Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: He often calls his people to walk through trial. He always calls us to do so with faith, and he shows us again and again that he is powerful, and he is faithful to use these fearful circumstances to drive forward his saving agenda.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. Today we continue our series through the Book of Hebrews, and we're in a message called Enduring by Faith.

Guest (Male): Jonathan, I mean, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you know that that does not inoculate you from trials. We still struggle, we still suffer, we still face painful circumstances in life. How does faith, true effective faith help us to persevere?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, you're right to say that the Christian doesn't avoid trial, and the Bible never leads us to expect that trusting in God, knowing Jesus will mean that we are just inoculated against all the difficulties of life. Not at all.

One of the fascinating things about Hebrews 11 where we're spending time in the program at the moment, one of the fascinating things there is that the models of faith that are given to us from the Old Testament. These are all people who had to walk through trial, who had to walk through difficulty, who had to walk by faith and not by sight.

And what the Lord gives us is his word. He gives us his promises. He tells us of a great future that he set before us and that he has secured for us through the work of Jesus at the cross. But he calls us to look forward and take him at his word that he will fulfill his promises. And that's the essence of the Christian life. It's not easy, but God enables us day by day.

Guest (Male): So, do I hear you saying that true effective faith is one that is just going to cling to and believe the promises of scripture?

Jonathan Griffiths: That's exactly right. And the models that are given to us in Hebrews chapter 11 are of people who learned to do that. Faltingly, failing, not without not without some real bumps in the road. We see from these stories, there are real bumps in the road and some and some real failures too.

But we see stories of people who have learned to do that by the grace of God and that's what we're called to in our day as well.

Guest (Male): Well, let's open our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11. We're looking at verses 23 to 40 today as we continue this message, Enduring by Faith. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: God called Moses to walk through dangerous and fearful times and to lead the nation of Israel through those dangerous and fearful times. He was defying the greatest superpower and the greatest ruler on earth. He led the nation through plagues of judgment, the 10 plagues that God sent upon the land in which they lived.

And Moses was called to trust. He was called to wait. He was called to endure in faith. Of the 10 plagues, the greatest and the most terrifying was the plague of the death of the firstborn son in each household in the land. God told Moses how to instruct the people to escape the plague. Take a lamb without blemish and kill the lamb, put its blood on the doorposts of your house.

And when the angel of death sees the blood on the doorpost, the angel of death will pass over your house and spare your firstborn son. Trust God's promise both that there is a judgment coming and trust God's promise of protection if you respond in faith to his word.

And Moses led the people. He led them by faith through that plague and he led them into salvation. And of course, the Passover was a great picture, wasn't it? It was a great picture that pointed us forward to the greater salvation yet to come. Reinforcing that point of verse 26, that all of this of course anticipated Christ in a very real and substantial way.

Take seriously God's warning of a judgment to come, trust entirely in his provision for your salvation. Yeah, judgment is coming. A day of reckoning is coming, greater than the day of that plague. A day of reckoning when God will call the world to account for rebellion against him.

But there's a way of protection, a way of safety. Take cover in the blood of Christ, the blemish-free Lamb of God, the Lamb who died that you might live. By faith, Moses kept the Passover and he led the people to keep the Passover. And by the grace of God, Israel was spared.

It's so interesting that God chose to allow Moses and his family to go through such fearful times. In his sovereignty, God could have spared Moses and he could have spared his parents such fearful times. He could have preserved them from the horror of Pharaoh's awful decree.

He could have preserved their chosen leader from needing as an infant to be put in a basket in a crocodile-infested river in the hope that maybe his life would be spared. He could have prevented that ugly scene where Moses saw that Hebrew being beaten. He could have spared Moses the necessity of fleeing for his life.

He could have done something other than send that destroying angel to bring judgment upon the land. God's saving purposes, I guess, could have been achieved in some other way, but in his sovereignty and in his wisdom, God called Moses and his family to walk through all this, to endure these truly fearful times, and they were fearful times.

And he called them to walk through all that in faith. And to our surprise, it was as they walked in faith through all this, it was by means of all this that God actually chose to work out his saving purposes and his saving plans.

Of course, the experience of Moses was but a pale foreshadowing of what Jesus endured for us. Jesus endured the anger of the Romans, the hatred of the religious establishment. He faced an unjust trial, mocking, beating, abandonment, crucifixion, and he walked through all that in faith in his day as Hebrews goes on to remind us in chapter 12.

And the reason that Hebrews is reminding us of all this, his simple reason, remember, is so that we might walk in faith in our day. He wants us to run with endurance the race set out before us. Now that's Moses. But having focused on him, the writer broadens out now a bit to remind us of the experience of the whole Exodus generation who left Egypt and journeyed to the promised land.

And their experience confirms the same truth. God works salvation as his people live by faith in fearful times. Verse 29. By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land. But the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

One of our favorite walks in this region is the walk around Pink Lake in Gatineau Park. Some of you have done that. I know it's just lovely in the summer. But the park authority, they built a great trail with paths and boardwalks and handrails and viewing platforms to take you all the way around the lake in safety and in comfort while enjoying its beauty.

