Trusting God In the Face of Fears

Transcript

GR 1717
03/16/2014
Trusting God in the Face of Fears
Hebrews 11:32
Gil Rugh

We're in Hebrews 11, a chapter sometimes referred to as the heroes of the faith. And that's a good title as long as you realize these weren't all of them, this is just a sample. What they are recorded for is for benefit, not just to remind us of great people from Israel's history, but they are written and recorded to encourage us, to challenge us to be strong, consistent, confident in our faith in God and His promises. And these examples are written so that we might learn from them. He reminded, it is our hope in God and His Word that serves as the anchor for our souls. Turn back to Hebrews 6:19, “this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast” as it is centered and focused ultimately in the finished work of Christ and His representing us in the very presence of God in heaven. We are encouraged in the face of what may seem overwhelming situations, intimidating obstacles, relentless opposition; we are not to be shaken, we are not to be weakened in our faith and confidence in God and what He has promised.

Come back to Romans 15. We find our encouragement and perseverance comes from God and that's what Paul says in Romans 15:5. “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind.” It's God who gives encouragement, it's God who gives perseverance. In this context look at the preceding verse, verse 4, “for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” It's God who gives encouragement and perseverance, but He uses His Word to do that. In fact Paul writes here to the Romans and tells us what was written regarding Israel's history, what we have as our Old Testament, was written to be an encouragement to us, to be used of God to encourage our hearts, to enable us to persevere, be faithful to Him and keep our eyes fixed on the hope that we have in the fulfillment of all that He has promised.

So when we come back to Hebrews 11, that's what God has been doing in this great chapter. In Hebrews 11:4-31 the writer under the direction of the Spirit of God has surveyed some of the significant people in Israel's history and showed how they were faithful to God and trusted in Him and His promises, beginning back with Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, in his faith in God and offering an acceptable sacrifice, all the way through the history, coming to the time when God brought His people into the land He had promised them. And the last person mentioned in verse 31 was Rahab the harlot as Joshua brought the children of Israel into the land that God would give to Israel as their own land. We have gone from the faith of Abel all the way back in the Garden of Eden and subsequent time to the entrance into the land that God has promised. And we've seen some mighty figures of faith. Some stand out more than others. But he has moved through a list of about ten people that he has given by name and moved us through the history recorded in the Old Testament to show that those who come to God must believe that He is and that “He rewards those who diligently seek Him,” as he said in verse 6, to challenge these Hebrew Christians to remain firm in their faith and the promises God has given, even in the face of seemingly overwhelming difficulties and trials and opposition.

Beginning with verse 32 he is going to give a brief list of additional names, six names and then a group, the prophets, without naming individuals in that group. And he is going to follow that up with a summary of things that they accomplished by faith, of things that they suffered because of their faith. And then he'll be ready to wrap up this chapter with the closing verses by tying it back to the opening verses to show the connection of where he started and how he ends and how everything fits together.

Beginning with verse 32 where we are going to pick up. We're not going to complete this chapter today, but we will look at some of the individuals he mentions. He's going to focus on the victories and accomplishments that were realized by different men who trusted God. Verse 32 begins, “what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak” and so on, and he just runs through a list of six names and then the group of the prophets. And those opening statements, “what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of.” It's a way of saying, just run out of time. There are many more individuals we could look at and see their faith and how God worked when they believed Him. But I've run out of time and space to do that. But just reminds them there are many more recorded in the history of the Old Testament of individuals who trusted God and accomplished great things because God worked in and through them as they trusted Him.

The names we are going to pick up here will begin with the judges, and we'll come into the time of the judges. Remember before we went from the opening with creation and then Abel offering the right sacrifice; we came to Abraham and God established a covenant with him and gave him promises. And Abraham is the father of the nation Israel; we looked through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then we moved into when God brought them into the land that He had promised under Joshua. Now we're going to the time of the judges, and what we're going to do here is get a sampling of individuals from the time of the judges. It will bring us to the time of the monarchy, established under Samuel, and to the time of the reign of David, Israel's greatest king. And then he'll mention the prophets and then he'll give examples of the things that these individuals went through.

