Real World Faith

Hebrews 11:32–40 KJV 1900

32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 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. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 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; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

What does faith look like in the real world? What do you think of when you think of the hero’s of faith? As we have been going through this chapter over these last few months we have looked at several of the hero’s of faith in the Old Testament and that faith has taken many different forms. For Able faith was obeying God in offering a blood sacrifice. For Enoch faith was manifest in pleasing God because without faith it’s impossible to please God because those who come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. For Noah faith was building and ark and saving his family. Faith took many forms in Abraham’s life in that he went to an unknown land that God would show him, he lived as a stranger in a land that God had promised him, he had a child in his old age with Sarah. And Sarah’s faith was revealed in the birth of Isaac at the age of 90 even though she had been bearen her whole life. Abraham faith took it most impressive form when he was willing to offer Isaac the son of faith, as a burnt offering at the command of God. Isaac demonstrated his faith in the promise of God in blessing Jacob and Esau, and Jacob’s faith was seen in his blessing of the sons of Joseph. Joseph’s faith was evident in that he believed the promise of God that they would come out of Egypt and inherit the land of promise so much so that he instructed the children of Israel to carry his bones out with them when they leave. Faith was revealed in the life of Moses from his birth to his choice to suffer with God’s people rather than enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season right through to his leading of the Israelites out of Egypt and through to the promised land. Faith took the form of a great victory in the battle of Jericho and faith saved the life of Rahab and her family because it was by faith that she saved the lives of the spies.

Faith:

“belief and trust in and loyalty to God” - Merriam-Webster

Faith is not some magical force that we can summon by concentration. It’s not like the force in Star Wars. Faith is not blind faith is based on evidence

Hebrews 11:1 KJV 1900

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:6 KJV 1900

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

All that we read of in this chapter it the results of ordinary people simply believing in God and trusting in His Word. This is why faith takes so many forms because faith will look different for every single person. It’s believing that God is and that he rewards those who seek him diligently and the application of that to our particular circumstances so faith looks different for everyone.

As we come to the close of this chapter the apostle brings to our attention the fact that this subject of faith in inexhaustible He has only mentioned a few examples to spark the imagination of his readers to recall other examples in the Word of God as well as in their own lives. And so he puts forward the question “and what more shall I say?” Because even though he mentions a few more hero’s of faith if he were to try and tell their whole story it would take much more than this letter could contain and that would still not even scratch the surface. So instead he will only mention their names because he knows that his readers are familiar with these stories and they can consider them in detail on their own. But in this final list we can see faith manifest in many more ways and I believe i can give an indication of what faith really looks like in the real world.

1. List Of The Faithful

Hebrews 11:32 KJV 1900

32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Gedeon

The story of Gedeon is found in Judges 6-7 Gedeon was just an ordinary guy from a poor family who had a job threshing wheat. As he’s walking home one day he happens upon the Angel of the Lord sitting under an oak tree. The angel said to him “the Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour”. Then the angel proceeds to tell him that God had chosen him to save all Israel from the oppression of the Midianites. (they had been driven to hiding in the caves in the mountains). Then in order to have confirmation Gedeon made a special request of God. He said that he would put out a fleece on the threshing floor and if God would make the fleece wet with dew but the floor dry then he would know this was God’s will. After god caused the fleece to be wet and the floor dry he wanted more confirmation and so he ask God to make the floor wet with dew and the fleece dry. And again God confirmed as he requested. So then Gedeon had faith that God wanted him to lead the small army of Israel into battle against the great army Midianites. But just as they had gathered together the army of 32,000 men God tells Gedeon that his army is too big because when they win they will think that they did it in their own strength. So He tell Gedeon to send home any who are afraid. So the army of 32,000 became and army of 10,000. Then God says thats still too big. Take them to get a drink out of the river and all those who bow themselves and lap the water like a dog, send them home. So Gedeon by faith does as the Lord commanded and the army of 10,000 became and army of 300. So Gedeon leads and army of 300 men into battle against an army so large that they could not be numbered. It says that when they looked out over the valley that they were like grasshoppers for the multitude of them. They so many camels that they couldn’t be numbered and they were like the sand of the sea. We are talking about hundreds of thousands. And yet by faith Gedeon leads a charge with his 300 men that caused such fear and disorientation that the enemy began killing each other until they begin to flee and then all the men of Israel join the fight and killed everyone of them. Faith for Gedeon was to believe the word of God and obey and the result victory and deliverance from a great oppression.

