Two Kentucky farmers who owned racing stables had developed a keen rivalry. They always entered a horse in a local steeplechase. One of the farmers thought that a professional rider might help him outdo his friend, so he hired a jockey on the day of the race. During the race the two horses were neck and neck with a large lead over the rest at the last fence, ironically though, both horse’s rammed into each other and unseated both of the riders.
However, the professional jockey quickly remounted and rode on to win the race. Returning triumphantly to the paddock, the jockey found the farmer who had hired him fuming with rage.
“What’s the matter?” the jockey asked. “I won, didn’t I?”
“Oh, yea,” roared the farmer. “You won all right, but you crossed the finish line on the wrong horse.” (In Actions Speak Louder Than Words, by Herb Miller. www.PreachingToday.com)
The jockey’s failure begs the statement: We want to be known as people who go through the race of life on the right horse.
I invite you to look into the book of Hebrews chapter 11 with me and learn from those who won the race of life.
Hebrews 11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
This chapter was written with the hope that the Hebrew believers would endure under heavy local persecution and waves of horror from Nero. This lesson is about people of faith that had to face impossible odds; and yet, prevailed in the end.
Gideon was surrounded by the Midianites. They had overrun the country, and everyone lived in fear until God called Gideon to defeat the Midianites. Gideon wasn’t sure at first, but eventually God gave him the courage to take on the entire Midianite army with only 300 men against an army with so many mount camels they could not be counted (Judges 7:12).
Barak was surrounded by Sisera’s great army. Historians claim that it was the most powerful army in the world at that time. They had the latest in military technology – 900 iron chariots. While the rest of the world was in the bronze age, Sisera’s army had moved on to the iron age. They were a formidable foe, but at Deborah’s urging, Barak gathered together a volunteer army and went after them. God sent a flood, bogged those iron chariots in the mud, and Barak led his little, volunteer army to total and compete victory. Not one of the enemy was left to bother Israel ever again (Judges 4:6).
Samson was surrounded by the Philistines. They had gouged out his eyes while he was foolish and gave him the job of an ox. But the Philistines threw a big party in the temple of their god, Dagon and stood Samson in the middle, so they could make fun of him. By faith Samson cried out to God and He literally brought the house down on them all. (Judges 16:25-30).
Jephthah was an outcast and an illegitimate child in Israel, and was rejected. Then the Ammonites overran the country; and suddenly they needed Jephthah. The Israelites begged him, since he was the toughest guy they knew, to lead them against the Ammonites. Jephthah saved Israel through faith in the Lord and led Israel to a great victory! (Judges 11).
David is well known for his acts of faith, not in the least when he faced Goliath. Of whom cried it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves: for the battle is the Lord’s (1 Samuel 17:47). Then after he became king, he was surrounded by enemy nations that tried to destroy his kingdom. Yet through it all, David prevailed. David conquered all his enemies, expanded his kingdom, and brought decades of peace to Israel.
Samuel and the prophets fearlessly delivered God’s Word to anyone, anywhere, at any time even when others did not want to hear what God had to say. The faithful proclamation of God’s word no matter the situation was the hallmark of all true prophets.
All of these people faced impossible odds and they prevailed, as verse 33 states.
Hebrews 11:33a who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises
The message is that they gain the victory through their actions by faith. They succeeded as they trusted in God. Their success happened when they depended on His might, not their own, through faith,
Hebrews 11:33b-34 says, they stopped the mouth of lions…quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, put foreign armies to flight.
Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, because he dared to pray to God when the king made a decree against such prayers. But God sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths, and Daniel slept peacefully that night.
Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, so he ordered his soldiers to throw them into a fiery furnace. The fire was so hot that it cooked the soldiers, but God protected Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego, and they came out of the fire without even the smell of smoke on their clothes.
How encouraging! These words would support the fact that there is hope for every impossible situation. However, not only men prevailed through their faith. Women did, as well! When their sons died, they went to God’s prophets – one to Elijah and one to Elisha – and their sons were raised from the dead!
Hebrews 11:35a Women received their dead raised to life again.
Through faith there is not just hope for every man, woman and child but they find that God is faithful to keep His promises.