We're going to note these names, they are not done in order. It's interesting how he does it. In verse 32 he mentions Gideon first. What more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, one of the judges; then Barak. But Barak comes before Gideon in time. We'll see that when we look back at some verses in a moment. Then he mentions Samson and Jephthah. And their order is reversed as well. Then he mentions David and Samuel and their order is reversed. So these different individuals, he doesn't take them chronologically, probably because he wants you to realize he's not just following a consecutive history here. These are individuals he has drawn from Israel's history. And there are many more. What more shall I say? Time would fail me. So he's doing these things, just throwing them out randomly. Like I might say regarding the prophets, the prophets had a great ministry in Israel. We have Hosea, we have Ezekiel, we have Daniel, we have Isaiah. Well, I haven't brought those names out in order, but just to show a sampling of what we have. And I think that's what he is doing here.

The first man mentioned is one of the judges. Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah will all be judges as will Samuel, the last one mentioned here. But come back to Judges, Gideon is mentioned in Judges 6-8. Judges 6-8 focus on Gideon and Gideon was used by God to deliver the Israelites from bondage to the Midianites. We're going to see these individuals that are given as examples of faith here have stumbled in their lives. They are not used as examples because they had perfect lives, they are used as examples because they are individuals who placed their faith in God and His Word and acted on it. There were times when they stumbled, but they believed God and responded to His Word.

He had to trust God to go into a battle with overwhelming opponents. In Judges 6, we'll pick up with verse 1. “Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian for seven years.” You see the sovereignty of God in this. Part of the judgment on Israel for their unfaithfulness to Him, He gave their enemies victory over them. So for seven years they were enslaved to the Midianites in the land of Canaan. Verse 6, “the sons of Israel cried to the Lord. Verse 8, the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel and told them why they were under judgment.” Then in verse 11 God graciously sends the angel of the Lord, who is the preincarnate Christ. He “came and sat under the oak that was in Ophra” and he engages Gideon in a conversation. “ And he said to him,” verse 12,”the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you oh valiant warrior.” And then Gideon's response was why. “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about?” Now he has heard of the hand of the Lord and how powerful it was in Israel's history, but now we are a people in bondage to the Midianites.

The Lord looked at him, verse 14, and said, “go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” Gideon's response is “we're not a significant family, even in the tribe that we belong to, the tribe of Manasseh. And I am the youngest one in my father's house and you're telling me to go and bring deliverance.” Is this what you really mean? The Lord's answer is simple. Verse 16, the Lord said to him, “surely I will be with you and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” You will be an overwhelming force against the Midianites. And then Gideon is given a sign. And down in verse 25, there is a preliminary act of faith. Gideon is brought along, he is going to represent the God of Israel, he has to take a stand. Gideon is being raised in the house of idol worshipers and Gideon's father has altars to these idols.

So verse 25, “on the same night the Lord said to him, take your father's bull and a second bull seven years old, pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah that is beside it.” So they have an altar to Baal, a Canaanite god, and Asherah was a statue or an idol of a female pagan deity. Here Gideon, being raised in the household of idol worshipers, God's instruction is you go tear them down, burn the wood of those idols and offer on that fire sacrifice to Me. The main thing is Gideon does it. You see something of his faith. Now he is going to take a stand within his father's house which puts his life in danger. He does it. Now that doesn't mean he doesn't have fear. Faith isn't the absence of fear. Faith is a trust in God that is great enough that we act in spite of any fears we might have.

