Hebrews - Heroes of Faith

Well, not all the giants of faith are named in Hebrews 11. Verse 32 we read, "And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again." He said, "I don't have time to tell you about all of the great heroes of faith." Not all of their works are listed and not all of their names are included.

You'll notice in the middle of Hebrews 11:35 and then through the end of the chapter, "and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment."

Goes on to list some of the trials these people went through, from which they were not always delivered. You see, there are two groups of people here in verses 32 through 40. There are those who were delivered from trouble and those who were delivered in trouble. Sometimes God does the miraculous, sometimes God gives us the grace to endure.

Not every one of these heroes of faith escaped the mouths of lions. Some of them were thrown to the lions; some of them were slain by the sword; some of them were put into prison, were scourged and mocked. We even have people who were sawn asunder, Hebrews 11:37. And the Jewish tradition is that this is the prophet Isaiah.

The point that he's making is simply this: Not all of their works are listed, not all of their names are listed, and not all of their experiences are identical. The key word here is variety. Let's think about the variety that comes when you live by faith.

To begin with, there is a variety of persons here. What a mixture you have here. You have men and women. Behind Barak, of course, you had Deborah and Jael, who took that nail and pounded it through Sisera's head. So behind Barak, you had some believing women.

Samson, oh my, you had some unbelieving women there who got him into trouble. You have men and women; down in Hebrews 11:35, women received their dead. Back in the early part of the chapter, of course, you had Sarah, Abraham's wife, who was a great woman of faith.

You see the parents of Moses; you have Moses' mother in Hebrews 11:23 along with Moses' father. You have men and women. You see, in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is neither male nor female, there is neither rich nor poor, bond nor free, Jew nor Gentile.

Your first birth is no handicap when it comes to things spiritual. Whether you were born in one race or another is no handicap. Whether you were born high society or low society, if there is such a thing, it’s no handicap. Male or female, no handicap at all, because God uses a variety of persons.

We have a young man like David who went out and killed a giant. You have older people like Abraham. God had to wait for 25 years to get Abraham dead enough to be able to do the miracle of sending Isaac to bless their home. You have Jews and Gentiles.

Here's Rahab, who would belong to the Gentiles in Jericho. She was an outcast. You have people who had the privilege of walking with the saints. You have, for example, Joshua, who had the joy of working with Moses and learning from Moses.

Then you have people like Gideon, who didn't have a chance to learn from anybody; all of a sudden God called him. You have men and women, young and old. You have a fellow named Jephthah who was the son of a harlot—not a very good beginning, is it? Rejected by his own brethren, yet he became a great judge in the land and conquered the Ammonites.

Here's Gideon, who was nothing but an ordinary dirt farmer. When God called Gideon, Gideon was hiding from the enemy. You have shepherds like David, and you have soldiers, and you have all kinds of people—a variety of persons involved in faith.

And I say it again: faith is not based upon your first birth. It's not personality, it's not IQ, it's not talent, it's not family, it's not economics. Faith is a spiritual matter between you and God. And when you are born again, you are put into the same family, into the same relationship as these great heroes of faith that you admire. You say, "Oh, if I could only be like Abraham." Well, you have everything and more since you've trusted Jesus Christ than Abraham ever had.

A variety of persons. Now, what did they have in common? Well, they heard God's word. That's what they had in common. They listened for God's voice. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. They heard God's word; they were stirred by God's word. These were not passive, complacent people who sat in their rocking chair and watched the rest of the world go by.

These were people whose eyes were open to the vision of what God could do. Oh, how we need leadership like this today. Abraham was stirred; the God of glory appeared to Abraham. And Abraham was stirred and left his native city, Ur of the Chaldees, a great city, and went off and marched right off the map.

And I imagine his neighbors said, "I wonder what ever happened to that fellow Abram and Sarai, his wife. They vanished some years ago. I wonder what ever happened to them." Well, they walked right into Hebrews 11, where God has honored them as men and women of faith.

They heard God's word and they were stirred by God's word. What stirs you today? Does God's word stir you at all? Do you have a vision? Has your heart caught the vision of what God can do today?

These were ordinary people, but they were gifted because they believed God and they had faith. They believed God's word and they acted upon it. I've been saying it over and over again; I'll repeat it: In the Bible, faith is not believing in spite of evidence; faith is obeying God in spite of circumstance and in spite of consequence. They believed and they acted, and they dared to be different.

Secondly, I notice that there's not only a variety of persons, but a variety of problems. Faith overcomes all kinds of problems. They subdued kingdoms. David, for example, overcame six great nations. The judges who are named—five different judges are named here because Samuel was also one of the judges—these judges overcame those who had invaded the nation of Israel. Here you have, by faith, international and national conflict, and God gives victory.

