How often do you think to yourself, when you know what God's will
is for you, when you know what you're responsible to do, how
you're responsible to behave, what the work is God would have
you to do on any given day, how often do you think to yourself, Can I possibly do this? How can I possibly obey God's
Word? How can I possibly do what I
know I must do for God's glory in the face of such opposition,
in the face of such difficulty, in the face of such trials, in
the face of men and women who do not know or do not believe
my God? I'm just an ordinary man. Just an ordinary man. Well, tonight
I want to talk to you about some ordinary men trusting an omnipotent
God. Turn with me, if you will, to
Hebrews chapter 11. I've given this message, this
title, Ordinary Men Trusting an Omnipotent God with Good Reason.
It's commonly thought that Paul's purpose in writing Hebrews chapter
11 is to extol the greatness of the men and women whose names
are recorded here, or to extol at least the greatness of their
faith. Neither is true. Paul's purpose here is to extol
the greatness of the God they worshiped and served, the one
who gives and sustains his people in faith. In this chapter, the
Holy Spirit is encouraging believers. You'll read in the next chapter
of the hands that hang down, the knees that are weak, folks
ready to fall out of the way and ready to give up the race.
He addresses such people as us with sagging hands and weak knees
and stumbling feet, ordinary folks like us to continue in
the faith. And he holds before us the examples
of such men and women as are described in this chapter like
ourselves, who endured great opposition and continued to the
end of their days believing God. Oh God, teach us now to believe
you. Give us grace to look continually
to our Redeemer, to our Savior, and looking to him to find all
strength in him. Now before we read the text this
evening, let me make three or four statements. with regard
to this matter of faith. I want you to understand them.
And you who understand them, I want you to remember them. The singular object of faith,
all true faith, is the triune God as he reveals himself in
his son, our crucified substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is
not faith, which is not faith. in the revealed Christ of Holy
Scripture. It is a delusion, not faith. It is a false faith, not true
faith. It is a damning faith, not saving
faith. All true faith, whether we speak
of the faith of Adam or of Abel or of Abraham, or we speak of
the faith of David Byrd and his wife Betty, all true faith is
faith in the triune God who is revealed in Jesus Christ the
sinner's substitute in the accomplishment of redemption. True faith involves
faith in Christ the substitute, faith in his shed blood as the
only ground of our acceptance with God, his righteousness which
makes us righteous before God. That's the righteousness with
which we will stand, Bob, as you read just a little bit ago,
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. Did you catch
those words? He'll present us unreprovable
before God Almighty. So that God himself does not
have reason to reprove us, has nothing to reprove us of, because
ours is the righteousness of God in Christ. True faith, secondly,
is the gift and operation of God Almighty. Faith is not something
that you can muster from within. Faith is not something that you
can give to yourself. Faith is not something that you
just decide by an act of your almighty free will you will perform. No, sir. No man left to himself
can or will believe God. It never has happened, will never
happen. Men by nature are dead in trespasses
and in sins. Faith is the fruit of the Spirit,
and there is no exercise of faith, there is no fruit of the Spirit,
except first the Spirit of God come, take up residence in you,
and give you life by His almighty grace. It is the gift and operation
of God by which we believe. If you believe on the Son of
God, if you trust Jesus Christ the Lord, it's because God Almighty
has done for you what you cannot do for yourself. He's given you
life and faith in Christ. Thirdly, the faith is given. It is given by, it arises from,
and it acts upon the revelation of God in Holy Scripture. Now I want you to look at two
passages you've read many times, but I want you to see them. Romans
chapter 10, verse 14, or verse 15, rather. Well, I'll get it
right in a minute, verse 17, Romans 10, 17. Now, while you're turning, be
sure you hear what I'm saying. Every act of faith described
in this 11th chapter of Hebrews, no, every single act of faith
recorded in the entire book of God, no exceptions, every act
of faith is described in the scriptures as that which is the
response of a man, the response of a woman to the revelation
of God in his word. There is no such thing as an
exercise of faith that does not come in response to the revealed
