Let's please open our Bibles and we will go today to the last portion of the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and we hope that today we'll be able to finalize the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. It's so nice, you know, to read this book that is written to Jewish people, Hebrews who have accepted the Messiah and they have been going through a difficult time. I'm sure that they have been suffering, persecuted, rejected by their family members, perhaps like we too, and I'm sure that they have been paying a greater price that we can ever imagine. We too are so thankful here today. We live in a country that we have liberties, we have many privileges, but these early Jewish believers, they have gone through difficult days when they had to be separated from their families, when they had to be despised and rejected, when they had to be also wondering what should we do?

Should we go back to the temple sacrifices or should we follow after Yeshua? Of course, they knew that Yeshua was the Messiah, but they have been in the danger of going back to that which had been finalized when the Messiah has come. And I'm using this word finalized is because all the temple sacrifices and the system that had been given to Israel, our people of old, had been pointing to the coming of the Mashiach. When the Mashiach have come, when the Messiah has come, he fulfilled, he became the Lamb of God, which took away the sin of the world. And therefore there is no more need for sacrifices.

There is no more need for all those rituals which pointed to him. Because when we have Mashiach, Messiah, Yeshua, Christ, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, we have everything. And we don't need to be occupied with rituals, but we are to be occupied with the person of the Messiah. So here, look now, Hebrews 11 is a chapter that deals with faith. And I said it before and I said again, he is quoting only Hebrew people from the past. Only Old Testament saints, I should say. There were some who were not Hebrews there. He doesn't quote the writer, any New Testament saints, but he's bringing to light the people of faith, which were living for God before the Messiah have come.

And so right now, beloved brothers and sisters, we are in Hebrews 11 and we are in the last 11 verses of this chapter, beginning from verse 30 all the way to verse 40. Hebrews 11 verses 30 to 40. And now we continue now. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about for seven days. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Shimshon, Yiftach, David, Shmuel, and of the prophets. What shall I say more? He's saying in this verse 32. And he's telling them of those men of God in the past, Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephtach and David and Samuel and of all the prophets.

And he continues in verse 33 and he's saying who through faith subdued kingdoms, brought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quench the violence of fire, escape the edge of the sword. Out of weakness, they were made strong, waxed violent in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Verse 36. And others had trial and of cruel mockings and scourging, yet moreover of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sown as sunday. They were tested. They were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskin and goatskin, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.

And listen to this expression in verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. Why? Verse 40. God, having provided some better things for us, that they, without us, should not be made perfect, or mature, or fully developed. And I'll stop here with the reading. Very interesting last expressions or last verses of Hebrews chapter 11. You see, the writer here is now building upon what he had already begun. He began, if you remember, when he is encouraging the Hebrew believers of first century to continue trusting the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, in spite of the fact that they were rejected, in spite of the fact that they were puzzled because of the existence of the temple then.

He was encouraging them. He was encouraging them and he was telling them that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things which are not seen. And he's building here in this chapter, beginning with Abel, and he's building upon the history of the men and women of faith of the Old Testament time. And as he's sharing with them, he's bringing to light the kind of people that these people have been. And you remember, he just take a little portion of the history of these people, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and all the others that we have spoken about. We're talking about Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses that we have already have been speaking about.

All of these men and women have been people of God who had faith in God. They have gone against the world that told them there is no God. They have gone against the streams that came against them who said, don't live for God. And they trusted God without to see, with simply believing what God said in his word. That's what faith is all about. That's what faith is. It's not that we have faith in faith, but faith in a person, in the living God who sent the Messiah, Yeshua, to this world for us. And now in those verses in which we just read today, verses 30 to 40, there are two things that we want to belabor a little bit today.

First of all, we can see that in verses 30 and 31 with Joshua and with Rahab, we see that faith thus ultimately wins. Even though faith does not seem like winning at the beginning or during the time when a person is still trusting while he doesn't see certain things. Yet we learn from these two individuals by the name of Joshua and Rahab that faith always wins the battle. Faith in God always wins, even though seemingly it doesn't seem to be seen to the natural eye. Faith always seems to win because it is faith in God's word. Look what we read here in the first verse, verse 30. It says here, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days.