BY FAITH ABOUND IN TRIUMPH.
When trusting in the Lord, we need to depend on His might for His victory, not our own.
Now the men listed were not the best characters all the time in fact they each made some great blunders. But the good news of the Bible is that it shows a picture that “marvelous things happen to bad people, unworthy people, little people, poor people, and unrighteous people when they put their trust in the Lord.”
The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Spiritually, we can’t succeed through our own human effort. We succeed by depending on God. We succeed by trusting in the Lord! God saves us forever when we put our faith in what Christ accomplished for us. His death and resurrection are for us.
Colossians 2:6 says, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” You received the Lord by faith, and That’s exactly the way we are to live our life. We are to live our life in constant, daily dependence upon the Lord. Anything else will be like putting ourselves on the wrong horse.
Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab, and Kevin Lin ran the equivalent of two marathons a day to prepare for crossing the Sahara Desert on foot. They touched the waters at Senegal and then made their way through Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt to touch the waters of the Red Sea. Along the way, the trio faced blazing afternoons of over 100 degrees, jarring, freezing nights, sandstorms, tendonitis, violent sickness, and the usual aches, pains, and blisters. But the biggest challenge they faced can be summed up in one word: water. Finding it can be very difficult in the middle of the desert! (Anna Johnson, “3 ultra-athletes run across Sahara,” USA Today, 2-20-07; www.PreachingToday.com)
Crossing the Saharan Desert on foot is an amazing feat! But just as amazing are these marathon finishers: Christians who finish their lives still growing, still serving; Husbands and wives who stay faithful to each other “until death do us part”; Singles who preserve their integrity until marriage despite crushing peer pressure; Addicts who remain clean despite overwhelming temptation; Employees who do their work as unto the Lord even if their employers make it hard for them.
It is not possible to find the kind of victory we hope for in our own strength; But when we depend on the Lord, we can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). We need to trust Christ, by faith to triumph over our foes. But we also need to trust Christ when the outcome is not favorable.
BY FAITH, ABIDE IN TRIALS.
The parallel truth is that God has not promised wholesale deliverance in this life for His people at all times and every situation. Some will endure pain and difficulties while depending on Christ.
There is a side to the Christian faith that is not talked about too often. Most Christians hear messages that encourage them by faith for success. But the less heard message about Christianity is learning how to suffer and keep our faith in God.
This chapter reminds us about men and women of faith that prevailed in this life. And this chapter concludes by reminding us that many other men and women of faith suffered ruin in this life. It’s important to understand that in the world’s eyes they failed but not in God’s eyes.
Hebrews 11:35a Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Now we read about men and women of faith that experienced miracles. But some of the people of faith were tortured and some of the same kind of Christians saw affliction.
Hebrews 11:35b-38 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, 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.
The Bible reveals that women and men of faith endure misery, as well as experience miracles. Men and women of faith abided in trials, as well as abounded in triumph. The important truth is that they kept trusting in God.
During seasons of suffering men and women of faith, endure the pain by trusting in the Lord, rather than seeking to escape it. Some Christians may need to learn to abide in trials by depending on the Lord and remain faithful to Christ even if there seems to be no payoff in this life!
Warren Wiersbe says: it may take even more faith to suffer than it does to succeed. It’s like “It takes more faith to endure than it does to escape” (Be Confident, p.130).
An attack on November 24, 1964, at the hands of Congolese rebels, missionary J.W. Tucker was beaten and his hands tied along with sixty of his Christian [brothers and sisters], was thrown into the crocodile-infested Bomokande River.
Mark Battterson, in his book Chase the Lion, says, “Our natural instinct is to feel sorry for Tucker, whose earthly life was seemingly cut short. But life can’t be cut short when it lasts for all eternity… Heaven gained a hero, a hero in a long line of heroes who trace their genealogy back to the first Christian martyr, Stephen…, God doesn’t promise us happily ever after. He promises so much more than that—happily forever after.
