God’s Choice of Heroes

her part of the hospital and then last night when everybody shook hands and I’m not sure how you do it in unions but they kissed and made up or something and but they moved her back so she’s back in a familiar place but only for a few more hours all that to say she was supposed to be released at seven this morning but she’ll be I’ll be bringing her home at noon today from from kaiser sunnyside so yeah it’s really very special and can I just

apologize ahead of time so if the preacher does like get talking real fast this morning it’s only because I can’t wait to go get my debbie and bring her home and yeah I we have somebody that’s actually at the house this morning that’s doing a little cleanup to turn it from a bachelor pad let’s just pause for prayer right now and pray that no anyway so that’s really that’s really exciting so we got a lot of applause going on if you how many of you have

ever been to a hall of fame a sports hall of fame like the football hall of fame basketball baseball I guess there’s a hockey one and maybe for some other sports but think about what you know I remember we went on a trip around the country and we wound up in ohio for the football hall of fame and it was better than disneyland to me and and it helps that the raiders pretty much dominate the hall but anyway murmuring’s not very christian you guys I just

no but in a given sport right that’s what a hall of fame is about inductees that that line the halls decorate the various halls of this sort of hollywood place in the sports world are all stars the places filled with people men and women in their sports that are let’s just call them superstars and let’s just say something about all pros for a second all professional athletes just by definition are let’s just call them outstanding athletes you don’t make that cut you don’t get that contract

unless you’re really stand out like amazing hall of famers however are more than pros their my kids call it extra okay they got something extra in fact they have it we could could almost say of sports people like that they have it all on and off the court or the field or the ice okay you with me so far now next question what gets you inducted into the spiritual hall of fame did you know that hebrews chapter 11 where my bible is turned to and I’d

like you to turn there as well this morning hebrews chapter 11 is is correctly called a spiritual hall of fame this 11th chapter of hebrews it’s a chapter in the new testament if you’re new to the bible there’s very little bible left by the time you get to hebrews find your way there it’s really worth a look and go on your phone if you have to that way it’s fine but you’ll come to a chapter where it’s populated by notable names of standout people throughout the

old testament so every name you’re going to find in this 11th chapter 40 verses are all populated from the old testament this is new testament that we’re reading from so the writer of hebrews 11 we’re not sure exactly who that was but this writer reaches into history past and he draws or she draws the names of important standout people from the old testament it’s a single chapter therefore filled with may I say it spiritual celebrities now look up celebrity and you’ll say no that’s not a

misuse of the word they’re head turners if one of them walked in here right now you’d go oh you’re that guy whoa in fact I’ve read your story did it really go down like that I mean was it were the odds all against you you know I want to ask that of so many that are in this chapter these are people these are perfect people these are these are better than the rest or so one would think like sports hall of famers a sound assumption would

be that spiritual hall of famers are super achievers who are as we just did applauded by god for great accomplishments right you know me too well you sense this is a setup and it kinda is because actually that assumption would be would be actually a wrong assumption entirely I’m not sure if I’m happy or want to cry when I say that to you you decide to be fair some on this list and I hope you take time I’m enticing you like crazy take time today and

read the list again some on on this list did impressive things they really did but not all in fact some some are listed in this chapter that leave you doing what I’ve done a lot whenever I turn here I scratch my head going how’d they get there how or why is that person’s name listed there by the way that’s not being crazy on my part I hope you read the bible that way and go huh if what pastor is saying here is true but these are

a gathering of really important people how did some of those people make this list that certainly would be true of four names in a short verse taken from a really long very bad season of old testament history even so without exception all of them make this spiritual hall of fame for exactly the same reason now hopefully you’re about to grab a pin and reach for your sermon note page and write this down the exact same reason is behind every single one of them finding their name

into this list all right it’s a two-word expression that repeats 19 times in chapter 11 by faith would you write those two words down by faith let me say at the start of this message something about faith the word itself appears more than 500 times in the bible so even if you’re brand new to the bible or you’re just kind of cracking it open and blowing off some dust and going what’s the big themes here even a casual reading you have to go whoa face got

to be a pretty important one to to be a word used 500 times that that kind of makes it a big deal all right so 500 times in the bible but the but but the reason that these people are in this chapter is the same exact reason anybody stands out in a list of people before god the same reason these people found salvation is exactly the same way anybody hearing my words right now in this house or out a live stream this morning is saved exactly