In the absence of a boat or a bridge, the best way to tackle a lake is to go around it rather than through it, at least under normal circumstances. God could have called the Israelites to travel another way than he did. He could have protected them from that pursuing Egyptian army by some other means.

But what he chose to do was this. He chose to send them through the middle of the sea on dry land, as he held back the water by the power of his might. It was the most awe-inspiring and potentially fear-inducing way of rescuing the Israelites.

But as he chose in his wisdom and his sovereignty, he sent them through the middle of the sea. And it was by that means, it was by that fearful and awe-inspiring means that he actually saved them from their enemies and actually led them to the promised land.

The situation of danger, it becomes the means of salvation within the providence of God. The place of threat, it becomes the place of fulfillment. Why did he do it? Well, I don't actually exactly know. It was for his glory, to be sure. But he called his people to trust him, and he led them to walk in faith.

After years of wandering, after the idolatrous generation of that day had actually died off, the day finally came to enter the land of promise and then to take the city of Jericho. It was a well-fortified city inhabited by strong people, giants according to a report from the spies. It was surrounded by this great wall.

It's hard to imagine what it would have felt like for the Israelites to approach that city with its strong defenses, knowing the power of the inhabitants within. Their military might, it was limited. By natural means they could not take that city. But God had promised, he's going to give it to them.

And he called them to approach those walls, to march around them seven times, to sound the trumpet and do nothing more. Sound the trumpet, wait for his salvation. At any moment the enemy within could have sprung upon them, could have rained down an attack from above.

But God brought the Israelites into that situation. He chose to do it that way. And he did so that his people might see his power, might know his provision and might return praise to him. And the dramatic outcome is summarized so simply for us in verse 30. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

God brought the Exodus generation, he brought them frankly into impossible situations, and in the midst of weakness and danger, he showed them that he would achieve his salvation purposes. He would fulfill his salvation promises, and he would do so not despite those circumstances, but in and through those very circumstances.

He showed that to a whole people. And he showed that to an individual Canaanite woman too, a prostitute named Rahab. Verse 31. By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

When Joshua sent two spies into the land to survey it, and to search it out and to bring a report, they went and they lodged were told at the home of Rahab. The king of Jericho heard that the spies were there. He heard a rumor that they were in Rahab's house and so he came to her in search of the spies.

But in an act of brave defiance, in faithful defiance, she decided not to give them up. She hid the spies. She put herself in a position of incredible risk for these two Israelites. And when God brought destruction upon Jericho, her household was spared. She had cast her lot in with the people of God, and she had entrusted herself to the God of Israel.

In a perilous situation, she had been given grace to walk by faith, to stand alone in her culture and her society, and simply to wait upon God for his salvation and his intervention. A fearful time, a perilous situation. God could have done it another way.

He could have called Rahab to himself by some other means, but he chose to do it this way through trial and danger. It was his chosen method. The story in itself, it's wonderful, but it takes on an added dimension of wonder when we read Jesus's genealogy in Matthew.

And we discover that Rahab the prostitute is featured in the family line of Jesus, the Messiah. God not only saved this prostitute and brought her into his family and called her to walk by faith in this truly fearful situation, and he not only used her to bring about his saving purposes for the nation of Israel as they entered the promised land, but he used all this to prepare the way for the promised Savior, his Son, the Messiah, who would come into the world and bring salvation to you and salvation to me.

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Guest (Male): Jonathan Griffiths with the message Enduring by Faith, one of the most listened to of the past year. We went back and we've taken the top 10, put them together in a series called Listener Favorites, which is airing currently on the radio. In addition to that, we put together a study guide to help you go a little bit deeper as you listen.

And you can access that for free at our website, encounterthetruth.org.

Guest (Male): Back to the message. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: After Rahab, the writer then indicates that he has many others for us. He could go on and on. Verse 32. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell. And then he mentions great figures of the Old Testament and of Jewish history beyond the Old Testament, probably as well.

He mentions Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, kings, prophets, individual believers of little account who in their day knew what it was to walk by faith in fearful times. Times of trial, times of danger, times of testing, but who saw God work through those times, through those trials, through those circumstances to achieve his saving purpose for his people.

People who put their hope, verse 35, in the resurrection to come, who became people, verse 38, and isn't this lovely, of whom the world was not worthy because they lived such distinctive lives of faith in their day. Time would fail us too to try and open up their stories, but but Hebrews doesn't actually seem to want to linger to do that.

He's just calling them to mind even briefly to impress upon us the bigger fact that the Old Testament is full of such stories. The history of God's people repeats this theme again and again and again. The writer wants to drive home the point that this is actually a pattern of God's.

He often calls his people to walk through trial. He always calls us to do so with faith. And he shows us again and again that he is powerful, and he is faithful to use these fearful circumstances to drive forward his saving agenda. Friends, I believe that the message of this text is incredibly timely for us today and in our present circumstance.