“It was that eternal perspective that inspired J. W. Tucker to risk his earthly life for the gospel. Tucker didn’t fear death because he had already died to self. It wasn’t an uncalculated risk that led J. W. Tucker into the Congo during a civil war. He counted the cost with his missionary friend Morris Plotts. Plotts tried to convince his friend not to go. ‘If you go in,’ he prophetically pleaded, ‘you won’t come out.’ To which Tucker responded, ‘God didn’t tell me I had to come out. He only told me I had to go in.’” (Mark Batterson, Chase the Lion, Multnomah, 2016, page 107; www.PreachingToday.com)
Tucker’s faith in God empowered him to endure persecution and even death for the Lord Jesus Christ, and our faith can do the same for us. As we depend on Christ, we can endure pain; we can abide in trials; and we need to remain faithful to the Lord.
Linda Holm found a malignant lump in her breast. Though her faith was strong, and she was sure of God’s providence, she crumbled emotionally when she heard the news.
She underwent a mastectomy and six months of chemotherapy. Her husband, musician Dallas Holm, said in an interview: “Sometimes in our valley and in our sorrow, we believe if we just knew what God was doing, that would settle it. I’m not sure that would make any difference. Faith is when you don’t know. When it doesn’t make sense. When you can’t understand. But you trust in God.” (“Faith and Prayer in Life’s Toughest Times,” Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, 7-21-02, pp. 14-16; www. PreachingToday.com)
As Christians we must trust God even when miracles don’t happen. By faith, we can abound in triumph, to be sure. But also, by faith, we can abide in trials, and here is the reason we remain faithful to God.
BY FAITH, BE APPROVED BY GOD.
Be commended. Being well-spoken of by others is a reward but the greatest reward is being commended by God and receiving heavens joy and rewards.
Hebrews 11:39-40 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.
In their lifetimes, they did not experience all that God promised. They did not experience the Kingdom of God in its fullness and they were commended as verse 39 says. That is to say, those who knew them spoke well of them, and they were esteemed. Now we read about them in the “hall of faith” of Hebrews 11. Whether they lived or died, whether they experienced triumph or trouble, they are listed as people of faith, who God took pleasure in and rewarded their faith.
In the book What God Thinks When We Fail, Steven C. Roy tells a fictional story about a young violinist who lived in London. Although he was a superb musician, he was deathly afraid of large crowds, so he avoided giving concerts. But after enduring criticism for his unwillingness to give concerts, he finally agreed to perform in the largest concert hall in London.
The young violinist came onto the stage and sat alone on a stool. He put his violin under his chin and played for an hour and a half. No music in front of him, no orchestra behind him, no breaks—just an hour and a half of absolutely beautiful violin music. After ten minutes or so, many critics put down their pads and listened, like the rest …. After the performance, the crowd rose to its feet and began applauding wildly—and they wouldn’t stop.
But the young violinist didn’t acknowledge the applause. He just peered out into the audience as if he were looking for something—or someone. Finally, he found what he was looking for. Relief came over his face, and he began to acknowledge the cheers.
After the concert, the critics met the young violinist backstage …. They said, “You were wonderful. But one question: Why did it take you so long to acknowledge the applause of the audience?”
The young violinist took a deep breath and answered, “You know I was really afraid of playing here. Yet this was something I knew I needed to do. Tonight, just before I came on stage, I received word that my master teacher was to be in the audience. Throughout the concert, I tried to look for him, but I could never find him. So after I finished playing, I started to look more intently. I was so eager to find my teacher that I couldn’t even hear the applause. I just had to know what he thought of my playing. That was all that mattered. Finally, I found him high in the balcony. He was standing and applauding, with a big smile on his face. After seeing him, I was finally able to relax. I said to myself, ‘If the master is pleased with what I have done, then everything else is okay.’” (Steven C. Roy, What God Thinks When We Fail, IVP Books, 2011, pp. 11-12; www.PreachingToday.com)
To come to the end, it doesn’t really matter what others think. It only matters what the Master thinks, and the Bible says God is pleased by our faith (Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”) Whether we succeed or suffer, God rewards and acknowledges us when we depend on Him.
Hebrews chapter 11 is a message to the severely persecuted Christians of the first century. And it’s a message for us to be Christians who are known by our faith in God, whether we succeed or fail, we live for God’s praise not anything else in this life, Happy forever after is the best path to success!