We, by the way, just read in the scriptures in the sixth chapter of Joshua how that the walls of Jericho was falling down. How is it possible? You see, Jericho was one of the first city that our people Israel have entered in when they entered into the land. Can you imagine? You are coming out from Egypt. You have been a slave for 430 years. You are walking in a wilderness for 40 years. All the generation dies and the new generation is coming in and he's going into the new generation going into the promised land. The first thing they are facing is a huge walled city. The natural man will say it is not possible.

In fact, beloved, if you remember, when before the spies were sent, the two spies, there were twelve spies who went into the promised land. Already we read it in the book of Numbers. And ten of them said, no, we are not able to get into this land. We are not able to take it. There are giants there. There are great walls there. We are not able to get in and to take it over. We are unable to do that. And you know, isn't it true in the life of every one of us? There are certain things that we say to the Lord, Lord, I'm not able to carry this through.

I'm just not strong enough, Lord. There's so many big obstacles before me and I'm not able, too many rejections, too many things to stumble the believer. And he says, I'm not able. And the Lord is cheering us up. You see, out of the twelve spies of Numbers 13, two of them brought a good report. And when they brought a good report, the two that brought a good report, Joshua and Caleb, those are the only two from the older generation that enter into the land. And you know what the report that they say? They didn't trust themselves. They said, God is able. We are able to do it with the strength of the Lord.

Not I, not we, not us. But God is able to empower us to be able to take over the promised land. And so here we see now, Joshua, who was, by the way, a young servant that served Moses years before. Now he become the captain. You see, it took years of walking with the Lord to become a leader later on. And he was learning from the servant of the Lord, Moshe, Moses, which we have dealt with him in the past. And now Joshua become the leader. And you know how precious when you think of Joshua, the verses in Joshua that brother Thomas have read to us.

I just want to read just one verse there. Once again, Joshua chapter six. And look what it says there about Joshua. Joshua. It says about Joshua something very simple and yet very profound in Joshua chapter six. It says here, when God told Joshua, the Lord said to Joshua in verse two, the Lord said unto Joshua, Joshua, see, I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty man of Valor. And he shall come past the city, all ye men of war and go around about the city once. And you shall do this way six days in a row. And then he says, and the seventh day, he says, you will go throughout it seven times.

It says in verse four, and then you are going to take the city over. Now, what is God going to tell you today, dear brother or sister? God going to tell you to walk around a city seven times, seven days and seven times on the last day. And you will be able to take the city over. You and I might say, what is it God expecting for me to do? I mean, what is it walking around and walking around every day, one day, every six day. And on the seventh day, seven times blowing the trumpet. It sounds like an unimaginable request. What you blow the trumpet.

You know, give me a sword. Give me a gun. Give me a bomb. Give me an airplane. Give me to do something. But God is telling, no, Joshua, I am going to win the battle for you. Let's make a parallel for a moment in our lives as believers. Sometimes we want to win a battle in our own energy, in our own flesh. We try to win a battle. We try to do something for God and we do it in energy of the flesh. And we find ourselves being defeated at the end. Why? Because we sought to do it in energy of the flesh. And God teaches us many times.

It's not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. It is he who give us to win a spiritual battles. Just like there he gave Joshua to win that battle against the city of Jericho. And so listen to this. Joshua simply obeyed the Lord. What he does, Joshua, in our chapter 6. Joshua, the son of Nun, verse 6. He called the priest. He said unto them, take the ark of the covenant. Take seven priests. Bear seven trumpets. And go ahead and walk around the city. Simple obedience. Simple obedience. You know, by the way, how sin came into the world? By disobedience. By disobedience.

