The world deemed them unworthy to live, unworthy to be comfortable, unworthy to be affirmed or approved or left alone. The world felt itself somehow diminished by their presence. The truth is, the world was not worthy of them. Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.
We've all had terrible days when, say, you didn't get the job you wanted, or you were at a loss for how to raise a rebellious teenager.
Some days are even worse than that, though, like when the doctor gives you a scary diagnosis, or you lose a loved one suddenly. In the midst of trials, no matter how great, how can you persevere in your faith?
Well, John MacArthur will help you with that today on Grace to You as he continues his study titled. A faith that pleases God. Today's lesson looks at a group of men in the Old Testament who faced trials of all kinds, yet who remained faithful and set an example for you and me to follow.
So, with the message, here's John. Hebrews chapter eleven. We have come to the end of this great faith chapter. It is monumental for a number of reasons. It is a monumental case laid for a relationship with God based on faith and not works.
It is monumental as well because it gives us a kind of summary of the Old Testament. It kind of sweeps us through from the family of Adam all the way through the prophets. Here we sweep through the basically the history of the Old Testament all the way to the end. We start with the Judges, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah. We touch on the Kings, David.
We touch on the first of the prophets since Moses, really Samuel, and then we sweep through the prophets with just an identification of the prophets, and then following that, there are all kinds of statements made about the kind of suffering that they endured, and in every case, their faith stood the test.
So let's just break it down. Let's talk about the courage and struggle that's illustrated here. There are six men. Mentioned to us in verse 32, and they are not in chronological order, but they were all very critical men in the nation of Israel who demonstrated their faith in God in crisis situations. They were all courageous in faith.
So let's just briefly look at them. The first one is a familiar name to us. His name is Gideon, and if you want to read the story of Gideon, you open your Bible to the seventh chapter of Judges. But Gideon is a judge.
Now, the term judge doesn't mean that they were the ruling president of the nation. It simply means they were elevated to a place where their leadership and their wisdom put them in a ruling position somewhere in the life and the land. Of Israel, this judge had to face the Midianites. The Midianite army had 135,000 men.
Now you remember the story of Gideon. You open your Bible to the seventh chapter of Judges. He starts out with 32,000, right? 32,000, not not impossible odds. But thirty-two thousand against a hundred and thirty-five thousand—not real good odds.
And then God comes to him and says, "You have way too many men. You have way too many men, Gideon. You got to pare this down and pare this down and pare this down. And finally, it gets pared down to three hundred. Three hundred.
Those are not good odds." Against one hundred and thirty-five thousand.
Now, of course, all military strategy is out the window at this point because there is no military strategy by which the three hundred men can defeat one hundred and thirty-five thousand soldiers.
So Gideon is now at the mercy of God. God has pared down his men to only three hundred.
So God is going to have to indicate what the strategy is. As to how these three hundred men are going to defeat one hundred and thirty-five thousand Midianites, God gives him strange instruction in the seventh chapter of Judges. He tells him to get pitchers, pitchers used to pour water, trumpets, and torches, and go find the Midianite army. You go find them. The Midianites panicked.
The Midianites. Rolled out of their bunks or off their pads on the ground, and massacred each other in an absolute slaughter, thinking they were fighting these massive hordes of Jewish troops who had descended upon them. Be pretty hard to believe God in that setting, unless you had a supernatural faith in a supernatural God. Then there was Barak. I love the story of Barak.
It's one of the most interesting of Bible stories. I will take you to this one because it's a little bit shorter. If you go back to Judges chapter four, Barak had ten thousand men, and he was going against the mighty and massive force of Sisera. Sisera was a Canaanite. Commander of some confederated chariot troops.
Incredible odds, no way to win. But God sent a message to Barak through a woman by the name of Deborah. Barak believed the message. Barak believed that God would give him the victory.
Well, of course, the victory came. It was an incredible victory. Skipping down to what I think is one of the most interesting events, the Lord routed Cisera, verse fifteen, and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak, just massacred them, and Cisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. That's the general of the army.
Well, that didn't work out. Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not even one was left. That is a massacre. Sisera is still running in the other direction. Listen to this: He ran, he fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite.
