WWUTT 1877 What More Shall I Say (Hebrews 11:32-34)

We've been going through Hebrews 11 and hearing all these names of these people who believed by faith.

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David and Samuel and the prophets, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study of Hebrews 11. I'm going to pick up today in verse 32 and read to the end of the chapter out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And what more shall

I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection, and others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection.

And others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword.

They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect.

I hope you've been enjoying this slow plod through Hebrews 11, as we've been strolling through the hall of faith.

But I hope to finish up this walk by tomorrow, God willing. We are coming down to the end of this list of names.

Yesterday, we considered Israel, marching around the walls of Jericho seven times, letting out a shout and the blast of the trumpets, and the walls came a -tumbling down.

Verse 31, by faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish, along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace.

And what a great story that is. A woman who was a prostitute, living in a pagan kingdom, and yet she helped the spies who came in, and followed their instructions, so that when

Israel came against Jericho, she and all of her household were spared. We can even see from the archaeological evidence of Jericho that has been dug up, a section of wall that remained, which was surely where Rahab's house was.

When the walls fell, her house remained. And God not only spared her the judgment that came against Jericho, but he redeemed her.

This woman who was a prostitute, wed a Jew, and became an ancestor in the line of the

Christ who would come. How amazing a story is that? And if God can forgive

Rahab, then surely he can forgive, surely he does forgive, you and me, by faith in Jesus Christ.

All of these names that we have been reading about here in Hebrews have been examples of faith.

That we would have faith as they had faith, and that we gain approval through faith.

That's said at the beginning of Hebrews 11, and it's said at the end here, you probably noticed that phrase come up again, in verse 39.

So we who believe by faith, our sins are forgiven, we are justified, we have fellowship with God, and are fellow heirs of his eternal kingdom.

Christ is the Messiah, and that has been established in the book of Hebrews from the very first chapter.

He who died, rose again, ascended on high, and is seated at the right hand of God.

And how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? So hold fast to the truth of this gospel that has been proclaimed, which you have heard, and hold fast to the end.

We've been reading about men and women who did just that. They believed

God, and it was credited to them as righteousness. The first name that we saw in Hebrews 11 was

Abel, and then Enoch, and then Noah, and then we read about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and the

Israelites, Rahab. And verse 32, what more shall

I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah.

These are judges, all of those names in the book of Judges. Gideon, of course, you know the story of Gideon. He with his sheepskin, his fleece, he did not believe

God when God appeared to him and said that he was going to lead an army against the Midianites.

And so to prove that Gideon was in fact going to be successful against the

Midianites, he laid out the fleece, and he said that if you are truly with me, then let there be dew in the fleece, but the rest of the ground be dry.

And so sure enough, he gets up the next morning and he wrings out the fleece, but then he goes, well, maybe I had that backwards.

Let's go the other way. Let's have there be dew on the ground, but the fleece be dry.

And then the next morning, that's exactly what he received. God was patient with Gideon, though he was stubborn and kind of cowardly.

But he he ends up leading this army of 300 men and defeats tens, hundreds of thousands.

One of the most popular stories in secular culture is the story of the 300

Spartans, they've even made movies about this. There's been several movies about the 300 Spartans.

They went up against the Persians, wouldn't it? But they all died. The 300 Spartans died, though this is considered to be like this riveting, inspiring story.

They all died. Gideon didn't lose a single man. And they defeated hundreds of thousands with just 300

Gideon and his 300 soldiers. Of course, this was all the work of God. God had whittled it down to 300 soldiers so that when they were successful, the glory would go to God and not to man.

But still, how incredible a story that is and all the glory to God. But we don't make movies out of that story.

Everybody seems to be enamored by the 300 Spartans. And, you know, I really think that God allows that so that he demonstrates the foolishness of people.

You would rather have what you believe to be a heroic tale of these

Spartans who all died in battle. You would rather have that than hear about the glory of God that's demonstrated in Gideon's 300.

Now, Gideon disobeyed God. In fact, you know, all these names, every name that we're reading about here disobeyed

God. We read about how Moses disobeyed God and wasn't allowed to see the promised land.

Even Gideon disobeyed God. Barak, Barak, sorry, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, all of the judges disobeyed

God. Their their flaws are highlighted and they seem to be getting worse and worse. The more that you go through judges, because what the digression is being demonstrated there in the book of Judges is that the people did what was right in their own eyes.

There was no king, everybody did what they thought was right. That's a continuing thing that comes up in judges.

So every judge was flawed, but they're still commended. Even here in Hebrews 11, they're committed because they had faith.

Gideon had faith, even put his life on the line because he believed God. Barak, same thing.

Now, Barak was not a judge, not technically anyway. He should have been the judge, but he was kind of cowardly himself, just like Gideon.

He was braver than you and I. He just did not obey

God. He did not trust God when God told him to lead the armies against the Canaanites.

