February 3, 2002 Hebrews 11:29-30
“Is God big enough to trust?”
INTRODUCTION
“It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined, who went to see the elephant (though all of them were blind), that each by observation might satisfy his mind. The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl, “God bless me! But the elephant is very like a wall!” The second, feeling of the tusk cried, “Ho! What have we here, so very round and smooth and sharp? To me ‘tis mighty clear. This wonder of an elephant is very like a spear!” The third approached the animal, and, happening to take the squirming trunk within his hands, thus boldly up and spake: “I see,” quoth he, “the elephant, is very like a snake!” The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee; “what most this wondrous beast is like is mighty plain,” quoth he; “’Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree.” The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said, “E’en the blindest man can tell what this resembles most. Deny the fact, who can, this marvel of an elephant is very like a fan!” The sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope, than, seizing on the swinging tail that fell within his scope, “I see,” quoth he, “the elephant is very like a rope!” And so these men of Indostan disputed loud and long, each in his opinion exceeding stiff and strong, though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong.” – John Godfrey Saxe, quoted in James Gilbert Lawson, The World’s Best-Loved Poems
Three months ago, we began an examination much like these 6 blind men. We too wanted to examine something very big with very limited resources. We have spent a great deal of time studying one chapter of the Bible. And if as we near completion of this study, I was to ask each of you what this one chapter is about, you might give me one of several answers. Some of you would tell me that the chapter is about the great heroes of the Bible. And it is true that their stories are told here. Some of you would tell me that it is about great events in the Bible. And many of those are recorded here. We will look at two of them today. And still others of you, the more spiritual ones, would tell me that the chapter is about faith. The writer begins the chapter by giving us a definition of faith “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1) and says that “without faith, it is impossible to please God.” (Heb. 11:6). But I want to suggest to you today that none of these – not the heroes of faith, the events of faith or the substance of faith – are the main focus of what we must see in this chapter. It is something much larger than any of these. It is the cause for faith – It is God Himself. The writer wants us to get an understanding of what God is like.
That is a difficult task – even more difficult than 6 blind men trying to understand a big elephant. For you see, we are not only hampered by the fact that we are at least partially blind, but also by the fact that God is invisible and the fact that God is much bigger than the biggest elephant who has ever walked the earth. But God has given us some help to enable us to understand Him.
"Mommy, what does God look like?" asked 5-year-old Timmy as he put down his peanut butter sandwich & took a big swallow of milk. "Well, God is a Spirit & we can’t see Him in the same way that we see people," his mother began, not knowing quite where to go from there. "But if we can’t see Him, how do we know what He’s like?" he persisted. "Well, suppose you were blind," she suggested to Timmy. "Would you be able to see Daddy, for instance?" He shook his head. "But would you know what Daddy is like?" He thought for a moment, then vigorously nodded his head. "You’d know what Daddy is like by the things he says [and the things he does], wouldn’t you?" He nodded again. "And we know what God is like, too, by the things He says in His Word [and the things he does]. And you’d know that Daddy loves you, because he would tell you so & do everything he could for you. That’s how we know God loves us, too. He tells us so, & He has given us so much to help us have a wonderful life. But most of all, He gave us Jesus to take away our sins & to show us what God is really like…That’s why, even though we can’t see God, we can be very certain what He is like."… – Melvin Newland
When the writer of this chapter tells us about Abraham, his goal is not to get us to marvel about how great a man of faith Abraham was. His goal is to get us to see how great a God Abraham worshipped. When we read about Noah building the ark, he doesn’t want us to focus on Noah’s carpentry skills. Rather, he wants us to focus on a God who mercifully rescued mankind through Noah. He wants our picture of God to get bigger and bigger, for the bigger our picture of God, the greater our faith in Him will become. As someone has said, “Faith…is based on a person’s attitude toward God…if we have a tiny god, we should not trust him.”, p. 360. The bigger your understanding of God is, the easier it is to trust Him when you come to big problems in your life. And when we look at the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the fall of the walls of Jericho – two events that we will examine this morning – our focus is not to be on the event or on the people who were a part of the event. Our focus is to be on the God who caused the event. As we look at these events, we must ask ourselves, “What does this event teach me about God?”