God has proved again and again and again that he can and he will use times of trial and testing to move forward his plans of salvation in dramatic and wonderful ways. He's proved that such times, they're not incidental to his plans. They're not interruptions to his purpose. No, not at all.

Within his sovereign decrees and under his supreme power, these things become avenues through which his saving purposes move forward in the world. I mentioned two weeks ago how much I marvel that God has us here in Hebrews chapter 11 for this particular time of crisis.

I didn't plan that with any foreknowledge. That's just how the sermon series naturally fell. But I believe that the message of these verses is God's message for us today. It's quite clear that God has called his church to walk with him in faith today through a truly fearful time.

These are fearful days. There's no question about it. The trial we face is, of course, not unique to the church. This is a trial we are facing around the world as a global community. But if we belong to Jesus Christ, you and I do face this trial in a distinctive way as children of God, as followers of Jesus Christ, as Christian believers.

And we seek to navigate all this as a people of God. And the lessons from salvation history that are here for us in Hebrews chapter 11, they give us encouragement and they give us courage, and they give us hope for the days ahead. The lessons of this chapter, they remind us that in times of trial, times of difficulty, times of danger and physical risk.

These are not times when God is absent and when God's work ceases. No, these are times when God has often chosen to move his salvation agenda forward in remarkable and in powerful ways. I had the joy of sharing in a conference call this last week with a number of pastors from across Canada, actually, Newfoundland to British Columbia.

And we were just sharing our experience so far in this crisis, and there was this clear sense across the nation that there is a real spiritual hunger today. There is real opportunity for the gospel. The Lord is powerfully at work in his saving purposes.

On Friday, an op-ed appeared in the Wall Street Journal that caught my attention. Its title was "A Coronavirus Great Awakening?" The writer noted the impact of the Second World War on religious life in America, saying this, I quote, "Americans chastened by the horrors of war turned to faith in search of truth and meaning."

In the late 1940s, Gallup surveys showed more than three quarters of Americans were members of a house of worship. Congress added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. Some would later call this time "a third great awakening."

And the writer goes on to ask whether this present cataclysm might have the same effect as our society is indeed shaken to its very core. It's a good question. Many of us are asking it at the present time, and I believe that there is at least a glimmer of hope.

It may be that you are asking these questions yourselves. It may be that you are listening now even to this broadcast because this present crisis, it has shaken you up and it has got you thinking, and you realize that you do need to find hope and security beyond what this fragile world can offer you.

Let me encourage you, don't ignore that question. It may be that God is using this crisis in your life to wake you up and even to draw you to himself through Jesus Christ. The offer of the gospel, it is for you as it is for everyone.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Savior of whom we've been speaking for these last few minutes, he came to address the problem of your alienation from God and your guilt before God. And he did that by dying in your place at Calvary, those 2,000 years ago.

He bore the penalty for your wrongdoing and he offers you forgiveness and reconciliation. He offers you life and he offers you hope, not only for this life, but for the life to come. Would you receive that invitation, the invitation of the gospel even today?

There's no doubt that the present situation is disastrous. It is lamentable. But there is no doubt as well that God is able to use such times. He is able to use such trials for the sake of salvation of many. He's done it before, and we pray that he might do it again.

But as you and I walk through these days, our call and our responsibility, it is simply this. It is to trust him. It is to walk in faith before him. It is to wait upon him and to see what he might do.

We could be discouraged in these days. We might be frightened. We could be brought very low. But the writer of Hebrews would urge us, God by his word exhorts us, "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith." May God bless you in these days ahead, and may he give you grace to run this race with endurance.

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Guest (Male): This is Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths, and our message Enduring by Faith. If you want to go back and listen to it again, you can do that at our website, encounterthetruth.org. Well, Encounter the Truth is a listener-supported ministry. We're able to be on the station, make the podcast and the app available because of your generosity.

And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book entitled The Final Lap, written by John Wyatt. Jonathan, I have a friend who likes to say, you know, what you read isn't necessarily as important as who you read. So, that kind of begs the question for me then, who is John Wyatt?

Jonathan Griffiths: John Wyatt is a medical doctor who's a leading Christian ethicist in the UK. And John's made a wonderful contribution to thinking about practical Christian living and significant choices we make in Christian discipleship. I've used John's resources over the years when I've had opportunity to teach Christian ethics at different times.

I've relied on John's thinking a huge amount. But just recently, he's been working on the whole area of aging and retirement and dependency and the final years of life, and how we think about that as Christians, and how we steward that time well as believers.

I had an opportunity to speak alongside John at a convention in the UK, the Keswick Convention, not so long ago. And John's seminars on aging and retirement and ill health and dependency in older age were were just gold and people appreciated them so much. So, I think this particular resource that we're making available this month will be a tremendous help to many people.

Guest (Male): It is called The Final Lap, and it's our thank you gift to you as you financially support Encounter the Truth this month. You can call and give a gift over the phone. Our number is 1-833-99-TRUTH. That's 1-833-998-7884. Or go online to encounterthetruth.org.

You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1. Or in the US, at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Betta, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.

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