By Faith Believers Succeed

Please turn in the Word of God to Hebrews 11, 11th chapter of Hebrews. For those visiting, we’re going through the book of Hebrews. We’ve come to the 11th chapter, and we’re almost through this chapter. Coming to the section where the Apostle précis—he summarizes, he condenses his approach to making his point, making clear reference to certain events. He just throws out names and then various general experiences. So we are looking from verse 32; we’ll read through to the end of the chapter, though we will go as far as just the opening language of verse 35. God’s Word is so precious, and this is given for your instruction and help, so pay attention to it.

Hebrews 11, verse 32.
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, 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. 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. Amen.

This is the inerrant, infallible Word of the living God, beloved, which you are to receive, you are to believe, and you are to obey. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, we ask now as we again turn to the Word, that there would be help given. We’ve been thinking upon thy great grace of deliverance—from the 18th Psalm to the hymns that we’ve been singing. They remind us that thou art a God that rules, reigns, governs, and gives victory to thy people. Today we stand always in need. We pray that Thou wilt graciously come to each of us and teach us what we must know in order that we may live for Thy glory. Every one of us is at a different stage. We’re all going to the same place, those of us in Christ, but we’re at a different stage of our maturity, a different stage of life. And so, the remarkable thing is that we can trust God by His Spirit to take His perfect Word and to teach every one of His sheep and His lambs. And that’s what I pray for. Teach thy people, O God. Come by thy Spirit. Give me that power that I do not possess myself. And to that end, extend thy kingdom; magnify our great Redeemer. Oh, what a wonder it is that Jesus loves me. May our hearts be fresh, freshly aflame and encouraged in love for Christ and the wonder of Thy redeeming mercy. Help us now. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

We all have a natural inclination and desire for success. The world certainly has it—they desire to succeed. They go to tremendous lengths and great sacrifice at times in order to succeed. You will know that many throughout the world long to make their way to other lands such as America—not only America, but certainly America’s near, if not at the top of the list of places where people might go and experience more success, if not for them, certainly for their offspring. And this impulse for the people of God does not go away. In fact, often we find it bolstered; read God’s Word and see passages in Scripture that seem to inflame a sense of hope for something better in this life for us, whether that be in terms of that which pertains to relationships, that which may pertain to our economic stance or standing, or that which may pertain to our physical health. We look at Scripture and we think, “God is going to heal, God is going to bless me materially, God is going to favor all my relationships.” And again, we read Scripture. Scripture doesn’t contradict those feelings. It doesn’t entirely do away with the hope and desire that what we turn our hand to—or the context in which we find ourselves in—somehow would be uniquely favored and blessed by our God. We long to be like Joseph, that even in the times of difficulty the Lord made that which was in his hand to prosper because the Lord was with him.

The section that we look at today focuses upon some of the successes of believers in the past. We look at a section like this from verse 32, and we see these expressions given—to wit, you have the names, and of course you have the general tenor given. In the opening language of verse 32, “What shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell,” it goes on to give some names, and if I were to give, therefore, the point is that if I were to give details regarding these individuals and then just generally the prophets, there wouldn’t be space for it. There wouldn’t be time to give details and look at all of them to the degree to which we could. And even in that statement, you have encouragement with regard to looking into history, looking at the Bible, but also just history in general—to see how history teaches us things of God’s blessing and mercy and the examples that we have in the world, even as you read history, that we can learn and glean from in terms of the faith, the evangelical faith of believers and how it led them to live, succeed, but also—and I don’t want you to miss this even though it’s not our focus today—also to suffer.

Verse 35. We’re going to pull in the opening language because it has a sense of, again, the victory. Women received their dead raised to life again, but it functions as a transition into a completely different experience in which the faith of God’s people is seen not in the successes, not in these great victories, but in them being tortured, not accepting deliverance—the trials, the mockings, the scourgings, the imprisonments, being stoned and sawn asunder, and so on and so forth. That faith is just as visible, just as evident, just as real as it is when you see the Davids and the Samsons and the others that we can look at. Faith then is evident not just in success but in suffering. Faith does not always escape the sword; sometimes it falls by it. It doesn’t always quench the flames; sometimes it’s consumed in them. God’s people who are believing God suffer to the very end of their life here on earth, and yet faith prevails. It is evident; it is seen; it is on display.