So that’s what we are going to do. We’re going to look at these two events, and then we’re going to see how these events change or reinforce our perception of God’s size and character and therefore, His worthiness of our trust. Let’s read verse 29. [read it]
EVENT #1 – the crossing of the Red Sea
After 10 earth-shattering plagues, the Israelites were now freed from their slavery in Egypt. They had begun the journey into a new way of life. Carrying the bones of Joseph, just as he had instructed several hundred years earlier, they headed out with excitement, anticipation and joy. But that joy quickly turned to fear. As they journeyed, they encountered an obstacle – the Red Sea. It was an impenetrable, impossible, insurmountable problem. How did they expect to get over 1 million people across the sea? They didn’t have much time to worry about this problem though because they soon saw the dust kicked up by an approaching army. Pharaoh had quickly realized the consequences to his nation of no longer having the services of a million slaves. He was coming after them to bring them back or destroy them in the process.
Have you ever been caught between a rock and a hard place? The Israelites were caught between the sea and Pharaoh’s hard heart. “From all they could see they were trapped; there was no escape. At first the people lost heart…” John MacArthur, p. 358 They complained against Moses. They were fearful that they were going to die. Being a slave was better than being dead! But Moses responded to them with these words: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Ex. 14:13,14) Then God told Moses the next step in the plan. He told him to take his staff and hold it over the Red Sea. Then he told Moses that He was going to divide the Red Sea so that the Israelites could walk over on dry ground. Moses obeyed, and God did just as He promises. All night long, God sent His wind, and that wind not only separated the Red Sea but also dried the ground underneath creating a safe passageway for the Israelites.
That took care of one problem, but there was still the issue of the Egyptian army. So God took the cloud with which He had been leading the Israelites and moved that cloud behind the Israelites and in front of the Egyptians. It became a wall of protection for the Israelites from their enemies. On the Egyptian side of that wall, it was dark. But on the Israelite side of the wall, it was light. Now, the Bible doesn’t say why God provided light for the Israelites, but I can think of at least two reasons – one practical and one spiritual. The light made it possible for them to cross the Sea at night once the waters were divided [they crossed at night – Ex. 14:24]. I like the other reason better. If it had been dark, they would not have been able to see the waters of the Sea dividing. But since it was light, they got to watch the miracle in progress. I doubt that very many of them slept that night. Watching that miracle elevated their perception of the bigness of God. They had considered the Sea to be big, but now they got to see with their own eyes that God was bigger than the Sea. God was bigger than their problems. God was bigger than the obstacles that stood in their way.
Just as soon as the water had been divided, the Israelites started their journey across. The Bible records that there was a wall of water on their left and a wall of water on their right (Ex. 14:22). It would have been an awe-inspiring experience. “The people had no guarantee except God’s word that He would not change His mind or forget them.” Their minds and their experience told them that the wall of water was going to come crashing down at any moment. “But [God’s] word was enough for them to keep on walking]. For the faithful, God’s word is always enough.”, p. 358
When the Israelites had almost completed the crossing, God removed the barrier that had kept the Egyptians at bay. They saw for the first time with stunned eyes what was going on. But instead of realizing that they were up against a God who was too big for them to ever defeat or comprehend, they followed the Israelites into the sea. God brought confusion to them as they were in the bowels of the sea. He caused the wheels of their chariots, all 600 of them to fall off, so that they could no longer pursue the Israelites. Too late, they understood the bigness of God. They cried, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” (Ex. 14:25) They began to run back to their side of the Sea. Once all the Israelites had made it safely to their side, God told Moses to hold his staff over the Sea once again. And this time, the result was the waters came back into their proper place, killing the entire Egyptian army in the process.
On that day, the Israelites saw that their God was bigger than their enemy, bigger than their problems or obstacles and bigger than them. Listen to the result: “And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in Him and in Moses his servant.” (Ex. 14:31) Their God got a lot bigger in their own eyes, and their willingness to put their trust in Him got equally as big. When you have a big God, it is easy to put your faith in Him.