character and word of God in the scriptures. We do not exercise
faith apart from the revelation of God. Look here in Romans 10,
verse 17. So then faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Abel offered the sacrifice he
offered because he heard God declare what God required. He
required a sacrifice, an innocent sacrifice, a sacrifice of his
providing, a sacrifice representing that one who is the woman's seed
who had crushed the serpent's head. That's true of every act
of faith. We do not act in faith except
as we act in accordance with the revelation of God in his
words. Look in 1 Peter 1. Now be sure you understand what
the scriptures teach you. There is no faith apart from the revelation
of God in the gospel. Men and women cannot believe
an unknown Christ. They cannot trust an unknown
God. The only way we can believe him
is if we know him. And the only way we can know
him is by the revelation of himself in his word. First Peter chapter
one, verse 23. The apostle writes by the Holy
Spirit and tells us we're born again. Not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible. We are not born again because
of who our daddy is, but there's more to it than that. We are
not born again because of the power, the influence, the labor,
the doing of any corruptible human being. No sir, but of incorruptible,
incorruptible seed. And the word is firm. It's the
very word that would be translated that way in our English language
anywhere else. It's talking about a man's seed, only here, the
seed is the word of God Almighty, the seed of life. the seed in
which life is contained, from which life springs. We're born
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed by the
Word of God. You're holding it in your hand.
The Word of God. I'm standing here handling the
Word of God. You send me literally up and
down the four sections of this country, north, south, east,
and west, and around the world, to proclaim to men the Word of
God, the Word of God. Because there's no other way
any sinner will ever come to know God. You will never know
Him. He will not speak to you. He
will not direct you. He will not guide you. He will
not teach you, but by this book. That's exactly right. More than
that. He does it through the instrumentality
of what's going on here right now. Well, I don't have to listen
to a preacher. You do if you want to hear from
God. I don't have to listen to a preacher. You do if you want
God to direct you. Well, I've got my opinion. Your opinion
don't match anything. Neither does mine. God's word
does. And the way God teaches men and
women his word is through the instrumentality of gospel preaching.
No, the preacher is not a priest. We do not disseminate grace.
And you dare not trust this man or any other with your soul.
But as you search the scriptures to see if these things are so,
you best hear and heed what's given to you by God's servant
in his word. Read it now. By the word of God,
which lives and abides forever. You might say, well that's just
a dead letter. If it is, it's your fault. It's your fault. This word's living, powerful. It's like fire in a hammer. Like
a hammer to crush every false refuge. Like a hammer to dash
to pieces every false hope. A fire to burn up all stubble. A fire to revive and refresh
your soul. A fire to purge and purify. living
and abiding forever for all flesh. Now we're getting down to talking
about us. It's grass. I went outside this morning and
the neighbors had started a fire. And before I walked into the
garage and back out again, the fire trucks were on the way out
here. Done set the whole field on fire out here. How come? Just
grass. Just grass. Gone like that. Just grass. And all the glory
of man is like the flower of the grass. Let the grass grow tall enough
out here. This stuff grows out here. Just gets up out there
tall. You get a little bit of a little
blue bloom on it. Can't hardly see it, but there
it is. That's what all the stuff is you brag about. Just that little tip of the end
of the grass. That's all. All the glory of men like the
flower of the grass. The grass withers, the flower thereof falls
away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now look at
this, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Though faith is the gift of God, though faith is the operation
of God's grace in us, Though we cannot and will not believe
God apart from the gift and operation of his grace, faith is not, faith
is not, faith is not a passive but an active grace. It's something men and women
choose to do. It's exactly right. It's exactly right. When God
comes in the power of his grace, He says thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. That means when he comes and
reveals Christ to you, Bobby, you're willing to believe him.
Willing to. Anxious to. Want to. Desire to. Choose to. Choose you this day
whom you will serve. Oh, you can't tell people that.