That's how sin came in. Don't eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said to Adam, Adam ate of it and he failed. And he sinned. And he plunged the human race into sin. That's how sin came into this world. Disobedience. And we have to say that many times in our lives, we are disobedient. We don't obey. We don't obey our parents. We don't obey the law. We don't obey God. The natural man has an inclination to disobey. We've never been taught to disobey. We disobey by nature. Obedience bring blessings and bring results. And one verse, in fact, even we read, we don't read even the name of Joshua here in the Hebrews 11.

But we know that he led the campaign against the city of Jericho. And so we read about Joshua or about the fall of Jericho, that he fell by faith. It says in verse 30, and I'm back to Hebrews 11, 30. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell. What? Whose faith? Joshua's faith. The nation's faith. They simply believed what God said, and the walls of Jericho fell down. You know, the walls of Jericho represent human power, human strength. You never win against human strength with another human. Flesh does not win with another flesh. It has to be done with faith in God. If we have many walls that are lifted up before us in spiritually speaking, in our life, many challenges that we are facing with, many walls of experiences, many walls of challenges, many walls of sufferings and trials.

The only way to go through those walls, and the only way for those walls to fall down, is simply by faith in the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. That's what he's saying to us as he's writing to those Hebrews in verse 30. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed for seven days. And now he's moving now. Not only he's speaking about Joshua. Joshua was a man of God. But here we see something very interesting. We find in verse 31 of a woman that was not a Hebrew. She was not Jewish. She was from the city of Jericho. And it says in verse 31, her name was Rahab, Rahab, you call it in English.

And Rahab actually was a prostitute. She was a woman that was despised by the authority, that was rejected by the system then. They were only using that woman for sexual relationships. She was a prostitute. And it says here that she, by faith, the harlot, it says here the harlot Rahab, she did not perish with them that did not believe when she had received the spies in peace. Here we see a woman. By the way, yesterday in our Bible class, we talked about the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. The Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, she lived with a man that was not hers. And she was married already for five husbands.

And the Lord met her. The Lord came to win her to himself. He wanted to correct her. He wanted to be saved. You see, the Lord, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, didn't come only for those that are high and mighty. He came to seek and to save those which were lost. Us. We were sinners. We deserve to be separated from God. And he came for us. And he came to Rahab as well. And you remember the story about Rahab. When the two spies came to the land to spy the land. It says about Rahab that she lodged him. Maybe she thought they were coming for some kind of physical relationship.

But no, far was the thought. They didn't come for that. They came to spy the land, to see the land, to see the city. And they came to prepare things for the destruction of the city of Jericho. And you know what we read about Rahab. It says, she said unto the man, I know that the Lord had given unto 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. That's what she said. See, Rahab heard. You know, listen, brothers and sisters.

Faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. Nobody need to twist your arm. Nobody need to twist our arm. Nobody need to give us all kind of things. We hear the message of the Gospel. We hear the message about the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who died for us. Who paid a penalty for our sins. And we need to accept it and believe it. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. And Rahab heard. She heard about the God of Israel. She heard about what Israel have done to the nations as they were traveling in their wilderness journey. She heard and she wanted to accept the God of Israel.

And she took the spies. She hid them there. She said to those who sought to come to kill them that they have gone in another way. And she let them down by the walls. And let them go back to their own people. And the spies made a promise to her. Etc. Because you have done so. You are going to be preserved by the Lord. And you will not perish with the rest of the nation. And so we read here. In verse 31. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with them that did not believe. You notice that again. The word faith. And the word believe is mentioned so many times in this chapter.

It's the chapter of faith. Simply people like the hall of Rahab. She didn't do much. She simply believed what God said. And what God have done. And so through her faith. She have committed herself to the God of Israel. And by the way. When you read in the genealogy. Of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. In Matthew chapter 1. Guess who is in that genealogy. We find out that she as well. Is found in the genealogy of the birth of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And so precious to see. There's two individuals here by the name of Joshua and Rahab. While Joshua's name is not mentioned here.