EVENT #2 – the fall of the walls of Jericho
Forty years had passed between verse 29 and 30 of Hebrews 11. The people of God had evidenced very little faith while they existed out in the wilderness. In fact, they had manifested “gross unbelief” with “grumbling discontent and idolatry”., p. 361. When the Israelites approached Canaan – the land that had been promised to Abraham over 500 years earlier – Moses sent in 12 spies to find out what kind of a land it was and how big the enemy was. On their return, they reported that the land was good but that the people were big – HUGE! They said of themselves that they were like grasshoppers in comparison to the inhabitants of the land. Their God had gotten small again.
“Moses rebuked [the spies and the people] not because the report was erroneous but because of the unbelieving and fearful way in which it was given and received.” p. 362. The people believed the report that their enemy was bigger than their God, and they refused to believe God’s promises. So for the next 40 years, they wandered around aimlessly in the wilderness until that entire generation of unbelievers died off.
Finally, the day came for the Israelites to approach the land of Canaan a second time. While in the wilderness, they had seen plenty of reason to trust God. They had seen God provide water out of a rock, food from the dew on the ground, and deliverance from enemies. Once again, they faced a body of water as an obstacle – the Jordan River. And once again, God parted the waters and allowed them to walk across on dry ground. But the Jordan River was not the biggest obstacle this time. The biggest obstacle was the city of Jericho, just on the other side of the Jordan River. “From the human perspective [Jericho] seemed an impossible obstacle to the ragtag multitude of ex-slaves who had been wandering in circles in the wilderness for so many years.” p. 361-362. Circling Jericho was a HUGE wall. According to some accounts, the wall was as tall as a 3-story building and thick enough for two chariots to race side-by-side on top of it. Was God big enough to handle this problem? What kind of a strategy was He going to use this time?
The battle strategy that God gave to Joshua and that he then passed to the people seemed ludicrous. The whole army, led by the priests, was to walk around the city in silence, once a day for 6 days. Then, on the 7th day, they were to walk around 7 times. When they finished the 7th trip around, they were to stop and shout! (Josh. 6:2-5) What a plan?! But they knew that they had a big God – bigger than the walls of Jericho. So the people followed the command, and the walls fell.
“The test of faith is trusting God when all we have are His promises. When the waters are piled high all around us and problems and dangers are about to overwhelm us, this is when faith is tested, and when the Lord takes special pleasure in showing us His faithfulness, His love, and His power.”, p. 358
1. God is BIG enough to break down walls that separate and build walls that nothing can penetrate.
God builds walls of protection that nothing can penetrate. When the Israelites were afraid of their enemies coming after them, God put a wall of separation between them and the Egyptians that they could not get through even though that wall was just a cloud. And then, as they passed through the Red Sea, they had walls of water on either side of them. Nothing could penetrate either wall even to bring danger to the Israelites.
God does the same for us. He puts walls around us that protect us from the dangers that would seek to destroy us. When Satan and God were having a discussion about the faithfulness of Job, Satan made the observation that God had put a hedge of protection around him (Job 1:10). That doesn’t mean that Job didn’t face danger, and it doesn’t mean that we won’t face danger. But it does mean that whatever does happen to us, it cannot destroy us. (Rom. 8:38-39) “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, not things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus said that when we come to Him in faith that He places us in the Father’s hands. And there wrapped in the hands of the Father who is greater than all, no one can get to us. (John 10:29)
He is the only wall who can adequately protect you. The citizens of Jericho had placed their faith in their wall. It was unfounded faith. Whatever wall you might be trusting in to protect you – your job, your bank account, your skills, your family – is nothing in comparison to the wall that God can place around you if you will place your confidence in Him. Don’t place your faith in wall that can fall.