“So Gideon took ten men of his servants,” verse 27, “and did as the Lord had spoken to him”. You see what he has—the Word of God. You do this. Because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. The important thing is he did it. Now that didn't mean there wasn't trepidation in his heart. He realized if I do this in the light of day with everybody around, there is probably going to be a riot and I could be killed here. You say, he should have trusted and done it at high noon. No, the point is God didn't say he had to do it at high noon, He just said he had to do it. So he did it at night. But in the morning the men of the city realized what has happened because this is just not a family altar. This is significant for the town that has joined in the worship of these idols. Now they want to have Gideon delivered over to them for execution. And Gideon's father steps forward and says, “if Baal was really a god, let him defend himself.” Baal has just been burned in the fire; if he is a god he ought to be upset and let him defend himself.

So verse 32, “therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, the one who contends with Baal.” So keep that in mind because through the account you'll have the two names—Gideon and Jerubbaal. Keep in mind we're talking about the same person. “The Spirit of the Lord,” verse 34, “came down upon Gideon.” So you see he has trusted God here, did what God said, not knowing what is going to be the outcome. But he does know the outcome but he only has the promise of God regarding the outcome because he is going to deliver Israel from the bondage of the Midianites. First thing he has to do is destroy this center of idol worship, and he believes God and does it. And the Spirit of God comes to empower him for an even greater challenge.

You come down to Judges 7, “then Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, all the people who were with him rose up early and camped beside the Spring of Harod and the camp of Midian was on the north side of the hill,” and so on. “The Lord said to Gideon,”the people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands. For Israel would become boastful saying, my own power has delivered me.” God says something about the character of Israel's heart. If you go out there with an army of 32,000 and you win a victory, Israel won't credit the victory to the God of Israel, Israel will say, we are a mighty force. So you have to thin the army down.

Look down in verse 12, you want to get an idea of the size of the army of the Midianites. “Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts. Their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand of the seashore.” When you get to Judges 8:10 you find out they have 135,000 soldiers. Now if I was looking out and saw an army of 135,000 and I have 32,000 men, I don't think I would have too much manpower. But God says to Gideon, you have too many. So here is what you do. Verse 3, “proclaim in the hearing of the people and say, whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.” So 22,000 packed up and went home, 10,000 remained. I have to be honest, as I work through a passage like this I find myself sitting at my desk saying, I wonder if I would have been packing up to go home. I mean, I have a choice now. If you are afraid, go home. 22,000….I wonder what Gideon is thinking. You might think a few of these cowards will go home; but two-thirds of your army is on their way out. Now we are down to 10,000.

Well, Lord, we are ready to go. No you are not. Verse 4, “the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many.” Now you begin to appreciate Gideon's faith. God tells him what he has to do to whittle down the army. I would think that maybe I would want to have a conversation with the Lord. Lord, I have looked out and that's an intimidating army—10,000 against 135,000. I think that's enough for you to display your strength. Gideon doesn't have to think here, he just has to do what he is told. Seems so easy when I read what God has told other people to do.

We used to joke years ago, I would talk to Don and say, you and I ought to retire from the pastorate. We'll go out and be church consultants. We'll just tell other people what to do in their churches. And that is always easier to have input for that. Here to read what Gideon did, that's remarkable. What faith.

All right, we're going to whittle the army down. And when the test (it had to do with how they drank the water) we eliminate another 9,700. Now we're down to 300. And the Lord said to Gideon, verse 7, “I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands. “ So let everybody else go home, I only need 300. Now put yourself in Gideon's view. You have an army of 135,000, now you have 300. I divided that out, used my calculator, I think it comes 1 to 450. So we have a plan, and here is God's plan. Surround them. Great, there is a plan. Of course you surround your enemy. So you give them the most powerful weapon. Each man takes a trumpet in one hand and an empty pitcher and a torch in the other and he puts the torch under the pitcher. And you have them surrounded. Now at the appointed signal you blow the trumpet, you break the pitcher so the light of the torch is seen, and you shout. And what is this to do? Let every Midianite know where I am standing? Great, here is a light. In case you didn't know where I am, I'm standing here by the torch. But that's all right, we have them surrounded, they don't have a chance.