God does. I don't see why I can't. Faith is something you determine
to do. Faith is something you practice
deliberately. Faith is something that you opt
for because of God's grace in you. Faith acts in response to
God's revelation. Faith acts in response to God's
operation. Now then, here's the last thing.
The power, the strength, and the efficacy of faith is not
in us. not in us. It is not in the strength
of our faith. It is not, oh, there's a man
mighty in faith. When the inspired writers of
the New Testament talked about people being mighty in faith,
they write by inspiration, knowing things we can't see. Everything
that you look at and everything I look that impresses us. Everything. Everything. Everything I know
and see about Larry Brown that impresses me. Everything. Everything. And I love you dearly, but everything
I know and see about that man that impresses me, any demon
in hell can perform. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. It may
be as fake as a $3 bill. You see, you and I only look
on the outward appearance. And the outward appearance is
easily put up as a facade. Well, what is it then that makes
a man stand out? He's such a strong believer.
He's such a loyal man, such a faithful man. No, no, no, no, no, no.
The strength of faith is in the object of faith, not in the strength
of the man who believes. You understand that? We perform
what we perform for the souls of men and for our own souls'
good, not by any strength that we muster in ourselves or arises
in ourselves, but rather through the strength of Him who is the
object of our faith. Now, I want you to see this.
Let's read together Hebrews chapter 11, verses 32 through 40. And we will look at verse 32.
Actually, I... I call this ordinary man trusting
an omnipotent God, or I ought to have called it an ordinary
man trusting an omnipotent God, because before I got done preparing
it, I'm just going to talk to you about one of these men. And
what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon and of Barak, of Samson and of Jephthah, 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. Because the men
had stronger faith than you do? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because
he believed in him. Who's the resurrection and the
life? 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 stoned asunder, they were tempted, they
were slain with the sword. They wondered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and dens and caves of the earth, And all these,
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. These were indeed ordinary men,
sinners saved by the grace of God, washed in the blood of Christ,
robed in his righteousness, born of his just like you and me. Saved sinners, but sinners still. Men used of God to accomplish
great things, but ordinary men still, just like us. Ordinary
men who trusted the omnipotent God. Now let's look tonight at
Gideon. Gideon lived in a day of great
spiritual darkness. Israel had departed from God. She had been turned and turned
in measure by Gideon's own father to the worship of Baal. And every
man did that which was right in his own eyes. Darkness covered
the earth and gross darkness the people. And yet God did not
leave himself without a witness. It's particularly blessing to
see grace shining in darkness. to see faith shining in the midst
of unbelief, to see men here and there who, walking in direct
opposition to the whole generation around them, walk with God. I
find great encouragement in that. I find great, great delight in
that. In fact, the message of the book
of Hebrews, and particularly of this 11th chapter, could not
be complete as a description of the life of faith. Had the
apostle been inspired of God to just write about faith and
leave out these men who exercised faith in the times of the judges
in the face of trial, great adversity, great unbelief? Because you see,
the fact is, faith constantly is proved by trial and adversity
and opposition and difficulty. There is no demonstrating of
faith until there's something that stands before it that would
contradict it. You see, faith is not dependent
upon outward favorable conditions. Faith. I'm talking about faith
now. I'm not talking about a religious persuasion. I'm not talking about
a doctrine you got in your head. I'm talking about faith. Faith
rises above circumstance. Faith rises above the world. You read it again, Colossians
chapter 3. Faith sits, it's a fiction, on Christ above, where Christ
sits, on the right hand of God. Faith is sustained, energized,
strengthened by one who is infinitely superior to everything around
us. Can you get a hold of what I'm
talking about? He who is our God. He who is our Savior is
not in any way limited, constrained, confined, or hindered by anything
or anyone on earth or in hell or in heaven above. And if he
is the one we trust, the same is true of us. The only limitation to faith
is the limitation of our unbelief, that's all. Now, these things, as I said, were