God also destroys walls that separate. When the Israelites came up against Jericho, they were separated from their objective by a seemingly impenetrable wall. But God made it fall. And he made it fall in a foolish way. Part of the reason that He did it that way was to destroy the pride of the Canaanites as well as prevent the Israelites from taking any pride in their accomplishment. “God delights in slaying men’s pride…[He makes] walls collapse in the most foolish possible way… [and by so doing, He] demolished any pride the Israelites might have had…[They] could take absolutely no credit [for the victory on that day]…” p. 362.
At one time, there were walls that separated us from God – walls of pride and self-sufficiency. Walls of greed, and selfishness and stubborness. But God, through His Son Jesus Christ, broke through the walls. He tore them down so that we could have a relationship with Him. And then, He tore down the walls that separated us from one another and allowed us to love and accept one another. (Eph 2:14) “For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;” There are things that separate us that from the world’s perspective, they have no idea how to break them down – things like racism, and class distinction and age differences. But God can break them down. He does it not with guns and laws but with love.
You may be here this morning and you know that you have put up walls around yourself. Walls that keep you separated from God or walls that keep you separated from people. You’ve been hurt, or you don’t want to be hurt, so you watch the world pass by from the top of your wall. You think that nothing can get through your wall. God can. And he wants to bring that wall crashing down – not so that He can destroy you, but so that He can rescue you from the wall that has become your prison.
“The people of God did not have great fighting skills, but they had a great God and the walls came down.” – John Holt, Bethel Assembly of Pittsburgh.
2. God is BIG enough to only be limited by the obedience of His people.
There are many things that limit me. I am limited by my height, my experiences, my skills and my age. I could go on and on and on, for there is virtually no end to the list of things that limits me. But God is so big that there is only one thing that limits Him. And that one thing is the obedience of His people.
God was big enough to part the Red Sea, but the Israelites had to obey Him and be willing to cross. Heb. 11:27 says that they crossed “as on dry land”. This phrase almost seems to be putting doubt on the Exodus account that says that they really did go over on dry ground. But this particular phrase isn’t talking so much about the quality of the ground as it is talking about the quality of their faith and the attitude that they had. When they passed through, they weren’t in a panic wondering if Pharaoh was nipping at their heels or fearing that the water was going to come crashing down at any moment. Rather, they traveled across calmly and civily just as they would when crossing any other piece of dry ground. They walked on confidently on firm footing with firm hearts, danger behind, danger on both sides. They could have this kind of attitude because they knew that they had a big God, and He was fighting for them.
God was big enough to make the walls of Jericho fall, but the Israelites had to be willing to obey and march. “The real obstacle was not Canaan but unbelief. The only difficulty for God was getting His own people to go with Him.” p. 362. It isn’t just belief that makes things happen. It is the obedience that faith produces that makes things happen. The people had to cross the Red Sea and they had to march around the city. They had to be persistent and unflinching. Going halfway through the Red Sea or marching for 5 of the 6 days would not have gotten them victory. After the 6th day, their feet would have been hurting, and they would have been tempted to give up. After all, they had seen no fruit to their labor – not even the smallest crack in the city wall.
God is not limited to doing things a certain way. “Militarily, the seven days of marching demanded nothing. But psychologically they demanded a great deal of courage…[The] effort appeared utterly preposterous…[It would have been] easier to fight than to have faith. If we fight, we will at least have a certain respect from the world, even if we lose. But faith always looks foolish in the eyes of the world.” P. 362
The Israelites marched around the city of Jericho to make the walls fall. I would have to say that here in Bridgeport, there are a lot of walls that prevent people from coming to faith in Christ. There are a lot of walls that could prevent us from growing as a church or from being successful in our attempts to reach people at our new location. But we have a big God. And He can make the walls fall down.
Per the example of the Israelites, during the month of March on Wed. nights, we are going to march around the walls of Bridgeport High School and silently pray that God will make the walls fall down. Not the walls of the school, but the walls that encircle the hearts of people.
God is only limited by our faith and obedience. Let it not be said of us as it was said of the people in Nazareth that Jesus “did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Mat. 13:58)
3. God is BIG enough to have the power to defend His people.
The miracle of the Red Sea and that of Jericho was “to show [the Israelites] as well as the Canaanites, how powerful [God] is.” p. 362
The fact that the Egyptians drowned when they tried to do the exact same thing the Hebrews had just done says that it was not great faith that enabled them to be successful. It was a great God. Their faith simply enabled them to keep walking in response to the work that God had already done.
