and ushers into HIs very presence.

So the pain of persecution and suffering is worth it because of what lies ahead.  Just as a mother may  endure the pain of childbirth, knowing that at the end of her suffering, she will see the beauty and blessing of a newborn baby.  It’s the goal that lies ahead that makes her suffering worth it all.  She can endure in suffering for the joy that is set before her.  This takes us to the second faith principle.  First, persecution is part of Christian living.  Secondly:

 

  1. You Can Endure Suffering When Captivated by Christ

Jesus comforts His followers in Matthew 10 when He says:

Matthew 10:22, And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

However bad the suffering, the payoff is great.  He who endures to the end is saved, saved in every sense and measure of the word.  For the Christian, however great the tragedy, it ends in triumph.

Remember that this is the writer’s greater point here.  He provides all these examples of the elders who obtained a good testimony, all these Old Testament witnesses who persevered in faith and endured the many challenges of faith.  He says then in the next chapter, Chapter 12, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (these Old Testament examples)…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (verse 2 now) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross (what did He endure?  The cross), despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (verse 3 now) For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

You can endure suffering when captivated by Christ, when your eyes are fixed on Jesus, looking unto Jesus.  He endured hostility.  How?  Verse 2: “…for the joy that was set before Him.”  Jesus knew that His suffering was worth it.  However bad the suffering, the payoff was great.  The reward of His suffering was the accomplishing of the Father’s will to make possible the salvation of all who place their faith in Him.  And the writer says, “You can endure suffering when captivated by Christ,” looking unto Jesus, remembering that just as He persevered so you too can persevere.  The payoff is great.  In essence that’s precisely what Jesus teaches later in Matthew 10:

Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

In other words, worse case scenario for Christians who suffer persecution?  Being killed.  That sounds bad, but Jesus says it’s just the killing of a body.  A body that is breaking down anyway.  “Do not fear those who kill the body.”  That’s all they can do.  They cannot touch your soul.  So fear Him who has control over both your body and your soul.  Fear God!  

But if you are a child of God by faith in Christ, you are His precious child and therefore have no reason to fear your persecutors.  You are God’s child and He will be with you and remain with you.  And in the worse case scenario of death to the body, He will usher you into the greatness of your eternal reward.

This was the faith of Justin Martyr, one of the early martyrs for Christ of the second century.  Justin Martyr was a philosopher in Ephesus who came to know Jesus one day when an elderly Christian shared the gospel with him.  Justin then began to teach others the way and was instrumental in discipling a great number of Christians.  In his “First Apology” apology meaning defense, he writes these words to the Roman authorities who sought to persecute him and his students.  He said: “If you respond to these words with hostility, you can do no more than to kill us, which will do no harm to us…”

You can only kill us.  It does no harm to us.  Because you don’t have authority over both body and soul.  

You can endure suffering when captivated by Christ.  You keep your eyes on Jesus, knowing where you are ultimately headed as you run the race set before you.  Knowing that one day you will “be made perfect” when you receive the ultimate promise of the joy of heaven and the joy of salvation in its fullest measure.

Persecution is part of Christian living.  You can endure suffering when captivated by Christ.  Therefore, finally, number three:

  1. Delight in Christ More Than Your Life

Since the payoff of knowing Christ and living forever in a perfect place free from sin and temptation is worth more than anything this present world offers, since the payoff is better than anything—including the preservation of your frail human body—delight in Christ more than your life.

Delight in Christ more than your life.  Remember that you are headed towards “a better resurrection.”  Remember that from verse 35?  “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance (they loved Christ and delighted in Christ more than their lives; how?), that they might obtain a better resurrection.”  Better than what?  Better than the temporary resurrections that did not last forever.  Women received their dead raised to life again.  The widow’s son raised to life again through the prayers of Elijah.  Raised to life again, but then dying again.  Believers in Christ have a better resurrection to look forward to!  It’s better because it means not remaining in this fallen world!

Delight in Christ more than your life because God delights in you.  Christ endured the cross for you.  He loves you.  That’s important to remember when we wonder why God often allows such persecution and suffering.  God’s ways are often mysterious.  We don’t always understand why He delivers some from suffering and others through suffering, but God always does what is right.  And whatever your suffering, God loves you.  He accepts you and values you because of who you are in Christ Jesus, His son.

If I were to hold up a hundred dollar bill and said, “Who wants this?”  Everyone would want it.  If I crumpled the hundred dollar bill into a ball and said, “Now who wants this?”  Everyone would still want it.  And if I threw it on the ground and stepped on it and stomped it and said, “Do you still want it?”  Every one of us would still want it.  Why?  Because we know that whatever happens to that hundred dollar bill, it’s still worth a hundred dollars!  It doesn’t lose its value and worth even if it’s been crumpled up, stepped on and stomped upon.

And you Christian.  Even when you undergo immense suffering and persecution, and the world crumples you up, and you’re stepped on and stomped upon, you are still worth everything to your Father.  You hold your value because you are in Christ, the perfect righteousness of Christ means you are always loved and accepted and approved of by your heavenly Father.  So:

Have faith in God when your pathway is lonely.
He sees and knows all the way you have trod;
Never alone are the least of His children;
Have faith in God, have faith in God.

  • Let’s pray.

RESPONSE: “All I Have is Christ”

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