written for our encouragement, because we, too, live in a day
of spiritual darkness and declension. There is in our day, as in no
other, an utter departure from the word and worship of God by
people who claim to serve and honor him. But what can we do
in this day? I have to acknowledge far too often I look at the task
rather than the task giver. I look in the faces of men rather
than on the throne of God. I look at myself rather than
God's omnipotent arm. And Lindsay, I get discouraged. And I think, shoot, what's the
use? Let's just quit. Let's just quit. Yeah, I don't say that much. Don't say it to my wife or anybody
else much. Don't want to discourage anybody. But I go through the
same things you go through. And in some ways, more so. And then God graciously causes
me to understand that His arm is not short, that He cannot
say. His ear is not heavy, that He cannot hear. And I cry out,
God, let me, like Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel,
and all those prophets of the past, let me lean hard on your
omnipotent arm. Now as we do today, I'm talking
about right now, this day, in this situation, in this hour,
As we lean on him, every enemy shall fall before us, and God's
will shall be done by us in this generation. And we can then say
with the apostle, yes, I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. Yes, I can do whatever it is
God would have me to do in this day, in this generation, in this
place for the glory of His name and the increase of His kingdom.
I can through Him who sits on the throne. Do you understand
that? Bobby asked us, whatever it is
God has for you to do in this day, whatever it is, you can
do it as you look to Him, whatever it is. I'm not talking about
doing something that men will say. I'm not talking about doing
things men look at and say, boy, look what they did. Look what
that man's doing. I'm talking about whatever it
is God would have you to do, you can do as you walk before
him in faith, whatever it is. These men described in this text
were men specifically raised up by God. to meet extraordinary
tasks. Like the apostles of our Lord.
You look at them and you say, man, those are just, that's just
a ragtag mob of nobodies. Who are those fellas? What on
earth is God going to do with that much fellas? What can they
accomplish? Nothing. Nothing. You look at
men like Calvin and Luther. Men like John Gill and Jonathan
Edwards. Men raised up by God in their
day for specific works. Men used of God to accomplish
extraordinary things. What can they do? Nothing. Just
ordinary men. Just ordinary men. As a matter
of fact, a little less than ordinary men. They're fellows who were
pushed to the back side of society. Fellows who were suppressed by
everything around them. But God had something for them
to do. And God raised them up. those men specifically to meet
a specific task, to perform a specific work in a specific day for his
glory. As Mordecai said to Esther, as
I prepared this message, this is what I said to myself
and this is what I say to you. Who knows? Who knows? whether thou art come
to the kingdom for such a time as this." Some time ago, a dear friend
said to me, who was a bit disheartened and had reason to be, the things
that transpired in his life. And he began to find some encouragement
in God's wise and good providence. And he looked at me and he said,
maybe, maybe the Lord has something for me to do. I read this story of Gideon and
what God used him to do, these other men. My heart dances with the thought,
maybe, just maybe, God has something for me to do. Something for me
to do. Me! An ordinary, less than ordinary
man. to do for his glory. All right,
let's look at Gideon. Turn back to the book of Judges.
I won't leave it just a minute. There were three judges who preceded
Gideon. Ahphiel, Ehud, and Barak. After each judge died, Israel
turned again away from God. God's people have always been
sheep-ledgers. They've always needed a shepherd. Still do. But God never turned away from
his oath. Yet a fourth time they departed
from God, and God was pleased to raise up Gideon. Now we won't
spend a great deal of time here, but look in chapter 2 for just
a moment. Though the people of Israel seemed not to understand
it, And certainly their oppressors didn't understand it. The Lord
God was graciously using the oppressor to turn the oppressed
to himself and to conquer the oppressor. Look here in chapter
2, verse 16. Nevertheless, the Lord raised
up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that
spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken
unto their judges. But they went a-whoring after
other gods, and bowed themselves unto them. They turned quickly
out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commands
of the Lord. But they did not so. And when
the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge,
and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the
days of the judge. For it repented the Lord because
of their groanings, by reason of them that oppressed them.
And when it says it repented, the Lord, the scriptures are
not teaching us that God changed his mind. But in the outward
appearance of things, God turns from oppression and hardship
and difficulty and bondage and turning his ear away from them
and turning his face away from them to blessing them and raising
up a judge and delivering them because of their growings to
Him. like Israel many years before
when they cried by reason of their affliction, then God heard
from heaven. Oh, let us then cry unto God. He will yet hear. He will yet
hear. He says, for this day will I
be sought. Let us then seek him. The Midianites
held Israel in bondage. So great was the bondage of the
Midianites that the scripture tells us in Judges 6 in verse
4, They left no sustenance for Israel. Verse six, Israel was
greatly impoverished by the Midianites. But that wasn't the worst of
it, not by a long stretch. Israel was so far and so completely
turned away from God, so completely turned to the worship of Baal,
that in that day, to oppose the worship of Baal was a criminal
act, a criminal act looked upon by the people of Israel as an
act deserving death. See that just a minute. Yet God
promised the Lord will judge his people. God will repent himself
for his servants when he sees that their power is gone. And
now God makes good on his word. He found a man. There's no trouble
for God to find a man because God always has a man awaiting. He has a man whom he has raised
up and prepared for specific tasks always. This man is described
in Judges 6.12 as a mighty man of valor. He was a man God had
readied for this hour. Gideon's called a man of valor
and as such he's clearly a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. of
whom the scripture says, behold, I have laid health upon one that
is mighty. I've exalted one chosen out of
the people. But still Gideon had to be prepared. I like what one of the old writers
said concerning this. He said, God must first do his
work with Gideon before Gideon could do his work for God. And that's never easy. That's
never easy. To accomplish this, God makes
the winepress of Joash to be for Gideon what he made the backside
of the desert to be for Moses. You see, no man will ever be
fit to serve Christ and his cause. No woman will ever be fit to
be used for anything for the glory of God in any area of life. until they first are made to
know their utter weakness and insufficiency. I've read recently
some folks arguing, trying to declare that in order for a preacher
to be a preacher, he has to be seminary trained, he must have
special training and all that stuff. Well, it might not appear
I've had a little bit of their training, but I'll tell you what
they can do. I'll tell you one thing they're
best at doing. The one thing Bible colleges
and seminaries are best at doing is filling the vessel up with
self and making them unfit for any kind of use. That's exactly right. If you
don't believe me, just go visit a campus somewhere. God will never use anybody for
anything until he strips it and breaks it. God won't use this
congregation for anything except to strip us and break us. And
it's something that's not done once or twice here and there.
It's a constant, ongoing process if we're used by God. Ralph Barnard
used to say to the fellows, he used to hear him preach when
I was a young man, I didn't understand it. I didn't understand what he was
talking about. He said, you keep praying God will use you. He
said, you better shut up. He might. He might. Went on with Gideon. Look in verse 12, chapter 6. The angel of the Lord appeared
to Gideon and he said, Gideon, the Lord's with you. What a strange
word. Look at Gideon's response. Verse
13. Gideon said, it sure don't look
like it. It sure don't look like it. Oh, my Lord, if the Lord
be with us. Why then is all this befallen
us? Where be all his miracles which
our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up
out of Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken
us, and delivered us into the hand of the Midianites. And the
Lord looked on him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou
shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites, have not I
sent thee? Now I can picture Gideon. What
might? What strength? He might look
up at the angel of the Lord who came to visit him and say, do
you have any idea who you're talking to? You're not talking
to Samson. You're not talking to Moses.
You're not talking to Joshua. You're talking to Gideon. Gideon,
nothing, nobody. That word from God, you see,
was designed to bring Gideon into the awareness of his utter
inability. Gideon's might was to be his
consciousness of his weakness. Look at verse 15. The Lord had said to him, now
go in your might. And Gideon says here, verse 15, oh my Lord,
wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in
Manasseh, and I'm the least in my father's house. Now he's ready. Now he's ready. The Lord has
only one response to that acknowledged helplessness. He says in verse
16, surely I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the Midianites
as one man. I can almost picture Ogede again. I believe I'll do it. I believe I'll do it. Where are
they? God's given me command and God's promised me his strength.
That's enough strength. God will be with me. And then
he asked for a sign. And he's been cussed and blasted
and cussed and blasted and cussed and blasted by about everybody
for asking for a sign. But he didn't ask for a sign
because he didn't believe God. He asked for a sign because he
believed God. And believing God, he wants God
to display his grace to him. And the proof of that is found
in the remaining part of chapter 6, verses 17 through 23, anyway.
Let's look at it just briefly. I can't expand it. I've got to
get through this. He said in verse 17, if now I
found grace in your sight, and the word if might very well and
properly be translated sense. It's often translated that way.
Since I found grace in your sight, then show 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 you." And God said, all right,
I'll wait on your sacrifice. And Gideon went out and got it.
And then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of his staff,
verse 21. He said, put forth the end of
the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the
unleavened cakes. And there rose up a fire out
of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes.
And the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon
perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas,
O Lord God, I've been in the house of God all this time. For because I have seen an angel
of the Lord face to face, and the Lord said to him, Peace be
unto thee. Fear not. Everything's all right. Thou shalt not die. God, God
himself has accepted me and my sacrifice. God has. Will you
hear me? Children of God, God has accepted
us and God accepts our sacrifice. The sacrifice that we bring to
him be it nothing but bread. be it nothing but what we find
in our heads. He accepts us and our service
to him because of Christ his son. And he says, peace be on
you. Everything's all right. You're
not going to die. And then going forth, empowered by divine approval. Oh, man. You talk about giving
a fellow a messianic mission. Gideon's got God's approval.
And I don't care whether his name's Osama Bin Laden or his
name's Gideon. If a man even thinks he's got
God's approval, you best step out of the way, because he'll
run over you. He'll run over you. Gideon didn't
pretend to have it. He had it. And it goes forth
empowered by God's approval, commissioned by God's word. And
the first thing he does, verse 25 and 26, he gets the daddy's
church building. The one that Daddy built with
his own hands, at his own expense. And the altar that Daddy carved
with his own hands to veil. And he took a pickaxe to it and
tore it down. You might say, well, that's not
such a great thing. He did it knowing full well that he did
so at the hazard of his own life. Look at verse 30. Then the men
of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die,
because he has cut down the altar of Baal, because he has cut down
the grove that was by it. Verse 33. Then the Midianites
and the Amalekites and the children of the east were all gathered
together and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. Enraged
at the overthrow of Baal, the Midianites gathered their forces
against Gideon and against all of Israel, though Israel themselves
were enraged by the overthrow of their god and his altar. How often it appears when you've
done what you know you had to do for the glory of God, what
you know you had to do for the interest of his kingdom, what
you know you had to do for the welfare of men's souls. It seems
that you just made more trouble for yourself. Look here, I did what God told
me to do. I poured out Baal's altar and
now look what's happened. The Midianites and Israel are
all turned against me. Oh no. Gideon just went right
on doing what God had him to do. His only infirmity was that
he imagined that he must lead a large army if the Midianites
were to be slain. And so God taught him, he said,
no, Gideon, I don't need them. Shoot, I don't even need you.
He said, hey, what do you do? Don't take a big army. You take
300 men that laugh water like a dog or are scared to death,
and there'll be more hindrance than help. That's the folks I'll
use. And he did. Who knows? Maybe he'll do the same. with
us poor insignificant nobodies who are more of a hindrance than
a help. Gideon was an ordinary man who
leaned hard on the arm of omnipotence and God put him to flight in
Gideonites plight. Oh God do it again.