There is a difference between faith and audacity. The Israelites went forward successfully because God had commanded it and had promised success. God had made no such promise to the Egyptian army. They tried to cross. They drowned. When you choose to go forward into risky situations, make sure that it is God’s command that you and hear and not just your own wishful thinking. Believing and acting on your belief are not enough. You have to make sure that your belief is based on the Word of God. It is not enough to just be sincere.
Both the Israelites and the Egyptians took the same journey across the Red Sea. At some level, both had faith that the wall of water was secure. Yet one group lived, and one drowned. What was the difference? One group’s faith was based on the promises of God. The other group’s faith was based on presumption.
4. God is BIG enough to be true to His promises even when His people are not true to theirs.
The same people who by faith passed through the Red Sea, died in the wilderness because of a lack of faith that God could enable them to take the land.
In this battle of faith, one man, Achan, responded outside the realm of faith. He took some of what was forbidden. His lack of faith in God to provide for him caused the defeat of Israel in the next battle, the death of 36 innocent men, and the death of his family.
But even though there were people who failed to believe the promises of God and act on them, God still fulfilled all His promises to the nation of Israel. We may fail, but God is big enough to forgive and restore.
5. God is BIG enough to remain unchanged even when His people do change.
The people who encountered Jericho were a totally different generation than those who left Egypt and had crossed the Red Sea. Anyone 20 years old or above (Num. 14:29) at the refusal to enter Canaan died in the wilderness. The people had changed. Would God remain the same? The leadership had changed. Moses was dead. Joshua was now the leader. Would God remain the same? Was He still big? God said to Joshua, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” Josh 1:5
Gladys Aylward, missionary to China more than fifty years ago, was forced to flee when the Japanese invaded Yangcheng. But she could not leave her work behind. With only one assistant, she led more than a hundred orphans over the mountains toward Free China. In their book "The Hidden Price of Greatness," Ray Besson and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker tell what happened: "During Glady’s harrowing journey out of war-torn Yangcheng ... she grappled with despair as never before. After passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety. A 13-year-old girl in the group reminded her of their much-loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.
"But I am not Moses," Gladys cried in desperation. "Of course you aren’t," the girl said, "but Jehovah is still God."
When Gladys and the orphans made it through, they proved once again that no matter how inadequate we feel, God is still God, and we can trust in him.
(Mal. 3:6) “For I am the LORD, I change not…”
CONCLUSION
What caused the Red Sea to part? Was it Moses? Was it Moses’ staff? Was it the people? [if everybody gets in the water and starts pushing apart the water all at the same time…] Was it the people’s faith? NO, it was GOD! What caused the fall of the walls of Jericho? Was it the vibration caused by all these pounding feet on the earth? Was it the inhabitants of Jericho leaning against the walls as they watched all these crazy Israelites marching around? Was it the faith of the people as they exerted their matter-moving ESP minds against the bricks of the wall? NO, it was GOD!
What’s going to cause your walls to fall – the things that stand as obstacles in your way, the things that seek to destroy you? Is it your hard work, or your worry, or your money? No, the only thing that can destroy those obstacles and maybe even take those obstacles and turn them into pathways is a big God.
Imagine God has written a letter to you. It goes something like this:
Good afternoon,
I am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help just your obedience. If the devil happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, DO NOT attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFJTD (something for Jesus to do) box. It will be addressed in MY time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold on to it or attempt to remove it. Holding on or removal will delay the resolution of your problem.
If it is a situation that you think you are capable of handling, please consult me in prayer to be sure that is the proper assumption.
Because I do not sleep or slumber, there is no need for you to lose any sleep. Rest, my child. If you need to contact me, I am only a prayer away.
Love, your BIG God.
Put your faith in God, and He will part the waters and break down walls. Just be quiet, and do what He says.