So, as the apostle instructs these believers, He is addressing both their hopes and desires for the church—to extend, for the blessing of God to be upon their labors, to see souls saved, to see the advance of the kingdom of God here on earth. They’re longing for that. They’re living for that. And they’re facing, at a time here in the mid-60s, increasing persecution—Nero turning his hand, beginning to persecute the church intensely. They’re in that; they’re experiencing that. And some of them may see deliverance. Some of them may see God intervene in such ways that can only be described as akin to what we have in verse 32 and 33 and so on. And others are going to end their time here on earth as a result of the persecution. It’s going to be over for them.

And the point of the apostle then is to see that faith carries on. We may have the mind to think that while suffering is a greater threat to our faith—we see these cruel mockings, scourgings, imprisonments, stonings, being sawn asunder—and we think, “That’s a threat to the faith.” I can see that. I can see how that would threaten the believers there—the fearfulness that might grip their hearts, that they might depart from Christ. But it’s no more a threat than their success. Success also is a threat to us. Success also causes us to be inflamed with a sense of self-reliance and pride, which can devastate true evangelical faith in Jesus Christ, and results in people abandoning the faith. So the threat to faith comes from both success and suffering. The point is, the people of God will endure regardless.

We are to look on to Jesus—verse 2 of chapter 12. Look on to Jesus. Why? Why do we look on to Him? Because in Him we see both. We see the success and His endurance through it. We see His suffering and His endurance through it, and we learn from Him. And in fact, even as you look at what is given in verse 33 and verse 34, we have seen some of this concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Who, through faith, subdued kingdoms? Well, you go back to Hebrews 1, and just touch on this a little bit—if you go back to chapter 1, you see how this ties into Christ. It’s not detached from Christ. Hebrews 1, verse 13: “To which of the angels said he, ‘Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” Here is one who’s subduing kingdoms. Chapter 2, verse 8: “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet: for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.” And so here He is, subduing kingdoms, even now, presently.

It also works righteousness. Our Lord Jesus Christ, again in chapter 1, verse 8: “‘Unto the Son’ he saith, ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.’” He is likened unto Melchizedek then in chapter 7—He’s the king of righteousness. These things are being played out; the things that are mentioned by the Apostle are seen in our Lord Jesus Christ. Obtaining promises as well—our Lord Jesus, of course, kept the word the Father gave to Him, saw things fulfilled in His own life. Again, there are references to that—you can see that even in Hebrews, and I could go on. Faith stops the mouths of lions. Our Lord Jesus Christ—you see that in Him in chapter 2, verse 14: “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same…” that through death He might destroy, or stop, the mouth of the lion—Him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Faith turns weakness into strength. Again, our Lord Jesus Christ exhibits this. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.

He was weak, and yet He suffered under this and prevailed, and was able to be a blessing to His people as a result. And of course He rises from the dead too. All of this you see then in how the Apostle compresses the experience of believers, seeing its perfect fulfillment in Christ. And they’re not just subduing kingdoms—because when they subdued kingdoms it was temporary—and our Lord Jesus is, in an ongoing fashion, subduing kingdoms and will finally bring to an end all kingdoms under Him, with no rebellion. They will all be conquered finally at the end, whatever your eschatological perspective. At the end, He wins. At the end, there is a devastation of His enemies and the preservation of His people. And it was all done in righteousness, done in honor to the Father.

So, as we look at the verses that give us some of the successes of believers in the past, certainly we can learn from these verses. So I’ve titled the message, “By Faith Believers Experience Success.” By faith, believers experience success. We’re going to see next time, God willing, that they also endure suffering. They not only experience success, but they endure suffering. And I’m keeping that in view because I think it’s important. I don’t want you running away and then running out of here. And even in the course of what may be a week of living out and applying these verses to your life, you might say that everything should go right with my life—I’m going to go out into that world and everything’s going to be surrendering to me, taking dominion to the full extent, and everything’s just going to be subservient and it’s all going to go well. And everything at work will go according to plan and it will multiply and everything—but things don’t always go that way. And you need to keep that in mind. And the point is this: what matters is not the circumstances—they’re just part of God’s plan in your life, the way in which He magnifies Himself through you, particularly you. But the main thing is that His grace, by His Spirit, causes an endurance of trust and rest in Christ no matter what. That’s what matters.

