Okay, now we are going to be in Hebrews 11 and starting on And we'll discuss that. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. Yeah, that's very exciting and happy and fortunate for me. But we're going to go through this. And instead of doing a gigantic deep dive on each and every one, I think there's some commonalities as we go through this. And I waited for the end of the last two sentences. I think that's almost like the theme and the crux of this pericope that we're going through. But we're gonna go through these and look at them. Last week, I thought that Grayson did a great job on diving deep into Gideon in all that he went through. And that had a special meaning in that. So we talked about Gideon last week. What is Barak? What about him? What is he famous for? And you can go and judges four and five, and that's something that's where his story is written. Is it the donkey? No, that's not the donkey. There were probably donkeys in it. I can tell you, he is not the main judge during this one. It has to do with Deborah. Another person gets the glory, another female. The lady, yeah, JL. Anybody know? Is this the one where he consulted Deborah to see if they would win or something and then she ended up leading the army in to battle because he didn't, I don't know if that was. Actually, he told him that you go lead the army, go make this happen. And he said, I'm not sure about this. He started questioning, and then she said, OK, it's going to happen, but you're not going to get the victory. Oh, yeah? Then, like, JL killed the opposing king or something with 10 pigs? Yeah. That's my favorite part on it. And then they all were like. Yeah, yeah. The opposing king saw 10,000 of the Israelites coming towards him. He had 900 chariots. So he thought he was pretty cool. But 10,000 Israelites coming towards him. They were getting routed. He ran away. He found a place in this jail, a servant of this other person brought him in and said, hey, come in and hide here. And then she said, hide underneath these blankets right here. He asked for some water. She gave him some milk. He fell asleep. So she went outside and got a tin bag and drove it through his head. So, but. Is this a movie? It should be. It should be. But why is Barack given notice in a faint ear? Well, he's still led the army. OK, yeah. It's not as if he didn't. He just wanted a little backup from Deborah. Yeah. I also feel like it's extra significance that he did listen to a woman's advice on the war. And that particular time, I would imagine that that would take more faith, because it was very unusual, than maybe now, when opinions from men and women are at least in the U.S., are looked at pretty equally for that kind of stuff, if that's what you know about. But for back then, I would imagine, I mean, I could be wrong, but I just, I feel like maybe that's where that faith is coming in, that you listen, and you listen to a woman, and you know. He did say, Debra at that time was a judge. She was identified as a judge, but in a certain section, and he went to her, Or actually, she went to him and said, you're going to lead this army. And he said, I'm not going unless you go with me. And that's when she said, well, you'll get the victory, but it won't be under you. So yes, what about Samson? Everybody knows Samson. He gives me a lot of encouragement that he's that he's in the Hall of Faith. Yeah, because I mean this way but I think well if he can be saved I can be saved you know if he can be saved than anyone can be saved because because I don't think about his entire life as him walking by faith yeah where it's like even a small amount almost like the faith of the rest of the team? Yeah. So it's not like we don't have to measure ourselves again. One, also, that we're not doing, I guess, we're not measuring things. Humans would measure things. We're looking at it how God would measure it, and even the kernel of the faith there is still. When do you think Samson's faith was greatest seen? In the end. Yeah. He went directly, he asked God if you will let me do this. And all of his faith was in God at that time. He ended well, but he ended dead. Yeah, he ended well. What about Jephthah? That's a common name. There's he go. Jephthah found in Judges 10, 6, and 12, 7. This is the greatest place to get names for your kids. Well, his might not be the best because he was a son of what? Prostitute. Of a prostitute, yeah. He had like five other brothers who were under the mother. And what did they do to him? They cast him out, just like, you know, you're not one of us. They pushed him out. But he conquered, he led armies and conquered the enemies of Israel. But then what did he do when God gave him the victory? Well, the first thing that comes out of the door, I will sacrifice them to you. I was not thinking that it was going to be his daughter. Well, then he actually went through with it, which to me seems weird. I'm assuming that's not part of his faith of why he's in here, because I feel like that's one of the reasons why God says he values mercy over sacrifice. I don't know. I'm not really sure where the faith part for him is. Well, from leading and conquering the armies. He was called out, and he led the armies to conquer these nations. And we all had the same. So you were going to say he's an enjoyer? Yeah. And I was just going to say, sometimes I think we might misread this and think, well, he made a foolish vow, but at least he kept it. And I think the moral of the story is no, he was doubly foolish, because not only did he make a terrible vow, but then he was dumb enough to go through with it. Like, I mean, because... Right, exactly. I think that sometimes we look at it as he sacrificed his daughter, killed her on an altar. God would not have accepted that. Nowhere was human sacrifice ever condoned, so we believe that his sacrifice was, she was committed to the Lord's service, much like little Samuel was committed to the Lord's service. Never married. My reading is he did sacrifice her. Killed her. Yeah. Maybe not on an altar, but he killed her. Because she was given that one month or two months of going out in the morning time. Then we go to David. And what did David do? What was the... If we go down this list that we see underneath, if we go who through faith conquered kingdoms, did they do that? Yes. Enforced justice. Yep. Attained promises. Yep. Stop the mouth of lions. I don't know if he did that. He did. He fought the bear and the lion. Daniel did that. Also. Yeah. And we're going to get to it. And I'm glad you said that, because Daniel is identified down here. And then, quench the power of fire. Because after David it says Samuel and the prophets And we're going into all the people of the Old Testament all the prophets all the key