the same way by faith in a savior his name’s jesus may I say while you’re thinking on that thought let me tell you what that excludes works in other words there’s not an exception you can find some really cool people here I mean abraham and moses hello did a lot of cool stuff but that did not grant them the ultimate wish desire longing need in their life which was salvation none of that converted into a place in heaven are they there today yes they are how

did they get there the same way you and I get there if we surrender to jesus christ by say it with me faith all right so we’re we’re tracking together every person named here gained approval I want you to look at these just this opening verse now faith is confidence it’s defining it and what we hope for an assurance above about what we do not see so you don’t have faith in something you don’t have to have faith in your car you see it but this

is somebody that we don’t see watch verse two this is what the ancients were commended for now isn’t that a great it’s kind of a honorable way to speak of elderly people right maybe not so but anyway that’s what he’s describing the people in this list the ancients were commended for what their faith we would be wise to keep that truth in our minds and near to our hearts as as we talked this morning and take in a reality that comes just four verses later without

faith would you look at verse six you can’t please god it’s impossible for he or she who comes to god must believe that he is that’s faith and that he will reward you for diligently seeking him all right so as you look down this list I’m going to turn the page to verse 32 and take you right to the verse that I alluded to earlier it’s a single verse and you’re going to say well pastor why are we jumping through all this other stuff actually I

did a series out of hebrews 11 that was a detailed look at every single life that appears on this list some time ago you can go online and find it but here I want to focus on verse 32 and you say well pastor why are we going to do that well here’s the deal those first four names in verse 32 are four names from this study that were part of in the old testament called judges the study of judges we’re calling the series choices doing what

is right all right and there you come to verse 32 and you find yourself looking at a single verse where four people from the book of judges are mentioned okay so let’s just read the names real quick and you’ll notice there’s a couple of additional names that aren’t from judges the very first prophet samuel and the first king david our second king after saul okay so what what more shall I say he says you get a sense in those words that he’s been clicking through person

after person celebrity after celebrity and he comes to this place where I’m running out of ink I don’t have much more space to capture the rest of these names I don’t have time to tell you about here they are gideon barack sampson and jephthah of course he goes on to mention david and samuel and the prophets but the four in that verse we just read them they are gideon barack sampson and jephthah now if you’ve been part of this series you know that wait wait a

second that’s only four there were 12 where they’re not and that would be true there are 12 judges that make up the book that we’ve been looking at these are just four of the 12. And you’ll recall the judges that led and lived among israel serving as deliverers from really difficult stuff spanned a 325 year stretch of time from the death of joshua to the beginning of saul the first king of israel so why the four why did he choose you can guess why only four

of the 12 are showcased and I almost went that direction but you know what I found myself concluding it would be speculation it’d be me making a guess you know me enough to tell you that I would not be pretending that I know it was certainty but I started to back off and and I did so because I really don’t know why just these four okay so full full disclosure instead I want to stick to a couple of statements this morning and just develop them and

we’ll be done that are true of these four for sure they were I’m gonna call them compelling for me very very personally compelling inspiring even the more god started to show me this the more I went I can’t wait for sunday because I get I get to tell some people a discovery that to me is like like wow so it brings it let me bring it down to two impressions and if you’ve put your pin down pick it up because I want you to write both

of these down and then I do this from time to time you have a lot more homework than I’m gonna I’m not gonna be able to explore all this in fact we’re not even going to go to judges this morning I’m going to tell you where to go when you go to judges this afternoon okay all right you with me so you get to write this down but here is the first of two impressions that draws these four together and begins to address something that I

think is a take home for all of us okay the first is this each of the four judges say their names again gideon barack samson and jephthah each of these four judges who were used greatly by god were flawed flawed okay what’s that f-l-a-w-e-d there we go each of these four judges used greatly by god were flawed I don’t I don’t mean secret flaws that you have to search for and squint to see no no not those at all I’m talking stand out for the record

noted clearly flawed they are they are failings these are these are imperfections that you cannot miss it’d be like going to a football hall of fame and seeing a a statue of a of a of a great football player holding a basketball you’d go huh there’s a mistake here that’s on that’s intended same is true here with all four of these they are flawed people and you don’t have to search so here’s let’s just click through them quickly the first in his list it’s not exactly