It takes great faith to put this plan into operation. I mean, when all is said and done, we've been enslaved for seven years to these Midianites and this is God's plan? Reduce my army from 32,000 to 300, surround an army of 135,000 with 300, then blow a trumpet, hold up a torch and hope for the best. That's God's plan, but it's not hope for the best, it is trust in the Lord. And you know what? The army of the Midianites is routed. By the time you get down to Judges 8:10, we're told 120,000 of them are dead at this point. And they are going to mop up the rest. That's quite remarkable.

What does it demonstrate? It demonstrates the power of God in the life of one who will trust Him. You know the power is not in our faith. The power is in God. What enables God to unleash His power is our willingness to trust Him to do so. It seems so simple. It is. What did Gideon have? The Word of God. What did he have to do? Believe God. That's the point that these Hebrews have to understand. This is recorded so we have to understand it. What do we have? The Word of God. What do we do? We have to believe what God says and act upon it and let God do what only God can do. Gideon didn't have to sit down and figure out, now how do you win a battle like this? How many troops would we have to have? What's the minimum number you can go into war and expect to win? All of that is not the point. Believe God, believe His promises. That's hard in our lives. I don't see how this will work out, I don't see what good will come of this, I don't see . . . No, of course we don't because we are seeing with just human eyes. We have to see with the eyes of faith, what limits are there on God. Did God need 300? I mean, He could have just sent a wasting disease like He will later in Israel's history and wiped out the whole army and be done. But He chooses to use the 300 and Gideon to demonstrate His power operating in the life of one who would trust Him.

This account is used as an encouragement later in Israel's history. Isaiah will refer to it. We won't turn there but in Isaiah 9:4 and in Isaiah 10:6 he refers to this victory at Midian. But come over to Psalm 83 because this connects to the next man we are going to. The psalmist refers to this victory under Gideon. Remember this is against the Midianites and Midian. So when you see that you will recognize it. Note how this psalm opens up, Psalm 83. “Oh, God, do not remain quiet, do not be silent. Oh, God, do not be still. For behold your enemies make an uproar. ,Those who hate you have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against your people. They conspire together against your treasured ones. They have said, come and let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. They have conspired together with one mind, against you they make a covenant.” You see the connection here. The enemies of the Lord turn their vengeance against the people of the Lord. In the Old Testament history it is Israel, they are the people He chose for Himself. So God's enemies, those who hate God, note the statement of that in verse 2. They make shrewd plans against your people. This is the very thing that these Hebrew believers that we are reading about in the book of Hebrews are facing—those who hate God, hate God's people. Remember what Jesus said? If they hate Me, they will hate you; if they receive your word, they receive My Word. The connection between God and His people is a bond.

So he asks for God to rise up. But what is the example? Verse 9, “deal with them as with Midian.” That's a reference back to Gideon, a recognition. It's not God does not have the power to do it, but “God, please rise up and do what only you can do, the way you did it at Midian with a handful of Israelites who trusted you. You destroyed the Midianites, your enemies, the enemies of your people.” And then he says, “as with Sisera and Jabin at the torrent of Kishon.” Sisera, he's the military commander noted by the next judge in our list in Hebrews 11. We go from Gideon to Barak. So here you have the same reverse order chronologically as we have in Hebrews. I believe the writer of Hebrews maybe picked up from Psalm 83, reversing this and followed that pattern. But he refers to the victory of Gideon, “deal with them as with Midian, and as with Sisera.” And Sisera is the enemy commander defeated under the next judge who is Barak.