Barak

in Judges 4 we find that Israel had been oppressed by the Canaanite King Jabin and the captain of his army Sisera for twenty years when Deborah the prophetess and judge told Barak that God was going to deliver Sisera and his army into his hand so he and Deborah go out with the an army of 10,000. When Sisera heard they were coming he prepared his army and 900 chariots but before Barak arrived the Lord went before him and by the time Barak and Deborah arrive they were already on the run so they chased after them until the killed everyone of them. The faith of Barak and Deborah was to simply believe God would do what he said he would do. The result, victory and deliverance from oppression.

Samson

By faith Samson had many victories over the Philistines and although his pride and lust nearly destroyed him his faith prevailed in the end and with one last act of faith he prayed that God would give him strength to pull down the pillars and bring the whole building down on himself and the Philistines that were there in the building. God answered his prayer gave and he pulled the whole building down killing himself and the Philistines and it says that he killed more in his death than in his life. So faith for Samson resulted in victory but also his own death.

Jephthea

We find this unlikely hero in Judges 11 a man who was the son of a harlot and disinherited of his family and rejected. And when the Ammonites showed up to make war with Israel they send for Jephthea to come and lead them into battle. Because Jephthea believed the Lord and believed that the land which the Ammonites claimed to be theirs was the land that the Lord had delivered into their hand. He went into battle and the result, again, was victory

David

David’s faith became evident at an early age with his encounter with the lion and the bear. He knew that God would deliver him from the lion and bear and so he knew that God would also deliver him and Israel from Goliath and the Philistines. Through faith David won many victories and endured the attacks from Saul. It was faith that gave him patience to wait for God’s timing in his taking the throne. And although David had his faults it was because of his faith that he was a man after God’s own heart. There are a multitude of examples of faith in Davids life.

Samuel

Samuel’s life began with the faith of his mother Hannah. Then as a young man he heard from the Lord and through faith he became an amazing prophet and helped Israel to find the king of God’s choice.

for each of these listed the basic element of faith is the same they believed in God and trusted in his word and evident by their obedience.

Faith Victories

The author the list many different results of great faith.

Hebrews 11:33–35 KJV 1900

33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 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. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

The hero’s of faith that we have read of the victories of faith that we find here, this is what faith looks like. It’s true all these things are a result of simply believing God, trusting in His word and acting in obedience. This is what simply faith can accomplish. But, what if I believe in God, trust in his word and I’m obedient yet I don’t have the victories in my life that are listed hear? There is a prevalent idea that faith alway results in victory, healing, prosperity. However, the faith that we read of here doesn’t promise any of that. In fact if we believe that faith will always result in healing, in deliverance, in victory then we have to stop reading at the first part of vs. 35, because if we read on we will find that the same faith that results in powerful deliverance and victory and prosperity and healing can also result in trials, affliction, sickness, poverty, pain, suffering, and even death.

The Others

A lot of what we have read about faith so far in the book of Hebrews has resulted in good outcomes. but not all. Able died because of faith, Moses gave up all the treasures of Egypt because he determined that suffering with the people of God was greater riches. But most everyone else was blessed, was victorious, was delivered. But what about the others.

Hebrews 11:35–38 KJV 1900

35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 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; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

These are the others. Was their faith different? no. Was their faith less? Probably more. See faith in the real world looks different. Sometime by faith God will deliver us from affliction, Sometime by the same faith we must not accept deliverance that we might obtain a better resurrection. Sometimes we pray for people and they are healed, sometimes they are not. Sometimes we pray for people to get a job and sometimes they do but sometimes they don’t.

Faith is not a magical force faith is simply believing in God and believing in His word and acting in obedience. Because we all have different circumstances in our lives then faith will look different for every person.

Hebrews 11:39–40 KJV 1900

39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Regardless of what form our faith takes in the here and now. One day all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ will receive the promise and we will all be made perfect together.