HEROES: 1
Why We Need Heroes
January 28, 2007
Pastor Paul W Newell

IIntro: VIdeo Clip "Superman Return" (The World Doesn't Need A Savior...")

Every great story begins with a crisis and ends with a savior. There’s a reason for that. The greatest story ever told set the pattern and every good story after that one modeled the same. Every great story begins with a crisis and ends with a savior, a hero.

Today we begin the study of heroes: ordinary people who lead extraordinary lives.

We like the word hero. Somehow it brings confidence into our soul. It brings the feeling of hope. Hero. I think we like heroes because when there is a hero we get to enjoy our helplessness. In some way it’s not our fault; neither the circumstance we are in, nor the salvation we seek. We get to rely on the hero to do everything for us.

The reality of heroes is, though, that heroes don’t work that way. Most heroes are just like you and me with very few exceptions. They are just ordinary people who by some means do extraordinary things.

The Old Testament book of Judges is a book of heroes. As we will see they were super, extra -  ordinary. They all had huge, gaping faults. They were human to the core. That’s what is so encouraging to me about the history we uncover in Judges. Ordinary people living extraordinary lives, if they can, maybe I can too!

The heroes in the book of Judges show up at the darkest hours. They are regular Joes and Janes who allow God to use them in powerful ways. While everyone else was doing “whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (Judges 17:6) these guys and gals were focusing their eyes on some one else: God.

So why do we need heroes in the first place?

That’s the question that the first section in the book of Judges seeks to explain. Before we ever get to the actual stories of heroes, Judges sets the stage. It gives us the reason, the setting for the heroes.
Chapter one, verse nineteen is a pretty good place to begin...

The LORD was with the people of Judah, and they took possession of the hill country. But they failed to drive out the people living in the plains because the people there had iron chariots.” (Judges 1:19)

Notice the second sentence in that verse, “...they failed...”

It’s kind of subtle, but that word failed, this is the first time that failure is mentioned about the Israelites since way back in Joshua’s early leadership.

BACKGROUND:

The LORD had brought the Children of Israel from Egypt, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land – Canaan. God had promised the Children of Israel complete victory once they moved into the Promised Land. They were to totally drive out all of the inhabitants of Canaan and take over the country. Their first battle was at Jericho, a fortified city that marked the beginning of the conquest of the Promised Land.

It was an incredible victory. God did some miraculous things to show Israel that He was with them and they could trust Him. He also told them that everything they found in Jericho was to be given as an offering to God. Though in future battles they would be allowed to keep the plunder – Jericho was God’s. And it appeared that that is exactly how it went, that is until Ai.

Ai was the next town to be attacked. Not nearly as big as Jericho, Ai seemed like it was going to be a pretty easy assault. They assume it was going to be so easy that they didn’t even consult God – they simply devised a plan and headed out. They even left most of the army behind.

They outcome: utter defeat. The Israelites were routed by little Ai. They were humiliated. It seems that not only had they miscalculated their enemy, by not consulting God they missed a huge problem: it seems that one man (Akin) in Israel’s army had kept stuff from Jericho. Not only had they miscalculated their enemy – they had disobeyed God’s instructions concerning Jericho.

They had failed! Their failure was eventually turned to victory after they dealt with Akin’s sin and then got back to relying on God.
After the failure at Ai – they had had a perfect record of victory until Judges chapter one, verse nineteen – and then failure again!
“The LORD was with the people of Judah, and they took possession of the hill country. But they failed to drive out the people living in the plains because the people there had iron chariots.” (Judges 1:19)

What happened? Why had they suddenly gone from absolute victory to failure?

The answer gives us a glimpse at why we need heroes, why we need ordinary people to live extraordinary lives.

God is looking for HEROES because sometimes we fail...

What caused their failure?

The first reason they failed:

#1. GOD WAS NOT “WITH THEM”

That’s a pretty rough thing to say, “God was not ‘with them’”. I though God was always “with us”. Isn’t there a verse somewhere in there that says, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”? (Hebrews 13:5). What’s this about God not being “with them”?

Notice the passage again...if you go back to the beginning of the passage you begin to see a pattern: “...the LORD gave them victory...” (1:4) “The LORD was with the people...” (1:19)

The LORD was with them. Everywhere the fought the LORD was with them. They trusted the Lord and He gave them victory. If you go back and read through the book of Joshua you will see the LORD right there with them – all the way. Even here, God was with them as they fought in the mountains. But then they faced they valley, specifically they faced the chariots.

These were no ordinary chariots. These were advanced weapons of warfare. The Canaanites would attach two chariots together with a pole between them and lances on the poles. On the axles would be swords. These were ultimate shredding machines. They were deadly. No wonder the Israelites were afraid.

Wait a minute...what do you mean afraid? Who were the Israelites afraid of and why? Wasn’t God with them? Hadn’t God brought them victory in the hill country? Wasn’t God just as powerful against chariots as He had been against whatever the other cities held?

Doesn’t Romans 8:32 say, “If God be for us, who can ever be against us?”

Here’s the point: The Israelites lost faith. They didn’t pray. They didn’t seek God’s direction. They just laid down and gave up. They didn’t even put on an effort.

IT WASN’T THAT GOD WASN’T WITH THEM...THEY WEREN’T WITH GOD!