So come back to Judges 4-5. So the account of Gideon was in Judges 6-8, but now we're going to go back before Gideon to Judges 4-5. And Barak was used by God to give a great military victory over the Canaanite army under the leadership of a man named Sisera. He has a large and extremely powerful army. In Judges 4:1, “again the sons of Israel did evil” and they are under the oppression of the enemy. And the commander of this enemy army, the end of verse 2, is Sisera. Then verse 3, “the sons of Israel cried to the Lord for he had 900 iron chariots and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.” That was a formidable force in this time, 900 iron chariots. Not wooden chariots, these are iron chariots and when you charge with 900 iron chariots and then the soldiers that would be joined with them, you have a crushing force.

“Now Deborah the prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at this time.” A unique situation, you have a woman judging Israel who is also a prophetess. And verse 6, “she sent and summoned Barak,” she has a word from the Lord for him. “She said to him, behold the Lord the God of Israel has commanded,” not the Lord the God of Israel wants to know if you'd be interested in a job. “The Lord the God of Israel has appointed you and commanded you,” if you will, “go and march to Mount Tabor and take with you 10,000 men from the sons of Naphtali, the sons of Zebulon. I will draw out to you Sisera the commander of Jabin's army with his chariots and his many troops to the River Kishon. And I will give him into your hand.”

Another one of these great battle plans. The prophetess comes and says, here is the word of the Lord. God is commanding you to take an army of 10,000 men and go out to Mount Tabor and I will bring Sisera out with all his chariots and his armies and I'll give him into your hand. Another one of those things, it just doesn't sound like a reasonable battle plan. That doesn't encourage me if I'm Barak to be told, I'll bring Sisera out with all his chariots and his soldiers. That's not a plan. You want me there with 10,000 men facing the vast army of Sisera and 900 armed chariots. And you'll give him into my hand. Barak believes it.

Now he says he won't go without Deborah, and that is a stumble, but he doesn't say he doesn't want to go. He won't go without Deborah. Now I tried to think, what would have been in my mind if I were Barak? One thing, I think, if the Lord changes His plan I want Deborah there to make sure I get the message. So Deborah, you have to come along and I'll be sure the Word of the Lord is right there with me. But because he is unwilling to go without the presence of this woman prophetess, the ultimate victory will not be Barak's, it will be a woman's, who will drive the tent post through the skull of Sisera and have the ultimate victory. But she goes with Barak. That account is given in verse 9.

“Then Sisera,” verse 13, “all his chariots, 900 iron chariots,” we keep being reminded of this. Humanly speaking it's an overwhelming army for Barak and his men to face, but Barak is a man of faith. He goes, he does what Deborah says the Lord wants him to do. And verse 14, “Deborah says to Barak, “arise, this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Behold the Lord has gone out before you.” And all she has here is the promise of God. Charge into battle, but we have the promise of God. There have been men who lost battles by doing what a fool does—charging in against an overwhelming army. And people say, what were they thinking? Custer's last stand, take a handful of men against an overwhelming force—what were you thinking? You made a terrible mistake, a fatal mistake. All Deborah says is “the Lord has gone before you.” Would you mind if I saw Him? I have His promise, He has gone before me. So verse 15, “the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak.” And Sisera takes off running to meet the fate that had been prophesied of him, to die at the hand of a woman. Great defeat for a military general, if you will.

Great victory. How was it accomplished? By the power of God. How was the power of God unleashed? When Barak believed and obeyed the Word of God. That's the point. You can trust God. He's true to His Word. That doesn't mean Barak was exceptionally brilliant. The Lord went before Barak and it doesn't matter whether the army was 100,000 or 1,000,000. They don't stand a chance, they are defeated. And Barak is celebrated along with Deborah in their song of praise to the Lord in Judges 5. They “bless the Lord, to the Lord I will sing,” verses 2-3. Verse 4, “Lord when you went out,” and on to reiterate the mighty work of God. Understand these things are recorded and preserved for us. We are God's people today, He is the same God. We wilt in our faith. We waver and the anchor of our soul begins to drift and then we are driven about by every wind of doctrine and idea of men and the confusion that comes. And where is it? We anchor our soul in God and His promises.

