This week, Pastor Luke finished our Hebrews 11 faith series with verses 32-40 in a sermon titled “Heroes.” Pastor Luke broke his sermon down into three sections:
1. The weak but strong heroes (v32-35)
This passage goes over several very flawed heroes of the faith:
Gideon, a man who destroyed idols and altars but was also a coward who was weak and full of doubt.
Barak, who beat the Canaanites but also lived in fear; only going into battle when he had the help of Deborah.
Samson who defeated Ammonites, but lived a wild and rebellious life.
Jephthah who defeated the Ammonites, but made a sinful vow that resulted in the death of his daughter.
David who was a great King, a giant killer and a man of faith, but he also slept with another man’s wife, and then had him killed to cover up his indiscretion.
This passage covers a list of flawed people who did not have clean records. They did not keep the law perfectly. Their confidence was not in themselves, but in a flawless God and therefore this list is more about God than it is about them – about having our faith aligned with Him. The life of faith is one where we recognize our strengths, leverage our weaknesses, and depend on God with all of it.
The life of faith is not so much about our qualifications, but about God’s qualifications.
We need to recognize our weaknesses and therefore our need to God. As C.S. Lewis says, true humility is not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less.
2. The other heroes (v36-38)
This passage then goes on to talk about various heroes of faith that were tortured and killed in all kinds of ways for their beliefs. They were marked by their conviction and courage. This passage begs the hard question: would we be willing to die for Jesus if the circumstance arose?
The call to Jesus is to give up everything to follow Him.
The difference between a head knowledge and a conviction is the action that puts feet to it, which often is most clear in the face of trials and hardships.
In this hour we need to assess our convictions and our courage.
God wants us to be people who truly live for His glory, and in order to do that our lives must be so aligned to His purposes.
3. The ultimate hero (v39-40).
There is an author of this story called life and He is the Creator of all things.
All of these heroes of faith did not get to see the culmination of what was then to come; Jesus – His life, death, and resurrection. But we do. We get to live in an age where we can not just know about Him, but we can also know Him intimately and live for Him passionately.