Deborah was the judge in Israel at that time. Barack should have been judge, but because he wasn't brave enough, nor were some of the rest of the men in Israel, in Judah, they did not trust

God. And so God put a woman as judge over them to shame them.

And Deborah even said she told Barack that because he won't trust God and he was asking

Deborah to lead him by the hand into war, Deborah said God is going to give the victory to a woman and not to you.

And it wasn't herself that she was speaking of. She was referring to JL, JL, the the stay at home wife who ended up nailing

Cicero's head to the ground. And so the final blow was dealt by a stay at home wife, don't mess with stay at home wives instead of Barack, he did not get the glory for that battle.

The glory went to a woman. Now, God used Deborah and JL to shame the men because they were not listening to the

Lord. And so women got the glory as a result of that instead of the men.

But if Barack had been the brave one, then he would have surely been the judge, because all of the judges, except for Deborah, were also military leaders.

Now, Deborah did not fight in war. She led Barack to the place where he was going to come up against the

Canaanites, but she herself did not take up arms and lead the army against the Canaanites. He said that he wouldn't go unless Deborah went with him.

And she went. But she did not fight in the battle. The battle was led by Barack.

And that's why he gets the credit here in Hebrews 11 for being the hero of faith and not

Deborah. It's kind of strange as we got this short list of judges. This isn't all of the judges in the book of judges.

But why is Barack mentioned and not Deborah? Because Barack put his life on the line and she did not.

That's what all of the judges have in common. Every one of them were willing to risk their lives in obedience to God.

They believed God by faith, even though Barack and Gideon were both kind of cowardly.

Nonetheless, they did believe and they did do it. And now they're in the hall of faith.

Still more bravery than you and I have. Like I said, or I don't know, maybe you have been in battle.

You have seen those things before. But most of us probably wouldn't have the courage that Gideon and Barack did.

And so because they were willing even unto their own deaths to obey

God, they had faith and they're given to us as examples. Even Samson.

Now, that one's astonishing. So we have Gideon. We have Barack. We've got Samson. Like I said, as you go through judges, it just seems like the judges get worse and worse.

And Samson is by far the most disobedient. He not only goes against the

Nazarite vow that he was under, but he was carousing around with prostitutes, even got married, committed adultery.

And then he was with prostitutes like Delilah, a Philistine prostitute. For that matter, he really had a thing for Philistine women.

He lied. He cheated. He stole. He caroused. He got drunk. And the last straw, the last part of his

Nazarite vow that he had not yet broken was the cutting of his hair.

So his hair was supposed to be untouched from the moment of his birth. And he had these braids in his head.

His hair had never been cut. A razor had never touched his head. And he had these long braids, his long hair had been put into these braids.

And he tells Delilah that if you cut my hair, I'll be as weak as any man.

And so she does that. Has a Philistine come in, cut his hair and then says, the Philistines are upon you,

Samson. And he rises up to defeat them as before, not realizing that his strength had left him.

The Holy Spirit had departed from him, which was really the source of his strength. It wasn't in his hair.

It was it was God who was with him, but the Holy Spirit was not with him anymore. Abandon him because of his continued disobedience.

And he was given into the hands of the Philistines who gouged his eyes out. They put him on a mill. They worked him like a mule.

Now, we often depict Samson. You'll see him depicted in TV shows, movies, illustrations, things like that.

We often depict Samson as being an Arnold Schwarzenegger type. He's a bodybuilder. He's a big guy, decked out, stacked.

He probably wasn't that big a guy because the Philistines did not just automatically know that he was going to be this strong dude that nothing would be able to restrain him, no matter what bindings you put on him.

Even if you close the city gates, he could lift the gates up by himself and carry them miles and then deposit them on this hill.

He had strength from God and probably didn't look like he was all that strong. Maybe he looked stronger than most.

I just don't think he was a bodybuilder type because his strength was not in his physique.

His strength was in the Lord who gave him that strength. Though Samson disobeyed, he was repentant of the sin that he had done.

God humbled him. And when he was grinding at that mill and then later on was chained between two pillars and made to entertain the

Philistines. They were laughing and jeering at him. This was the champion who had made fools of us.

And now we're making a fool out of him. And while he was there between those pillars, he asked

God for one last bit of strength, leaned against the pillar. The house fell and thousands of Philistines were killed.

So was Samson. Samson died as well, but he believed God. He was repentant.

God forgave him. And by faith, he obeyed finally at the very end.

And ended up destroying many of the Philistines as a result of that. So even this man who had done so wickedly,

God was merciful to him. And here we have Samson who was willing to give his life in faith, listed in the hall of faith.

Jephthah, boy, that's a story, isn't it? Jephthah, how does he end up here?

This is the guy who sacrificed his own daughter. He burned his daughter as a sacrifice to God.