He is not done. The next one in the list in Hebrews 11 is Samson. We jump over to Judges 13. Samson is a well-known figure. I think mistakenly for us we usually think of Samson in his weaknesses and failures. Even the world is familiar with Samson and Delilah and the foolish action of Samson. But Samson is a man of God, he's a man of faith, he's a man who believes God.

Judges 13, pick up with verse 24, for time. “The woman gave birth to a son,” there are some special supernatural things associated with the birth of Samson and the angel of the Lord's confrontation with his parents. “Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew up and the Lord blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him” What he has done in Samson is that he trusts the Lord and the Spirit of God uses him. Come down to Judges 14:6, “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him;” down in verse 19, “then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him;” Judges 15:14, “and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily.” And Samson recognizes his victories are given him by the power of God, the God in whom he trusts. He is not a perfect man, he has his stumbles, but he is a man who believes God.

Look at Judges 15:18, after destroying 1,000 men with no more weapon than a jawbone of a donkey, he is thirsty. And verse 18, “then he became very thirsty and he called to the Lord and said,” you have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant.” He doesn't take credit for himself. It's the God of Israel who gave me this great victory. And that's an indication, as God used Samson again and again, Samson never lost sight of the fact, it was the God of Israel who worked powerfully. Even in the tragedy of Delilah, we wonder, what is this judge in Israel, this hero of the faith doing hanging around with a pagan prostitute? He stumbled. But you know even in that, it's amazing, in his conversation with Delilah what mistake does he make? Obviously the first one is he is hanging around with her. But then he tells her the secret of his strength. But do you know what he realizes? The secret of my strength is the covenant relationship I have with God reflected in my hair which is uncut. The strength isn't in me, it is in the God that I serve and the relationship I have with Him. And if I break that covenant relationship I have with Him, my power will be nothing. That's a testimony of faith. We say he is using it foolishly, revealing it when it should not be revealed, but here is a man who really believes that his strength comes from the Lord.

And when you come to verse 28, after his eyes have been put out and he has been functioning as a slave, doing slave work, animal work in grinding, they bring him out to mock him and make a fool of him. And all the Canaanites gather around, the Philistines gather around, 3,000 of them. And Samson's faith has not been shaken. He realizes the God of Israel is just as powerful as ever. He has failed but God has not failed. Now even in those miserable circumstances he realizes God is as powerful as ever. So Judges 16:28, “then Samson called to the Lord and said.” What they have done, you remember, he is blind and he asked the servant as they are mocking him, would you set me by the pillars of the house so I can brace myself, so I can hold myself up. So they do. Then Samson calls to the Lord, oh Lord God. No lack of confidence in all this in God, faith in Him. “Please remember me, please strengthen me just this time, oh God.” And Samson said, verse 30, “let me die with the Philistines. And he pushed on the pillars,” you know this is a mighty feat of strength, these are pillars built to hold up a house in which 3,000 people have assembled. And they are all going to die in the collapse of this house, along with Samson.

You see the faith of this man. We look and say, it's too bad the other things are there. You know I can't help but think as I think of these men, how gracious God is. When we come to Hebrews 11, it's not their failures that are recorded, it's their faith. And you remember for us Paul wrote to the Corinthians and told them, when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, the wood, hay and stubble will be burned up and we will be rewarded on what is left. How gracious God is. Doesn't excuse our failures—the wood, hay and stubble—but I'm glad that's not what God will remember and mark us. We will be rewarded on what is left and that's the testimony here of these of faith. They failed. What we learn is, sad that they weren't more consistent, but praise God for their faith. And Samson is someone who testifies to great faith in God and was used of God to accomplish great things.

