Finding The Faith Of Our Heroes - Part 9: Never Give Up On God! Series

Finding the Faith of Our Heroes

Part 9: Never Give Up on God!

Hebrews 11:30-40; Joshua 2:1-13; Joshua 5:13-15; Joshua 6:1-5

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared October 21, 2023)

BACKGROUND:

*We have been going through Hebrews 11 to study the faith of our Old Testament heroes. And through them all, God's Word has given us great lessons on the faith we should have in the Lord today. God wants everyone to have great and growing faith in Him. That makes sense, because He deserves our complete trust!

*Here in vs. 30-40 we will reach the end of the chapter. These last verses cover about a thousand years of history. God's Word takes us from Joshua leading the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, then through several centuries in the Book of Judges. Those years were marked by idolatry, anarchy, civil war, oppression from their enemies, and God rescuing His people. But today's Scripture also covers the rise and fall of the Hebrew kingdoms, and the warnings of the prophets. (1)

*In vs. 32, the Apostle Paul summed up these verses by saying, "And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets." Naturally, Church, the time is also too short for us to cover everyone listed in these verses. But there is a great message for us here: Never give up on God! We should never give up on the Lord. Let's get started by reading Hebrews 11:30-40.

MESSAGE:

*In 1941, during the darkest days of World War II, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill went to visit his old boarding school. It was the Harrow School founded in 1572, and Churchill went back to hear those high school boys sing.

*On that day, he gave a speech where he famously said: "Surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: Never give in, never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large, or petty, never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. . ." (2)

*The only way that I could improve on those words is to say: "Never give up. Never give up. Never, never, never give up on God! This is the essence of the faith we find here in Hebrews 11. These faith heroes never gave up on God, and neither should we!

1. FIRST BECAUSE HE CAN BREAK GIANT BARRIERS DOWN.

*Verse 30 says, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days." The walls of Jericho were an invincible fortress as far as the Children of Israel were concerned. There was no way they could ever bring down those walls in their own strength.

*But no wall is too big for Jehovah God! And He told His people what to do. Listen to part of the story starting in Joshua 5:13-15.

13. And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. (Church: That was no ordinary man. That was an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.) And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?''

14. So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.'' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?''

15. Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.'' And Joshua did so.

*Next in Joshua 6:1-5:

1. Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.

2. And the LORD said to Joshua, "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

3. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.

4. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

5. Then it shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.''

*Joshua and the Children of Israel believed in the Lord's promise, so they followed the Lord's instructions. And Joshua 6:20 from the New Living Translation says, "When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it."