Now, our nations today do not have the same covenant relationship with God that Israel did. I know that. But I still believe that God can subdue kingdoms through faith. I believe that if we pray, God can work on the national and international scene if we will but exercise faith. History shows how that God has worked on behalf of His people when they have prayed. They subdued kingdoms. They wrought righteousness. That's the positive.

The negative is defeating the enemy; the positive is to bring about righteousness. The prophets did this—Elijah, Elisha, Samuel. It's not enough just to defeat the enemy on the outside; we have to defeat the enemy on the inside. What's the enemy on the inside? Sin. How do you defeat sin? Righteousness. And so by faith, they wrought righteousness.

Oh, it's a marvelous thing when God's people believe Him and they build righteousness into churches, into schools, into communities, into lives. They obtained promises. Not only the things that were promised, but the promises. Do you have the kind of a relationship to God by which He can give you promises? These people, through faith and patience, received the promises.

They stopped the mouths of lions. This, of course, reminds us immediately of the great man Daniel. Daniel didn't just kill the lions—now David did that, and Samson did that—but he stopped the mouths of the lions. The lions were still there, but they couldn't get after him. Spurgeon said that the lions couldn't eat Daniel because Daniel was 99% backbone and gristle. Well, there's a lot of truth to that.

Stopped the mouths of lions. We are surrounded by enemies. Satan goes about as a roaring lion, and we can stop the mouths of the enemy because we have faith. Oh, that's a marvelous thing. Quenched the violence of fire. Doesn't say they quenched the fire. When the three Hebrew children went into the fire, there in Daniel 3, they didn't put the fire out. The fire just couldn't hurt them. That's what he's talking about.

We go into experiences that ought to destroy us, that ought to ruin us, and yet by faith, God takes all the power out of them and they don't hurt us; they help us. These men stepped out of the furnace, didn't even smell like fire. Stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword. Now, God does not always let people escape. The people in verses 36 through 40 did not always escape. Some of them were killed. David escaped the sword of Saul. Samson was out defeating the enemy.

Elijah escaped the sword of Jezebel—didn't quite go about it the right way, but many of these people were protected in the dangers of life because God was honoring their faith. Well, they escaped the edge of the sword; out of weakness were made strong. Doesn't say that their weakness was replaced by strength; it says that their weakness became strength.

Gideon was just an ordinary, scared farmer hiding from the enemy, threshing some wheat, and he kept saying, "Well, why are these things happening? And where are the miracles we used to see?" Here is a weak man who defeated the enemy, and all he had were 300 soldiers who were trusting God with him. We think we have to have a great crowd filling an arena to get God's work done. We have to call a committee meeting. God lays hold of a man, a woman of faith; out of weakness were made strong.

Yes, faith involves a variety of persons, and faith conquers a variety of problems, and you know, faith brings out a variety of potential. Oh, this is the great thing about this list of names.

Who would have thought that David, the shepherd boy, would have become a great conqueror, a writer of beautiful psalms, a great victor for God? Who would have believed this? Samuel himself didn't believe it when the number one son came in of Jesse's family. Samuel said, "Aha, this must be the man. He's so tall and experienced." And God said, "He's not the man." "Is there anybody else left?"

"Yeah, we've got a boy, a young fellow out there taking care of the sheep." Oh, the potential that's released when you trust God. Jephthah, what a bad beginning he had. Born to a harlot, rejected by his family, and yet by faith, the potential that was released. Gideon, I keep going back to him. That frightened farmer who became a great leader for God. And you? God hasn't changed, and faith hasn't changed, and God's promises haven't changed.

We have changed. I tell you, there's still time for some more names to be added. There's still room for some more names to be added. Are you going to be among them?

Hebrews 11:35: "Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others—" and the word "others" in verse 36 is the Greek word that means others of a different kind. That is, their experience was different from that of the people named in the previous section.

"And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

Beware of comparing your spiritual experience with the experiences of others, including people in the Bible. God's principles are the same for every believer, but His plans and His purposes may be different. We see this in Hebrews 11. In the first part of this chapter, verses 1 through 35, the early part of 35, you see deliverance. By faith, these people were delivered. But now when we get to this second section, beginning about Hebrews 11:35 in the middle of the verse, others were tortured and not delivered. Others were experiencing trials of mockings and scourgings.

Whereas in verse 34, people escaped the edge of the sword by faith, in verse 37, people were slain with the sword. You see, in the first part of Hebrews 11, you have the people who escaped by faith, and then you have the people who endured by faith. Sometimes God delivers us from trouble, but sometimes He delivers us in trouble.

