You Are a Saint Triumphant

Hebrews 11:32-40

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sought in too. They were killed by the sword. They went around in sheepskin and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised since God had planned something better for us, so that only together with us would they be made perfect. The word of the Lord. – Thanks be to God. – And you may be seated. (audience chuckles) So how did you feel as you heard the words of the text read? I’ll tell you the way I feel when I hit this section of the Bible. Almost every time when I read this section of the Bible, I think to myself, man, I am so weak in comparison to those people. I mean, it talks about how some of them quench the flames. It’s probably a reference to the three men in the fiery furnace. We don’t have any other Bible reference that would make sense for it. And I think about myself, and I think, if I knew that refusing to bow down to an idol meant that I would be tossed into a fiery furnace, would I have been willing to stand up the way they did? I hope I would have, I pray I would have, but I also have my wonderings. You too? Talked about how some of them closed the mouths of lions. Again, the only reference we have that would make sense is Daniel, who went into the lions’ den. And you remember what the story was. The story was that the king, Cyrus, had given a decree that if anyone bowed down to anyone except for to him during the next month, that they would be thrown into a den of lions. And what does Daniel do? He goes home just as he has done before. He opens up his windows wide towards Jerusalem just as he had done before. And he got down on his knees and prayed just as he had done before, publicly, said everyone could see it. Would I have had the guts to do that if I knew that it would mean being tossed into a lion’s den? I hope I would have, I pray I would have. But I have my wonderings. And then it piles up that some of them face torture and persecution, and they refuse to be released because they were looking forward to a better heaven. I just think, man, those guys are so much better than I was and that I am. Oh, but then I read the rest of the list. People like Barak. Remember Barak? Barak was the judge who was very less than confident. And he was the leader of the army, and Deborah, the judge at the time, told him to go off and fight. And Barak said, “Oh man, I don’t think I can do that. Only if you go with me can I do it.” And Deborah rebuked him for his lack of confidence. He’s in that list. Jephthah, remember Jephthah? Jephthah was another one of the judges. He went off to war, and before he fought the battle, he made a vow to God that whatever the first thing is that comes, if you give me the victory, whatever the first thing is that comes walking out of my compound when I get home, I’ll sacrifice that to you as a burnt offering. And the first thing that came walking out his door was his daughter. And the text is unclear as to whether he actually physically sacrificed her or if she was sacrificed in the sense that she would have a life of singlehood and virginity, the text is unclear. Regardless, it was a horrible vow. Well, and then there’s Samson listed in this list. Do you notice that? What the Bible tells us about Samson, almost all of it is awful. He’s sleeping with prostitutes, he’s messing around with people, he’s vengeful, angry. I think we would have a hard time keeping Samson on our membership list, right? Much less calling him to be our pastor or one of our elders, what? Samson’s on the list. Why in the world could Samson have a status of Saint triumphant? It isn’t because of how good Samson was. It’s because of what an incredible Savior Samson had and has. Why can God call you and me a Saint triumphant? It’s not because of how good or great or outstanding in our faith we are. But it’s because of what a wonderful Savior we have, Jesus, who not only died in our place but also lived in our place so that the perfection that Jesus earned in one is now credited to your account and mind said in the eyes of God we look right now as if we’re wearing those wonderful white robes that the Saint’s triumphant in heaven are pictured as wearing. That’s, by the way, one of the reasons why you asked the pastor to wear a robe. It’s because it’s meant to be a reminder for us that we are robed with Jesus. It was given to us in our baptism. It’s refreshed to us every time we hear the words of God. It’s promised to us to be ours forever and ever in glory. And it’s a reminder for us of those wonderful truths when you see myself or some of our other worship leaders wearing the white robes. Why would God give us a list like what he does here in Hebrews 11? Why list these things out? I think there’s probably three reasons. I think the first reason is to inspire us. Can you imagine? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that if they stood up, they were gonna go into the blazing furnace. And what did they do? They stood up. Daniel knew that if he kept praying publicly the way he had, that he was gonna be thrown into a lion’s den. And what did he do? He kept at it. He kept praying publicly just as he had done before. And yeah, those were great, amazing statements of faith and amazing circumstances, circumstances that you and I, thankfully, have not had to face. But those people were just sinful human beings saved by Jesus, just like you and just like me. Yes, if a situation like that was put in front of you and in front of me, yes, God can, and I pray would strengthen us that we would stand up, that we would keep the windows wide open. Because we’re sinners saved by Jesus, just like Daniel, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What an inspiration for us to continue to live our life of faith, amen? I think the second reason that God puts a listing like that in there is what we already talked about just a little bit before. And that’s the reality of why we are saints triumphant. Yes, some of those Old Testament heroes of faith were amazing, at least the parts of their lives that we know. We know precious little about Daniel’s life. We know precious little about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s life. Who knows what they were like on a normal Wednesday? But boy, a lot of those Old Testament heroes of faith had a lot of warts. Even King David, a man after God’s own heart. Two chapters in the Bible are dedicated to his affair with Bathsheba, his cover-up of that affair, his murder of Uriah the Hittite, his throwing it into the background; and this was a man after God’s own heart. Wow. You are a saint triumphant. Daniel was a saint, or David was a saint triumphant. Samson was a saint triumphant. Not because of how great they were, but because of how great Jesus is. And seeing a person like Samson and like David on that list of saints triumphant helps you and me to be reminded, yes, I am, and I will be forever a saint triumphant because my Jesus lived for me, my Jesus died for me, and my Jesus rose for me. And seeing this listing helps us to be reminded of the wonderful grace of God, amen? And I think there’s a third thing. Does it sound like the Old Testament believers had it easy? Not at all. Kind of sounds like some of them had it a whole lot rougher than we have it today. And I think God wants to remind us of those things for a couple of reasons. Number one, He wants to remind us that I am but a stranger here in heaven, is my home. That earth really is a desert drear, and heaven is my home. And what that does for us is it reminds us that the best for us is always yet to come. Always. I began the service today talking about the passage from Corinthians where it says that Christ is always leading us in triumphal procession. Why? It isn’t so much because of what’s happening here on this side of eternity, though that is part of it. Because on this side of eternity, Jesus’ word is being spread, people are believing it, living it out, sharing it with people around them. But the ultimate reason that we are always in triumphal procession is because of what the end of the story is. That the end of the story is being in glory with Jesus forever and ever and ever. The best for you and for me is always yet to come. And it will come. It will come on the day that God takes us home to be with Himself forever and ever and ever. But remembering that the best is yet to come helps us to be forward-thinking. And it helps us to be optimistic, no matter what the circumstances in life might be. Because we know that we have something far, far better which is yet to come. Earlier in Hebrews chapter 11, God made that point talking about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. How they were willing to leave behind, Abraham specifically, his country to go to a place that God said, I’ll show you when you get there, you just travel. And he was willing to leave his homeland and his peoples and everything he knew behind and go to that country. Why? Because ultimately, he knew he had a far better country to come. That he was remembering that there was a heaven out in front of him that he was going to get to someday, and my brothers and sisters, so will you. And so as you live your life, live with joy, live with confidence. No, don’t necessarily expect things to be easy. They may be hard, it’s all right. Because for you, the best is yet to come. You are a saint triumphant right now because the perfection of Jesus has been credited to your account right now. But someday, someday you will get to enjoy it fully and completely because when you are in heaven, all of the garbage of this earth will be gone. There’ll be no more wrestling with sin or any of the effects of sin, no more mourning or dying or pain, the effects of sin will be gone forever and ever. You will be with all those brothers and sisters like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Mary and Joseph, Rahab, Barak, Samson. And most importantly, you’ll be with Jesus himself. And you will thank God forever that he has made you to be a saint triumphant. Amen? And amen.