people in They're listing out in the writer of Hebrews is listing out all the people have accomplished for the name of God, and understand it's God who did it, that it's associated with these people, and quenching the flames, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And oh, by the way, there's a fourth one in the fire, who looked like the Son of God. Then after that, escape the edge of the sword, Oh, David did that. And then remained strong out of weakness. I would say David did that. He was the youngest. He killed Goliath. used to use his sword to cut off his head? Well, Samson at the end, too. Samson. Samson. Yeah. So it's all these qualities as we're going through. What about Samuel? What did he do? I would say he enforced justice. He was the last judge. He also corrected a lot of the issues that had been happening at the temple. That was one of the reasons that God ended up calling him. on the man who was the priestly. Eli, thank you. And so that was part of the reason that God called him, was that essentially Eli, who had been called to mentor under, had been reading his sons in a way that was not pleasing to God and had kind of, in a couple of ways, not been following God. So he called Samuel to correct those things. The strength and weakness one, I feel like, could also apply to Barak. Yeah, he was afraid, but then he just showed strength He was a humblest guy What about mighty in war You can go with David I think last week, Gideon. Yeah. And even though they're not in the, well, David's what, 50? 90 men. Wow, that one guy that killed so many people with a sword that he couldn't get his sword out of his hand because it basically stuck up. His hand clenched shut. What about a woman received back her son? Was it basically resurrected, her son's women? That was under the judges. Was it that she had the oil jars and then her clothes? Elijah is in first Kings 1722 and that's where he goes up and That's where the cornmeal or the flour keeps on getting replenished, or the oil keeps on getting replenished. And then the son dies, and Elijah raised him. And then second Kings, Elisha is with the Shunammite woman and her son and gets raised. Hmm? Mary and Marth overseen their death. Yeah. But yes, that's true. But I think of this, we're still talking about, if we go with context, let's talk about the Old Testament time period. But that is true, Mary and Marth. What about in prison? Jeremiah, what about another famous one? We'll go all the way back to Genesis. Yeah. And we can also go back to Jeremiah, chained. Jeremiah was chained. That was in Jeremiah 22 and Jeremiah 37, 15. What about stone? What? Stephen but again, if we go back to the Old Testament trying to stay within this What about all these prophets? Also first Kings 21 13 Naboth was stoned second Kings 24 21 Zechariah Then it talks about sawing in two and This is my tradition Not really specific but by tradition the Isaiah and Jeremiah Potentially were signed to both of them or just one of them just one of them one one of the two And then Dressed in animal skins, we can go back to 2 Kings 1.8, Elijah. And then, wandering in the desert. That can be a lot of them. We can go to Moses. Joshua. David. right before he became king in 1st Samuel 22, 1. So, all these things happen. And again, if we took time to read about all these things, we could go probably another year just on all this. And that is why he starts out, and what more shall I say? For time will fail me to tell of all of these people and all of these things. Then let's go to verses 39 and 40. Who would like to read those to me? And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Okay, that's kind of confusing. That last phrase was kind of scary to me and confusing, but let's talk about these. All these things, All these, though committed through their faith, did not receive what was promised. What was promised? I kind of read that to be like Jesus coming back. Well, Jesus coming? Yeah, Jesus coming, and then so it just didn't happen yet, because there was more to be saved. Yeah. Well, and it hadn't happened. Messiah they were looking for the one who would conquer all And if we go back to the original portion, they were looking for what was Abraham looking for what we're all looking for they were looking for a country and a city made by God and And they hadn't seen it yet And since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. I looked through the different versions just to see how the differences were. Natanya, you have King James, right? With your wonderful voice, could you read that verse 40? Or have somebody read verse 40 in King James? Hebrews 1? Yeah. God, having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. That they without us. I kind of like how that is said in the Bible. It says along the same way. Basically it's saying, it's not that they're not going to get it just because we don't get it. We get it with them. That's kind of how the CSB is. Yeah, tell me what the CSB is. It says, since God had provided something better for us so that they would not be made perfect without us. OK, so they are going to be made perfect. These believers in the faith, believers in God, are going to be made perfect. It's because of faith. It's through faith and faith alone that you believe. We have faith in Jesus, in the resurrection, in what he has done for us. We will all be made perfect together at the end days. Does that make sense to you? So with this faith, faith is the key. It's through faith that we receive eternal life. And it's through faith that the Lord is gonna make us perfect. We already have all these individuals from the Old Testament, all that they went through, and God is going to give them their perfection. We have that that we can place our hope in because he keeps all promises. And so through that, we know that he will make us perfect in him. Does that make sense? Any other comments? I just flipped over to chapter 12. And I wish that they had put that first little verse in there at the end of chapter 11. Because I feel like it would kind of complete the thought that he had of the promise being later. And that's what we'll probably do as we get into it. It's like, kind of, yeah. Okay. So, who would like to close us in prayer? Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this time together. We thank you that you have given us this time to study your word. And we thank you for all the examples of faith that were in the Old Testament. And it's solid ground on which we can stand, that we know that our faith will be honored by you. And that in the end, you will make us into the people that you want. And eventually, we will get to live with you forever in profession. We praise you for that. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.