And so a man who sees God do great things has to keep his eyes fixed on the One greater than himself and keep on trusting and resting in Him. The one who sees great suffering, things not going according to plan, or any form of American dream, as it were, continues to endure in his faith. So, there are seven things here. It’s like a seven-point sermon, really? Well, we’ll see. But we have conquering kingdoms; we have administering justice; obtaining promises; stopping danger; strengthening weakness; winning battles; and raising corpses. Those are the things given. And what we’ll do is we’ll look at, from verse 33, what we’ll draw from those mentioned in the remarks that are made.

So, what you find then in verse 33 is the fact: who through faith subdued kingdoms. Again, I want you to see—this faith is an evangelical faith. It is not detached from Christ. The whole point of this book is the believer looking to, or being identified by, this peculiar trait. They rest fully and entirely in Jesus Christ. That’s the faith. Any kind of faith defined otherwise, sans Christ, is not what the Apostle has in mind. And so, yes, it’s visibly seen. This trust in Christ is visibly seen as God governs providentially in their lives, and as they keep their eyes locked on Him, trusting Him, He will use them in different ways, and they experience different things. Don’t just look by faith and have this sense of faith as just like believing more—just believing harder—if it’s some faith detached from Christ. A faith detached from Christ damns the soul. There’s no salvation in a faith without Christ. And even the things that happen, when you look at what goes on—the subduing of kingdoms—it’s not the faith itself that subdues kingdoms. Faith is the taking God at His Word. The power, the sovereignty, the strength is in God. He subdues the kingdoms. He works the miracles. He does it through the instrumentality of His people as they take Him at His Word and walk with Him.

So, conquering kingdoms. Who through faith subdued kingdoms? What a statement this is. The outworking of genuine faith at times causes people—God’s people—to march in such a way where they see kingdoms subdued or conquered. Walls of impossibility are overcome. The strength of nations, it seems, irresistible, succumbs to the people of God. You have many that are not mentioned here. You can look at some of the kings—Jehoshaphat and others that could be named—in which they look at these impossible scenarios. It cannot be done. Victory—there’s no possibility of victory—and yet it is secured. They come before God, they rest in Him, they look to Him, and He is pleased to subdue kingdoms and give them victory in their context.

And so Gideon is mentioned, isn’t he? “The time would fail me to tell of Gideon.” I could mention Gideon, talk about Gideon, the triumphs of Gideon, the experiences of Gideon—this timid thresher of wheat. He’s no warrior. He’s hesitant to believe, struggling to trust God, needing signs to affirm that God is truly sending him. And yet when finally he takes God at His Word, kingdoms are subdued. How? Again, not through some great military strategy—it blows the trumpet, they break the pitchers, the Midianites go fleeing from 300 men. Again, there’s no grand strategy, no mighty host—lamps, trumpets, and a cry; the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Why? Why by faith? He took God at His Word. His faith, his trust, his salvation—his resting in God, taking God as Word—and just walking daily in that way.

And that’s the thing. All these things come in the context of a daily walk with God. The emphasis of this passage is not for you to go and say, “Okay, what kingdoms are there for me to subdue?” The emphasis is this: I keep looking on to Christ. I keep resting in God, believing His Word, and should a kingdom rise up in opposition to me, I’m going to take God at His Word, no matter what. You can think of David—this strapling, this shepherd boy standing alone, the entire nation, his brothers included, trembling at the sight of Goliath. And the kingdom of the Philistines is there, encroaching and threatening, endeavoring to say, “Let’s make short work of this. Your best against our best.” And Israel is stunned into fear. And he comes at the order of his father. Again, he’s not looking for it. It’s not like David hears and says, “I’ll go and show them.” He’s just obeying his father. His father said, “Take these provisions, go see how your brothers are.” And off he goes. It’s just a daily walk with God; it’s just daily obedience. And he happens upon this scene of Goliath threatening the armies of Israel, mocking them and so on, while others are cowering. Yet for David, the battle was already won. “The battle is the Lord’s,” and so he walks forward—not in his own skill, not trusting his own ability—but the Philistine kingdom is subdued right there at the flinging of one stone.