He was associated with Jabin. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Turn aside, my master. Turn aside to me. Don't be afraid." And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Come on in here, and I'll hide you.
He said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink, for I'm thirsty." So she opened a bottle of milk and gave him a drink, and then she covered him. He said to her, "Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, you and says, 'Is there anyone here?' that you shall say, 'No.'" But this is the interesting part. J.L. Heber's wife took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple. It went through into the ground, for he was sound asleep and exhausted.
I love the last line.
So he died. I guess if somebody ran a tent peg from one side of your head through the other into the ground, that would do it.
Well, then we come to Samson. Who doesn't know about Samson? Everyone knows about Samson. Judges thirteen to sixteen. He was Israel's champion against the Philistines, and of course, the Philistines we always identify, I think, as the primary enemy of Israel.
They seem to show up on the scene more often than any others. And in spite of his stupidity, in spite of his bad relationship with Delilah. In spite of his tragedy with Delilah, in spite of his loss of strength, this man had years of great, strong faith in God. He recovered from that, and he demonstrated great courage, stupendous courage and power. He trusted God.
Let's say not to pull the plug. He never feared the enemy. Never. First, in anger at the father of his Philistine wife for giving her away to somebody else, he tied the tails of three hundred foxes together with torches in between them, and set the torches on fire and sent them through the Philistine's grain field, burn them all up. He knew that could irritate the Philistines, and again, he's only one man, and he knows that God has given him his power.
And since it came from God, God could withdraw it at any point. But he has this strong faith in his calling. When the Philistines found out who did it, they killed Samson's wife and father-in-law. He even was more angry, and Scripture says he smote them with a great slaughter. When they tried to retaliate.
He took the jawbone of an ass and killed a thousand more of them. They tried to trap him in Gaza. He just picked up. Do you remember this? The city gates, post and beam, and walked up a mountain carrying them.
He believed the promise of God that God had called him to fight for Israel against the Philistines, even against unimaginable odds—one against tens of thousands—never fazed him. And finally, remember, after recovering strength, he went into the Philistine temple and brought it down on all of them. His last courageous. Act of self-sacrificing faith.
Now he knew his calling. He knew his calling. Listen to thirteen five of Judges. His parents are told, "Behold, this this young man. You're going to give birth to a son." You're going to conceive and bring forth a son.
No razor will come at his head, for the boy shall be a Nazarite that takes a vow of separation to God. From the womb, he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.
So he always knew when he was doing that that he would know and experience the power of God. This is faith. This is faith and nothing but faith, and he never flinched in conflict.
Now the next name that we see there is Jephthah. Jephthah, and he also is in the book of Judges. And the story about him is pretty brief. Verse thirty-two of chapter eleven: Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aror to the entrance of Minith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel Keramim.
So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel. Another group, of course, of Israel's Canaanite enemies were the Amorites, conquered again by the courage of Jephthah. We leave the book of Judges and we enter the book of First and Second Samuel because the next name is David, and we know many instances against all kinds of odds. Saul has killed his thousands, but David his. Ten thousands.
David was a triumphant, courageous general who fought the fight for the people of God. Of course, his most familiar fight was a one-on-one battle with what we might deem a human monster by the name of Goliath in chapter 17 of First Samuel. And Goliath is just shocked that they would send this little shepherd boy out against him, and he of course is the great hero of the Philistines. And so he says, verse forty-three: "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field." Then David said to the Philistine, probably in a squeaky voice, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted." Wow.
He would say that is a lot of moxie for a little shepherd boy. But we know the end of the story, don't we? Yes, it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David. That David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. He's running after it.
He's going into this battle full force in faith. David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it. And believe me, that was a divinely directed stone. I'm sure David was good because he had fought off the wild animals while he was protecting the sheep. But there was no way this one would miss.
Divine providence was involved. It struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead so that he fell on his face to the ground. Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
What in the world would give this man the courage to do what he did? It is faith in the calling of God. These are men of faith. The next name is Samuel, and for that, of course, we're already in First Samuel because we're where David is. Samuel also appears here in the first twenty-five chapters.
He dies in verse one of chapter twenty-five. Samuel was a great man of faith. He was he was facing a rebellious people. He was facing an idolatrous people. He faced them with the courage of great conviction.
