Time Would Fail Me

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.