And so it goes on. He carries on his triumphs over them in such ways that everyone marvels, and they fear him. And you can go beyond Gideon and David and see glimpses of others—especially our Lord Jesus Christ—who is subduing kingdoms. This is the thing: if God’s people by faith can subdue kingdoms, how much more shall our Lord Jesus Christ subdue kingdoms? How much more are you to believe that the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ? And see the One who reigns forever and ever and to say it’s in His hands—He’s in control. So if we can see from history kingdoms subdued, how much more, with the Son of God seated at the right hand of the Father, are these kingdoms going to be subdued? Again, it’s calling out an allegiance from those to whom the Apostle is writing, isn’t it? Because they’re going to go back to the temple, go back to those carnal priests, go back to them and all their shenanigans. You want to go back there to that? Why would you do that? And of course, in a few short years, that kingdom, Jerusalem, Israel, was going to be destroyed. Christ was going to see His Word come to pass in that city, raised to the ground, an indication of who truly is in control, who’s governing in the earth. So we are to be encouraged by this—not ultimately by ourselves, but by Christ.

But also, not only conquering kingdoms, there’s administering justice—wrought righteousness. What’s this working of righteousness? Well, it tells us again that this daily faith is not just for the battlefield on those occasions in which we have to recall to such times, but it’s for the judgment hall, for the courtroom, for the palace, for the marketplace. There is this working of righteousness—not just in conquering great enemies from without, but in establishing truth and justice within. Working righteousness—the triumph of faith in Jesus Christ and resting in Him—doesn’t just war in these isolated fashions like the Goliaths, but the war of daily righteousness like what we read in Psalm 82.

So you think of Samuel; he’s mentioned. And Samuel—this was his calling—to stand as a hybrid prophet-judge. And he’s functioning in this role, speaking as a prophet of God but also as a judge, the tail end of the judges before they, of course, desire a king and so on and so forth. And even when that happens, when that whole thing unfolds and God tells Samuel, “Look, they’ve not rejected thee; they’ve rejected me,” He’s addressing a concern within Samuel’s heart. Samuel felt like, in some way, the people perceived that he had failed them; that in some way he was in the wrong—that some accusation was being laid at him that he had not wrought righteously. You go to 1 Samuel 12, you see him mounting a defense, making sure the people are clear that the reason the whole king matter transpired is not because of him, or anything he had done.

1 Samuel 12—he acknowledges, “Behold, the king walketh before you, and I am old and gray-headed; my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my childhood on to this day. Behold, here I am, a witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? And I will restore it you.” And they said, “Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken out of any man’s hand.” He was concerned to clear the air, to make sure any accusation—“Have I? Have I in any way done?” No. He wrought righteousness.

And so Samuel lived a life in which he wrought righteousness before the people with the voice of God to them, leading as a godly example. His integrity was intact; he faithfully discharged his responsibility. But not only Samuel—David, of course, is not only killing giants, but he is executing judgment and justice unto all the people of Israel (2 Samuel 8). But again, it all points to someone greater who wrought righteousness. It’s not just Samuel and David and so on—it’s our Lord Jesus. This is His work. He is working righteousness. Those who look to Him look for that which is righteous. He is the King of Righteousness. He is the Melchizedek. He is the one we look to who establishes perfect justice in the world. Men militate against it. They fight against it. They oppose it. But it shows then how the people of God, if they are living out a faith that is resting in Christ, will also work out righteousness.

Which means, beloved, the application here is that your daily life of looking on to Jesus will require you, at times, to do what is righteous—no matter what. As a father, as a mother, as an employer, as an employee—as you deal with people, as you’re called upon to do this or that, as you engage with your neighbors—whatever the context—faith works righteousness. We are not establishing our own righteousness, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we are enabled to exercise His will. And the King would have righteousness worked out; the King appoints His people to live. And so yes, John 8:12—He is the light of the world. But as the Sermon on the Mount also says, “Ye are the light of the world.” How? Is it by some just the indwelling Spirit, and you beam in some way—you radiate something out to the world? No. It is working righteousness. Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. You’re called to something high and lofty—that through Christ, looking unto Christ, living for Him, you will endeavor to work righteousness.