The next person, Jephthah. And he is before Samson. So we have to back up to Judges 11-12. And what do we remember about Jephthah? Well, after a great victory he had promised God that he would offer as a sacrifice the first living thing that came out of his house, thinking maybe it would be his most precious animal, at the worst one of his slaves. But it was his only child, his daughter, the only child he had. And now he had made a vow to the Lord. We remember that and we say, what a rash vow. But he was a man of great faith. In Judges 11:29, the first line, “now the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah.” And so he gathers the soldiers he is going to use to bring deliverance from the affliction of the Ammonites. Verse 30, “Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

And the end of verse 32, “as he crosses over and engages the Ammonites, the Lord gave them into his hand.” And the Ammonites are defeated. Great faith. He realizes and acknowledges victory here depends upon the Lord. Only you, Lord, can give me the victory. I don't go here in my own strength. And he shows his faith in the Lord when he promises to give an offering to the Lord out of that which would be precious to him. He didn't realize how precious. But he makes that commitment to the Lord, and he realizes his victory will be complete if the Lord gives it to him, because he says, verse 31, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon. If the Lord is going to give him a victory, it will be a complete victory and I will offer whatever comes out the door of my house.

Verse 34, “when Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines, dancing. Now she was his one and only child, besides her he had no son or daughter.” This is terrible for a man in these days. Your family line is done. And yet the indication is he keeps his vow. How he kept it, there is much discussion. But for sure we know she never had any children because it became a regular practice to celebrate her virginity. Whether she was offered as a literal sacrifice or she was set aside and devoted to the Lord and never married to have a family. The point is Jephthah was a man of faith and he trusted the Lord for the victory over the Ammonites. And then to honor the vow that he made. A man of great faith.

The next man in the list in Hebrews 11, we've not been going back there because there are just the names listed, is David. David's life is recorded from 1 Samuel 16 to 1 Kings 2, he is the key figure from 1 Samuel 16 through 2 Samuel and into the opening couple chapters of 1 Kings. We're just going to look at one account, 1 Samuel 17. We'll just pick up this account, one of the most familiar of David's life, but there are a number of examples of David's faith. He was not a perfect man, he stumbled. And he is brought as an example of the kind of faith we need to have to be used of God and experience God's blessing in our lives. And as a young man he comes out, you are familiar, he is a shepherd. His brothers, the older brothers are out with the armies of Saul to do battle with the Philistines, and the Philistines have a great champion. And that champion is Goliath. And the Philistine champion would come out and challenge the armies of Israel.

Verse 26, “then David spoke to the men who were standing by him.” And Goliath comes out, makes his challenge. And look at David, he is a shepherd come to join the armies of Israel. Saul who is head and shoulders above the average man, he is kingly in appearance as well as the king. And this vast army of Israel intimidated by this giant of towering stature. What does David say? The end of verse 26, “for who is this uncircumcised Philistine.” Calling him an uncircumcised Philistine notes he is not one of God's covenant people. He is not part of the covenant that God made with Israel. That he should taunt the armies of the living God? David is aghast. Who is this man who has the audacity to taunt the armies of the living God? He is an uncircumcised Philistine.

Well, it's easy to talk. What does David go on? Verse 32, “he said to Saul” when he has opportunity to speak to him, “let no man's heart fail on account of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.” Oh, really? Saul said, “you can't go fight him. You are just a kid.” He said, “when I kept the sheep I had to protect the sheep, so I killed both a lion and a bear,” verses 34-35. And so verse 36, what's the big deal? “This man, giant that he is, fierce warrior that he is, we are the armies of the living God. I serve Him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, this uncircumcised Philistine will be one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living God. David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion, from the paw of the bear, He'll deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Is that faith?

You know one thing to have had the Lord work in your past. That's great, I can thank the Lord for the way He has worked, the way He blessed, the way He provided, the way He has cared for me. And now I face another challenge. For David it's another of the same. I have the same God. Doesn't matter whether it's a lion, doesn't matter if it's a bear or it's Goliath. The God that I serve isn't defeated by a lion, He isn't defeated by a bear. He's not defeated by a Philistine.

