Hebrews
11:32-40 (KJV)
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:
Who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions,
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.
Women
received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
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;
(Of whom the
world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens
and caves of the earth.
And these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having
provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made
perfect.
I don’t find
where the Bible ever labels anyone as being spiritual, but there are plenty of
good examples to give us clues as to what a spiritual person would look like.
If I were
taking things in Biblical order I would want to point you to the book of
Judges.
But
honestly, these guys:
· Don’t seem very spiritual to me
· Would be difficult to choose which ones to
highlight and
· They are summarized for us in the book of
Hebrews
I am sure
the Apostle Paul is the penman of the book of Hebrews.
He must have
gone through some of the same thought processes I did when preparing his "Hebrews Hall of Faith."
He speaks
clearly of:
· Abel and
· Enoch and
· Noah and
· Abraham
He gives
attention to:
· Sarah
· Moses and
· Rahab
But then he
comes to the judges and asks, “And what shall I say more?”
He concludes
that time would fail him to speak of try to go into the stories of many more
believers who were great examples of faith.
And he does
give us a list of some others
· Gideon
· Barak
· Samson
· Jephthae and
· David
But it is
obvious that his list is not meant to be exhaustive.
He will go
on to mention
· Women and
· Events that deal with days after the Judges
passed and the kings ruled in the Promised Land.
I am going
to take a cue from Apostle Paul and limit the number of judges I will speak
about.
I. GIDEON
The least in
his father’s house.
Judges
6:11-16 (KJV)
And there
came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that
pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the
winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
And the
angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee,
thou mighty man of valour.
And Gideon
said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this
befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of,
saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken
us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
And the LORD
looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel
from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
And he said
unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor
in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.
And the LORD
said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites
as one man.
A. Gideon was an insecure person who did some
amazing things.
· He was raised in a time of oppression
· He was born into a poor family and
· He was the youngest of all his father’s children
What’s more,
he knew it.
Gideon had
obviously thought on these things enough that when that angel came to him he
could rattle off all these problems like poetry.
1. I’ll bet you know someone like that – someone,
who tends to be:
· Quiet,
· Reserved,
· Probably would rather people don’t see them
Quiet people
like that seldom want to be the center of attention, but they don’t want to be
ignored either.
They will
usually stand just outside of a circle of people, hoping someone invites them
to join in.
Mind you,
they will probably feel uncomfortable in a huge crowd, but that does not mean
that want to be left alone.
Gideon was
not only quiet and insecure,
2. He was generous
As soon as
he heard what the angel was there to tell him, he asked for the angel to stay
so he could go get him a present.
Often times
those quiet people can be very giving – but it is not always for the best of
reasons.
Gideon
wanted to give the angel of the Lord a present, but he was doing it to sort of
pay off a friendship.
Judges
6:17-18 (KJV)
And he said
unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou
talkest with me.
Depart not
hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set
it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
Gideon
wanted to give a present – but he wanted to do it to prove that the angle was
being gracious and friendly.
I notice
that the angel did accept the present.
Even if we
think a person’s motives might be wrong, we still ought to be gracious and
friendly with them.
3. Then Gideon had to be propped up time and
time again.
Judges
6:36-38 (KJV)
And Gideon
said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
Behold, I
will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only,
and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save
Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.
And it was
so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and
wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
Mind you,
the angel of the Lord had already promised to be with Gideon and use him to
deliver Israel from the Midianites.
· He has watched God consume his sacrifice and
· He has heard the voice of the Lord personally
But he still wants proof.
He wants a
fleece full of water when the ground is dry.
And when God gives him that
He was a dry
fleece when the ground is wet with dew.
4. Gideon had an issue with being consistent
He’d get all
fired up and get some friend to go tear down an idol
Then he
would back away and tremble at the potential consequences.
But through
all of that
B. Gideon remained faithful to God
And God used
him.
1
Corinthians 1:26-27 (KJV)
For ye see your
calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called:
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;
The
spiritual person doesn’t have to be the
· Wise
· Mighty or
· Noble
He will very
likely see himself as weak.
He probably
thinks he makes a fool of himself trying to serve the Lord.
And God uses
him.
II. BARAK
A woman's
help
Judges 4:3-8
(KJV)
And the
children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of
iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
And Deborah,
a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
And she dwelt
under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and
the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
And she sent
and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him,
Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount
Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of
the children of Zebulun?
And I will
draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with
his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
And Barak
said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go
with me, then I will not go.
