Sermon #75                                                       Hebrews Notes

 

     Title:            Some Of My Heroes

     Text:            Hebrews 11:32-34

     Readings:     Rex Bartley – Buddy Daugherty

     Subject:       The Faith of the Judges

     Date:            Tuesday Evening – February 5, 2002

     Tape #         W-83b

     Introduction:

 

We live in a generation that has produced very few heroes. Instead of producing heroes, the trend of our day is to tear down the heroes of the past. I grew up in a day when boys were encouraged to honor and emulate heroes. George Washington, Patrick Henry, and George MacArthur were names honored and revered. Even our fictional heroes (The Lone Ranger, Hop-along Cassidy, and Matt Dillon), all wore white hats (except for Zorro) and stood for right.

 

I have a confession to make. I still like heroes. I fully intend to do what I can to embed in minds and memories of my grand children the names and deeds of those people I would like for them to look upon as role models, people I want them to emulate.

 

Tonight, I want to talk to you about some of my heroes. You will find their names and deeds inscribed in a monument like none other, in Hebrews 11:32-34.

 

(Hebrews 11:32-34)  "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 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."

 

And what shall I more say?” Paul tells us had said enough to prove the definition of faith he had given in the opening verses of this chapter. He had said enough to demonstrate clearly that the elders had obtained a good report by faith. Though much more could be said to prove his point, no more needs to be said. Indeed, it is not possible for one man to fully expound the great deeds of faith set before us in the Book of God.

 

For the time would fail me.” – Perhaps Paul is simply using a hyperbole. Perhaps he is telling us that he did not have the time, if he was going to finish this Epistle, to enumerate all the instances of faith that he might and explain them, and that do so would be needless.

 

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets.

 

Gideon

 

Gideon was a man of humble birth and training. His family was neither wealthy, nor well known. He was a farm boy. He was from a poor, uneducated, insignificant segment of Jewish society. He was a man of acknowledged weakness and infirmity. Though he is here highly honored as a believer, even in the act of faith for which he is honored, his weakness was manifest.

 

Still, he is commended for his faith and faithfulness. He was a “mighty man of valor” because he believed God. – This man, Gideon, was greatly used of God to destroy the worship of Baal and turn Israel back to God. He began by tearing down the altar of Baal his own father had built, and proceeded (from that point) to establish the worship of God again in Israel. He recognized that both the former mercies Israel had enjoyed and their present distresses were the work of God’s wise and good providence.

 

The Lord God told him that he would save his people from their enemies by the hand of a weak man, by his own weak hand; and Gideon believed God. Believing God, he against the huge Midianite army, with only three hundred men (300 weak men!) and put them to flight (Jud. 6:1-8:35).

 

Gideon was a type of Christ.

 

·        He was the promised deliverer of God’s chosen people.

·        He was a man no one expected to be a deliverer.

·        He was an effectual deliverer!

·        He accomplished deliverance by destroying the enemies of Israel.

 

Barak

 

Barak, who lived before Gideon, was also a man greatly used of God. He, too, was a man who believed God. Yet, like us, he was a man whose faith was mixed with much unbelief.

 

All these great people of faith were people, “of whom the world is not worthy.” Yet, they were not all equally strong in faith. They were not all equally courageous. They were not all equally great. They were all, like us, sinners saved by grace. They were sinners saved by the free grace of God in Christ: chosen, redeemed, called, and sustained by grace.

 

I love what old John Trapp said in commenting on verse. – “Christ carries all his, of what size or sort soever, to the haven of heaven, upon his own bottom, as a ship doth all the passengers that are therein to the desired shore.”

 

Barak may not have been the man Gideon, or David, or Samson, or Samuel was; but he was God’s man. He was accepted of God in Christ, just like they were. And his usefulness was by the hand of God’s omnipotence, just as theirs was. God can use a twig as well as a tree, a jackass as well as a man, to accomplish his work.

 

Though he was hesitant and timorous, yet Barak acted in obedience and faith, engaged Sisera’s vast army with a small number, and gave the glory of the victory to the Lord God alone (Jud. 4:1-5:3.

 

Let us never be discouraged in the work of Christ, because we are small, weak, and insignificant. God uses the small, the weak, and the insignificant, so that he gets the glory and not the instrument he condescends to use.

 

(1 Corinthians 1:26-29)  "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence."

 

(1 Corinthians 3:5-11)  "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

 

(2 Corinthians 4:7)  "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

 

Samson

 

Samson was a child of promise. He was, like Samuel, devoted to God by his parents. He was most famous for his great strength. Yet, like the others, he had his infirmities. Still, he was a man who believed God and did much for the glory of God and the good of his people.

 

Without question, the last act of Samson’s life was his greatest. Mighty as he was in life, he was mightier in death. He laid down his life for his people, calling upon the Lord to strengthen him and avenge him. But do not imagine that he did so as a private person. Samson was acting as a judge, a deliverer) of Israel in his death. He acted not in malice, or for personal revenge, but for the glory of God and the salvation of Israel. His intention was not suicide, the destruction of his life, but the destruction of God’s enemies, the honor of God’s name, and the salvation of God’s people.