In the early part of this chapter, you have people named—Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, and so forth. Now you have a bunch of unnamed people. Nobody tells us who they are, but they went through all kinds of difficulty. You would think that God would have named the people who had these martyr experiences, but He doesn't; we'll meet them someday in glory.

The point I’m making is this: all of these people were heroes of faith. Verse 39: "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise." The people who were slain with the sword were believers just as much as those who escaped the sword. In Acts 12, you find James being killed with a sword and Peter being thrown in prison. And then Peter is delivered in a miraculous way. Now, how do you explain that James was killed and Peter was kept alive? Was Peter a greater man of faith than James? No, no, not in the least.

God's sovereign purposes were being fulfilled. Two wonderful truths come out to us from Hebrews 11:35 through 40. First truth is this: the life of faith can be costly. For example, in verse 35, we have people being tortured, not accepting deliverance. The word tortured here means put on the rack and beaten; put on the wheel and stretched out and then beaten. And what is this "better resurrection" of verse 35? Well, it's a better resurrection than the one at the beginning of verse 35.

"Women received their dead raised to life again," referring probably to the boys that were raised to life by Elijah and Elisha. All right, they were raised to life to die. In other words, they came back to life, they lived their lives, they died.

These who were tortured did not accept deliverance. They said, "We're not going to recant; we're not going to turn our back on the faith; we're not going to go back. We are going to stay true to the Lord." All right, they died. Now, when they are raised from the dead, it's not to die again; it's that better resurrection when they will be raised with glorified bodies to have eternal glory with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 35 is not suggesting that some saints have a better resurrection than others. The contrast is not from one saint to another, but between the two resurrections in verse 35. And then there were, in verse 36, those who had cruel mockings. People jeered at them. We have here official persecution. Cruel mocking, scourgings—in some parts of the world, this is going on today. We don't know much about this in the United States of America, but in some parts of the world, there is intense persecution going on.

Verse 37, they were stoned. They were sawn asunder; Isaiah, according to tradition, was sawn in half by a wooden sword. They were tempted. Well, of course they would be tempted. Going through experiences like this would test your faith. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute. In other words, they didn't have clothing and food and shelter. They were afflicted; they were tormented; ill-treated.

People did not even treat them like human beings because they were destitute. They wandered in deserts, in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And someone says, "Well, why didn't God take care of them?" He did. There's nothing in the Bible that says God has to give me three meals a day, seven days a week. It might do me good to lose a few meals. Doesn't say in the word of God that God will always give me a roof over my head. The Apostle Paul didn't always have a roof over his head.

The life of faith can be costly. Of course, the greatest example of this is our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:2, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross." Oh, He was scourged; He was whipped. He was deprived of His civil rights; He was mocked. But He went where no one else has ever gone; He died for our sins on the cross. Now, many people have been crucified and endured physical suffering, but not the spiritual suffering our Lord endured, despising the shame.

Hebrews 12:3: "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself." The life of faith can be costly. Secondly, the life of faith is always rewarded. Not always with physical and material blessing, but always with help, always with grace. There is always provided for the faithful servant of God, the faithful child of God, just the grace that is needed. To begin with, according to Hebrews 11:38, because of their faith and their suffering, these people became people of worth: "of whom the world was not worthy."

Now, the world didn't think these people were very worthy. Society rejected them; society laughed at them, persecuted them, and killed them, and said, "Get rid of them. They're not worth having around." God said, "You don't know what you're talking about. These people are the salt of the earth." Don't worry about what people think about you. The important thing is, can God say of you, "of whom the world was not worthy"? They were people who were worthy to be living on the earth and ministering God's word and serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only that, they received God's witness. Verse 39: "And these all, having obtained a good report—" or having received witness. Now, it doesn't mean they gave their witness. That's true, that's true, they did. But they received witness from God that they were serving Him and pleasing Him. "And these all having received witness through faith." Now, it's a wonderful thing to know that God is bearing witness that you are living the kind of a life that pleases Him, that He might be able to look down upon us and say, "This is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased."

Notice in verse 39, they did not receive the promise. That means they didn't receive the thing promised. They did not see the Messiah. During their lifetime, the Savior did not come. But that's all right. They were faithful, and God witnessed to them.

And verse 40 says that the two of us—these dear people of faith under the old covenant and those of us who are part of the new covenant—the two groups really are one: "God having provided some better thing for us." Don't put these saints on a second-class ticket. It's a marvelous thing to know that I'm a part of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Noah and Enoch and Moses. We're all part of God's great people. The life of faith can be costly, but the life of faith is always rewarded.