They lost faith in God.

I know that’s true because if they has shown the same faith in the valley that they had shown in the hills they would have been victorious.
All we have to do is fast forward to Judges chapter four where Deborah and Barak (more on them later) take on Sisera who had in nine-hundred of these chariots – and they not only won, they sent Sisera running like a baby!

God is looking for heroes who will trust Him in the valleys.

The Israelites failed because they lost faith. Or maybe, it was the other way around. Maybe they had too much faith, too much faith in the wrong people.

Which really points us to the second reason they failed:

#2. THEY HAD TOO MUCH FAITH IN THEMSELVES

What good are chariots against an all-powerful God? None!

Yet, the Israelites somehow assumed that the hill victories were because of their own effort.

We do that a lot I think. We ask God for help and then we assume all of the credit! We really do believe that it’s our own efforts that win the victories. Because we have to do our part, we assume that God’s part isn’t that big of a part after all!

They really believed that they had done it themselves and, if that were true, then they were right to believe that they were no match for the chariots in the valley. They weren’t.

If you’re going to take on the issues in your life yourself, just assume defeat now and get it over with. If you’re going to attempt to live your life by your own power – accept failure, it’s inevitable.

We believe that God helps us to a point – and that point is usually the point were we can help ourselves. We ask God and then we assume it’s ourselves.

We want a miracle and then we think we have to do it! Remember, it’s not a miracle if you can do it! Miracles start where you and I stop!
IT’S ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE PASSED BEYOND YOUR OWN ABILITY THAT YOU CAN ENTER INTO GOD’S.

God is looking for heroes who will trust Him in the valleys.

I love what the old-time preacher once wrote:

• Noah didn’t row or steer. Once there was no shore, it was up to God. We need to get away from the shore of our own limitations! Then trust Him. Once they asked an old missionary what was the greatest thought he had ever thought and his response was, “God is at my right hand”. That’s powerful. With God at my side nothing else matters!

Billy Graham said it this way: One with God is always a majority.

They had too much faith in themselves and not enough in God.

Do you know why we need heroes? We need ordinary people to live extraordinary lives by simply trusting God and not themselves because too many of us are simply trusting ourselves and settling for ordinary.

God is looking for heroes who will trust Him in the valleys.

The third reason they failed:

#3. THEY WERE PICKING A CHOOSING GOD’S PROMISES

God had promised to be with them through the entire conquest of Canaan.

The Israelites had faith “there”, but not “here”.

They believed God when they were taking the hill country, but refused to believe God (and obey Him) in the valley.

You know, the real problem with picking and choosing which of God’s promises to accept is that we always pick the easiest promises to claim and then ignore the hard ones.

We only believe the little promises in the Bible.

• We believe God can forgive our sins – we accept that one. But we ignore the promise that He will give us freedom from those same sinful actions if we obey Him.
• We believe God can provide for us, but we ignore the promise that He will bless us if we give back to Him the tithes and offerings He asks for.
• We want to believe God will heal us when we pray, but we don’t want to believe that He will give us the words to say if we go over and talk to our neighbor about Jesus.
• We like to pick and choose which to believe and which to obey.

“Whatever God has promised He is able to perform; and if the promise is suitable to my case, I am to grasp it and expect to see it fulfilled.” (Speakers Bible) And I am to act in obedience based on that promise!

Faith was never meant to be temporary.

It’s sort of like one of Aesop’s fables:

• One day the stag stood looking into the water at his branching antlers, and tossing his head with defiance. ‘Why,’ he said, ‘am I afraid of the hounds? A dog come near me? Impossible! If the hound does but see my horns he will fear death. I shall rip him up or dash him to pieces. I will let the pack see what I am made of.’ Just then there was heard a bark, and away went the stag like lightening, as terrified as ever.”

God is looking for heroes who will trust Him in the valleys.

Why do we fail?

Most often we fail because we have lost faith. We don’t believe God is with us. We accept Him with us as long as we assume we can do it, but then we’re not so sure of God anymore.

We also fail when we start to pick and choose God’s promises. We want faith “here”, but not “there”.

One final thought:

Our lack faith does not diminish God’s power: He is still able. For whatever the reason, God has chosen to work through ordinary people. For His own reasons, God will most often wait for us. He won’t bully us unto trusting Him. He will simply wait.

God’s promises, God’s power does not change. He’s waiting for us to accept and live them.

It’s sort of like these two light bulbs. One is a 15 watt bulb and the other is 200 watts. I can plug either one in and get results or plug in nothing at all. The power of the lamp is the same no matter what I do. But what I do allows the power out.

God is looking for heroes who will trust Him in the valleys.

• We don’t have to act as if God is not there...we can live confidently that He’s inside use.
• We don’t have to put our faith in ourselves...we really can trust God and take the risks that really aren’t risks with God.
• We don’t have to pick and choose which of God’s promises to rely upon...we can simply trust that He hasn’t changed, He doesn’t change –
  His power is always the same – we choose how much to draw out and live by.

God is looking for HEROES to trust him in the valleys.

As you approach the chariots in your valley this week:

Remember that God is the same God who helped you through the last battle. It doesn’t matter if the location has changed. Just trust Him, obey Him and watch for the victory.