Yet he's in the hall of faith. Because he had risked his own life. He was willing to give his life in obedience to God.

Yeah, he sacrificed his daughter's life. That was terrible enough. But nonetheless, Jephthah was listed as a godly man.

And as I said, as you go through judges, you see the judges getting progressively worse.

Jephthah kept company with fools. That's the way that he's described.

The people that he surrounded himself with were foolish men.

And so, of course, he makes this foolish vow that results in his daughter being sacrificed. But because he was willing to give his life in obedience to God, then he's listed in the hall of faith.

These men are not righteous by their own merits. They're righteous because God is merciful.

Lot is not mentioned in the hall of faith, but he is mentioned in 2 Peter as being a righteous man.

This was a guy who had offered to give his own daughters to the wicked men of Sodom to try to protect the angels that had come into his home.

Here, have my daughters and do with them what pleases you. And, of course, they hated Lot for that.

They did not touch the daughters. But that one gesture, that one statement that he made makes people go, hey, what a horrible guy this was.

Yet 2 Peter refers to him as righteous. Why? Because Lot's righteousness was not on his own merit.

Lot's righteousness came from God. That God would forgive him and show approval to him even though, in and of himself,

Lot was not approved, right? Not even approved by our standards. We would think of Lot as being a jerk, yet his soul was troubled by the sin that went on around him.

And even he is cited to us as an example of righteousness. Now, we have these other names that are listed here.

Those that you probably know better than Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, you have David and Samuel.

David, surely, the second king of Israel, a man after God's own heart. He committed adultery.

And the woman that he committed adultery with, he had her husband, Uriah the Hittite, killed in battle.

And yet he's a man after God's own heart. He was penitent. We read about his repentance in Psalm 51.

He says, do not remove your Holy Spirit from me. Create in me a clean heart,

O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. And the Lord responded to his request.

And yet it's from the line of David would eventually come the Savior, Jesus Christ. You have

Samuel. Samuel, who was a prophet of God. He was, in fact, the last judge.

All things considered, based on what we read about in Judges and then coming into 1 Samuel, Samuel was the last judge.

He anoints Saul to be the first king of Israel. And so when the monarchy began, the judges ended.

There were still judges in Israel, but it wasn't that Israel was guided and led by the judges. They now had a king.

So Samuel, in his faithfulness to God, was even willing to give his life. He risked his life going to Jesse's house to anoint the next king after Saul.

Saul surely would have sought him and killed him. Yet Samuel was faithful to the Lord. And we have the mention of the prophets, just the prophets in general.

Samuel was a prophet, but the other prophets, prophets that came later, like Elijah and Elisha and Micaiah and Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, major prophets, minor prophets.

You know, the only reason we call them major and minor prophets isn't because of rank of importance.

It's because Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, they're the longest prophets.

That's why we call them the major prophets. Then the rest of them are a little bit shorter.

So we call those the minor prophets. That's the difference between those. But anyway, so you have the prophets that are listed here.

And these men also willing to obey God, even to their deaths or, or willing to give their lives, risk their lives in obedience to God.

Now, now the last thing that we end with there in verse 32 and the prophets, the prophets in general, right at the beginning of verse 33, who through faith conquered kingdoms.

That has to be in reference to the kings and specifically the eight righteous kings in Judah.

There were 40 kings between the Northern kingdom, Israel and the Southern kingdom,

Judah. But there were only eight who were righteous and all eight of them reigned over Judah. That was

Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah.

There's the, there's the eight righteous kings for you there. But through faith in God, they conquered kingdoms.

They performed righteousness. They obtained promises. They shut the mouths of lions.

Now, surely that's Daniel in the lion's den, right? Quenched the power of fire.

That's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They escaped the edge of the sword. They were made strong from weakness.

Even the apostle Paul would qualify for that. Second Corinthians chapter 12, where the

Lord says to him, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Now, I think this is an old Testament reference here in verse 34, but nonetheless, you could say that Paul qualified for that as well.

He was made strong from weakness. They became mighty in war. They put foreign armies to flight and all of this by faith.

These are our examples that we would believe as they did and by faith in God, by faith in his word, we believe what the

Bible says is true. We believe what the Bible says about Jesus and by faith in this, we are saved.

Not by faith in television Jesus, not by faith in ad campaign

Jesus, by faith in the biblical Jesus, your sins are forgiven and you have everlasting life.

Heavenly father, thanks for what we are reading here and may we hold fast to these truths all the more in our lives.

We're not looking to people outside the Bible to give us their interpretation so that we find what fits best with the way that I want to live my life.

Our lives are changed by the Bible. We don't change the Bible by our lives. We want our lives changed by your word so that we may know your son be filled with your spirit and know you father, our heavenly father who forgives us and gives us eternal life.

Strengthen our faith. Lord, I believe now help my unbelief. We ask in Jesus name.

Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.