But we know that it is through the faith that he had. And Israel had. That they have won against the city of Jericho. So these two individuals are being brought to the highlight. As the writer is writing to those first century Jewish believers in the Messiah. So now after reading verses 30 and 31. Now I want you to go down with me. And to notice that from verse 32. All the way to verse 40. We have the heroes of faith mentioned. Some at least some of them. But first of all in verse 33. We have some name mentioned. I do not know why the Spirit of God chosen to mention those men.

But God knows why. And you know he's giving us a list in verse 32. And he says listen. What shall I say more? The writer is saying. I said so much already about all these men and women. That are part of the nation of Israel. Part of the Hebrew nation. The vast majority of them if not all. And he says now what shall I say more? He's telling him look Hebrews. What I'm going to tell you more. I can tell you. I can give you a list of individuals who are people of faith. Just like you. I can give you a list of them. But just he's saying.

He says what can I say more? For the time would fail me to tell you of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Yiftach, David, Samuel and the prophets. When we think about those names. Let me just tell you. Gideon, for example. In Hebrew, his name is Gidon. It's come from the Hebrew word Gadah. A cutter down. But Gideon did not start as a great man of faith. In fact, Gideon was a farmer that was afraid in the beginning. I can tell you more. I can tell you more about the Barak. And about Samson. And Yiftach. And David. And Samuel. And the prophets. I could tell you so much more.

When we think about those names. When we think about those names. Let me just tell you. Gideon, for example. In Hebrew, his name is Gidon. It's come from the Hebrew word Gadah. A cutter down. But Gideon did not start as a great man of faith. In fact, Gideon was a farmer that was afraid in the beginning. And he was hiding from the Midianites. But God raised him up. He wanted to do something for God and for the people. But he was afraid. Don't we feel afraid sometimes? I do. If you say that you don't, you are not saying the truth. We have sometimes fear. What's going to happen?

What about this? What about that? What about our children? What about our family? What about my job? What about my position? What about this? And you know, sometimes, instead of trusting God, we turn around and we're doing things with our own ingenuity. See, we are very good at it. We are like Jacob. We have our own plans. And our own agendas. And God tells us, listen. I understand that you might be like Gideon, afraid. You are afraid sometimes. But he lifted him up. And he told him, you go in this, your strength. We find it in Judges 6 and 7 and so on. How Gideon, by the strength of the Lord, moved forward and trusted God.

And speaking about Barak. You remember Barak? Barak needed a woman, a sister, to encourage him. He, in the beginning, didn't want to go to fight the battle. And Deborah, Dvorah, you remember Dvorah was a mother in Israel. Oh, how we need those mothers in Israel. How we need those mothers in our assemblies, in our fellowship. A godly women who love the Lord and give good counsel. They don't usurp authority. They don't take their place that does not belong to them. But they are godly sisters who give a good example and caring for the people of God and encouraging the leading believers. And they are helping them, supporting them, praying for them.

That's what happened with Deborah. Barak, he says, you know, you go. She says, you know, if I'm going to go, the woman is going to win that battle. And eventually Barak went and he won the battle. And so Barak, we find him in Judges 4 and Judges 5. And we read about the story of Barak. He needed Deborah's assurance and encouragement, which he received. And then he continued and said, what about Samson? You would think about Samson. You know, Samson, by the way, was the Nazarite. When he was born, we read of him in chapter 13 of Judges and 14. When he was born, even before he was born, God spoke to his parents.

And he told them that this child that will be born going to be a Nazarite. He will not touch alcoholic beverages. He will have his hair grow long. Not a symbolic of rebellion, but the symbolic of being a Nazarite. He will not touch a dead person, will not identify with sin. He will be separated unto me. But when you look at Samson. And you remember the story of his life. When he was born, they call him Sunny Boy. Shimshon, little son. And Shimshon ended up falling. He went after women. And he went away and he got astray. And he ended up losing his power. When Delilah held him at her knees.