So we know the story. They try to arm David, put some armor on him, a sword. Saul is a big man, David is not. I can't go out here in this. That's all right. I'll just take my slingshot. Good battle strategy. You charge down after this man coming at you with his sword and your slingshot. For us it's a no-brainer, we've read the outcome. As I've told you, I like to read the last chapter of the book—how did they die? What was the result? Then I go back and see what led up to that. We've read the last chapter, Goliath dies. David didn't have to read the last chapter, he knew the outcome. Why? I believe in the God of Israel, I will trust Him. And that becomes a pattern of David's life. It's not a life without stumbles, but he is an example of trusting God.

The last man mentioned in our list in Hebrews is Samuel. Now Samuel goes back before David. Samuel will be the one who anoints Saul as king and who anoints David as king. The life of Samuel is covered through the first 24 chapters of 1 Samuel; then he dies at the beginning of 1 Samuel 25. Samuel bridges the gap. He is the last of the judges of Israel. 1 Samuel 7:15-17 we're told that Samuel judged Israel. So the period of the judges where we looked at Gideon and Samson and so on ends with Samuel. And the monarchy under Saul and then David will begin. Samuel, importantly, is also the first in the line of regular prophets. I say regular prophets because there have been prophets before Samuel. Deborah was a prophet. Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, the book of Jude tells us in Jude 14, I believe it is. Those are other prophets, but now we begin a line of prophets. Under Samuel there will develop a school of the prophets who carry on a regular prophetic ministry in Israel. And he is used of God to bring about the transition. He is a very godly man. He anoints Saul and then he has the job of telling Saul he has been rejected, and then he anoints David as king. He is a man of great faith and used greatly of God.

Then we have “the prophets,” and they are the last ones mentioned, not individually by name, but he mentions “the prophets” as a group. Then we'll go on and look further we see about what they accomplished and what they suffered. But he lumps them all together because with Samuel we begin the ministry of the prophets. How great was prophetic ministry in Israel, beginning with Samuel? This would encompass the coming prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Zechariah. One thing, remember, anytime you read about a prophet in Israel, you are in a time of spiritual decay and trouble in Israel. That means the prophets served in difficult, hard times; that meant it brought suffering to their lives. Jeremiah had to testify that the Word of the Lord through him brought him nothing but scorn and ridicule, hardship and suffering. That's a characteristic of the life of a prophet. Remember Ezekiel? God told him, “You go and tell these people what I've said; whether they listen to you or not, you tell them. In fact I want to tell you they won't listen to you, but you still tell them.” Different than what we think today. We try to gear our message to what people will like and want to hear instead of what God has said. The life of a prophet was a difficult one. But they trusted God and God worked through them to accomplish His purposes.

All this is recorded for what? Interesting history? No, to remind these Hebrew Christians who received this letter, you must continue in that line of faithful people who trust God in the worst of times, in the most difficult of times, in the most costly of times. You don't waver, you don't shake. You hold fast. Why did the Spirit of God put it here? So we could study it 2,000 years later, after these Hebrew Christians, and be reminded, you don't waver. We stand firm in our faith, in the God who has spoken, and the Word that He has given. And we are not going to be driven about by every wind of doctrine and idea of men. We have the Word of God, His promises as the anchor for our souls. Well, I don't think I'm facing the kind of things that Gideon faced or Samson faced. We are facing the things that God has seen fit to bring into our lives. He has placed us in the circumstances of our lives so that we could honor Him where we are in the time in which we live and being a continual record of what God does in His power through a people who trust Him.

Let's pray together. Thank You, God, for the riches of Your Word. Lord, it’s awesome to be reminded You are the same God who worked powerfully in the lives of those whom we have considered together. You are our God, we are Your people, we have Your Word and Your promises, we trust You, we believe what You have said. Lord, may we be in the line of these faithful individuals who remain firm, who trusted You and saw You work in and through them. May that be the testimony of our lives. We pray in Christ's name, amen.