He spoke God's word. He. Thought nothing of personal protection and personal safety. Samuel always said what he believed to be right against all threats. He was fearless when he warned people, and he warned people.
Believe me, including even the great high priest Eli. And you can go back to Hebrews chapter eleven because we're going to remain there for just a few more minutes. And here he just mentions the prophets, verse thirty-three, along with all the rest, who by faith or through faith, in every case, conquered kingdoms. Literally, katagnizomai, overcame, overpowered, overthrew. Literally means to fight down or to subdue.
And this would describe the judges. This would describe Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David. And they not only conquered kingdoms; they They wrought or they performed righteousness. Literally, they executed justice. They executed judgment.
Leaders who upheld justice in very, very challenging times. They were men who did what was right, no matter what the cost. Says of David, for example, in Second Samuel eight fifteen, David reigned over all Israel, and David administered. Justice and righteousness for all His people, and then we move past those when we come to the next phrase: "Shut the mouths of lions." Who does that describe? Daniel, Daniel chapter six, verses twenty-two and twenty-three.
Daniel, who obeyed God when it meant he had to go to the lion's den, believing God would take care of that, and God shut the mouths of the lions. Quenched the violence of fire. Who would that refer to? Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as we know them by their Babylonian names. Who, standing in the fire, were not burned.
And in fact, there was a companion in the fire. Very likely, an appearance of the Son of God. They conquered. They went into the fire. And what you remember?
What they said? They said, "We're not going to bow down to you." And if we go in the fire, we'll burn, or maybe we won't burn. But in any case, we will not bow down to you. They conquered by faith. It can be said of these heroes also: they escaped the edge of the sword.
Who was it that was always trying to kill David? Saul, wasn't it? No matter how often. Saul tried to get David's head within the reach of his sword; he never could. And then, of course, there was Goliath, and then there was Elisha.
Do you remember when Joram was rushing after Elisha in Second King six, wanting to kill him with his sword, but he could not? It further says about these heroes who lived by faith that they became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight. And we just read about them. Back to the judges and the kings, and even more of the kings, particularly in the southern kingdom. And then I love this: it is through the faith of these men, verse thirty-five, that women received back their dead by resurrection.
When did that happen? First Kings seventeen. That's Elijah, Elijah. Healing the dead son of the widow of Zarephath, and then in Second Kings four, it's Elisha raising the child of the Shumahite woman from the dead. But that's not the whole picture.
Sometimes God chooses not to let His people conquer in struggle, but rather refines them through a struggle. Verse thirty-five again: Others were tortured. Not accepting their release, that's not a victory. That's not a release from torture, but an endurance, so that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Now, here we we saw the achievements of faith in the midst of the threat. Here we see the endurance of faith in the midst of the trial. Verse thirty-five says, "Tortured." Tumpanizo, very interesting Greek word, literally to torture with the tumpanium. What is a tumpanium? It's a torture instrument of ancient times.
It's a wheel-shaped contraption over which criminals were stretched as though they were skins. And they would have all their extremities stretched to the circumference of the wheel, and they would rotate on the wheel while people pummeled them with clubs. This is the basis of the word tortured. There have been those people of faith who have been tortured. They rejected denial of the faith.
They rejected release. They they would not. Banished from their lips, the name of the true and living God, because they looked for a better resurrection. They looked to the future. Others experienced mockings, and scourgings, and chains, and imprisonments.
I think of one who went through just about all of this, and that would be Jeremiah, tortured, chained, imprisoned. Thrown into a pit, Jeremiah thirty-eight, scourgings, beatings. These aren't the triumphant ones on a human level. These are the ones who suffered even death. They were put to death with the sword, died by sword, and some of them became exiles.
Some of them went about in sheepskins and goatskins. Destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, mistreated, treated with evil force is the Greek verb, and then down in verse thirty-eight.
Some of them wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground, and I think all of these things would be somewhat familiar to the Jewish people who were hearing this being read in their congregation. They knew the stories of these people that we don't know because they're not necessarily contained in the pages of Scripture, but likely much of it was passed down, and so in a cryptic fashion, it can be rehearsed to them. They were wanderers, vagabonds, just existing because they had been put out of society. That was the price they paid for their faithfulness to God. And then the most commendatory statement that is made in this entire chapter is in parenthesis in verse thirty-eight, and it really ought to be in italics.