And this is what they did by faith. It’s not by effort of thine own, as we say—sin’s dominion, crushed and broken by the power of grace alone. And we go again—so how do you work righteousness? You just, again, you have these rigid rules and laws that you apply purely in a mental fashion. You say, “This is the right thing to do,” or are you walking by faith? Because sometimes—and this is the thing—the whole point of working righteousness, if I’m reading the context, is that it’s working righteousness despite opposition to it. It’s working righteousness when it’s not in vogue. It’s working righteousness whenever the crowd don’t want to go that way. It’s working righteousness even though other voices are saying, “Let’s do this.” Now, when everybody says, “This is the thing to do, and it is the right thing to do,” well, it’s easy to follow the crowd. But you’re not to follow a multitude to do evil, God’s Word says. And this working righteousness, living out by faith, is at times in tremendous opposition—at the threat of losing your job, at the threat of offending a family member. But faith will do it, be on display before the world.

It’s also obtaining promises—not just conquering kingdoms and administering justice, but obtaining promises. I should just say, you know, really, the application—make the application. If you’re in the political sphere, or any of our young people end up in the political sphere, you are obligated to work righteousness—not the party policy. If the party policy is in opposition to righteousness, then you must do what is righteous. I know the thinking is, “Well, this is a democratic society and I have to represent the people.” You first represent God, always. Always, you first represent God. And if something is directly opposed— I know there are areas that are more gray and not as easy to delineate—I understand political strategy and compromise; I get that too. But do not hide under political strategy and compromise when you know well before God, this is an abandoning of your obligation to God. You never know. You just never know how someone who just stands and says, “No, I’m going to do what is right. I’m going to say it, no matter how unpopular it might be,” how God might use that.

Obtaining promises—they obtained promises because they believed. Of course they obtained promises. They had taken God at His Word. I had mentioned earlier of Abraham. He is told that, “As a star, so shall his seed be.” And he believed, and even though he’s past age—and so is his wife, Sarah—yet he believed God, and it came to pass. And there were others to whom this could be applied: individuals, even among those mentioned, many of the prophets and others who took God at His Word and obtained and saw God fulfill His word. The work is not yours to bring it to pass. Your work is to be faithful. Your work is to live in light of what He has said and be obedient in the direction of His Word every day. And then, when the time comes, you may obtain some of those promises here and now. Of course, there’s an emphasis here in Hebrews 11 that there is a not receiving of the promise. Verse 39, earlier in the chapter, verse 13 also points to that fact. There are certain promises that are not fully received—there is that which still is laid up for the people of God awaiting them. But there are promises for here and now, promises that we see fulfilled amazingly, marvelously, and wonderfully—and to our encouragement. And it all comes by faith, not just by trying to believe hard, but by walking with God, taking Him at His Word.

And so here’s what faith does. You want to obtain the promises, okay? What does that require of you? That when God speaks, you believe it. That’s the summary: He has spoken, and I believe it. And so when it comes to not just the great victories, but even in the challenges—the suffering, where He promises to be with you, where He is showing that the waters will not overflow and the flame will not quench and so on—you’re taking Him on His Word, believing, “Nothing will separate me from the love of God.” In Christ, the promises are yea and amen. That means that your job is to get to Christ, because through Him the promises are fulfilled. It’s through His governance and grace to His people that the promises are bestowed—or as the case might be, withheld. The duty isn’t to pursue the promise; it is to pursue Christ. Look on to Jesus. That’s it. I keep repeating it—that’s where the Apostle leads us to.