And he ended up his hair to be cut off. And he lost the power that he had. And that is exactly what happened to Samson. But you know, beloved, at the end of his life. Samson, that was such a powerful man when he was right with God. And then he became weak and empty and unable to do any more things for God. When he lost his power because he separated his relationship with the Lord. He disobeyed him. And he sinned. And at the end of his life, you can see this man. Who was one could split the mouth of a lion. He's blind because they took his eyes off.

And he's chained to metal chains. And all the Philistines looking at him and mocking him as they brought him to the front there to have him play for them. And at the end of his life, he turned to God. And he says, God, I want you to help me now. He turned to God. He had faith. And you know what we read in the Bible, the book of Judges, Judges 13, 14, and actually Judges 16, that Samson killed in his death more of the enemies of Israel than he killed in his own life. And you remember God gave him that strength. And he pushed those pillars. And the whole household fell down upon the Philistines.

And Samson won the battle for Israel in his death. He won more than in his life. He said, She, in plishtim, he said, may my soul die with the Philistines. And he died. But we read here that God is mentioning Samson in the book of Hebrews. What can I tell you? He says more of Samson. He said about this man that even though he had strength in the beginning and he fell and he got astray. When he was restored, God had given him the restoration and blessed him and actually allow him to win more than what he had won in his life. And that teaches us a very important lesson.

That when we go astray and we lose spiritual power, spiritual energy, there is always room for restoration. God is in the business of restoring his people. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We read in the epistle of John, 1 John chapter 1. And so Samson is an example of a man of faith that failed from where he should have been and had been brought back by the Lord when he confessed. And so he continued and he's speaking about Yiftach, by the way, in verse 32 as well. And you know the story of Yiftach, which is found in Judges 11 and 12.

Yiftach was the kind of a man who dedicated his daughter. You remember he dedicated his daughter to the Lord. And I know there is a lot of conflict about this passage, whether he sacrificed her or not. But he says the first one that is going to come out of the tent to meet me at my return. He said to the Lord, I'm going to give it for you. And you remember it was his own daughter who came out to meet him when he returned from winning the battle. And he dedicated. He was a man of faith that he was willing to dedicate his daughter to God.

Now, some suggest that he actually did not sacrifice her because they could not have any human sacrifices. But he, I'm sure, dedicated her to live alone, separated in her life for the God of Israel. And then he continued, by the way, and he mentioned David. David! Do you remember David? David, 1 Samuel, chapter 16, he was anointed by Samuel. He was the youngest of the family. He must have been the kind of a boy that he took care of a sheep on the field. When he was in the field alone, he took care of the lambs and the flock of his family. He was a real shepherd.

And when he became a king, he shepherded Israel. And David also failed. He sinned. And David also needed to be disciplined by the Lord. But David was a man after God's own heart. A man that loved God and wanted to please God. The king of Israel. And even the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is called in the Bible, Ben David. Ben David. Mashiach Ben David. Messiah, son of David. David was also a man of faith. And then he also mentioned Samuel. And the story of Samuel, of course, is found in Samuel chapter 3 specifically. You remember Samuel when he was a young boy. And he was serving in the temple with Eli, the priest.

And God called Samuel when he was a young man. And he said, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel hearkened to the voice of the Lord. And he served him. He served God among the people of Israel. When Israel disobeyed, he fell on his face and he wept before the Lord. When Israel gone astray, he fell. He was concerned with for the nation. He was a man of faith. A man that loved God and loved the people of Israel. And you remember about Samuel. It was Samuel that had the privilege to anoint the first two kings of Israel. The first king is Saul. The second king is David.

Saul was a man that was chosen by the nation of Israel. And David was a man that was chosen by God. And Samuel's name is mentioned here. So profound, so beautiful, beloved brothers and sisters. And remember again, in context, the writer writing to Jewish believers. And they needed assurance of others that have gone against the grain. And they needed an encouragement. They followed the Messiah. They believed in the Messiah. But they needed an encouragement to continue on. Look at the faith of all those people from Abel all the way to Samuel. One by one, he's mentioning to them. And then he's telling them now, in verses 33 to 38, something very interesting.