I don’t know
how to preach the account of Barak without sounding sexist.
The plain
fact is that the Bible does not teach an egalitarian
system where men and women have equal roles.
What the
Bible teaches is a complimentarian
system where men and women have separate but complimentary roles.
The first
thing I notice is that
A. There is a woman judge at the time.
Notice that
there is nothing negative said about this woman being the judge.
There is no
excuse made
There is no
exception why she got to be a judge but it isn’t all right for women to be
judges… nothing like that.
· Gideon had been a judge and
· Ehud had been a judge and now
· Deborah is a judge
She
exercises her authority and commanded Barak set up the army for battle against
Sisera.
· Perhaps Barak was opposed to following a woman’s
orders
· Perhaps he did not trust her to follow through
with her end of the battle plans
Whatever the
reason, Barak would not go into combat unless Deborah went with him.
Deborah
agreed to go, but pronounced a “curse” upon Barak.
Because he
would not go without a woman’s help,
B. The victory would be gotten, not by Barak
but by a woman.
Judges 4:9
(KJV)
And she
said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest
shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of
a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Judges
4:17-23 (KJV)
Howbeit
Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite:
for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the
Kenite.
And Jael
went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me;
fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him
with a mantle.
And he said
unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And
she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
Again he
said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man
doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt
say, No.
Then Jael
Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went
softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the
ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
And, behold,
as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come,
and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent,
behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
So God
subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
I think the
book of Hebrews names Barak not because he was the faithful and spiritual one,
but because his story points to two spiritual women:
· Deborah, the judge and
· Jael, the homemaker
And I just
want to point out that when the Bible says,
Galatians
6:1 (KJV)
Brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in
the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
That the
women are included too.
The shame of
the account of Barak is that this man was not spiritual.
Men, don’t
back away from being leaders,
· Faithful
· Godly and
· Spiritual
persons.
III. JEPHTHAH
An outcast
Judges
11:1-9 (KJV)
Now Jephthah
the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and
Gilead begat Jephthah.
And Gilead's
wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah,
and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art
the son of a strange woman.
Then
Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were
gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
And it came
to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
And it was
so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of
Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:
And they
said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the
children of Ammon.
And Jephthah
said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my
father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
And the
elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that
thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our
head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
And Jephthah
said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the
children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
Jephthah’s
story gets misused because everyone wants to focus on just one part of the
story, when he vowed to offer his daughter as a sacrifice if he won the battle.
Most of the
time Jephthah’s vow is used to preach the importance of keeping your vows, even
if they are painful to keep.
I think the
lesson is the importance of not making foolish vows.
If you vow
to do something that is ungodly and foolish, confess the vow as sin and don’t
do it.
The greater
lesson in the account of Jephthah is that an outcast can be spiritual.
· He was born out of a sinful act
· He was born to a sinful mother
· He was never accepted by his brothers and
· He was apparently not supported by his father
Jephthah didn’t fit in
with “decent folks.”
He was a mighty man in
many ways:
· A capable soldier
· A valiant warrior and probably
· An inspiring leader of men
But he was also from the
wrong side of the tracks.
He sort of reminds me of
George Washington in this regard.
Washington was the son
of his father’s second wife and so he wasn’t a legitimate heir to his father’s
estate.
Washington knew that one
of the only ways for him to succeed in his world was through the military but,
because his was from the colony of Virginia, he could not be recognized as a
“real” soldier in the British Army.
He became an officer in
the Virginia militia, but was repeatedly denied a commission with the British
Regulars.
During the American
Revolution, he was regularly treated by the British with less honor than they
would have say and French officer.
When the British
surrendered at Yorktown,
· British General Cornwallis refused to participate but sent
his aide in his place.
· The aide attempted to deliver the surrender to the French
General, Rochambeau. He declined and pointed him to Washington.
· Washington refused the surrender of an aide and pointed him
to his own aide.
Even though Washington
had bested them, the British still viewed him as an outcast.
The point I am trying to
make is that
· Even if you have been an outcast
·Even if you don’t have the best upbringing
·Even if there are circumstances in your life that scar you
You can still be
spiritual and used of the Lord.
Conclusion
There is only one thing
that absolutely prevents a person from being spiritual; that is to not be born
again.
Jesus told a religious
leader named Nicodemus
John 3:6-7 (KJV)
That which is born of
the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said
unto thee, Ye must be born again.
No one can be spiritual
until they have been born of the Spirit.
