The Epistle to the Hebrews part CCLXXXV

Hebrews 11:32a
"And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon,…"
You all know the story of Gideon -when the multitudes of Israelites that came out to be a part of his army, God said, send them home. You know how He went through the elimination process. How many did He keep? Three hundred to confront the thousands of the enemy. Seems ridiculous? But with God, remember that Abraham had only a handful of his own servants when he recovered Lot and what about the sons of Jacob they were mighty men of valor, they are famous for doing the ridiculous. It was by their trusting of Him that those three hundred men defeated the enemy.

Hebrews 11:32b
"…and of Barak, and of Samson,…"
You see Samson is the epitome of both sides of the coin. He was the man of great trust who could do the miraculous but his unbelief took him down to the depths of despair. But nevertheless, he is still a good Old Testament example.

Hebrews 11:32c
"…and of Jephthae, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:"
I don’t have to spend any time on David. You all know his escapades and his conquests, as well as his failures. "And Samuel, the prophets." Now verse 33, all of them, all of them:

Hebrews 11:33
"Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions."
Now of course, we’re jumping up to Daniel in that one aren’t we? Always remember, what was the percentage of even the Hebrews that were men of faith? Precious few. It’s always been that way. Only the small percentage were people that could trust, believe, receive and be counted as with faith in what God said. But He’s always had the few, and still does, and He will until the end. What in some places are called the remnant of God. All right, verse 34:

Hebrews 11:34
"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 (Jacobs sons )."
The Old Testament’s full of those accounts, how that just a small number of Israelites would defeat vast numbers of the enemy. Simply because they did what God told them to do, which may have sounded foolish, but they believed what God said (by their actions and testimony they bear record of God). All right, verse 35 and again, the whole concept, remember, is that by faith…

Hebrews 11:35a
"Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured,…"
Now these are not very pretty verses. You see, we have been living the last several hundred years in Western Civilization without really suffering the torture of martyrdom, have we? We don’t know what it’s like, but other areas of the world still do. In fact, I think you’ve probably read the same thing I have. There have been more Christians killed in the last century than almost the previous 18 or 19 before that and we’re not aware of it because we’ve got it so good. But that’s not to say that it can’t happen. The very fact that Christ in those who suffered execution or some other hardships was foretold by Jesus Himself. So we’re reminded that all the way up through human history, people of trust became people of faith and were victorious on the one hand, but they suffered martyrdom through their witnessing of Christ's activities within them. All right, verse 36:

Hebrews 11:36-37
"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;"