And I think we live in a time that people tell us that if you have faith, you should never be sick. You should never have pain. You should never suffer. You should have a good bank account. You should have a big car. You should have a big house if you have faith. And if you don't have what you should have, you must have no faith. Well, in the next verses, we learn of two groups of people who lived by faith. And yet there's two types, if you will. There are two results that came about with their faith in God. Some had a result that was victory, deliverance, and power.

Some had results that was suffering, mocking, and seemingly defeat. Two groups or two results that come from faith. Look, and let me read that quickly. In that verse, 33 to 38, and I'll divide it for you as well. 33, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed violent in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. And then pause here for a moment. All these verses, these are ninefold victories and deliverance, were a result of faith in God.

They were victories. Notice what he says here. Through faith, they subdued kingdoms. Through faith, they brought about righteousness. Through faith, they obtained the promises of God. They believed and they received it. Through faith, they stopped the mouth of lions. Remind us of Daniel. Through faith, verse 34, they quenched the violence of fire. The fire. Remind us of the three young men, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. We have it in Daniel chapter 3. That the fire did not consume them because they believed God. He continued, they escaped the edge of the sword. Out of the weakness, they were made strong. And they waxed violent in flight. And they turned to flight the armies of the enemies of the aliens.

And even women. Received their dead, raised to life again. You read it in the book of Kings. Of some of the miracles that happened where the boys and the children, they were dead. And how the Lord raised them to life. Simply believed God. And God gave them victories. God gave them the ability to quench the violence of fire. To escape the end of the sword. Simply because they trust him. And they received the help from the Lord. Now all these sound fine. You see, when we think about faith, that's what we think about. If we believe the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, God will help us.

And we'll be able to be victorious. We'll be able to be the ones that have power. They have deliverance. They have victory. And everything is going to be great. And you see, the first result is great. We like this result. But look at the second result. From verse 35b. The same group of people, through faith. It says, others were tortured. And then, not accepting deliverance. That they might obtain a better resurrection. Verse 36. And others had trial. Of cruel mockings. And scourgings. Yet moreover of bonds and imprisonments. Verse 37. They were stoned. They were sown asunder. You know, Jewish history says that Isaiah the prophet was sown asunder in half.

They were tempted. They were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskin. Being destitute. Afflicted. And tormented. If you will ask me, beloved brothers and sisters. What would you rather choose? What would you rather like to see happening in your life as a believer? Naturally speaking, we are all going to choose the first nine-fold deliverance and victory and power that is seen in a life and a result in the life of these people. But the other result seems to be as if God is not helping these people. As if God does not care and does not understand these people. And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, what he is trying to communicate with those Hebrews of that time and with us as well today.

That it does not mean that if we have faith in God, that our problem is going to be over. It does not mean that we will not suffer and that we will not have difficulties here in this world. Faith in God is faith in the person of God and the trust in him even when things are not going our ways. Even if there is results that we don't like. That's what faith is all about. And that's why look at these people. When you think about that. Men of God and women of God. Who loved God and served God. And yet look what it says. That it says in verse 35b.

They were tortured. They didn't accept deliverance. It says that they didn't want it because they wanted to obtain a better resurrection. Which means that they wanted, they accepted things from the Lord in submissiveness to him. And they knew that if God takes away their lives, they are going to be resurrected. They look beyond the human nature, the human eyes. They look beyond what you and I see by nature. They look at God and his promises. Verse 36. They had trials. Do you have trials in your life? We have sometimes trials in our lives that we don't like to experience. But sometimes trials are part of the life of the believer.

Look at Abraham our father. When Abraham was told by the Lord to offer his son. His only begotten son Yitzchak on Mount Moriah. And he trusted God. And he went and he offered Isaac his son. It says others were mocked. They laughed at them. They were joking and making them a laughing stock. And we can see that in the Psalms. How the prophets and the Psalm is often writing about. I'm being rejected of my people. I'm being mocked by others. Today, maybe you're going to go to your work or your job or your school. And you are believing in Yeshua the Messiah. And you're going to tell your friends that you believe in the Lord.

And how people will mock you at the office. They will mock you at the job. They will mock you at the school. And they're going to say, what do you believe in this nonsense? You see, we believe in evolution. We don't believe in God. We don't need God in our life. We believe in this way. We have this way. And you have to stand for the Lord and say, no. I believe that Yeshua is the Messiah. I'm a sinner. And he died for my sins. And I believe that what he said in his word is true. And you're going to be laughed at and mocked at.

You see, they were mocked. They were mocked by people. And, you know, we can just build up upon those verses. They had tried. They were mocked. And they were scourgings. They were beating them. You know, we hear of many believers today who suffered in many countries. They don't have liberties that you and I have. And they suffer. And they have been mocked. They have been scourged. And the pain that they had to bear. Because of their faith in the Messiah. And here, of course, he's going prior to the coming of the Messiah. Of the Hebrew of the past who have experienced this. And still trusted God.

Then he continued. Others, he says, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They put them in jail. And they locked them and imprisoned them. Why they imprisoned them? Because they say that they believe in God. Why they imprisoned them? Because they said that there is only one God. And today, in the last 2,000 years of believers in Yeshua the Messiah, they say, the only way to God is through the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And many Christians, many believers in the Messiah, end up to be imprisoned. And in bond because of their faith. And you and I, of course, thank God for the country in which we live in.

And for the liberty that we have. We can gather together and meet and read the Bible and sing about the Messiah. But can you imagine if you would have been in the past, let's say, in the former Soviet Union? Where Christians could not meet together? When they had to hide in certain places? What about Muslim countries? When you can't express yourself publicly that you are a child of God, you have to go to the underground. You have to be underneath. You have to take a pieces of the Bible and you will hide them someplace that you can just read some of the verses from the Word of God.

And how different we are. We have no time to read the Bible. We have time for everything else, but no time to read the Bible. We are too busy. That's the way we are, you see. And that's what happens. But if we will not have these privileges, if we take it away from us, we will find how much we will long for the Word of God to come to our life. And notice the next thing that it says here. After talking about imprisonment, they were stoned. You know, when I think about stoning, I think, of course, of the first Hebrew believer who was the martyr in Jerusalem, Stephen, who was stoned.

And he ended up giving his life. He looked up to heaven and he saw the face of the Lord Jesus. And he says, "Receive me to your place. Receive me to yourself, Yeshua." And when he looked, and the Lord Jesus, if it were, were ready to accept him. Stephen, what did he do? He only told his brethren that Yeshua is the Messiah. And the history of our failure as a nation and our disobedience. And he was stoned for that. Now again, the stoning here that he's speaking about is not about New Testament individuals. He's taking them back to the history of Israel. And there were those who were stoned because of their faith in the God of Israel.

Think about Jeremiah, where they put him in a pit because he trusted God. Think about Joseph, that his brethren sold him and put him in a pit and sold him to Egypt because he was speaking for God. Think about that. How sad. And yet, by faith, they move on. And then he's talking about those that were stoned. They were sown asunder. They were tempted, tested. They were slain with the sword. And then he said, look, they wandered about in sheepskin and in goatskin. Verse 37. You know, I think of David, by the way, that fled from his own son. I think of David, that fled from his own king, Saul, who sought to slay him, hiding in caves, in the cave of Adullam that we read it in the book of Samuel.

The king of Israel, who was supposed to be ruling over the nation, fleeing from his own son. How sad. And yet God have allowed him to experience this in his own life, wandering around, wearing, as it says here, sheepskin and goatskin, being destitute, being afflicted, and being tormented. You know, destitute, as far as I understand from the scripture, is having nothing. Now, if we are told that if you only have faith in God, you should be having no problems in your life. And you should be wealthy and rich and powerful and have everything in the world. Then we have a problem with these verses here.