 

Samson was a tremendous type of Christ.

·        A Child of Promise.

·        Devoted to God as An Infant.

·        Stronger than Any

·        A Divinely Appointed Deliverer

·        Achieved Greatness by the Sacrifice of Himself!

 

Jephthah

 

Jephthah was born in shame, the bastard child of a harlot. He lived as a rebel, leading a band of vain men, until the Lord God lifted him up. From that time on, Jephthah was a man marked by faith in the Lord his God and by faithfulness to him. He was the instrument by whom God put to flight and conquered the Ammonites (Jud. 11:1-40).

 

That for which Jephthah is most commonly known today is his vow to God and the fact that he kept it conscientiously (Jud 11:30-40).  Most look upon his vow as a weakness, and consider his keeping of the vow a matter of greater weakness still. The fact that Jephthah is here mentioned, and that he is held before us as an example of faith, convinces me that this is the very thing for which this remarkable man is commended to us. You cannot separate Jephthah’s vow from his victory over the Ammonites. Let’s look at this for just a minute.

 

(Judges 11:13-40)  "And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. 32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands. 33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. 34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. 36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. 37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. 38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. 39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, 40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year."

 

David

 

David was a man after God’s own heart, raised up to fulfill his will. He was a type and picture of Christ in more ways than any other Old Testament character, except perhaps for Joseph.

 

His faith was manifest in his dependence upon his God, when he fought with Goliath. – In this David was great a type of Christ.

 

 

When he was in exile and distress, David yet believed God, encouraging himself in the Lord his God. – So, too, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, encouraged himself in his God, ever turning to him, and casting himself upon him in hope.

 

David’s faith was manifest when he was seated as King upon his throne in Israel, when his enemies were put under his feet. – Here, too, he was typical of our Redeemer.

 

That which stands out most prominently in my own mind, as an example of great faith in this great man is his confidence of faith when he lay dying (2 Sam. 23:1-5). -- In this, he is held before us by the Holy Spirit, both as an eminent example of faith and as an eminent type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

(2 Samuel 23:1-5)  "Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2 The spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow."

 

Samuel

 

Samuel, Hannah’s son, was a child given in answer to prayer. When he was just a boy, Hannah took to the temple and gave him to God. While he was still a boy, the Lord God revealed himself to him, called him, and put his word in his heart. – Oh, how God used Samuel! All the days of his life, he walked uprightly with God and before men. – What a man Samuel was! – What a great prophet! – Even when Israel despised him and rejected him, desiring a king to show rather than a prophet to hear, Samuel was faithful to God and to the souls of his people (1 Sam. 12:22:24).

 

(1 Samuel 12:22-24)  "For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people. 23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: 24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you."

 

The Prophets

 

Paul ends this list of faithful men by lumping all the prophets; from Samuel to John the Baptist together. It appears that he would have us to understand that…

·        All God’s prophets have one faith—the faith of the gospel!

·        They all have one message—Christ!

·        They all have one hope—redemption by Christ!

·        The all serve one purpose—the glory of God!

·        As Isaiah puts it, all God’s prophets all see eye to eye!—They are truly one!

 

(Isaiah 52:7-12)  "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward."

 

There, you have a list of some of my heroes. These are men whose names are honored of God because they honored God. Their deeds I want, by the grace of God to emulate, for the glory of Christ and the good of his people. – This is what I want for myself and for you. This is the reason God the Holy Spirit has inscribed their names in this great eleventh chapter of Hebrews.

 

1.     Believe God. – Trust Christ. – Trust the wisdom, purpose, providence and grace of God.

 

2.     Believing God, let us subdue kingdoms, not by the sword, not by political power, not by civil laws, but by the gospel.

 

3.     Trusting Christ, let us work righteousness. – Walking in the righteousness God has given us, and promoting righteousness in the earth, gospel righteousness, the righteousness of faith in Christ.

 

4.     Believing God, we shall yet obtain promises. – All the promises of God in Christ Jesus.

 

5.     Just in proportion as we believe God, we shall stop the mouths of lions. – The lion of hell that roars against us (Rom. 8:33-34). – The lions of the earth that would devour us. – The lions of guilt that would destroy our peace.

 

6.     Believing God, we shall yet quench the violence of fire. – The flame shall not kindle upon thee.

 

7.     Believing God, we shall escape the edge of the sword. – The sword of divine justice. – The sword of the persecutor.

 

8.     Believing God, we shall yet out of weakness be made strong. – His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

 

9.     Just in proportion as we believe God, we shall wax valiant in the fight of faith. – It is one thing to fight, but another thing altogether to be valiant in fight.

 

10.    Believing God, we shall put to flight the armies of the aliens. – All who oppose the gospel! – All the powers of hell! – All the enemies of our God and his Christ!

 

Like Jehosphat of old, we must confess, "O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee" (2 Chron. 20:12) But let us hear, even as we acknowledge our weakness and utter inability, what Jahaziel spoke by the Spirit of God (2 Chron. 20:14-15) to those whose eyes are fixed on their God. – “The battle is not yours, but Gods!

 

(2 Chronicles 20:17-21)  "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD. 19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. 20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever."

 

Amen.