These are people of whom the world was not worthy. Not a great statement. The world was not worthy. The world thought them unworthy. The world deemed them unworthy to live, unworthy to be comfortable, unworthy to be affirmed or approved or left alone.
The world felt itself somehow diminished by their presence. The truth is, the world was not worthy of them. Why did they do this? Why? Why did they do this against all this kind of terrible treatment?
They did it because of what they believed was in the future waiting for them—a better resurrection. But look at verse thirty-nine. All these, having gained approval through their faith, didn't receive what was promised. They didn't have anything in their hand. It was all faith, right?
It was all faith. They didn't even know about Christ. Oh, they knew the prophecies about him, but they didn't know who he was. He had not come. He had not died.
He had not risen from the dead. There was no confirmation that this would ever happen. They had to believe God's promise, and they did. They gained approval through their faith. Though they didn't receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they wouldn't be made perfect.
None of them would ever be in heaven if it weren't for what happened that we know about, right—the cross and the resurrection. The better thing is the new covenant. Perfect means saved in the book of Hebrews. Perfect means access open and granted to God, full access to what the old covenant couldn't give, access into the presence of God, both in time and eternity. They lived by a faith in something they couldn't see.
They lived, and that's how the chapter's beginning launches it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things. Not seen. That's how these great heroes lived. Their faith was courageous faith.
They conquered in struggle. They continued in suffering, and they counted on a salvation that would be provided in a way they could not see. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current study is titled "A Faith That Pleases God." Now, John pointed out in this study that a faith that pleases God is a faith that comes from God. In other words, faith is a divine gift.
Yet, every believer still has a role in cultivating a stronger faith, and there are Are some practical ways that can happen? Here were John's thoughts on that. Faith is a gift of God, not of works, lest any one of us should boast. God gives us faith to believe. God opens our blind eyes, awakens our dead heart.
That's why salvation is called regeneration. That's why the Bible talks about being born again. Look, you didn't make any contribution to your first birth, nor do you contribute anything really to your spiritual birth. It's God who gives you life physically. It's God who gives you life spiritually.
But once you have been made alive, once you have come out of darkness into light, then all the means that are laid out in the New Testament become the features along the pathway that help you grow. The stronger your faith. The better your spiritual growth, and we've been talking about how it is that God saves you out of darkness and out of death, but we also need to talk about how you, as a believer, grow. Our study the last three weeks has answered one of the simplest, most important questions for believers to answer: What does God honoring faith look like, and how do I live that kind of faith, walk in that kind of faith, and what happens when I do? We would love to get this series into your hands.
You can download it. Just look for a faith that pleases God. Yes, friend. Download this study. It's a helpful resource to review when trials pile up and your faith seems to be wavering.
And another resource that can help strengthen your faith is the MacArthur Study Bible. And remember, today, Friday, October thirtieth, is the last day you can get the MacArthur Study Bible, specifically the brown leather soft edition with the Legacy Standard Bible text, at twenty-five percent off the normal. Price, so order your MacArthur Study Bible today. Call eight hundred fifty-five Grace, or visit our website gty dot org. With twenty-five thousand footnotes, the MacArthur Study Bible gives you insight into the original language and history and cultural background of Scripture, helping you apply its life-changing principles day by day.
And again, the sale for the MacArthur Study Bible with a Legacy Standard Bible text in brown leather soft cover it ends today, October thirtieth.
So place your order right away. If it's between seven thirty and four o'clock Pacific time, you can order by phone. Just call us at eight hundred fifty-five Grace, or place your order anytime at gty dot org. And while you're at gty.org, take advantage of the thousands of free resources available. You'll find helpful blog articles, multiple daily devotionals, and more than thirty six hundred of John's sermons.
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Now for the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace to You Television this weekend on Way Television in Birmingham, Alabama, or check your local listings, and then be here Monday as John MacArthur shows you what you should be doing right now to make sure you're ready for Christmas. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.