There’s also stopping danger—stopping danger, stopping the mouths of lions, quenching the violence of fire, escaping the edge of the sword. There’s danger threatening the people of God, and their trust in God delivers them. Now, we’ve considered the fact that it doesn’t always do this, but at times it does. Amazing how this happens. Of course, we have those like Daniel, don’t we? It has to be in mind here, though he is not named in verse 32. Certainly, he is in the thought of the Apostle. So there he is, thrown into the den of lions—hungry lions—and yet, untouched. He comes away unscathed. How? Not because he was able to hypnotize the lions, but because he trusted his God and was at rest, believing Him. And oh, for an eye of faith that just looks and says, “What are these beasts under God? What power have they in comparison to divine omnipotence? Why do I fear them more than God?” This is part of the argument—of course, later on when the Apostle says that God is a consuming fire. It’s a sense of, you’re afraid of men; you’re afraid of Nero; you’re afraid of the threats that are coming your way. Our God is a consuming fire. Do not underestimate who you’re dealing with in God. If you’re inclined to be fearful of a threat, bear in mind the threat of God. Think of Daniel’s friends as well—thrown into the furnace—and yet there was one like unto the Son of Man in the midst, preserving, keeping, showing the reality of what we’re saying here. It’s their trust in the Lord. It’s their resting in Him. It’s that which makes the difference. It’s not them just saying, “We can believe that our very skin can become such that it is not going to go up in flames or be affected by the fire.” That’s not it. They’re looking to their God—they’re resting—and so their God comes, is there with them, indicating that that’s the means of deliverance. Look on to Jesus, rest in Him.

But as you see, that’s not always the case. Some have these cruel mockings and scourgings, and they’re stoned and sawn asunder, and sometimes they’re devoured by wild beasts. There’s also strength and weakness. As it says, “out of weakness were made strong.” Out of weakness were made strong. That is, not by their own innate ability—indeed, they had nothing to rest in, even in terms of human assessment—but even you have Samson mentioned here, and of course he was known for his strength; but the last of his life, when he is blinded and bound—is he a picture of strength? No. He’s been devastated, shorn of his hair, all his strength removed. And yet, right there, amidst his greatest weakness, he looks to his God and prays, and kills more in his death than he ever did in his life. It was an act of faith—trusting God. He was not saying, “I mean, I had just been bound and so on; I had no evidence that I had any strength whatsoever.” He’d been humiliated, but he simply cries, “God, the strength is Yours. It always was God’s.” The strength of Samson was not in Samson—it was God in him.

Beloved, you’re weak, and I am weak. We’re not strong, nor are we meant to be. There are not many mighty, not many noble are called. We’re not people of means and connections and power and authority. We are, at best, average—we’re just people. And we have no strength against the world; we have no power against the enemy; and we are not great victors. We’re not born in an environment of nobility, taught to believe that we are going to achieve tremendous things. Most of us grew up in very ordinary environments, anticipating very ordinary lives—whatever ordinary is. But when you look through the annals of history, you find that that is true of all. The circumstances change; some are born into nobility and royalty and so on, and they have tremendous favor. We get that. But in terms of the history of the church, the vast majority of the standout characters trace their history—and there isn’t anything extraordinary about them. There are some—you have the odd Moses, and you have the odd Saul of Tarsus. These are unusual people—they’re the exceptions. There’s not many, but there’s a few. And from their earliest days, they’re enveloped in circumstances that favor them for something more than average.

But the vast majority—Peter’s a fisherman, David’s a shepherd boy, Gideon’s out doing servant’s work—just ordinary people. They’re weak. They are weak. But they believed in a God who’s omnipotent. They trusted that His power was sufficient to save them from their greatest enemy, their own sin. And from there—from the worst enemy they would ever face, their own sin and its condemnation and judgment—they believed, saying, “God graciously forgives sin and removes it as far as the east is from the west, and blots it out as a thick cloud, and promises that through the shedding of blood there will be pardon,” and so on. But since that is true, I will believe Him for all the other particulars of life, because there’s no challenge greater than the challenge of addressing my sin.

And He did that. So they walked, void in that experience. God dealt with my sin. What’s Goliath? My sin is an army of Goliaths. One drop of the Savior’s blood slew it, laid it low forever. And that’s their mentality and their weakness. They see the power of God through the gospel, and so they’re made strong.