We have a conflict with these verses. These verses in Hebrews 11 teaches us simply this. That the people of faith may be falling on one side or the other or even both. There will be more than one result in the life of a believer. There may be victory. There may be deliverance and power. Or there may be suffering. There may be mockings and seemingly defeat. And I'm using the word seemingly defeat. Because when we trust God and we follow the Lord and obey him and have faith in him, we are always going to be the victor. Even if they are seemingly defeat. And that's what we learn here from this chapter.

And so look at the conclusion at the end of the last two verses. Here we have the climax of this chapter. We read about God's provision for the people of faith. God had a promise. And he's going to keep it. I tell you. He said it in his word. All the promises are yea and amen in Yeshua the Messiah. It says in verse 39. It says in verse 39. All these. That means all the one that I told you about. They have obtained a good report. In other words. They were good testimony through faith. They were not perfect. But they had a good testimony. That they had a relationship with God.

And they have gone a stray time. But they came back. They had a good report. Through faith. But then it says. They receive not the promise. See all these individuals here. They gave us in the list. Hebrew individuals. Really actually. They are almost entirely. They are part of the nation of Israel. But they did not yet receive. The promise of God. What was the promise of God for Israel? The messianic kingdom. The Messiah to reign. They to reign with him. And the peace shalom upon the face of this earth. And that Israel is not the tail. But Israel is the head. Already in the book of Deuteronomy.

Before we read about the second half of the scriptures. The Old Testament passage. We read of God promise to the nation of Israel. That he will bring about a time. Of a messianic kingdom. That Israel as a nation. Will be not the tail anymore. But the head. And that he will bless them as a nation. But you see. They didn't receive yet that promise. They all died. They all have been. Of course as believers. They are in a place of blessing. They are waiting. For this to come to pass. And then he tells you the last verse. Why? He tells you that God. In the last verse 40.

God having provided some better thing for us. The us here. It's those Hebrew believers. Who have already believed in the Messiah. And all believers in the present day church age. He provided better things for us. And then continue. Look at the second half of this verse. That they. These are those Hebrew from the past history. Without us. These are the Hebrew believers of present day. And the rest of the believers in the church. Should not be made perfect. Without being together. See what he's saying. They are waiting for the time. That they. Together with us. Will become to full maturity. Full development. At the future day.

Together. When the time will come. And the Messiah himself. Will take his rightful place. In this world. And you see. The verse that is found. In Revelation chapter 5. And I'm going to close with this. It says in Revelation 5. In verse 9. And 10. There we see a scene in glory. We see Yeshua the Messiah in heaven. And there we read. And they sang a new song. Saying. You are worthy. To take the book. And to open the seals thereof. For you were slain. And you have redeemed us. To God. By thy blood. Out of every kindred. And tongues. And people. And nation. And you have made us.

Unto God. Kings. And priests. And we shall reign. On the earth. Or over the earth. You see that? This verse in Revelation. Is really fit very much together. With Hebrews 11. 13. 9. And 40. With the fact. That God. Has a plan in mind. And a purpose in mind. That even. If here. In this world. Here and now. We don't get. All what. We would like to see. There is a purpose in God. Plan for you and I. For all the believers. One day. He's going. To. Bring it to pass. Everyone. That trusted him. Will receive. The blessing. That he has. For them. Faith. Look. To God's. Approval. Not to men.

Approval. Faith. Looks. To the future. And faith. Is. Looking. For the reward. That is coming. From God. And not. From men. That's beloved. What he's saying. To the Hebrew. Believers. Of first century. And that's what he's saying. For us. Today. May the Lord. Help us. To simply. Trust the Lord. And simply. Continue. To follow him. Even. When time. Are not always easy. Even when difficult times. Will come. Can we say amen. To that. Amen.