the same chronology as in judges in hebrews is gideon would you write down next to his name on your notes chapters six through eight that’s your assignment this afternoon read judges chapter six through eight and you will become acquainted with gideon gideon’s told by an angel that the lord was with him to rescue his people from a really awful population of people known as the midianites they were bad people they had been bad for a very long time and and gideon’s told you’re going to deliver

those people and god says to him what you would expect god to say when he’s calling you to do something that’s bigger than you I’ll be with you you can count on me hey get in don’t sweat it I’ll be with you and in spite of god’s repeated reminders and reassurances gideon asks not for one but for two proofs that god’s gonna go with him you ever heard the name or the word fleece next to gideon’s name okay he actually was was in this green like

silo and and there’s a a sheep fleece and and gideon says okay wait a second you got a big job for me god tell you what I’m I’m gonna I’m gonna and he worked this deal tomorrow morning if that piece of sheep fur or whatever is wet and the floor around it’s dry then I’ll take that as a sign that’ll be the confirmation I’m looking for next morning it happened exactly the same way and he goes hey time out got another one for you can we

flip it and then tomorrow morning let’s make the only place down there the only place where it’s dry is the sheep the the fur and everything else is wet twice he had got to make sure I’ve got this right two signs as proof you’re saying well pastor where’s the faith I hope you’re saying that because any way you look at it it’s like wait a second get in god told you wasn’t that enough apparently not because then he showed you and wasn’t that enough once again

he answered like me no I wish it was I’m weak help my unbelief remember the father in the new testament I believe help me in my unbelief yet gideon’s here he’s leading the list we quickly come next to barack not barack his story would you put next to it judges chapter four okay here’s a deal that you need to know right away his name is almost never mentioned without the name of the woman judge at that time deborah so you hear them always together as deborah

and barack all right now barack is called by deborah to carry out a mission for god and the mission was to neutralize wipe out a group of people led by the canaanite king jabin was his name and he was a menacing guy but he had a really really awful army commander named cicera he was vicious cicero was he didn’t just you know vanquish the enemy he just he was a torturer he was as bad as some you know names in our history of of really bad

people and so barack is told by deborah look god’s sending you mighty warrior and god god will be with you but you’re to go take on sisera and you’re to vanquish the enemy how did barack handle that well if you could hear you see my knees shaking I I’m guessing it was that I’m not sure what was behind it barack’s very words barack’s very words were I won’t go if you don’t go with me you can make all you want out of that but it was

a hold back part of me wants to ask him bro did I get this wrong or where’s your courage barack god told you through deborah the judge that you’re going to be the one to take care of this problem and here we are in hebrews 11 with his name in the hall of faith right he’s in the hall of fame by the way deborah was the one that said to him and because we have to do it this way and she did she showed up and

jael another female leader deborah said to him what is true that this victory that is coming actually won’t be credited to you barack it’s going to go down in history as a victory credited to a woman spoken by the only female judge of the 12th deborah so where’s your courage barack stop look at me you have faith here you got barack over here not a whole lot of courage in that look I’m out oh sheesh you want me to do okay listen I’m not going unless

you go with me I don’t know if it was a courageous thing or he didn’t really know god very well and she did which would be smart on his part whatever the case you see in the not so hidden flaws hold on let’s go third to samson he’s one that we all know chapter 13 to 16. You get a lot of reading today it’ll be good for you all right so chapter 13 to 16 you come third on the list to samson so samson possesses he’s

a possessor of huge power and and strength and with it loads of god-given potential samson he’s the guy supernatural strength the story is so worth reading and he at that time had racked up some really big wins against the philistines really big wins like tattoo kind of wins right this is this is head turning stuff samson you ready for the rest of the story well sampson apparently had this little not-so-hidden personal problem he had he would lack moral character not once but multiple times he was

with people other than his wife he did things that you just go you can’t it’s like an asterisk next to a a famous baseball player they can’t get into the hall of fame because he cheated doing whatever it was well they won’t even induct him but if they did they’d put an asterisk next to his name he’d go he did some good things but boy he cheated in this case he he’s probably the standout underachiever in the bunch and you know how his story ends I’ll

let you read it but but in in one great final push of strength and might he actually it was a form of suicide he died in the process it’s one of those really this is a bummer hold on we’re ready now for one that doesn’t get a lot of attention and in my personal opinion doesn’t deserve it okay that’s pretty harsh I’m sure I wouldn’t make the list either in some ways but most shocking of the four no most shocking of the twelve is and he’s

in the hall of fame like the rest is jephthah his story is told in chapters 11 and 12. Okay so write that down that’ll be the last little assignment so the israelites have been the bible says shattered and crushed and oppressed by now by the philistines for almost 20 years you think of what we’ve been through with covet or something hard imagine if it’s really personal and you’re one of those people that that is is hated because of who you are you’re an american and we

don’t like americans and we’re going to get you we’re going to make life miserable for you this is going on though for almost 20 years so they’re shattered they’re they’re crushed that means they’re crestfallen they’re like it’s just going to be another miserable day for us and so god says that’s going to end in chapter 10 and god raises up jephthah and what you need to know about jephthah is he was a great warrior somebody described him as a mafia stud okay he’s a bad hombre

bad bad leroy brown only goes by jephthah and he’s the guy you call if you’re just wanting somebody to take care of business and and he is about to go out and settle god’s affairs and for reasons that still don’t make sense he said to god listen to hedge my bet to guarantee a good outcome I’m going to put something in front of you god I promise that when I come home victorious the very first thing out of my front door I will sacrifice to you

he says this give us victory and I will sacrifice to you whatever comes out of my house and I will retr as I return in triumph what came out his front door proved that his vow to god was one that he would regret the rest of his life it was his daughter it’s a horrible story it’s one of those stories you don’t read to children now each of those things could be called called disqualifiers every one of the ones we’ve taken time to think about the

kind that keep you out of the hall of fame really but all four of them made it they’re here and on display for all of us to see you read their names as I did flaws and all showing us that god that that god all four of them though flawed could be used greatly by god and they were leading to this second insight this significant insight here it goes god is not blind to people’s faults would you write that down he is not blind to people’s

faults but he looks beyond them he looks beyond them isn’t that why you and I are kind of drawn to people like this I’ve told you some of the dirt it’s not hidden but we’re drawn to them because we we go they still somehow made it and that why we were drawn we hear imperfect people did something cool god used them in some way and we go what’s that say about god you ever thought that way I do I do for myself this is all old

testament if we had time we’d take just take the two top people the standouts in the new testament think of I think of peter and paul he had a lot of other names if you think of peter you know somebody that denied jesus oh one two three times denied even knowing him and then he founded the church how come I can tell you that that’s the god we know it’s the god of this bible here’s another one paul paul was this really persecuting person he killed

christians you know he hunted them down fact was heading on a hunting expedition up north to find more christians and eliminate them when he met jesus christ on that road to damascus it’s called and on that road he became the apostle and the expander of the church people the bible is filled with names with people full of flaws who are used mightily by god who isn’t blind to their flaws he just looks beyond them now stay with me it’s really important stuff because it struck me

that this is the story of salvation is it not it’s the story of sin and salvation so sin is the summary word that describes people like me like you with flaws and failings by the way there’s no exception to that romans 3 23 says all of us have sinned so there it is we got a problem a sin problem all right but then salvation comes along and salvation is that ultimate gift given by the holy god who looks at our lives sees our flaws and forgives

them romans 6 23 says all of us after all of us we’ve established all have sinned for the results of that sin the wages of that sin is death but the free gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord that’s a beautiful sort of one two step it’s it’s a it’s a reality that comes together but but here’s the deal god’s willingness to look beyond people’s flaws it suddenly strikes me is really at the heart of the gospel is it not his ability

to see what I my shortcomings are they’re not hidden what yours are but to look past that is at the god the core of the gospel I want to read some words from the new testament right now that haven’t probably been read by many of us unless you heard a sermon from them they’re from paul’s writings to titus and he says this that the grace of god has appeared that offers salvation to all people it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions sin

and to live self-controlled upright godly lives in the present age as we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great god and savior jesus christ who gave himself up for us sinners to redeem us from all of our wickedness there’s the word flaws again he did that and he made it possible for us to be born again then paul says this it’s a trustworthy saying and I want to stress these things so that those of you who have trusted in god

may be careful to devote yourselves to doing good live like he made a difference in your life these are excellent and profitable things I have a conversation fairly frequently with people over the years it’s been an appointment made by somebody sometimes a conversation over the phone sometimes an email where somebody will say to me hey pastor I’ve really messed up and some of the details of those messes are epic but they come in and it takes one some some form of somebody that has messed up

but can’t see beyond their sin they can’t see any hope of moving past the mess that they have made you know somebody like that I have that conversation a lot and maybe it’s because they’re looking for some sort of secret sauce or a magic fix or something I don’t know but it kind of goes like this I wrote it up because this is a little bit of how it sounds so we kind of start the conversation saying okay so you have failed all right we have

established that so where you go from here forward depends on whether you believe god can forgive you or not oh you can’t you can’t just sketch the past it’s there but what you do what what you do in the future how you move forward from here depends on whether god you believe god can forgive you or not it whether you believe the biblical pattern of god using imperfect people or not do you hear the danger in what we’re reading here you wouldn’t be the first person

that went yeah well that worked for them lucky that’s not how this bible is supposed to be read back to my conver imaginary conversation it’s not really imaginary this happens a lot whether you have faith in a god who sees your whole life your faith as well as your failures and can still work with you that’s really what those conversations are about I have to tell you I have big I had big plans for this message to pour over a lot more details than we had

time for this morning but I got to tell you something that happened to me the holy spirit actually stopped me I I really did I I’ve spent probably as much time as I’ve ever spent on a message maybe times two because the holy spirit stopped me because I think it was because my focus was on their failings you’re saying well you did a pretty good job of that today pastor you know it’s true there’s they’re there you can’t hide it but I I don’t want to

leave you barely noticing the things that god did through them anyway let me use the word despite them because I I would remind you where we started they’re in the hall of fame here so I came to see them differently the further I looked at their lives I used to say things about jephthah I’m not going to I will not meet with him in heaven not like he would want to meet with me but I wanted to punch him out I wanted to go find him

in heaven I was so ticked off when I read his story and I used to say that’s kind of a silly thing to say but I used to say that because I just I couldn’t see past his failings you ever run into that in the bible how about in your own life you just go man that’s it this is it close the book there’s no next chapter for me you been like that we got to stop that because the grace of god says no it’s appeared

bringing salvation to most of you how many all to all of you and then it says now clean up your act stop sinning how’s that for a great approach the grace of god came to give you salvation and then to say all right let’s get busy scrubbing you clean he catches fish before he cleans them right you’ve heard that well it’s true in our sin so here’s the deal I came to see these guys differently and and I have a song they’re part of a quartet

and I wrote a only a one verse song okay I think you’re gonna like it this I don’t I haven’t worked out the music for it but I got the words we are flawed there’s no denying it but god used us to bring him glory anyway do you know that he still does such things will you trust him to do so with you today huh right you guys are here all right I have a single truth and a single story that I want to leave you

with as we wrap up told by two different people who never got over not once got over god’s choice to use them to make heroes of them despite their flaws intrigued here’s one more they live centuries removed from each other the first the apostle paul he said this firsthand singular about himself how god looked over his failings and found a use for him I thank christ jesus our lord said paul in 1st timothy 1 verse 12 who has given me strength to do his work he

considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him even though he talks about his baggage here it’s not hidden I used to blaspheme the name of christ in my insolence I persecuted his people but god had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief he’s still talking about himself but how gracious and generous our lord was he filled me with faith and love that come from christ jesus and then he brings you if you’re tired of listening out of your seat and says

this is a trustworthy saying and everybody should embrace it christ jesus came into the world to save sinners ready and I’m the worst among them you’re looking at as bad as it gets but god had mercy on me so that in christ jesus he could make a prime example of his great patience even with the worst of sinners then others like us will realize that they too can believe in him and receive eternal life and that’s right amen because all praise and glory and honor goes

to jesus that’s the first story the other one is told by chuck coulson former special counsel to president nixon back in the late 60s some of you remember his name I met him when he ministered at a church I served dead in california and I was super impressed at first I thought I was gonna you know get an autograph then I realize this man isn’t interested in that stuff he’s been changed these are his very words he pled guilty by the way to obstruction of justice

and he was the first defendant to serve a prison sentence for the watergate scandal in federal prison so he described in his own words how his life had been the perfect american success story his office door opened to the oval office mine doesn’t quite swing that wide right and he’s he he could have an audience with the most powerful man in the world without being scheduled he could actually order up a jet a military jet to take him anywhere he wanted to go in the world

without permission you feeling the power now I got the power right oh by the way pretty smart guy he had 15 honorary doctorates pretty much run circles around me I only have 14. Just a joke ju

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 5,888 words.