I’ll just mention these final two—they’re winning battles also, aren’t they? They wax valiant in fight and turn to flight the armies of the aliens, outsiders—those who come in to threaten. They win these battles against them. They were not assessing it: are the odds in our favor? Now, the great question is, is the Lord with us? I mean, this is David. Read the life of David. What does he do at times? What’s he doing? He’s not just assessing the enemy and trying to perceive what’s the best strategy. What do you find him doing? He goes before God and he says, “God, shall we go up? Shall we go forward?” You give the go-ahead, and we will go on that word—the strength of that word. And so you see, David’s life, I think, is not unique. I just think the Spirit of God focuses upon that aspect of David. But I believe it to be true of all the people of God. They go before God and they say, “Lord, shall we? Will You be with us?” You see it in Moses: “If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.” The need is for the presence of God. God is with us in this.

So it’s not about looking at the battle. It’s the same for you, beloved. I mean, look at the children when they’re small. When the children are small, parents believe they can win the battle by strategy, by wisdom, by their own ability. We look at it and say, “We can get them to do what we want them to do.” And so, by and large—although sometimes we get humbled there, too—however bad you think it is when they’re two and three and four and five, when they’re 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16—it just, it gets more challenging. And you have this mind that you can do it. You can do it. And God is not wanting you to believe you can do it. He’s not asking you to strategize in that way. He’s not looking for you to angle the way to a victory. He’s looking for you to believe Him. He’s looking for you to see that the victory is not yours, but His. The battle is the Lord’s. And He loves to come in when we recognize that it’s not by might, nor by power, but by Thy Spirit. It’s not trusting in chariots and horses, but in the name of the Lord our God.

So these who wrought these great battles, they learned that. But, Josh, if it comes and sees this massive army coming before him and he says, “Neither know we what to do. We have no idea. The people are looking to me. What are we going to do? The king needs to give a plan.” I don’t have a plan. I don’t know what to do. But our eyes are upon Thee. That is your job—that’s looking on to Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith, played out in the Old Testament Scriptures. It is that faith that sees the God who has given His Word, promises to keep His people, keeps resting and trusting and believing, and then the victories are secured by His power. And you can look at the history of Barak and Jephthah and see them—and their weakness—and see their frailty. Yet the Lord works deliverance for them, even raising the dead, raising corpses.

Verse 35, “women received their dead raised to life again.” The great enemy, inconquerable foe—even at times by trusting in God—victory is secured. The widow at Zarephath. What is the point? By faith, believers experience success. By faith.

So what do you need to do as you’re living your life? What is more effective: the best or the worst self-help book on the shelves right now, or a life that daily begins with God, commits everything to Him, and prays for His strength and His wisdom? What is the battle plan? Am I saying self-help books have no part in the Christian’s life? That there aren’t things that may be helpful in them—sincerely and genuinely helpful? I’m not saying that. I’m talking about the broader strategy of how you’re living. The key, the secret—by the world says, “I learned this little tip and it caused my business to multiply, enabled me to do X, Y, and Z.” You’re not looking for the silver bullet that originates in the heart of man; you’re looking for the “just shall live by faith.” And that’s exercised every day—in the mundane and in the miraculous—wherever, however He leads. May God help us.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

We write our own tragedies. For many believers, when their life is assessed and the question may be asked, “Where did they go wrong?” It will not be in some great conundrum that they fail to solve. It will be—they did not seek God dearly with all their hearts. They did not look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith, moment by moment. If you want success, young person, put first things first. Hear me on this: don’t buy into all the other things and make them primary. Whatever advice you receive, however good it may be, take it on board—but it must be subservient to this. God would have me seek Him every day in His Word and in prayer. Lord, help us; give more of Thy Spirit to equip each of us, and especially the young. May another generation rise who do know God and who do know His mighty acts in Israel. We pray for our children that they might be strong in the Lord and in the power of His.

We turn our eyes unto Thee, Lord, and plead for divine intervention in every child here, that all may be saved and kept by the power of God. Hear our prayers, and do give us in due course grace that when the opportunity may arise to subdue kingdoms—or whatever the case might be—we may see Thy hand at work, and may we stand stunned at the power of God. Hear our prayers. Increase our faith. May Christ be central. And even as we go to your homes this afternoon, may we think upon these things. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen.