The Weak Made Strong

Hebrews 11:32-34

Charles Spurgeon in his commentary on the book of Hebrews said

Hebrews Exposition

Let us feel that we are men of another mold than to be afraid, that believing in God we do not know how to spell “cowardice.” As to fear of defeat or fear of man, we give that up for the craven dogs who slink at their master’s heels, and wear their master’s collar, and eat the garbage that his bounty throws to them. We do not care for the things that are seen; we have learned to live on an angel’s diet and to eat the bread that comes down from heaven.

As we draw close to end of our study of Hebrews 11 the author is now going to present us with a brief summary of the old Testament. Giving us a little snipped of some people and events that to the average person, would seem unlikely, and yet, are amazing stories of God’s providential grace.

So let’s open our Bibles to Hebrews 11:32-34 and take a look.

Pray

As we work through our text today I have broken our text down onto two sections.

Unlikely Heroes (32)

Unshakable faith (33-34)

Application

When we read through the list of names that the Apostle picked I find it fascinating that he didn’t decide to pick others for his list.

There are many names in scripture that he could have chosen to add to this list, Joshua, Daniel, Josiah, Hezekiah. There

Josiah was a righteous king who lead the people of Israel back to God and brought about a major religious reform in the land of Judah

Daniel was a prophet who refused to bow the knee to Nebuchadnezzar

Elijah and Elisha - Prophets whose names literally mark the beginning of the Major Prophetic Age

Or the Judges who were only mentioned in brief

Othniel

Ehud

Shamgar

All people who’s rap sheets were not as extensive as the names that the Apostle actually chose and yet we would also be familiar with.

Gideon while Gideon did attack the Midianite army with only 300 men, when you read his story, he was a man who was incredibly slow in taking up arms, looking for multiple signs before he would ever move forward. When God told him to boldly tear down prominent pagan idols, he waited until the evening so he could do his deed under the cover of night.

Barak Who was an appointed Judge called to take on the Jabin, the king of the Canaanites, refused to go into battle and only went after Deborah spurred him on and agreed to go with him into battle. Yes, they were victorious, but Deborah showed more courage than Barak did, and judged were meant to be fearless warlords.

Samson Many of are familiar with the story of Samson how he defeated Philistine kings and leaders, after he tore down the pillars of the place they were staying. But do you know how he got there in the first place? Samson was under a nazarite vow. He was never to cut his hair, it was meant to show his devotion to God. Yet, he was seduced by a Philistine woman and told her that his strength would leave when she cut his hair. Because of that he was shamed and paraded as a joke in front of the Philistine rulers, putting the people of Israel in jeopardy.

Jepthah was a mighty warrior who was fearless in battle, but even He made a wrong vow to sacrifice whatever would come out of his tent if the Lord would give him continued victory. Who comes out? His daughter and what is even worse is Jepthah goes through with the sacrifice doing something that no Israelite was ever supposed to do.

In face the entire book of Judges after Gideon, starts to really take a turn downhill to the point where the book ends in a Civil war and kidnapping women to be wives for the Benjamites.

When we